Page 77 of True Blue

“What’s the boat incident?” Janette sits forward, eyes alight.

“I told my parents over break.” I say before Autumn can fill her in. “I don’t know if they’ve told Molly yet, but they were both excited. They want to meet them.”

Janette sits back, hands on her disregarded drink.

“Heather and Michael are super sweet. They’ll love you,” Mira says, smiling at Janette. “What about your grandfather?”

“We’ve sort of met,” Janette says, smirking over at me.

I roll my eyes. “Yeah, I think an actual introduction is still needed.”

“Mom will probably want to throw you guys a party.” Mira laughs. “I’m sure she’ll want to meet you both as well.”

“How many meet-the-parents events do we have to go to?” Janette’s shoulders slump and I rub her side.

“Well, I already met your and Axel’s parents.”

“You did?” Mira and Autumn both shoot up, leaning across the table. “How’d it go?”

I rub the bridge of my nose, remembering the tense Thanksgiving dinner. “It’s kind of a long story.”

Mira settles in, smiling. “We have time. Start about two months ago and go from there.”

“Well, we’d probably have to start before the semester started to get all the context in,” Janette says before launching into how the three of us came together.

I shake my head, smiling at my best friends while Janette smirks behind her drink each time they gasp or squeal dramatically. Warmth seeps into my chest and I jump in to explain how we spent Thanksgiving break, Janette weaving in the parts about her Mom. Mira and Autumn listen with rapt attention, the snow piling up outside as part of the weight on my shoulders falls away.

After an hour of explanations and betting on who will hug Janette more, April or my mom, I glance at my watch, realizing we’re late to meet Axel.

“We have to go finalize our project.” I nudge Janette, her spine snapping straight as she glances at the time on her phone. She nods, following me out of the booth.

Autumn and Mira stand as well, gathering their stuff and tossing their empty cups in the trash nearby. “We should get back to West Tower. Looks like the storm is picking up.”

We all glance out the window. The light puffs of white have turned into a fast flurry of pelting snow as the wind drifts the tops of the accumulation around to mix with the already falling flakes. I hold out Janette’s coat as she puts her arms in, throwing my own on once she starts on the buttons of hers.

Mira smiles at us as I hand Janette her earmuffs and take her empty cup to the trash with mine. I roll my eyes at her soft expression, but my gut twists a bit at the purse of her lips as she looks away.

“We’re okay, right?” I whisper, standing between her and Janette as we walk out.

She nods, eyes going wide as she looks up at me. “Of course, Bent. I’m happy for you.” She smiles and I sigh. She hugs me just inside the entryway of the café, and I wrap my arms around her as well. “Last week was just a lot and I have a feeling these next few weeks aren’t going to be much better.”

I nod as we pull apart, still holding her in place once I can see her eyes. “I’m here if you need anything, okay? Anything, Mir.”

She nods, Autumn placing a hand on her back and echoing my words.

Janette pipes up after a second as well. “Me too.” She steps forward, entering our little huddle and Mira smiles over at her.

“Thanks, you guys,” she untangles herself from all of us. “You two need to get going. Tell Axel we said hi!” She nudges us toward the door, and I nod, holding the door open for Janette as we walk out into the storm.

A few feet away from the café, I grab her hand, pulling her closer to me and wrapping an arm around her. “I think that went well.”

She smiles up at me, teeth chattering. “It went amazing. I thought they’d be way more pissed.”

I chuckle, leaning down to kiss her cheek. She pouts as I pull away and I tilt my head. Janette reaches up and grabs the back of my neck, pulling me back down and kissing me fully. Her lips are cold against mine, but as we get lost in it, warmth spreads between us. I pull back for air a few moments later and Janette laughs breathlessly.

I watch her, mesmerized and lean down to kiss her again quickly before we continue on our way. The storm churns around us, but my body feels warm and light as we continue down the path toward Axel.

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