That evening, Jules came home a little later than usual. She had stopped at Tim Hortons for a quick meal because she had been craving their chicken wraps for days now. It was no surprise to her when she came home later and heard a familiar squealing laugh coming from the dinning room. Katrina.
"Honey, I'm home!" Jules announced as she always did when she entered her family home. She hastily removed her shoes and slipped on her slippers.
"Jules! You just missed dinner!" Katrina's voice rang through the hallway. Jules scurried over to the dinning room. Katrina spent so much time at Jules' house over the past year that Jules' parents had taken a particular liking to her. So much so that they often invited Katrina over for dinner even when Jules wasn't home. On other occasions, Jules' mother liked asking Katrina to go grocery shopping with her when her two daughters or husband weren't available.
Her mother and father, Janice Young and Gerard Hill, were seated at the table, their plates and glasses empty except for leftover tomato sauce. Katrina was stood there, leaning over the table to pick up the dirty dishes.
"So lovely for you to join us. Did you have a late class?" Gerard asked his daughter. He was lounging back in his seat, his belt unbuckled to let his large belly flop out after a large, delicious meal.
"No. I just craved some Tims. Sorry I forgot to call in advance," Jules told them. "Who cooked today? Katrina?"
"Yes. She makes some excellent lasagna. Still won't tell me what the recipe is," Janice answered, almost pouting. She motioned at her daughter to take a seat, but Jules shook her head.
"I'll help you guys clean up, then I'll have to do my homework," Jules said.
"No, no. Go ahead with Katrina. We'll take care of this," Janice said, suddenly standing up from her seat. She politely shooed Katrina away. The girl's mouth hung open in protest for a moment before she gave up and let go of the dirty plates in her hands.
"Thank you. Good night, you two," Jules said to her parents, waving briefly at them. She tugged at the straps of her bag nervously as she left to her bedroom upstairs with Katrina.
Once the two were safe in the silence of Jules' room, Katrina closed the door shut.
"Are you okay? You seem off," she remarked, raising a curious eyebrow at her friend. Jules dropped her bag on the floor just as the two sat on her bed.
"I'm fine. I mean, I'm – well, I'm not sure what I'm feeling—" Jules looked over at the door to make sure it truly was shut. Even if they were all the way upstairs, sometimes their voices could carry all the way downstairs when the door was left ajar.
"I'm here. Let it all out. Tell me what's going on," Katrina insisted kindly. She looked intently at Jules, concern faintly brimming her eyes.
"You know how yesterday Kehi begged for me to come help him at the frat house?" Jules reminded her friend. Katrina's face immediately contorted in alarm. "No, nothing bad happened, don't worry. It's just that I met someone, uh, I don't mean that I met someone in a romantic way, just that I met someone in a regular way—"
"Just say it, Jules," Katrina said, almost impatiently, though Jules knew Katrina would be the last person on Earth to ever truly be impatient.
"I met a guy named Knox and he was just nice to me and nothing weird, but Kehi later told me that he was like, a player and stuff, which surprised me, but like, I wasn't disappointed or anything, I mean, I don't know him – Anyway, Kehi made me promise to never get involved with him, and well, long story short, I met Knox again today in my history class, and well, we're kind of in a study group together now…"
Jules waited for Katrina to respond, but Katrina just stared at her.
"Is that it?" Katrina asked, blinking.
"Yeah."
"Well, it's just a study group. There are other people in the group, so it's not like you're hanging out just the two of you or going on a date together, you know," Katrina said wisely. Jules laughed mockingly at herself.
"Oh, well, about that…"
"He asked you on a date?" Katrina couldn't mask the excitement in her voice.
"No, we don't want that remember?"
"Right, right. Sorry."
"What I meant to say is that we are in a study group with just us two in it… Doesn't that qualify as getting involved with him? I mean, we're bound to spend quite some time together, and I'll be seeing him for three hours a week for class from now on—"
"Jules!" Katrina interrupted her friend before she could spiral any longer. She had her hands on Jules shoulders, staring assuredly into her eyes. "It's going to be fine. Nothing is going on between the two of you, right?" Jules nodded, though she wasn't entirely sure. "Is there?"
Jules tried blinking her doubts away, though it still showed on her face.
"Uh, no. Definitely not," Jules said, her voice rising.
"Oh no. You may be developing a crush on him…" Katrina said in a semi-horrified semi-enthusiastic bout of realization.
"I'm not! I can't be. I mean, I met him yesterday. That'd be weird. That'd be creepy of me, like stalkery—"
Katrina covered her mouth as she gasped.
"You so like him! You are showing the first symptoms of infatuation! Oh my God! That is amazing!"
"What? Why would that be amazing? Kehi would kill me if anything happened between me and Knox—also, I feel like we are being way too casual about the fact that I met him yesterday. You can't fall in love with someone overnight, Kat," Jules asserted. Katrina shook her head at Jules.
"No, I'm not saying you are falling in love, just that you have some degree of interest in him, and you are scared to explore those feelings because of Kehi – screw Kehi. He has no right to dictate your life. I say, follow your feelings."
"Kat, Knox is a fuckboy. I'm not looking for a situationship. I don't want some friends with benefits scenario to happen to me."
"Sometimes guys are fuckboys because they simply haven't found the right girl yet."
Jules rolled her eyes and laughed. "Okay, now you're just being funny."
"I'm serious. Maybe he's not even a fuckboy. I mean, what's your source? Kehi? We both know how judgemental he can be – more than Michelle, which says a lot."
Jules grabbed her pillow and playfully hit Katrina on the arm. "Okay. No more talking about this. I have homework to do, for real."
"Fine. I have to go home anyway. I'll see you tomorrow," Katrina announced as she left the bed.
"Bye, Kat."
Jules grabbed her bag as soon as Katrina left the room so that she could pull out her laptop and do some homework. She barely opened a document for her child development class before Kat came storming back in.
"I forgot the battery packs for my hearing aid in your room," she huffed as she hurried to Jules' desk.
"Oh, yeah. Sorry, I forgot to bring it to school for you."
"No worries, I still have a few left at home for now," Kat said, showing off the delivery box at Jules. "Thank you, by the way. I'll ship it to my grandmother's house next time my family and I go away on a trip."
"No, it's okay. You can always ship it here," Jules insisted.
"Thank you. Anyway, I'll go now."
Katrina quickly hugged Jules before departing at last, leaving Jules no choice but to focus on her homework.
Ding!
Okay, maybe she also had no choice but to check the notification on her phone.
Knox
Did you buy the textbook for history?
Jules
Yes. Why?
Knox
Could you please please please lend it to me once you're done reading the chapters? It's out of stock.
Jules couldn't help but to smirk. When things in the school library were out of stock, it took at least a month before they had it in stock again. Jules couldn't help but feel thankful that she bought it in advance after having read the email the teacher sent to everyone before class regarding required purchases for the course.
Jules
Sure.
Knox
Also, could you finish reading it before the weekend so that I have time to read it too.
Jules audibly laughed alone in her room, then cleared her throat as she realized her bedroom door was still open.
Jules
Haha. Yeah, of course.
Knox
You know where I live, so whenever you're done with it, just leave it in my room. I'll bring it back next class.
The idea of visiting the frat house for anyone other than Kehi felt a little odd to Jules, but she also wasn't entirely opposed to it.
Jules
Which one is your room, by the way?
Knox
My name's written on the door, but other than that, it's like at the very end of the hall.
Jules
Sounds good. Thanks.
Knox
No. Thank YOU.
Jules
My pleasure.
The conversation ended there, but Jules wanted it to continue somehow. She wanted Knox to write something else so they would have an excuse to keep texting… But nothing was popping up.
Now, she was even more motivated to do the history class readings just so she could visit Knox's room. She was so curious to know what it looked like. She wondered if his room was messy like the rest of the house or if he was neat and tidy and—
Oh, my God, stop being creepy, Jules, she thought rather loudly to herself.