she goes back. I don’t know yet. I will probably apply to many places, though. Because what if I get a full-ride to Oxford or Cambridge and not somewhere here. You never know what’ll happen these days with funding the way it is.”
“Don’t remind me,” she said and groaned. “If I don’t get an advisor, they’re going to place me with one who isn’t even near my preferred field, and I’m not going to have any hope of getting into a decent grad school.”
I brought her hand to my lips and kissed the back of it. “We’ll figure it out. You’re not alone in this. And not every undergrad is like ours, so it will be a different playing field for graduate school.”
Her eyes warmed, and she smiled softly. “I guess you’re right.”
“Hey, you guys,” Nessa said as she came up to us. Her gaze went to our clasped hands, and then her eyebrows shot up. “Oh. Well.”
Mackenzie cleared her throat and pulled her hand away from mine. I let her, only because I didn’t want things to be awkward. Nessa was my friend, and she and Mackenzie were roommates. This was the first time anybody had seen us out and about where they could put whatever label they wanted on us.
I wasn’t sure how I should act either, which was different for me because usually I always knew.
“Hi, Nessa,” Mackenzie said quickly. “How was your last class?” she asked, and Nessa just blinked between us.
“Good. The usual. So, this is a thing?” Nessa asked, looking between us. “Not that it’s not awesome. I mean…yay. I just wasn’t expecting it to be a thing, I guess. I’m sorry. Is that weird?”
She kept babbling, and I leaned forward and took her hands. Mackenzie smiled softly and looked between us. “We’re taking it slow. We’re figuring things out.”
“Right,” Mackenzie added. “I haven’t seen you lately, so I’m sorry if this was a surprise, even though we’re still just friends. All of us. Just friends,” Mackenzie said, and Nessa smiled.
“You guys are cute. Stop freaking out. I mean, people are going to freak out because we like gossip, and it’s going to go all over social media and group texts, but it’s what we do. Now, I need to eat because I skipped lunch thanks to cramming for an exam.”
“You never cram for an exam.”
“I do when the material’s annoying as heck. Do you guys want to go get dinner?”
“I have dinner with my dad tonight, unfortunately.”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Nessa said.
“I’m headed back to the house. I need to work on a few things. Did you drive? Do you need a ride?” Mackenzie asked.
“I rode in with Natalie, but sure, I’d love a ride home,” Nessa said, smiling. “Have fun with your dad tonight,” she added.
I smiled. “I’ll try. Have fun. I will see you both tomorrow. There’s a lot of studying in our future as exams are coming up.”
“Don’t remind me,” Mackenzie said, and Nessa just shook her head. “Seriously, don’t.”
It would have felt awkward to lean in and kiss her goodbye, mostly because we didn’t know what we were doing, even if we pretended to put labels on it, so I nodded my head at them and headed towards my car. Nessa and Mackenzie walked away, both of them talking rapidly about their days.
I was glad that Mackenzie had the ladies now. She had been living with some other girls who had all graduated.
I knew Mackenzie felt lost, as did a lot of us these days. I only hoped to hell she found her way soon. It was odd that I had joked about being her rebound. That way, she had someone to lean on. Yet, here I was, needing to lean on her—and wanting to. I wasn’t going to think too hard on that. We had other things to focus on. But I could still want.
I reached my car and then drove towards the restaurant. Dad was staying at a hotel but had wanted to meet at a little bistro nearby. I liked the place. They served decent food, and it wasn’t outrageously expensive. I was still on college money at this point. If I weren’t taking so many courses to get the degrees I wanted, I would have a job—the same with so many of us. Dillon was my only roommate with a real job these days. I hoped it all worked out in the end.
I pulled into the parking lot. Since I didn’t know what rental car my