one. Meet Alexei Romanov

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"Ugh, how come some people get to have like, everything going for them?"

"Three, he's apparently a sex god. Like seriously amazing in bed."

"Well, I'll just have to try that one for myself," the blonde said with a sardonic smile and a perfectly practiced hair flip.

I was kind of warming up to the Starbucks girls, even though I didn't even know their names –their banter reminded me of Tina and myself. They did kind of overuse the word "like" for two girls who were sitting in a Harvard literature class, but that was a transgression I was ready to forgive.

"And four, he's free. Single. He was with some model, I think, but they lasted for something like four weeks before breaking up."

Blonde Starbucks girl rubbed her hands and Auburn Starbucks girl laughed. "He's just smokin'."

"I know," the blonde girl said as she pulled out her compact to check her make-up in the small round mirror. Our gazes met in the reflection and she surprised me by smiling. Ducking my head in, I smiled back, feeling my cheeks warm up as she turned in her seat. "Hey. I'm Rose, but you should call me Ro," she said, smile still firmly in place.

"Erm... I'm Isis," I managed to utter as I tucked one of my springy curls behind my ear. It immediately went back to its original position.

Her auburn-haired friend turned around in her seat, looking confused. Her gaze rested on me for a moment, and then her confusion melted away, replaced by a smile that matched her friend's. My blush probably grew exponentially –at least that's how it felt. I never was very good with people.

"I'm Jenna," she said.

"Isis," I reintroduced myself with a meek smile.

"Is this your first class?" Ro asked and I think that my blush spread to my neck.

"Well, um, I –"

Thankfully, I didn't have to finish that sentence, because the professor spoke into his microphone right then and started presenting the syllabus. Ro gave me an apologetic smile and turned around in her seat to face the front of the classroom as I sighed with relief.

To be honest, I didn't really know what I was doing there. How did I announce that I wasn't actually a student but simply a less-than-half-time employee at the Harvard Library without looking like a complete nut job? Yeah. No chance of that happening.

So I sank a bit lower in my seat and continued my sketch of the classroom, as the professor's voice slowly became background noise and the sound of people typing on their laptops became a pleasant rain-like sound...

I jumped a bit when chatter erupted all around me. My hand slipped and when I looked down at my sketch, it was marred by a thick black line. With a sigh, I tore the page out and balled it up –it wasn't all that good anyway. Jenna and Ro turned in their seats in sync to face me and I felt compelled to leap out of my seat and make a run for it, but I forced myself to remain seated.

"Well, that was boring," Ro remarked, looking slightly disappointed.

"It kind of was."

"I didn't hear a word of what he said," I admitted.

"Definitely not what I was expecting from college."

"So. What do you think about hottie there?"  Jenna asked while discreetly jutting her thumb at Alexei, who was currently sitting on a table, his feet resting on one of the pivoting plastic chairs while he talked to his friends.

"Uh, he's kind of good looking, I guess."

A moment of silence followed my statement as the girls exchanged a disbelieving look.

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