𝐑𝐞𝐝 𝐑𝐢𝐝𝐠𝐞

L U C Y

"You ready?" Christina asks, sidling up to me as we enter the classroom. She's claimed the spot beside me since we started our project. I had assumed she would go back to her previous seat once we finished our painting, but the day to get our marks back for it and here she sits, by my side.

"Of course. You doubt our skills?" I ask and she smiles.

"Our skills?" She questions and I shrug.

"My skills. Your skills. Semantics."

"We'll get such a good grade, you'll be begging to be my partner for the next one," Christina smirks, spinning on her stool and leaning her head back to look at me playfully.

"I don't care if we get 100%, I'm not begging you for anything."

She pouts. "Not even for something you really need?"

"What do I need from you?"

"Fashion advice," She grins, acting surprised when our professor steps up and holds a finger to her lips to tell me to be quiet and stop any rebuttal on my part. I settle for a quick glare that she doesn't see, focused on the front of the room.

"I won't be sending your grades out until this class is over so please save your questions for after." She announces at the start of her lecture and I smile at her tone. Christina gets pulled into a quiet conversation with someone in front of us and to her left, causing her to lean closer into my space as she tries to hear them.

Her scent is overwhelming and makes me crave a latte, despite it being three in the evening, not to mention the fact that I don't particularly like coffee. I gulp, darting my eyes toward the professor and away when I realize I'm staring at Christina's neck, where I imagine her scent to be the strongest. My eyes end up on her wrists and I shake myself out of this stupor.

The class goes on in a similar fashion, with me trying not to stare at Christina and her doing a multitude of distracting things that make my task impossible.

"I need a drink," I say to myself and sure enough, Christina hears me from her close proximity. I thought she'd gotten up and walked away when we were dismissed but she just moved behind me, probably with the goal to startle me when I turned around.

"Well, there's an easy fix for that. My sorority is having a party tonight."

"That almost sounds like an invitation, careful," I tease, packing up my things. I suddenly remember that our grades are being sent out after class, so I pull up my email on my phone and refresh the inbox.

"That's because it is. You should come," She says and I look up from my screen to see her smiling genuinely.

"I thought we weren't friends, why do you look so eager?" I ask suspiciously and she rolls her eyes.

"My bad. Let me try again," She turns her face into a mock-menacing one. "I'm having a party tonight, you better not show your face. Or else?" She tacks on that last part and gets a chuckle out of me. I'm about to reply snakily when a new email pops up and I gasp, moving closer to her so she can see my screen.

Our arms are touching, our heads are down and together, her curls brushing my neck as we look at the grade. "Oh my god," She says first and I smile, looking up at her.

"Oh my god," I repeat, my eyes widening. We look at each other excitedly, sharing this moment before I look back down. "There's comments," I say and she grabs my phone with one hand, pulling my entire body in closer. We're essentially huddled together is this emptying room and I can't care about anything other than our grade.

"An amazing collaboration," She reads off the phone. "I'd like to discuss in person when you both have time..." She says, furrowing her perfectly sculpted eyebrows at me as we look at each other in confusion.