Noor would be lying if she said that she hadn't noticed Zafira's annoyed glances whenever Worm was around. In fact, those annoyed glances were the very reason that she kept Worm around. Worm was not particularly great company. He was not particularly interesting or particularly good-looking. He didn't share Noor's cultural background or hobbies. But he was useful when Noor wanted to bother Zafira. And that was, well, all the time.
It seemed that Vincent's presence in their shared dorm room increased tenfold when Worm started coming over. The space was always hot and muggy and filled with a cloud of jasmine, sandalwood, cologne, and the faintest smell of cheese. Worm was, Noor learned upon asking about this scent, a great fan of all cheeses, especially brie. How could Noor begrudge him that? Brie was great. Almost as great as making Zafira tick. Almost.
Zafira's hatred of Worm grew with every passing day. One afternoon, Noor had the terrific idea to bring Worm to their Tuesday night study session. They reviewed together, on those Tuesday nights, all manner of odd topics that made up a long, long list of potential debate prompts. They were doing a speech and debate competition in which they did not have prior time for preparation, only a few short minutes on the stage after the prompt had been delivered during which to summon up their knowledge and plan out their argument. Thus, their goal was to become walking encyclopedias within the next three months.
Zafira's expression was steely and rigid when Worm trailed into the room behind Noor. Noor pasted on her best showman's smile - it was a very good one, since Noor was, in fact, part of Loxton's theater club - and announced, "I have arrived for our study session." With that, she plopped onto the floor where Zafira had spread out some papers and grabbed one.
"What is he doing here?" Zafira hissed.
"Who?" Noor asked, batting her eyelashes innocently.
"Him," Zafira snapped, still talking in a whisper. A distracted Worm was eying some photographs on Noor's side of the room. "Worm."
"I'm afraid I can't hear you," Noor said with a wicked grin. "You'll have to repeat that louder."
"What is Worm doing here?" Zafira asked, looking bored now. She leaned back against the wooden vanity that stood opposite of her bed. "We're supposed to be studying."
"And studying we are," Noor replied gleefully. "I don't see how Worm's presence affects that."
Zafira bristled. "How would you feel if I brought Vincent here while we studied?"
Noor shrugged. "Feel free. Vincent's better company than you. Worm's better company than you. Hell, even a worm would be better company than you."
There was a beat of silence during which Noor wondered if she had gone a tad too far with her antics. Then, Zafira raised her eyebrows. "You just have no taste."
"I have plenty of taste," Noor quipped. "You're the one here who drinks tea, for Christ's sake."
Zafira paused. Then... "Touche," Zafira said. A smile touched her perfect lips. Noor felt her cheeks flush a little. Never had she won an argument with Zafira before. She looked down at the paper in her hands so as not to seem as pleased with herself. A calloused hand tapped her shoulder. Noor looked up to see Zafira's amused smile. "Your page is upside-down."
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hehe
who do y'all like more so far - noor or zafira?