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Aiden’s text lit up Juniper’s dark bedroom – the one she’d grown up in rather than her claustrophobic dorm. While she was home for Christmas, she was making the most of her constellation-patterned duvet and double bed, though the peace was set to end tomorrow when the extended family arrived for Christmas celebrations.

She begrudged moving, but the butterflies in her stomach, which had fluttered every time Aiden had texted her since the exhibit, made the decision for her, so she stretched onto her side to pull her phone from its charging dock. Opening her messages, she found an image accompanied the text.

A screenshot. Of their final grades for the semester.

Juniper shot up, clicking on the picture and zooming in. Her brows lifted at the sight of Aiden’s full name at the top of the document.

Aiden James Whittaker? I thought your middle name would be something fancier than that, like Archibald or Herbert.

Jesus, thank god it isn’t. I’m named after my granddad, who is actually the least fancy man I know.

She supposed that meant money hadn’t been in his family for all that long. Either that, or the word ‘fancy’ was lost on him because it was something he’d always been.

He must have sensed her distraction, because a second text popped up.Read the bloody grade, Hodge.

She did, and then again when she was sure she’d gotten it wrong. Eighty-four marks. Out of a hundred. They’d bagged a top grade, somehow. Even after Juniper had been sure that Christopher’s compliments were actually insults, because ‘ambitious’ before had always meant enthusiastic to the point of carelessness.

She squealed and opened her laptop, slung under her bed from watching Netflix the night before. In his cage, Cerberus emerged to see what all the fuss was about, his wet pink nose twitching through the bars. It seemed too good to be true, so she logged onto her own RACA account expecting to see a much lower score.

But Chris had given her eighty-four, too, along with some feedback:Creative, well-thought-out exhibit with strong research and clear collaboration behind it. Technical skills need some polishing, as to be expected in the first term, but otherwise, thoroughly impressed by strength of piece.

‘I’ve only gone and done it, Cerberus!’ she shouted, shutting her laptop to flail her arms around in a happy dance. ‘We did it!’

We.

Juniper didn’t know what to say, not without letting her growing fondness for Aiden bleed through. After nine weeks of working together, among other things, it was hard to pretend she still saw him as that intolerable rich kid whose success meant her failure. He was talented – talented enough to have earned his place at RACA with more than just money and status. And he was funny, quick to return her witty remarks in a way that broke her resolve with laughter.Andhe’d defended her with Tom. She hadn’t wanted him to, needed him to, but he had. It hadn’t felt as mortifying as she’d expected, to have someone fighting in her corner. In fact, it had turned her on, and the celebratory drinks afterwards had been spent trying not to crawl onto his lap.

Ugh. All of these feelings made her queasy.

With that in mind, she was only capable of sending a few exclamation points back to him. Maybe she owed him more – after all, he was the reason she’d grown comfortable on the throwing wheel – but she couldn’t bring herself to say anything that would hint towards her inner turmoil.

Shecouldn’tlike him. It wasn’t allowed.

I have an early Xmas present for you,came the next text from Aiden.

Juniper held her breath at another screenshot, this time with her favourite band’s logo at the top. He’d bought two bloody tickets to see Sleep Token live next summer in London.

She didn’t know what to do. What to say. She’d wanted to buy tickets herself, but she didn’t have the money, and the arena tour had sold out in minutes. Her trembling thumb hit the call button, and she had no idea whether it was by accident or not.Her brain was too fuzzy and excited and confused.

Aiden picked up immediately. ‘Hello, Juni.’ She couldn’t pretend that she hadn’t missed the soft gravel of his voice saying her name. ‘Knew I’d get your attention again somehow.’

‘You can’t get me concert tickets,’ she blurted, knotting her fingers into the stars of her duvet until the fabric bunched.

‘Well, I can. And I did.’ He was so arrogant. And so, so difficult to hate.

‘You don’t even know if I like Sleep Token!’

A chuckle crackled in her ear. ‘Sweetheart, you have their badge on your jacket and their lyrics on your lockscreen.’

She’d forgotten about that. Mostly because she hadn’t worn said jacket since the end of summer, and she’d been meaning to change her phone’s background.

He’d noticed?Andremembered? Juniper was terrible at both of those skills, and couldn’t comprehend why. Or how. Or… why. ‘Are you that desperate to spend time with me that you’re buying my affection, now?’

‘Yep, you caught me. Though I didn’t know you were capable of affection.’ She could hear the smirk in his voice, but wished she could see it, too. Then again, she was glad not to be on a video call. Her pillow had fashioned her hair into a bird’s nest, and her boobs didn’t like to be contained by the vest top she was wearing.

‘Why?’ she blurted.

‘After last term, is it so hard to believe that I like spending time with you? C’mon. You can’t be that oblivious.’