I scrunch up my nose, and Jake notices. “Why are you making your overthinking face?”
Narrowing my eyes, I flip him off. “First off, I don’t have an overthinking face. Secondly, I was recounting everything that’s happened in the past year and how our group attracts a hell of a lot of drama.”
“I’m just hoping we can have a peaceful semester with none of that. A drama-free semester.” We all mumble in agreement with Cameron.
“All right, everyone!” Kami yells from the front. “Back to your places.”
The group lines up side by side, and I take a moment toappreciate seeing everyone like this one last time, for the first time, in a fall semester.
The alarmon the coffee table rings, signaling that our face masks have been on long enough.
“Thank God.” Kamila lifts the sticky paper off her face and slouches against the couch, reaching into the bag of lemon chips she gets shipped from Colombia every semester and grabs a handful.
Following her lead, I inhale the rosy scent of the mask and continue eating my small bowl of strawberry ice cream with rainbow sprinkles. “I’m so happy we chose this movie.”
Anne Hathaway moves on the screen singing “Somebody to Love.” “I’m glad we stayed in tonight and got to hang out. It’s been a while.”
Kamila and I are both in our robes. Hers is red, and mine is pale blue. We’ve been roommates since our first semester in Driscoll, but we hardly spend any time in our suite anymore. Not just the two of us, anyway. But tonight, we finally got some time alone to binge on snacks in our suite after spending the entire evening with everyone else. Neither of us has an early class tomorrow, so we’re staying up late, laughing, and singing along to music from the 2004 Anne Hathaway movie,Ella Enchanted.
We both start singing along with her, Kamila’s voice out of tune, but unconcerned. I love that about my best friend—she’s confident and, for the most part, doesn’t care what anyone thinks of her.
“I wish I could sing like you,” she says to me when the scene ends. “But it’s for the best that I don’t. I’d never shut up.”
Laughing softly, I shrug. “What can I say? I got lucky.” As I finish the last spoonful of my ice cream, I lie on my back and tap my fingers on my lap. “I’m really nervous for tomorrow.”
Kami grabs my leg lightly, and her expression is one of surprise. “You’re never nervous about these kinds of things.”
Shrinking the tiniest bit at expressing some vulnerability, I go on. “I know, but I’ve never been part of a newsroom before. It’s exciting yet extremely intimidating.”
She nods. “It’s not going to be easy, but I know you’re going to fucking kill it. You’re Emma Haywood,” she says dramatically. “Sassy, brave, smart, energetic, rich, and a little loud.”
I kick her hip. “Hey!”
She snaps a finger at me. “There’s my girl. You’ve got this.”
Smiling and already feeling better with the small pep talk, I giggle. “Thanks, Kami.”
“No problem. Now, are you done, or do you need to talk about something else before we continue the movie?”
I can’t resist the sudden urge to tell her about Ace. About wanting to tell anyone about Ace. Fragments of the night we spent together flash in my mind. Jeez, I’m pathetic for thinking this much about someone I barely know.
I open my mouth slightly, then change my mind and put on my brightest smile. “Nope! I’m getting a soda. Want anything?”
She raises an eyebrow, suspicious of my changed demeanor. I rush to the fridge, ignoring it as best I can. “A cold bottle of water, please.”
Still facing away from her, I lean down to the mini fridge and grab our drinks. I plaster on the same smile on my way back. Kami nods, and I silently thank her for not asking me any questions.
I’ll tell her someday.
An hour and a half later, I’m staring at the ceiling, waiting for the melatonin Kami gave me to kick in. I hate not being able to fall asleep. It’s one of the most frustrating things in the world.
Looking over to my nightstand, I debate whether to use the vibrator in my drawer, but then swivel my gaze to the e-reader on my desk. Making my decision, I kick the sheets away and walk over, opening the e-library where all romance genres lie.Some fluffy clean ones, the classics for when I’m out and about, fantasy, regular smutty books, dark romance ones, and finally, my favorite kind of nightly read, monster-human romance novels.
I’m not sure what it is about this genre that relaxes me; I don’t really read them often. I guess it’s the combo of light fantasy and romance, or maybe that each one has some kind of age gap, but the woman always seems to be the smartest one. Or maybe it’s just the smut.
It’s probably the smut.
I plop onto my bed and read about the demon sneaking into the main character’s bedroom.
