up on the couch together when I came back to the dormitory.

After I stepped out of the elevator, into the common room, I let out an unrestrained yawn and collapsed on the couch next to them. Wednesdays sucked.

I had come home from my Histology midterm test, which started after lectures finished for the day. I had just enough time to catch the dinner service at the dining hall, but now my full stomach was making me sleepy—when I was supposed to revise for my Biochemistry and Toxicology tests tomorrow.

"Rough day?" Riley asked me sympathetically.

"Not any rougher than usual," I yawned again, rubbing the blurriness out of my eyes. "I cannot wait for midterms to be over. I cannot wait for fall break."

She looked up from the TV screen, eyes sliding over to me. "You're here for the first weekend of it, right?"

"Yep. I fly to New York on the first Tuesday," I told her. There was a calculating glint in her caramel irises, and I pushed myself up higher on the couch. "Wait. Why are you asking?"

Sophie chuckled at my defensiveness, while Riley suddenly looked sheepish. She cleared her throat and pushed her glasses more securely onto her nose with her index finger.

"You remember Callum, right? He is hosting a party at his apartment, and he's invited pretty much every person he knows, with a plus one," she informed me. "We'll go to SciBall on Friday, and Callum's on Saturday."

I did remember Callum. He was Quen's friendly bandmate, who seemed to immediately notice that I fancied Quen when he first met me. He helped me sneak into one of their symphonic orchestra rehearsals when Quen was too insecure to invite me himself.

"We were thinking we could bring you and Vivian," Sophie suggested. At my immediate look of aversion, she explained, "It won't be awkward, especially since Callum knows you already."

Upon hearing that, Riley's gaze flickered over to me. I knew we were thinking about the same day. The day of theorising about Quen and the day I decided to let go. I had only mentioned Callum in passing, a detail was woven into a longer, larger rant about Quen. The moment when I tagged along to their symphonic orchestra rehearsal was just one thread within the tapestry.

I had been surprised to learn that she and Callum were in somewhat the same social circles. They seemed so different. She was calm and bookish and Callum was, in her words exactly, the annoying drummer.

But they—Quen, Riley, Callum—were all connected through Sophie, who I got the impression was a force of nature when she wanted something. Her wide, brown eyes stared at me; that mixture of expectation and hope made me feel guilty at even the thought of declining the invitation.

"We met exactly once," I said carefully, emphasising the non-existent friendship between Callum and me. Sure, he was nice and funny, but I didn't go to parties at strangers' houses anymore. "I don't really know anything about him."

"We're pretty much the outsiders with all his college friends," Sophie muttered. "There'll be like four Carsonvillers excluding the host, and forty others. I'd appreciate more people I know there, you know?"

I felt for her. I knew how it felt to be singled out among a crowd, but in my case I couldn't complain because it was my job. I nodded, "I understand, but—"

Riley suddenly perked up and announced, "Four people? So Zoe is one. She messaged me the other day asking about what I was bringing to drink."

Sophie counted to three on her fingers, saying, "You and I make three."

"I don't know, guys. I'm already so exhausted lately." It felt like it'd been that way for weeks on end. The late nights at Topaz made for miserable days. "I don't think my social battery has anything left."

"And Quen makes four." Riley looked me straight in the eyes and smirked.

I shot her a dirty look in return. Sophie didn't know about my massive, immovable crush on Quen and I didn't feel like informing her tonight. Riley could stand to be a bit subtler about her tactics.

Thankfully, Sophie was either unaware or pretending to be ignorant—most likely the latter.

"We're so outnumbered," Sophie moaned. Her eyebrows tugged together, and she pleaded intently, "Say you'll come, Krista? I can shout your drinks for the night."

I let loose a sigh. I supposed there was no reason to skip the party if all my coursework and tests would be done by that point. I did want to get a headstart on the assignments due after fall break, but I had my whole visit home to do that.

Plus Quen would be there, even if I was supposed to be avoiding him.

I thought the whole absence makes the heart grow fonder shtick wouldn't apply to me because my heart grew fonder of him when he wasn't absent. But it seemed whether near or far, I would still want him.

"That's not necessary," I shook my head, declining Sophie's much too generous offer. "I'll come, but I don't think I'll drink. I can be your designated driver."

Riley stuck her tongue out childishly. "Chicken."

I could have returned her expression, but I stuck my nose up and pretended not to hear her. She wanted to see the return of Drunk Kris so badly, but she—and everyone else—would have to be disappointed. I planned to stay sober for SciBall and sober for Callum's party.

Take that, chicken.

"You'll need one, won't you?" I reasoned with Sophie, ignoring Riley pouting between us. "Better have me already there, rather than waking another one of your friends up."

Sophie frowned in concern, "Will you be alright not drinking? I get a major case of FOMO when I'm the designated."

"Believe me," Riley snorted petulantly. "Nothing can compel Kris to drink if she doesn't want to. Not emotional blackmail, begging or FOMO. Nothing."

Sophie looked between us, nowhere near as miffed as Riley. She simply shrugged and smiled with gratitude. "Okay, then. Thank you, Krista."

Just then Viv came wandering out from the hallway in her sleepwear. Her shoulder-length hair was split into two braids on each side of her head, and her face looked like hell.

"What's Kris being thanked for?" she croaked.

My chest swelled with vindication seeing her knocked over by a hangover like this. During yesterday's shift, I'd seen her at Topaz at one in the morning. From both a professional and personal opinion, I tried to tell her to go home right there and then, but she was drunk and with a group of boys and girls alike who fawned over her and anything I said somehow incited her to add one shot to her drink order.

Viv knew her limits so well that she could be blacked out yet completely coherent, and the bartender wouldn't cut her off when she appeared perfectly sober. So I just shut up before she decided to clear out Topaz' liquor cabinet, leaving her with three tequila shots—which seemed a tolerable amount for Viv.

Now the living proof that I was right—she had drunk too much—was moaning and clutching her head in front of me.

"Did you skip the Biochemistry lecture today?" I asked innocently. I already knew the answer.

"I skipped today, today," she growled. "I just woke up."

"What the fuck, Viv?" Riley balked, who had done the responsible thing and not partied during the week of midterm tests. "It's seven o'clock."

"Yup," Viv said miserably.

"We have the Biochem and Tox tests tomorrow," I added, shocked that a whole day had trickled through Viv's fingers.

"Yup," she smacked her lips.

"You're going to dinner like that?" I wondered.

Viv held up her phone and hit the down button for the elevator. "UberEats. So what's up with you guys?"

Riley smiled. "Kris volunteered to be the DD for a party we're going to."

"We, as in me?" Viv inquired. I could already see the life in her eyes returning at the thought of another opportunity to drink. This girl, I swear. She was a monster.

"Yes," Riley chuckled. "I hope you have some energy left in that liver of yours."

"Ooh, don't you worry about my liver," Viv smirked. "My hangover is clearing up just thinking about this party."

The elevator arrived on the eighth floor and announced itself with a chime. Viv shuffled in and took it down to the ground floor to collect her UberEats. I got up from the couch and retrieved my mug from the wooden cabinet above the kitchenette.

As my coffee brewed, I asked, "What are you studying again, Sophie?"

Sophie glanced away from the documentary playing on the TV. "Poli-Sci, thank God. I only had two midterms, and they were both on Monday."

"Jealous," I replied.

The door that separated the common room from the eastward hallway creaked. Jamie stepped in, his hair unruly and tousled. He wore only a thin green t-shirt, boxers and his socks, which scuffed lightly on the carpet as he made his way over to the kitchen bench.

Sophie nodded at her cousin in acknowledgement, then went back to watching antelope populations cantering through the savannah on TV. Riley, however, didn't return her attention to the documentary. She observed Jamie's relative state of undress, his obvious lethargy and most importantly—the fact that his room wasn't down the eastward hallway. It was down the westward one.

It was Riley and I that lived down the eastward hallway. So did Viv.

My eyes widened as a scandalous smirk overtook my lips. They were screwing each other. I knew it. Riley and I locked stares as identical shit-eating grins bloomed on our faces. Jamie was refilling his gallon water bottle, whilst inspecting the coffee I had started brewing. He arched his eyebrows at me then jerked his chin at the pot.

"You can have what's leftover," I answered. I probed innocently, "Wild night, huh?"

"No, just feeling a bit under the weather," he replied nonchalantly. "I took a day off to rest up."

"Sure you did," I drawled. "Make sure you dress warm now. Scarves are good."

My lips finally stretched into an unfettered smirk, which caused Jamie to gulp and avert his eyes. The faintest blush rose on his skin, like he'd been discovered with his hand in the cookie jar.

He played dumb. "Huh?"

"Scarves are good," I repeated, tapping my collarbone.

On the couch, Riley was too far away to spot what I had seen. But Jamie was standing right next to me as he tried to drown his hangover with fluids. When he'd leaned forward over the sink, the neckline of his t-shirt had fallen just low enough to afford me a straight shot of the dark bruises on his collarbone.

"Fuck," Jamie swore under his breath. "Don't tell anyone."

Sophie suddenly piped up, revealing how clued in she really was. "I'm going to pretend I never heard or saw any of that."

"You do that, Soph. If Jake finds out, I'll assume it was you who told him," Jamie scowled. He pointed to Riley, who was having a hard time refraining her laughter. She managed to school her face into a calm mask just as Jamie narrowed his eyes at her. "You, as well. Or else."

Us ladies all nodded solemnly, as if we'd been entrusted with a great secret. Jamie clearly thought he was more opaque than he really was. In reality, if I had suspected whatever it was between him and Viv since the start of the semester, Jake probably knew by now. Riley knew, Sophie knew.

The only ones blind to it, and insistent on hiding something so obvious, were the lovebirds themselves.

Sophie determinedly steered the conversation away from the topic of her cousin's hookups to the trip the twins and her were taking to their Californian hometown over fall break. When the coffee finally brewed, I filled my mug and poured the rest into a cup for Jamie. He then took it with a thankful smile, picked up his water bottle and exited towards his actual room.

Once he was out of earshot, Riley and I mimicked in unison, "Or else."

Adorable.

The three of us erupted into laughter at Jamie's attempt to be scary. He was many things; competitive, goofy, caring and intuitive. But he was about as scary as a kitty cat. Even less scary, actually, considering how aggressive Mao Mao could get.

Riley rolled her eyes, "He's so funny when he tries to be intimidating."

"I would tell Jake myself," I replied cheekily, "—but he's lucky it's Viv."

"Yeah," Sophie agreed. "Now, there's intimidating."

Remember when I said that I had a lot of interconnected stories? One of them is called Blackout, and it's about Viv and Jamie's relationship. It's such a different vibe from Nightlife (cough, smut), which kind of matches the girls' different personalities.

I hope you check it out! It's like seeing the events of their junior and senior year from a different angle.

Aimee x