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“Sure.”
Zara moaned again, this time accompanied by a dramatic whine. “I wanna do something. Anything.”
Jesse snickered, pushing himself up from the floor. He walked over to his dresser, grabbing a sweatshirt from one of the drawers.
“Read a book,” he said, his voice muffled as he tugged the hoodie over his head. “Watch a movie. Do math homework.”
“Hell no.” Zara made a face. “It’s Saturday, I’m not spending it doing math.”
Jesse smirked and ran a brush through his hair. “Then keep being bored, I’m going to go find Raina.”
Pausing halfway to the door, Jesse doubled back to the mirror. Should he dress up? He knew that Raina wore her nicer outfits on Saturdays, but then again, he thought everything she wore was nice. But would she appreciate it if he dressed more formally for the day?
Deciding that it couldn’t hurt, Jesse pulled on a button-down shirt and a pair of pants his aunt had picked out for him. When he went downstairs, he found Nicole perched on a couch in the common room, scrolling through something on her phone. She glanced up when he came down the steps.
“What’s got you all dressed up?”
“Looking for Raina,” Jesse replied. He glanced around the common room, checking the spot by the fireplace where Gracie and Raina usually hung out. He didn’t see either girl there.
“Is it a...date?”
“No,” Jesse said, hoping his blush wasn’t obvious. “Just...hanging out.”
Nicole stared at him for a long while. “You really like her, don't you?”
“Yeah.” Jesse didn’t even try to stop the goofy smile that appeared on his face.
He did, as much as he’d tried to deny it; he did like Raina very much. And if Raina felt the same way, well…maybe the next time he dressed up for her, itwouldbe for a date.
After a moment of silence, Nicole nodded, an odd expression settling on her face. Acceptance? Resignation? Jesse wasn’t quite sure, but in a way, Nicole looked a lot lighter than she had a moment before.
Finally, she answered, “I’ll go get her.”
* * *
“Cohen!” a voice barked at the same time the dorm door slammed against the wall.
Raina jumped, her book tumbling out of her fingers and onto her bed. She leaned forward and pulled open the curtains around her bed, spotting Nicole tapping her foot impatiently in the doorway. “Can I help you?”
Nicole let out a long, drawn-out sigh, as if Raina’s mere presence caused her immense suffering. “Jesse is waiting for you downstairs. I don’t like you, but Jesse is my best friend. I want to see him happy, even though I can think of absolutely no reason why you should make him happy. So you’re going to get out of bed, get dressed, and go see what he wants.”
Raina blinked, then blinked again as Nicole’s words caught up with her. Jesse was…downstairs? Had she been given Nicole’s stamp of approval? “I’m sorry, what?”
“Jesse is all dressed up downstairs,” Nicole repeated with a huff. “He’s waiting for you.”
It took Raina all of two seconds to launch herself out of bed. “Jesse is…dressed up? Downstairs? Waiting for me?”
“Dear god, it’s worse than I thought.” Nicole clapped her hands, the sound ringing in Raina’s ears. “Yes! Now hurry up; your hair looks like a bird’s nest.”
Raina stifled a laugh, grabbing a hair tie from her bedside table. “You know, I think you’re warming up to me, Nicole.”
“Never,” Nicole spat, but the red flush to her cheeks said otherwise. “And to show you I’m not, you’re wearing the blue dress.”
Raina gasped, knowing full well the only reason the dress was in her closet was because Nicole had bought it when Raina wasn’t looking and stuffed it inside their shopping bags. “I can’t wear that in public! It’s too short!”
“It makes you look hot.” Nicole hurried to the closet, riffling through Raina’s clothes until she pulled out the aforementioned dress and shoved it into Raina’s hands. “Now go put it on so I can do your hair.” Nicole’s next stop was Zara’s nightstand, where she grabbed a pink bottle. “Hmm, a detangler. Ooh, and from Italy! Damn, I need parents who don’t care about me and only send guilt presents.”
Raina changed in the bathroom, encountering some difficulty when she tried to reach behind her for the zipper.
