“Paige?”

She shrieks, slamming the book closed before quickly whirling around towards the direction of the voice. Her breath hitches as she looks upon her friend, a strangled scream escaping her lips soon after.

With a rough shove, said book slides across her desk, right into a waiting trash can. It smushes onto balls of paper, before flipping over and landing on the wooden floorboards with a dull thud.

“H-Hey, Shia.” Paige babbles, letting out a nervous laugh while sliding her chair over to cover up the book. “I, uh– When did you arrive? And how’d you get in?”

“Just a few hours ago, and I had a key. To both your questions.” Shia replies, aiming a shit-eating grin in Paige’s direction, “So, I didn’t know you read stuff like that. College work got you all hot and bothered?”

“Not that!” Paige hissed back in response, quickly scooping up that damnable book and chucking it at her bed like it was a hot piece of metal. “I– It’s just, you know– I –”

“Very eloquent.”

“Look, he recommended it to me, alright?!” Paige hissed, just in time for her friend to raise a brow. “I, we were trading recommendations, he gave this to me, he’s into some frankly weird shit, but I didn’t realize that it was that bad–”

“You looked like you were into it, though.” Her friend grinned. “Has my little princess finally awakened to a kink of their own?”

“Alright, conversation’s over. I’m shutting it down.” Paige quickly bursts out, a hint of red on her cheeks as she snatches that damnable book from her bed and throws it in the trash. Her friend simply looks on with a raised brow, watching as Paige buries herself on the bed before letting out a whine.

“... So." She pipes up a few seconds later, sticking her eyes out of her pillow, "What did you come here for?”

“Checking up on you, for one.” Her friend replies, moving Paige’s feet so that she could sit at the foot of the bed, “And to celebrate the end of your semester by going blackout drunk, like what most people do. Probably drag you out of this shitty apartment while I’m at it, but... well, since you’re having fun by yourself, I can probably swing by some of my other friends.”

“Fuck you.”

“I love you too, Paige.” Shia chirps back with a smile, patting her friend’s leg that stuck out of the blanket, “Sadly, I can’t do what Cerge did to Amala on page 143–”

“Wait.” Paige pipes up, sticking her head out of the blanket while turning towards her friend with narrowed eyes, “You read through this? Without cringing at least once?”

Shia blinks. “Yeah, pretty much. Why’d you ask?”

“I–” Her friend gaped like a fish, opening and closing her mouth for a few seconds before she finally ended with an exasperated sigh. “... Yeah, I should’ve expected this. The damn book looks like it was right up your alley.”

“Course it is.” Shia grins, leaning over her friend with a mischievous look in her eyes. “Planning on trying out what’s in there if the fancy strikes you?”

Paige flushed. “Oh go to hell.”