Page 47 of Study Buddies

“So you say. Did you shave your legs?”

“Hailey!” She was exasperating, especially since she still wouldn’t reveal which of her three hot-as-sin roommates she was with. “Yes, I did, but just because people will see them. It’s not a ballgown that reaches the floor.”

Shaving my legs and getting them so smooth had actually been a pleasant experience. It had been lovely to take a bath without worrying that someone else needed the bathroom. Lucas and Kyle weren’t home yet. Jayden had driven me back here after my four o’clock class, but he was downstairs installing the new showerhead.

“How are you wearing your hair? And if you say in a ponytail, I’m going to drive out there and cut it off.”

“You don’t know how to get here,” I said with a laugh. “But no, not a ponytail. I’m working on it right now.” I described what I was doing as I brushed my hair in front of the mirror. Modeling a video I’d seen online, I pulled back the sides, twisting them as I went and leaving a few tendrils to frame my face. Then I brought the two handfuls together behind my head and did my best to recreate the intricate knots as the girl in the video had. Ittook a few tries, but I was pretty pleased with the results after I’d pinned it into place.

“So it’s like a half updo?” Hailey asked.

“Yes. The rest is just hanging down my back.”

“Good. Your hair is gorgeous. Lucas is going to love it. He’s the one with the hair fetish, right?”

“No one has a hair fetish.” I spoke quieter, in case one of the guys had come home without my hearing them. “But if someone did, it would be Jayden, not Lucas.”

She laughed. “Okay, tell me about the dress that is going to blow Lucas’s mind.”

“It’ll probably blow his mind that I even own a dress. He probably thinks my entire wardrobe is just oversized sweatshirts and leggings.”

“Then he’s going to be in for a surprise.”

Growing up with a single mom meant that we never had a lot of extra cash, but when I hit my teen years, my mom and I got into thrifting—at least during those periods when Doug wasn’t in her life.

Some weekends, we’d drive up to Atlanta and spend all of Saturday at our favorite thrift stores. My mom always said I had a good eye because I’d find some nice clothes, sometimes even designer dresses. I had a couple of them with me here in Haverford.

The one I chose was sage, which reminded me of Lucas’s eyes. It was a cold-shoulder minidress, which meant that there were just spaghetti straps holding it up. Once I slipped it over my head, the sleeves hung down and only covered my upper arms. The neckline was slightly scooped, and then the dress hung in loose ripples to mid-thigh. It wasn’t fitted, but somehow the way the fabric that swirled around my hips and thighs was pretty and feminine looking, at least to my eye.

“How does it look?”

There wasn’t a full-length mirror in here, but I did my best to snap a selfie that showed the whole of the dress.

Hailey squealed—actually squealed—when she saw it. “You look gorgeous.”

“Thank you.”

“Sorry, I misspoke. You lookfuckinggorgeous.”

I laughed. “Thanks?”

“Lucas is going to be eating out of your hand.”

I giggled at that image. “I’m pretty sure the restaurant would frown upon that.” Though he hadn’t told me where we were going, just that it was a bit fancier than the restaurants out this way.

Hailey sighed. “Now I want to get dressed up and look all pretty, too.”

“And which one of your hot roommates would you show once you got all dressed up?”

“Nice try.”

I laughed. “I don’t think you could choose wrong when it comes to those three.”

She coughed, almost a choking sound after I said that.

“Are you okay?”

Hailey cleared her throat. “Yes, fine. Are you wearing high heels?”

---