Page 72 of Rivals

Revna: no, you think I want to, and I in fact do not

Lachlan: please?

Revna: really? Please?

Lachlan: yeah, really. Did it work?

Revna: …I really don’t want to get out of bed seeing as I’ve been pulling doubles for weeks and my feet hurt and I’m comfortable

Lachlan: I’ll rub your feet

Revna: Yeah and I’m sure you’ll rub a lot more than that

Lachlan: You know me so well

Revna: unfortunately

Lachlan: I’ll come and get you and bring you to school if you don’t show up.

Revna: you can try

Lachlan: challenge accepted, little bird

It throws a wrench in my plans to surprise her, but so be it. I book it over to Revna’s, and she doesn’t answer the door; her roommate does. He’s not at all what I expected, either. He’s a big dude with close-cropped hair and glasses. My stomach burns as Joshua looks me up and down. “How can I help you, man?”

“Well,man, I’m here for Revna.” I flick a look at Revna’s door over his shoulder, and he moves to fill out the doorway a little more.

“Dude, what do you want?”

“It’s fine, Josh! Let ’em in!” Revna yells. Joshua levels me with a stare and steps to the side.

“Sorry, I’m not here a ton, but Revna doesn’t bring people over. I didn’t mean anything by it.”

I stop before I open Revna’s door and hold out my hand. “Thanks for looking out for her.” He takes my hand and nods. I turn the knob to her door and find her still in bed.

“You ordered a foot massage?” I quip.

“You didn’t have to be so rude to my roommate.” I shrug and sneak my hand under her covers for her feet.

“I wasn’t,” I glance at her while I search for her foot under the mountain of blankets. “You’re making me work for this, aren’t you?” She puts her book down and looks at me, but I can see through her smile. The dark purple bags under her eyes tell me whatever it is she isn’t saying is eating her alive. Her hair is shiny, but not in a healthy way, it’s oily. Her room is messier than it’s been in the past, and I swear she looks thinner than she has in a while.

I find her foot and pull it into my lap as she watches me massage it. I push my thumbs into the arch, and she groans and leans her head back. “They’ve been throbbing since I got home.”

“I’m sorry.”

She shrugs. “We need the money.” I reach for her other foot and do the same to it.

“Will you still come with me?”

Revna lifts her head and looks at me. “Fine. You’re in luck. I don’t work tomorrow, so you better not waste my night off.” I massage her feet a little longer and leave them both in my lap.

“I don’t think you will regret it.” I tug her ankles, pulling her across her bed so her legs rest in my lap. “I can help you get dressed, too.”

She smirks and shakes her head. “Why would I let you do that?” she asks. I stand and reach for a pair of jeans I’ve seen her wear when we were painting and hand them to her. She looks between me and the pants and shrugs while dropping her leggings, tossing them off to the side. I grab her hoodie that brings back plenty of memories with hot pink paint all over it.

“I think you should wear this, too.” She throws me a look while she pops out her bony hip. “Please?” She holds her hand out and then slips it over her head.

“Ready?” I ask her, holding her black Chucks out to her.