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Jesse took that as his cue to leave. “Bye, then. Text me when you have time on Tuesday; I’m free all afternoon.”
He walked out of the library, forcing himself to not steal one last glance at Raina. It was hard to sit with her, a constant reminder of how she’d played with his heart. He’d been able to avoid her before they’d been assigned as partners, but if they kept hanging out, would he be able to keep himself away?
* * *
Raina collapsed on her bed, overthinking her study date with Jesse. Technically, they hadn’t studied, and even more technically, it wasn’t a date. Raina had no idea what to call it, just like she had no idea how to define their current relationship. Jesse had been fairly civil during their work sessions, but Raina would literally take anything other than complete avoidance at this point.
“You look happy,” Zara said cheerfully from where she was sitting at the desk.
Raina glanced up at her friend, recognizing the massive textbook she was holding. “We— are you doing math homework?”
Zara made a face. “Yes, I know, I’m doing the math homework not due until Monday.”
“Has the—”
“No, the world has not turned upside down.” Zara sighed, frustration clear on her face. “I have to do it today so I can do extra credit homework tomorrow, andthat’sdue Monday.”
“Poor you.” Raina patted Zara’s shoulder as she made her way to the bathroom.
While she was washing her hands, Raina heard a clatter from the bedroom area. A moment later, Zara came bouncing into the bathroom.
“I’m bored,” the redhead proclaimed, tossing her long curls over her shoulder.
Raina tried not to smile. “And what would you like me to do about that?”
“Entertain me.”
“How would you like to be entertained, Zara?”
“I don’t know,” Zara said after a minute, before perking up again. “Ooh! Want to look through horoscopes with me?”
“Sure.”
Anything was better than homework, so Raina dried her hands and followed Zara back to the main dorm and the large array of pillows resting in front of her friend’s bed.
At the beginning of the year, the dorm had been divided. The two beds and space around them to the left of the door had been claimed by Annalisse and Juliet, and Raina avoided stepping into the sparkly pink, boy band-clad zone if she could help it. Raina’s bed was on the right side of the door, with Zara’s bed in the middle and Gracie’s on the other side. It was a circular dorm, and as Gracie explained at the beginning of the year, there was supposed to be another bed opposite of Gracie’s. When Nicole transferred back to Trinity, the sixth bed had been moved in, and even though Nicole had switched to another dorm after her arrival, the bed remained and had been claimed by Juliet and Annalisse as an extended closet.
Thankfully, Gracie and Zara had decorated their areas a bit more tastefully and a little less blinding. Zara had dumped a million pillows by the foot of her bed, and all three girls enjoyed hanging out in the pillow pit to do their homework. Gracie had strung little lights around her canopy and offered to do Raina’s one Sunday night. Raina had happily accepted, and returned the favor by hanging up handmade calligraphy prints of Gracie’s favorite book quotes.
Juliet and Annalisse did their own thing, and although Raina would have loved to be close with all of her roommates, she was happy with her current friend group. Well, her female friend group, anyway. Jesse was a different story.
“Remind me of your birthday?” Zara asked.
“July 16,” Raina answered, running a hand through her hair.
“So you’re a Cancer. Dean and I are Virgo, Gracie is a Leo, Jesse is a Taurus, and Theo is a Pisces.”
“I don’t know what those mean.”
“You don’t have to, you just have to know which one you are. It’s based on your birthday, so, like, for example, Theo’s birthday is between certain dates so he’s a specific zodiac.”
“When’s that?”
“Between February 19 and March 20.”
“Oh, so his birthday is soon.”
“He’s February 20.” Zara nodded. “So a little over a month.”
