Alice snaps her head up: it’s Maisy, her best friend, walking up to her table before plopping down on the chair in front of her and dropping her bag on the floor.
“Hey.” Alice’s much quieter reply doesn’t go unnoticed by Maisy, who gives her a worried look.
Alice shakes her head smiling. “Don’t worry, I’m alright. Only didn’t get much sleep last night.”
“Oh, right!” Maisy accepts the coffee cup her friend is holding. “You had that chemistry test. How did it go?”
“Good, actually. The results are already in: I got 85%.”
Maisy raises both eyebrows: “Damn. I’d say more than good. Didn’t you say you were going to fail? Are you one of those students who like to complain about their bad results when in reality they did perfectly?”
“No! I was serious when I said I was screwed. I was only lucky to get help last night.”
“Who helped you?”
Alice lowers her gaze nonchalantly. “Jude did.”
Her best friend deadpans. “Jude? As in Jude Higginson? My boyfriend’s best friend?”
Alice nods quickly.
“I thought you two didn’t get along.”
“We don’t!” Alice admits. “Last night, however, I was on the verge of a crisis, and he offered his help. He said he’d already studied that stuff, and I had to accept.”
Maisy stares at her without blinking, and Alice shifts uncomfortably. “Also, I called you here to ask you a favor. Do you happen to know what’s Jude’s favorite drink?”
The girl huffs out a laugh. “No, I don’t. I’m happy to know that you asked to meet for this, though.”
“Could you ask Max?” Alice begs.
Maisy gives her an are-you-kidding-me look but pulls out her phone from the purse nonetheless.
After a few seconds of utter silence, Maisy jumps up with a giant smile.
“Hey, sweety! I’m here with Alice. Yes. She asked if you know what’s Jude’s favorite drink. Yeah… I didn’t ask. Because I didn’t think it’d be important! … fine.”
Moving the phone away from her ear, Maisy looks at her friend: “He asked if you’re doing it because you two had sex.”
Alice turns deep purple and splutters something, to which Maisy only chuckles.
“No, I don’t think they didn’t. Why can’t you just give me an answer?! …alright, thank you. I love you, text you later!”
Finally facing Alice, the girl smirks: “Two shots latte macchiato.”
And now, a few minutes later, Alice was standing in front of his dorms’ door, holding a cup of steaming latte macchiato, with her wrist frozen mid-air.
It was Maisy’s fault.
Her best friend always made fun of her whenever they’d see Jude around the campus because apparently, he had a crush on her.
Jude Higgins had a crush on Alice Goddard, the girl he always picked a fight with.
And while Alice had tried to reason with her best friend that it wasn’t possible to like someone you loathe, she simply had ignored her, like always.
Alice was certain he didn’t like her, but still, it’d be nice to know if he did.
Mainly because she had kind of liked him when they’d first met, but then he decided to act like a jerk around her, and she’d got along with it.
It was time to woman up. Maybe he did feel something for her.
Alice knocked on the door, which must have been already open because, with only a light touch, she had a complete view of his room.
And a shirt-less Jude spread on his bed.
And a blondie in a bra, shoving her tongue down his throat.