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Raina shot Jesse a small smile, grateful he was giving her time alone to answer her phone. “Thanks,” she said, before accepting the call. Raina let out a breath, idly standing and wandering to the other side of the small table. “Hi, Ema.”
“Hello Raina,” her mother answered happily. “It’s been so long; you haven’t called in forever!”
Raina laughed. “It’s been four days, Ema, and we’ve texted every day. How’s everyone doing?”
“The kids are all great. Your dad’s been having some struggles with work, but we hope it’ll be resolved soon. Listen, Raina, we want you to come home for dinner. We miss you!”
Raina hesitated before nodding. “Okay, mom, but, um, I’m in the middle of something right now, so can we figure out the day later?”
“What are you in the middle of?” her mom asked, not taking the hint.
“I’m working on a project with a classmate,” Raina said vaguely.
There was no way she could tell her mom about Jesse. Her mom had grown up religious and still believed boys and girls shouldn’t spend time alone together if they weren’t married, or at the very least, engaged. And even though her parents had relented and sent Raina to a co-ed school, they were still touchy on the subject of boys. Raina pretended her guy friends didn’t exist when she was home.
“Oh, who?” her mom asked. “Gracie? She’s such a sweet girl, how is she doing?”
“She’s doing great,” Raina replied. “And no, not Gracie. Someone else. Um, their name is Jess—”
“If Dr. Jameson keeps me after class one more time, I’m going to fucking scream,” someone said abruptly, cutting off Raina’s words. Raina turned to see Nicole sling her bag on the back of a chair, sitting down with a huff.
Raina could hear excited shrieking over the phone. “Oh, Raina, is that your partner? I want to meet her! Put her on the phone!”
Raina winced. “ I don’t think that would be—.”
“Come on!”
“Fine.” She turned to Nicole, mentally groaning. “Um, my mom wants to meet you.”
Nicole raised an eyebrow, her curls sliding over her shoulders as she took the phone from Raina. Raina watched as Nicole talked, saying a couple of words before listening for a bit.
“Um, sure,” Nicole said finally. “I’ll talk to Raina, then. Bye.” She had a stunned expression on her face as she handed the phone back to Raina. “Um, I think your mom invited me over for dinner.”
Raina sighed. “Sorry about that. She wanted to meet my English partner, then she heard your voice and assumed it was you.”
“That would explain why she called me Jess,” Nicole said dryly.
“Yeah.” Raina winced. “You cut me off when I was trying to tell her Jesse’s name, so now she thinks it’s Jess.”
“Gee, well, it’s not like your parents will be meeting the real Jesse or anything.”
“But they want to meet you.”
Nicole shrugged. “So fix it. Tell your mom it’s Jesse, not Jess.”
“My parents are old fashioned; they don’t like me talking to boys. But it’s fine, I’ll make up some excuse that you can’t come for dinner.”
“Works for me.” Nicole picked up her phone, her fingers flying over the screen. “Where’s Jesse? He said he’d be here.”
“He ran to the bathroom.”
Against her skirt, Raina’s phone buzzed once, then twice, then a third time. Squeezing her eyes shut, Raina jabbed at the screen.
“Yes, Ema? Was there something else you needed?”
“Oh, I wanted to see if this weekend works for you and your friend Jess!” her mom’s bubbly voice echoed through the speakers. Raina squeaked, frantically trying to turn the speaker off. “We’re free this Sunday for dinner, and we’d love to finally meet one of your school friends. Is Jess free?”
“Why does your mother know my name?” Jesse asked, appearing from behind a bookshelf. He nudged Nicole’s shoulder. “Move. You’re in my seat.”
