It was another (somewhat) early morning at the coffee shop where the spritely blonde manager returned the flash drive to Ray from over the counter. It had spent the night in her office where her name was marked on a plaque as "Lorel", and was now thoroughly reviewed.

"I don't see why not," she said, propping her hands on her hips.

Ray stared at her, speechless. It took a moment for him to realize that he needed to come up with a response—any response—to ensure her that he was still onboard.

"O-Oh, really?"

Fuck.

Lorel rose an eyebrow at him. "You don't seem all that excited."

Ray shook his head, waving his hands about wildly. "I-I am! Trust me, I really am. My brain just sort of imploded there. I'm—I'm glad you liked my work."

One of Lorel's coworkers asked for her assistance with some packages that were dropped off at the back door. Ray stepped back from the counter as Lorel said, "Take a seat somewhere—I'll be over in a bit to discuss scheduling."

The café itself was small and narrow, and seating was limited, but outside there were a few tables posted out on the sidewalk. He hesitated at the door, though, and glanced back at where Lorel rolled her sleeves up and heaved three boxes of syrup into the air like it was nothing. Ray's jaw nearly dropped to the floor. Truth be told, he didn't know a single girl her size with guns like that, holy shit. Ray was damn near jealous.

Ray recovered himself long enough to claim a seat out at one of the sidewalk tables. He studied the flash drive he and Leo had worked on before tucking it into the pocket of his plaid slacks.

When Lorel arrived, she was in the midst of tugging off her apron and folding it over her arm. She took a seat, crossed her legs, and propped an elbow up onto the table. "As you can see, we don't have that much space for equipment, but if you'll be bringing anything—speakers... microphones...—we can make it work."

"Oh, no, I'll just be doing acoustic," Ray confessed, waving his hands. "And I don't—I don't really sing much. I had a sample on there, but with the commotion in a coffee shop I don't know if that will add or detract from the aesthetic."

Lorel smiled at him and said, "You do have a lovely voice, but I agree. You get a pass this time, but one of these days I hope you can sing for us, Ray."

Before Ray could get too flustered, Lorel was on to the scheduling part of their meeting. Since Ray would simply be making commission off of tips from customers, Lorel suggested that he come during rush hour times—in the morning before class or around lunchtime. Ray factored it into his class schedule and decided that he could manage Wednesday mornings without a hitch.

So long as... he woke up on time...

Ray slapped on his brightest smile for class that day and, upon shimmying through the studio door, he caught eyes with Leo and struck a pose.

Leo gasped, throwing his hands down on the tabletop and startling Huey awake. "You got the gig!" Leo said.

Ray broke into a little dance, buzzing with energy, and made his way over to their table. He dropped down, slinging his backpack to the ground beside him, as Leo slapped his arm repeatedly. "She really liked it! I'm gonna be performing next Wednesday morning."

"Oh my God, we'll be there," Leo promised.

"We?" Huey said, groggy. "How early is it."

Leo groaned as Ray smiled, propped his chin on his hand, and said, "It's pretty early. You guys don't have to come—the café's kinda puny anyway. And it's in the Design District, too."

Leo shook his head, completely resolute. "Nope. Not too early for me! I'll be there—and you can count on it." No one had been this dedicated to Ray since his Aunt Natalia and Grandma made a point to fly out to Ray's middle school summer camp in Wyoming for some theater performance. It made him flustered beyond belief, and it was all he could do to keep from blushing, batting a hand at Leo, and saying, "Golly, you don't have to do that for little ol' me," in a thick southern drawl.

Instead, Ray ducked his head and said, bashfully, "Thanks, Leo," and giggled when Leo gave him a shove on the shoulder.

Their professor walked in, but his entrance was immediately overshadowed by Sora walking in, unperturbed by the attention he drew from all corners of the room. Ray rolled his eyes as Leo and Huey sighed dramatically and hopelessly. He scowled at his notebook as Sora passed them on his way to the back of the classroom.

Sora had woken up that morning to Ray already gone. He had left behind a container of food on Sora's shelf and stuck a post-it to it with Sora's name on it. Sora always had home-cooked meals back at his parents' place (in-house chefs were brilliant, in his opinion), but when he moved to Erin's place, both Erin and Robin were often too busy to cook. They rotated the responsibility, though Sora had an uncanny habit of burning things.

When he moved out at the age of seventeen, that all vanished. He hadn't had a home-cooked meal prepared for him in over a year.

It was... nice.

"It's only until you're feeling better!" the post-it note said, and he could read it in Ray's intentionally snobby voice, nose in the air, hands on his hips.

Sora had scoffed at it and stuck it back onto the container top. It was there when Sora extracted it from his bag as class started, and he could eat in peace at the very back of the classroom.

Their professor was an ancient geezer who refused to go by the formal "Professor Whitaker" that many professors ordered from their students. Instead, he went by Isaac and emphasized this on the first day of class and every day after when some poor soul tried to pull a "Professor Whitaker" on him. Perhaps it was because they all knew he was the programs director, but whatever the case, he didn't tend to act like an actual professor, anyway.

"Now I want all you kids to get out a sheet of paper—" Immediately students were asking one another if they had a piece of notebook paper to spare. "—and you're gonna write your name on it and pass it to the front."

Oh God, Sora groaned internally, reaching for a pen. He clicked it open on his shoulder and scribbled his name down. That bitch Alice was coming up to his row, acting like the teacher's pet she was by collecting the rows' stacks of name tags.

Sora held the slip out to her. She took it with a quick thanks, all while eyeing Sora's lunch. It was hard to miss the neon-green post-it note on the front. Not only that, but the guy was eating what appeared to be perfectly partitioned sections of food: seasoned brown rice, a salad, and homemade hummus.

I knew the guy was a hipster, but who the hell packs a salad for lunch? she thought, tapping the stack of names on her palm as she pranced down to the front of the classroom. She passed them to Isaac, who slapped them into an upside-down baseball cap and shook them about.

Alice went back to her seat and wondered, If he's not living in the dorms anymore, maybe that note was from a roommate? But roommates don't make food for each other—maybe a girlfriend?

Little did she know that the culprit was sitting directly in front of her, arms crossed, and still grumbling about Sora.

What made Sora so special anyway? Anyone could bleach their hair! He's so rude and condescending, too, Ray thought, irritated. He felt all bothered, like when he went down to sleep only to be bombarded by a plethora of toxic thoughts.

His phone buzzed and Ray weaseled it out of his pocket. The class was distracted anyway due to Isaac laying out the names on the front table in stacks of three.

10:49 CHARLIE: Hey I just wanted to see if you're still interested in going out again sometime?

10:49 CHARLIE: I totally get it if it's weird, though. I don't really bring up my profession at all since it can kind of cause problems

10:49 RAY: It probably weeds out the weaklings though, right? :D

10:50 CHARLIE: Yeah it does lol

10:50 CHARLIE: What do you say?

10:50 RAY: I'd love to go out again! It doesn't bother me

10:50 CHARLIE: Really?

10:51 RAY: Yeah why does that surprise you?

10:51 CHARLIE: Cuz Sora says you're a prude

Ray's jaw dropped. He put his phone down and twisted around to glare at Sora, only to get caught halfway by Alice startling at his sudden movement. She rose an eyebrow at him, and Ray stumbled out an apology. He turned back around, internally screaming.

Professor Isaac clapped so loud Ray thought his eardrums might fall out. "Alright, class! Here's what we're gonna do: In case you weren't watching, I've organized everyone into groups of threes. When I read off your name, I want you to stand and get together with your group. I don't care where, just don't bulldoze your classmates over, alright? Once that's all sorted I'll explain the project."

"I hate when he does this," Huey groaned, half-covering his face, as if that would avoid getting his name called.

"It's not that bad..." Leo sighed. He clasped his hands together on his lap and said, "It increases my chances of being grouped up with Sora."

"That's the only good part," Huey said.

"You're hopeless, with a capital 'Hoe'," Ray said, and Huey cackled as Leo gasped in horror.

By some stroke of luck, Leo's name was called in tandem to Huey's. They both lunged to their feet and slapped their hands together in celebration before gathering their things to meet up with their other teammate. Leo looked back at Ray with a sympathetic smile, gave him a thumbs up, and said, "Good luck!"

Ray waved farewell.

"Ray de Lucía?" Isaac called. Ray stood up, heart leaping in his chest. Isaac looked down at the next piece of paper. "Sora Ikeda."

"Fuck," Ray whispered, mortified. He couldn't even look back at Sora because he was rendered frozen by the look of abject murder on Sora's face, pinning Ray through the back of his head.

"Alice Nichols," Isaac said, as if this couldn't possibly get any worse.

Alice stood up and together, she and Ray turned around to look at Sora, who hadn't even bothered to stand. Alice looked back at Ray and said, "Well, here we go," and Ray sighed in agreement. They packed up their things and headed for the back of the classroom.

As he and Alice arrived at the walkway along the side of the classroom, Alice turned to him, put out her hand, and said, "Hey, don't know if you know or remember, but my name's Alice."

"Ray," he said. "New here."

She walked alongside him to the back of the class, smiling as she went, and even as they approached a thoroughly unimpressed Sora. "We meet again, old friend," Alice said.

"We aren't friends," Sora said through gritted teeth. Alice took the seat beside him as he said, "And I don't do group projects. If you two just lay low, I can take care of everything."

"But it's a group project," Ray said, and it prompted both of them to look up at him where he was standing near the entrance of the row. He blushed, scratched at his hair, and said, "I-I mean, we don't even know what the project entails yet. And I honestly really like group projects. I don't mind helping."

Alice clapped her hands and said, "Neither do I, so that settles it. You, Mr. Grumpy-Pants, can shove it. We're all working on the project—as much as I appreciate the freebie offer."

"Yeah, well, my GPA depends on you two not fucking up," Sora said.

When Ray stepped closer with every intent on claiming the seat on Sora's other side, Sora pushed his chair back and stuck his foot out to block the path. He crossed his feet at the ankles on the tabletop as Ray rolled his eyes and took the seat beside Alice.

Their professor called everyone's attention back to the front of the room, and when Ray looked, he was startled by the number of people staring at them from over their shoulders. Ray swallowed hard and looked hesitantly to Alice, who sighed.

She leant over to him and whispered, "They're all jealous."

"Why?" Ray said, and Alice stared at him like he was growing a second head.

She didn't have the chance to respond because Isaac was back to the topic at hand: the group project due at the end of the semester. They would be conducting a research paper on a topic of their choosing—as long as it was on the list that Isaac was now passing around.

When the paper approached their group, a girl passed it over and said, "We picked number thirteen, but if you guys want that topic instead we're welcome to switch!"

"Oh, that's nice," Ray said, taking the paper.

"They're trying to smooze up to Ikeda," Alice said, and Sora scoffed, snatching the paper from Ray's extended hand. Ray stared at the both of them until Alice said, "It's always like this."

"I don't need hand outs," Sora said.

Alice turned to him and asked, "So is it true that your parents died?"

Ray gasped, a hand over his mouth. "Oh, no, that's so dreadful," he said.

Sora slapped the paper down and glared at them both. "No, my parents aren't dead. Where the hell did you get that idea?"

Alice shrugged. "Just a rumor going around."

Sora rolled his eyes and went back to the paper. He studied the topics that were left behind by the other groups and, after a moment, he landed on the fifth option. Alice and Ray leant over.

"'Classic music in contemporary film'," Ray said. He hummed, satisfied. "I like that idea."

"Okay. I'm guessing we'll have to watch a few contemporary films with classical music in them, then," Alice said.

"Thanks Captain Obvious," Sora drawled.

Alice cast him a dull stare. "Who's place are we going to? I have a roommate, so my dorm is off limits."

Clearly, Sora hadn't considered that.

"We don't have to watch it together," Sora said.

"We need to discuss it when it's fresh in our brains," Alice insisted. "Don't you have an apartment?"

Sora laughed, hollow and fake. "Right, yeah, we aren't doing this at my place. Let's just change our topic. Bards in medieval ages sounds fun."

"Aw, but I love movies," Ray whined.

"Let's do it at your place then," Alice suggested, and Ray was thrilled by the idea of hosting a movie night.

"Yeah!" Ray said, gasping, only to stop when Sora stared at him from over Alice's shoulder with a 'what-the-actual-fuck' gesture. "E-Except I... don't have a TV..."

Sora slapped his hand over his forehead.

"That's okay, we can just borrow a projector," Alice said, and Ray couldn't say no to that face. What he could say no to, however, was the look on Sora's face. "Do you have roommates?"

"Uh, no, I live alone," Ray said.

Alice clapped her hands together. "Then that's perfect! We'll watch the movies at your place sometime before the end of the semester. Here, I'll give you my number and we can start a group chat, get it all sorted out."

Ray stumbled over his words as Alice jotted her number down on a piece of paper in her notebook, tore the corner off, and handed it to Ray. She did the same for Sora, who gave her a plastic smile until she turned away, at which point, Sora propped his elbow up on the back of his chair, leant into Ray's view, and glared at him.

Ray shrunk in his chair, shoulders, up, and tried his best to ignore the very serious consequences of this conversation with Alice, otherwise known as the major's most prolific and boundary-breaking journalist the likes of which Nellie Bly would never compare.

Shortly after class ended, Ray left the classroom alongside Alice. She waved farewell to him out in the hallway and, after a second, offered the same to Sora, who slowed beside Ray out in the hallway. Sora stared blankly at her until she left, at which point, Sora turned the full intensity of his glare onto Ray.

Ray flinched. He looked at the ground and said, "I know it's not ideal, but—"

"I'm not talking to you about this right now," Sora said. "I work tonight."

Ray blinked dumbly at the nonchalant comment. "Wha—But aren't you—?"

Sora stepped closer to avoid speaking up, so that Ray and only Ray could hear him hiss, "Don't bring it up. I'm fine."

At that moment, Leo and Huey emerged from the classroom. Ray gasped in excitement—freedom! At long last!—but he had one thing to take care of before escaping Sora's furious clutches.

He turned back to Sora with a graceful smile and said, "Everything will be fine with the project, trust me. And as for work—I don't think you should go. I'll talk to you later! Bye!" With that, he bounded off, leaving Sora fuming in his wake.

Leo and Huey were halfway to the building exit by the time Ray caught up with them. Ray slipped between them, threw his arms around their shoulders, and said, "Hey! What're you guys doing for your project?"

Leo let out a startled, almost haughty laugh and said, "Our project? Dude, you're in a group with Ikeda."

Ray shrugged. "So? Also, that has nothing to do with... me asking about your project..."

"He's jealous," Huey explained in a half-whisper to Ray, who then dropped his arms from their shoulders.

Leo let out an annoyed groan, threw his hands down, and said, "Yeah, well, so are you! We spend a whole semester with the guy and Ray swoops in and manages to land himself in a group with Sora!"

"What? I don't understand—he's just a person," Ray said. He glanced nervously over his shoulder, but thankfully, Sora was long gone by then.

"The hottest person alive," Leo whined, stomping his foot.

"I don't think so!" Ray said, and maybe part of that was true. For the most part, though, he was blinded by his annoyance for Sora. Maybe—just maybe—if they weren't roommates, Ray could swoon from afar the way Leo and Huey did.

He was too close for comfort, though.

Leo blinked at him, startled. He glanced at Huey, who scratched the side of his head and said, "You... don't think he's hot... Bro, I thought you were gay?"

Ray groaned. "I am, but not for him! Trust me! What's this all about? It's a group project!"

"It's a gateway to a relationship, is what it is," Leo said. He crossed his arms, furiously. After a moment he turned a bashful eye onto Ray and said, "So... you don't like him?"

Ray shook his head, eyes wide with horror. Was he really going to lose his first university friends over a group project with the resident hottie? How fickle were these people?

"Of course not! And I have another date with Charlie soon anyway, so—"

Leo let out a relieved sigh and said, "Oh thank God."

Ray let out a nervous laugh and said, "Were you really just gonna drop me over some random anime-looking dude?"

"Nah, nah, nah—not just some 'random anime-looking dude'," Huey corrected. "Some random bisexual anime-looking dude."

Ray rolled his eyes and said, "Oh, pardon me. How could I ever."

Leo threw his arms around Ray and pushed him towards the door, saying, "And we wouldn't drop you! You gotta understand everything at stake, my guy! An entire semester's worth of—!"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it, I get it," Ray laughed, and continued to giggle as Huey and Leo explained in depth, with fervor, how much Sora Ikeda meant to them.