Page 13 of Catching My Dreams

“How’s your day going?” Jasmine asked once they’d ordered, collected their drinks, and settled at one of the tables in the spot in the galleria reserved for the coffee shop.

“It’s been okay. Have a bit of a headache, but my first lecture was pretty chilled.” It was true. For the most part.

Her bit of a headache was heading toward migraine territory, given the way the lights in the building were like needles stabbing into her eyeballs, but it was nothing the painkiller she’d taken after class wouldn’t fix. Hopefully.

“And yours?”

Jasmine grinned, her smile way too sunny to be fake. “Good. Great actually. I met Mark before classes started, and he surprised me with a blueberry muffin and a necklace.”

She showed off the small teardrop-shaped crystal hanging from her neck, and Ella and Becca made the appropriate oohs and aahs.

“What was the special occasion?” Ella asked before peeking over her shoulder as discreetly as possible. He still wasn’t there, but her shoulders remained tight.

The blonde shrugged. “No special occasion. He just wanted to spoil me.”

“Ugh, you lucky bitch,” Ella groaned, her words coming a bit late because of her distractedness. “Can we trade lives or maybe just create a boyfriend-sharing schedule or something?”

Jasmine and Mark had been together for nearly a year, and Mark had proved to be the best boyfriend a girl could possibly ask for during that time. Ella would say she wasn’t jealous, but that would be a bald-faced lie. She wanted someone who would sweep her off her feet. And, you know, give her baked goods and necklaces just because he wanted to.

“Hell no,” Jasmine replied. “I’ve got it too good to give it up or even share it with you.”

“Fine,” Ella relented with a dramatic sigh. “And you, Becca? Where does your day sit on the scale of ‘I have a headache’ to ‘I have an amazing boyfriend.’”

The red-haired woman shook her head. “It would have been smack dab in the middle if I hadn’t gotten a call from my mom this morning.”

Ella grimaced. “Is she still being difficult about you and Georgia?”

Becca’s parents were extremely conservative Christians, and when Becca had come out and started dating a girl from her Intro to Philosophy class, they hadn’t taken it well. It wasn’t precisely unexpected, but despite being a Catholic university, Georgetown was so welcoming to all of its students that it was still a shock to hear the way her parents had treated her since.

Becca’s lips pressed together. “Difficult is an understatement. After asking if we were still together, she said I shouldn’t book a plane ticket home for Christmas.”

Ella’s hands curled into fists while Jasmine rubbed a hand soothingly over their friend’s back. She wanted to punch Becca’s mother in her sanctimonious face.

“And your dad?” Jasmine asked.

Becca bit her lip and blinked, fighting back the growing moisture in her eyes. “He texted me after my mom hung up and said I need to realize how hard this is for her and to give her some time.”

“How hard it is for her?” Ella repeated, dumbstruck. She knew it was a contentious subject in the Christian world, but Becca’s parents weren’t even trying to be understanding. “He actually said that?”

“Yep,” she replied, her voice cracking. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. He’s not a huge fan of me being gay either.”

Jasmine shook her head. “I’m so sorry, Becs.”

“You can have Christmas with me and my gran,” Ella suggested. “We’re way cooler than your parents, and I make a mean tofurkey.”

Becca released a half-sob half-laugh. “What the hell is tofurkey?”

“It’s a tofu turkey,” Ella replied brightly. “And it’s fricking delicious.”

“It sounds disgusting,” Jasmine argued, her face pinched like she could think of nothing worse.

“As disgusting as an animal carcass?” Ella asked with raised brows. She usually didn’t point out the hypocrisy of meat-eaters who thought plant-based foods were gross, but nobody was allowed to diss her tofurkey.

“Ugh, thanks for that image,” Becca groaned.

Ella hid her evil grin behind her mocha. A muscle in her cheek twinged, but she ignored the stab of pain. “You’re welcome.”

“Thanks for the offer, Ella,” Becca said. “But Georgia already invited me to spend Christmas with her family in New York.”

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