"rise and shine, cupcake!!" niko called through the cellphone speaker irritatingly loud, in case matilda's alarm had mysteriously broken this morning. he'd apologize to her roommate ( and the rest of the girls dorm, probably ) later. "see? i'm already using domestic pet names! anyway - ready to skip class and look at some apartments??" he was already outside when he called her, checking the time every few moments. the apartment they were viewing wasn't far from campus, but he still wanted to be on time and keep his plan of lies in check. "if you meet me outside in under ten minutes, i'll pay for your coffee, too." niko promised, practically bouncing from anticipation.












