Mabel

5

Mabel🐟
lucaaaa

Mabel🐟
I won't b home until later :(( kang wants me back after lunch >:(

Luca🧚🏻‍♂️
you were late AGAIN???

Mabel🐟
um

Mabel🐟
anyways see u later king 😌

I shove my phone back into my hoodie pocket with a groan. Now Luca's gonna be on my ass with the 'if you keep being late you'll fail and have to mooch off of me for the rest of your life' lecture that I get a good thrice a week.

Honestly. I forgot my sketchbook and the sketches that I was supposed to do and my portfolio, and then I bumped into another student and spilled acrylic paint everywhere, and Kang tells me I have to come back in an hour to clean it up. Is that supposed to be justice?

It'll have dried by then, what kind of sadist is he? (Actually, on second thought, acrylic is the bitchy older sibling of fast-drying paints. It probably dried before I even got caught).

Talia sent me a string of laughing emojis when I told her, whereas Morin just called me an idiot.

But, they at least both offered to PayPal me money for lunch to cheer me up (I think they've got some sort of telekinetic brain connection that makes them always come up with the same ideas).

That was good enough for me to stop intensely moping; knowing that I can buy lunch fit for a king. Or, at least, not a broke college student.

Hopefully, they don't talk to each other about it, otherwise they'll both probably hit me with something.

In spite of the financial aid, however, I'm still moping just a little bit.

Luckily, I had the sense to go to one of the cafés closer to the town center, full-well knowing that every lazy student that goes to this university will be at the one on campus around about now, and I'd rather not wait forty minutes to get some mediocre hot chocolate and an overpriced bagel.

I did, however, consider going back to the dorm to get changed out of my pajamas first and, while it's very common to see students dressed in such attire, that's only accepted on campus.

I'm at the counter, looking over the absurd amount of food they have on offer and thinking that $20 really is way too much money for one person.

I wasn't even really that hungry until I saw all of this and was given a whole $20 to spend on it.

It's then that I hear the café's bell ring and signal someone's entry into the shop, and I turn around out of interest.

And classic Romcom luck, apparently.

Kai limps (limps?) into the line behind me, head down and looking at his phone. I ignore the barista's request for my order, blurting out, "You're limping? Was that because of me?"

Kai's head whips up like he'd just heard the ghost of one of his ancestors calling out to him. He looks down at his ankle, then back up at me, mouth agape as he mutters "Oh, uh..."

"I'll buy you lunch to make up for it! Talia and Morin lent me money," I say, smiling at him with my debit card in hand.

Kai doesn't say anything for a moment, but then he slowly puts his phone away and says, "I'll have an americano..."

Ah, he looks like a coffee drinker.

I smile enthusiastically—a little too enthusiastically apparently, because Kai looks marginally freaked out with those wide eyes—and tell him to go find somewhere to sit, I'd join him in a minute.