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“How many teddy bears do you have, Zara?”
“I said,fuck you.”
Jesse grinned at his cousin, taking pleasure in her annoyance. “It’s a simple question.”
“And mine’s a simple answer,” Zara retorted.
“Seven!” Nicole called from across the dorm room where she was watching a movie on Anna’s bed. “Jesse, stop antagonizing your cousin. Cousin, stop being so dramatic.”
“Since when am I his cousin?” Zara asked, pouting. “I have a name, you know.”
“Yeah, well, you’re being childish and don’t deserve it.”
“If anything, Jesse should bemycousin,” Zara continued. “I’m older than he is.”
“Yet you’re still acting like a child,” Jesse shot back, smirking.
Zara stuck her tongue out at him. “Fuck off, Jesse.”
“My, my, what language, Zara,” Jesse said smugly. He danced out of her reach as she tried to smack him. “I thought children weren’t supposed to know that word.”
Gracie coughed. “I thought the whole point of coming here after lunch was for a few productive hours. So as much as I love you two, and as entertaining as your arguing is, some of us are trying to work here.”
Jesse raised an eyebrow at the brunette, who was sitting on her bed with Dean. “At what? A hundred ways I can touch my boyfriend but not kiss him? Well congrats, you’re currently getting an A+.”
“No,” Gracie said hotly. “We’re trying to plan Theo’s birthday party.”
Jesse frowned, checking his mental calendar. “Isn’t his birthday in a few weeks?”
“It’s next week, Jesse,” Dean said.
“Oh. Hey, does that mean that Valentine’s Day passed?”
Gracie and Dean exchanged an amused look. “That was a few days ago.”
Jesse’s eyes widened. “Wait, seriously?”
“It was the day Blake came,” Raina spoke up.
Jesse nodded slowly. That was probably why he had forgotten all about it. He glanced over at Raina, who was sitting quietly on her bed, sketching something. He walked over and sat down next to her. Raina’s blanket was as soft as she had claimed, and Jesse liked cuddling with it almost as much as he liked cuddling with her.
“Did you want me to have done something for Valentine’s Day?” he asked, quiet enough that Raina was the only person who could hear.
“In my community, we don’t celebrate secular holidays. I know some Jews do, but not my family.”
Every time they spoke, Jesse was learning something new about Judaism. He liked getting the little glimpses into how Raina had grown up, and how she’d become the person she was today.
When his eyes met hers, Raina nodded, and Jesse took that as permission to slip an arm around her. “Are there any other holidays you don’t celebrate? Or any holidays you have coming up?”
“I do, actually. Purim—it’s the Jewish equivalent of Halloween. It’s next month, a couple weeks after the dance.”
“That’s fun. So do you dress up? Since it’s like Halloween?”
“We do,” Raina answered. “I wasn’t planning on dressing up though, since, you know,school, and I’m going to need a fancy dress for the dance, and that’ll blow my monthly budget.”
Jesse bit his lip. They’d been holding hands and acting couple-y for the past few days, so he might as well go for it. “Well, if you want, we could dress up as something you could wear to the dance. And then...we can go to the dance together?”
“Like...a date?” Raina asked.
