Blowing out a heavy breath, Beverly let her gaze drift between the two cans of cranberry sauce in her hands.

Jellied or Whole Berry? Jellied would hold together better for turkey sandwiches, but Whole Berry always tastes better and—

"Miss Bev?"

She spun around, smiling cheerfully when her eyes settled on Cynthia pushing a cart filled to the brim with various Thanksgiving items. "Fancy seeing you here!" Cynthia continued, stopping the cart and pulling Beverly into a quick but tight hug. "I didn't realize college students had to shop, too."

Rolling her eyes at the older woman's teasing, Beverly held up the cans in her grasp. "Just the necessities," she snorted. "I don't want to get too much, since it's just me, but I have to have some cranberry sauce—I don't eat turkey without it."

Cynthia's mouth dropped open with shock. "You're not going home?"

"Nah," Beverly shrugged, unbothered, "we don't get much of a break, so it's not really worth it. It's okay, though, I've gotten used to it."

"Unacceptable." Cynthia took both cans from Beverly, throwing them into her cart without a word. "Here, see? Now that I've taken these from you, you'll need to come eat Thanksgiving dinner with us. Griffin and I could always use more company."

Beverly blinked, stunned by the sudden turn of events. "Are you sure? That would be great, of course, but I don't want to intrude and—"

"Oh, nonsense!" Cynthia waved her off haphazardly. "You'll come over Thanksgiving Day, anytime at all, and Griffin will be oh-so pleased. In fact, I'll have him pick you up." She whipped out her phone, pressing it to her ear and sending Beverly a cheery thumbs-up.

Beverly stared resolutely at the ground, her fingers twisted in her T-shirt as Cynthia started talking. She wasn't used to feeling so embarrassed, but she couldn't help it; wasn't it sort of pitiful for your (hopefully) future boyfriend's godmother to be calling on your behalf to ask permission to bring you home for Thanksgiving?

Not a question I ever though I'd be asking, to be honest.

"Hello, darling godson." Cynthia's jovial tone snapped Beverly from her thoughts. "I have a favor to ask: How do you feel about having a guest over for Thanksgiving?"

There was the distinct sound of grumbling on the other end of the line, until Cynthia cut in, "No, no, nothing like that. Our lovely guest is none other than Miss Bev, who was planning to spend Thanksgiving all by herself in her tiny dorm room." When Beverly peeked up, her eyes widened at Cynthia's mischievous wink, and she turned away once more, wondering if this was how Griffin felt around his godmother.

"We can't have that, I agree." The woman continued. "Would you be able to pick her up? Excellent, excellent. She'll text you her dorm number so you can pick her up at the door. Thank you, dear. Hm, what's that? Oh," Beverly looked up once more, hiding a wince when she saw Cynthia's shit-eating grin. "I'll tell her. Okay, uh-huh, bye now."

Hanging up, Cynthia informed her cheekily, "Griffin says 'hello,' and that he is beyond thrilled at having you join us for the holiday."

Beverly's eyes narrowed suspiciously, and Cynthia chuckled, holding her hands up in a sign of surrender. "Alright, he didn't quite say all that, but it was definitely implied. I'll see you on Thursday, okay? And no, you don't have to bring anything. Bye-bye, now, hon!"

And then Cynthia was gone, leaving Beverly with an empty shopping cart but an entire load of mixed feelings.

***

As Beverly trekked across campus, she was halted by Alicia's voice calling, "Hey, Bev!"

She halted, turning to face the other girl with a grin as Alicia slowed and began to walk with her. "Hey, Alicia, what's up? I thought you were ducking out?" Last she knew, her friend from biology was spending Thanksgiving break with her cousin and his family outside of town.

Alicia bobbed her head in a nod. "Yeah, but I'm not leaving till tonight. Hey, I meant to ask earlier, but do you want to come with me? My cousin and his wife are super cool, I promise, and they've got a cute baby, too."

Just as she opened her mouth to accept the invitation, Beverly faltered, recalling what she'd agreed to earlier that day. "Thanks, Alicia, I appreciate it, but I've actually got a place to go this year."

Alicia's brows rose. "Oh? Where?"

"Uh," she faltered for a moment, knowing perfectly well she hadn't mentioned Griffin to anyone, even her closest friend. It wasn't that she was ashamed of him, of course, but their friendship was so special and new that she wanted to be selfish and keep it to herself for a little while longer. "A friend of mine. He's—"

"He?!" Alicia's eyes narrowed. "A straight 'he'? Or a gay 'he'?"

"Well, does it matter?"

"Of course it does! If he's straight, then that means he probably doesn't just want to be your friend, Beverly. He probably wants to be more than a friend, if you catch my drift." The other girl wiggled her eyebrows outrageously, and Beverly had to hold back a snort of amusement.

Yeah, she was definitely not going to mention to Alicia that she and Griffin had already sort-of-kind-of-definitely established that they were both single and interested in one another.

"He's straight, Alicia. He works at a coffeehouse nearby, and that's how we met, actually."

"Hm. Do I get to meet him?" Alicia didn't even wait for a response before she was nodding solemnly. "Yep, I should meet your boyfriend."

"That'll be difficult," Beverly drawled, "since I don't actually have a boyfriend. We're friends right now, Alicia, promise."

The other girl scrutinized her for several long beats, before blowing out an exaggerated sigh of defeat. "Alright, fine, keep your secrets, Beverly, but if this friendship," she made quotation marks with her fingers, "keeps up, I expect to meet the dude."

Beverly shook her head with a quiet laugh. "Sure thing, Alicia."

They quieted as they passed two girls standing at the back of the student center, puffing on sticks that Beverly decided did not look like cigarettes. She shot Alicia a wide-eyed glance, but remained silent until they were at least a hundred feet away. "Can we do that out in the open now?"

"Pretty sure that's a 'no,' chief." Alicia peeked over her shoulder at the girls and shuddered. "I swear, girl, the second students hear the word 'break,' they lose the last two brain cells they have. Are you sure you'll be okay over Thanksgiving? I heard from Shawn, a guy in my psych course, that they arrested two more people just yesterday. They were snorting heroin in the bathroom, Beverly. Heroin!"

Beverly frowned, praying that Deb wasn't snorting heroin in their room. "At this rate, we won't have any students left. They'll all be expelled and in prison or something."

"Or something," Alicia grumbled. "I can't wait to graduate and get away from these idiots." She paused, then added, "Except you, of course. You're the only idiot I can tolerate."

The teasing won a startled laugh from Beverly. "Oh, Alicia," she crooned, draping a hand over her heart, "you flatter me so."

"I know, Bev. I'm a dream."

"You're something," Beverly lobbed back, darting away with a squeal when Alicia tried to pinch her in the stomach.

The other girl stopped moving, and Beverly peered up to see they'd reached her dorm building. Turning to Alicia, she asked, "Do you want to come up and hang for a while?"

"Nah, I'm all good, girl. I've got to finish packing, actually. Hey, keep me posted on your boy toy, alright?"

"Alicia."

"What? I need details eventually, Bev."

No way. "Sure, Alicia." Only once I know what the details are.

Alicia hummed thoughtfully. "Okay. Look, have a good Thanksgiving, alright? I'll see you when I get back." She leaned forward, tucking Beverly into a tight hug and swaying their bodies side-to-side as though they were shooting a scene for some Nicholas Sparks movie. "Love you, girl."

Beverly smiled sweetly at her closest friend. "Love you too, Alicia. Tell your family I said 'hey.'"

"Will do. Be careful, Bev." Alicia's smile was still present, but her eyes were solemn with her concern.

Instead of conveying her own worry as she thought about Deb and the girls and the damn heroin on their campus, Beverly grinned and replied with utter confidence, "Always."