"Oh my god," my roommate exclaimed, pausing her intense make-out session with her pothead boyfriend to run her wide eyes from my head to my toes. "You look hot."

I patted down my black high-waisted leather jeans, admiring the way they synched my waist beneath my off-the-shoulder black tank top. Black-on-black-on-black. Reliable. Easy. Safe.

Perfect.

"Thanks." I tried to smile, ignoring the intense way that her boyfriend was staring at my ass.

"You know it still stands, right?" She cocked her head, running a hand through her boyfriend's unkempt hair. "Our offer to join us one night—"

I grabbed my blue denim jacket and raced out of the room, slamming the door behind me. Ick.

At ten past nine, I arrived outside of the student lounge, home to the Art Club's mixer. Of course I did. Despite James triggering me into the next dimension, I had to go to that party. Because, unbeknownst to me, Ivy had already submitted the revised outline of our project to Devi. And unless I wanted to look like a fool in front of my cool-as-ice lab partner and my mentor on the same day, then I had no choice but to follow up on our original plan.

Which meant that Dex was getting a wingwoman. And, so long as I could help it, he was getting Holly.

Let's get one thing straight; I was done believing in love. I was certainly done with believing in true, everlasting, one-soulmate-for-every-person type of love. And I really didn't believe in happily ever after.

I believed in lust. In companionship. In convenience. I was really starting to think that, in the digital age, and with an infinite amount of information at one's disposal, anyone could transform themselves into another person's idea of the perfect companion. The concept of a soulmate, then, was a construct, and absolutely any Tom, Dick, or Harry could fake it if they really wanted to. Eli. Me. Hell, even Dex.

That was my opinion, and that was mine and Ivy's hypothesis. I was beyond sure that we could prove it to be true, meaning that I was one step closer to securing Devi's internship, and another step closer to ticking off one of my college resolutions. Lord knew that number three wasn't going exactly to plan.

The student lounge had been utterly transformed by the time I stepped through its grand wooden arch. Gone were the round desks students used during the day when they yearned for a quiet place to study. The chairs and lounges were pushed up against the walls, replaced by a makeshift dancefloor, while the reception desk had been turned into an industrial-themed bar, decorated with sculptures and pieces of artwork by the students putting on the event. Portable lighting sprayed down on the party-goers, strobing in time to the music in flashes of purple and blue and red.

Art students sure knew how to party.

"I told you!" a voice cried over the obnoxiously loud doof doof of whatever Drake track was spinning overhead. "I told you she'd come!"

My hair fanned out behind me as I whirled around. Sure enough, a wide, bright gaze collided with me.

Standing on the outskirts of the dance floor flanked by his two best friends, Dex looked ... good. Handsome, even. Sure, I got what he meant about having to stand next to James his whole life. It was a slightly unfair position to be in, what with the latter being a literal angel carved from actual marble and all. But it was plain to see that Dex's fresh haircut and clothes had ignited a new sense of confidence in him, and it was that which made all the difference. Instead of trying to fade into the crowd like he had in the hall, Dex stood tall. Instead of averting my gaze nervously while he walked over to greet me, he met it with pride. One thing that hadn't changed, though, was his smile. Broad. Innocent. Warm.

I swallowed thickly, reining in the urge to grin too broadly. It was all show. It had to be. After all, as seemingly sweet as he was, Dex was a man. And men were all the same.

"Hello, Sandra Dee." Noah stepped forward, kissing my hand with a teasing grin. He waggled his eyebrows as he took in my outfit.

And ... damn, I really did look like I'd stepped out of Rydell High. Maybe it was time to ease up on the black.

"I thought we agreed not to coordinate?" Dex knitted his brow, his eyes flicking between James and me.

"What do you mean..." I started to say. But then I turned. I saw James. And I realized exactly what Dex meant.

James was styled similarly to me—black jeans, a rich black tee-shirt, and that blue denim jacket he'd lent Dex the morning of our meeting at the coffee shop. Except, while it had looked out-of-place and slightly awkward on Dex's frame, it was right at home on James'.

"Unintentional," James said, his voice breezy and light. He looked straight at me, cocking his head. "After all, we didn't even know whether Madison was going to show."

I held his glare, refusing to give him the reaction he wanted. What reaction did he want?

"Why don't you get us something to drink?" Noah, the diplomat, stepped between me and James, his body cutting the tension pulling between us like a knife. "What would you like, Madi?"

"Madison." I offset the sternness of the request with a tense smile. "And nothing for me, thanks."

"Nothing?" Noah laughed. "C'mon, we're celebrating. Phase one of our mission—complete!"

I shook my head politely. "I have a lot of work to get done tomorrow. Assignments, lab reports, all that jazz."

"Lab reports?" James repeated. I didn't miss the way his eyebrows rose the slightest bit. "You're studying science?"

"Science and math." Really, I was surprised it hadn't come up in conversation before. Come to think of it, I had no idea what James or Noah were studying at Camden, either. Despite the time I'd spent with them, I didn't know much of anything about any of the guys staring back at me. Aside from the fact that one was an extroverted, friendly Hufflepuff and the other was an oppositional and sarcastic ass.

"Well, that explains it," James said.

I frowned. "Explains what?"

"Why you've taken such an interest in our Dex. He's an experiment to you, huh? A project?"

I felt an incriminating heat rise to my cheeks. Because James was absolutely, totally, completely ... right.

And he had no idea.

"Just a gin and tonic," I said. I truly had a lot of work to do the next day, but I quickly decided that conceding to the request for my drink order was the best way to get James far, far away from me. Before his probing went too far. Before he figured both me and my motives out.

James nodded and turned on his heel to head towards the makeshift bar, but not before I heard him click his tongue against the roof of his mouth.

Dex, Noah, and I began moving towards a vacant table at the back of the room. It was tucked into a corner, out of reach of the strobing lights, illuminated only by twinkling fairy lights strung loosely through the rafters.

"Have you always been into science?" Dex asked while we wedged ourselves between the bodies on the dance floor.

"Mhm," I replied absentmindedly. "Have you always been into English?"

It was best to keep the conversation off me and on him. And not just because I hated talking about myself; I needed to learn as much as I could about both of my lab rats if I had any shot of making my project work.

Noah laughed out loud. "You have no idea. In high school, he watched Shakespeare plays on YouTube for fun."

Dex's face turned an adorable shade of crimson as we each plopped onto a wooden stool.

"High school?" I repeated. "So how long have you guys all known each other?"

"I met the guys in seventh grade." Noah grinned. "But Dex and James have known each other since, like, forever. The saying since they were in diapers comes to mind."

Dex laughed. "Literally. We had our christening together and everything. Although don't ask James to see the photographic evidence. His grandma had him wear this awful, lacey jumpsuit with a frilly bow on the collar. A proper little porcelain doll, he was."

I couldn't stop myself from smirking at the thought.

By the time James reappeared with our drinks, I felt that I had a better understanding of my three accomplices. The James-and-Dex friendship, for one, made a lot more sense. Because, standing together as near adults, their relationship seemed like one that was a tad... mismatched. Dex was all panic attacks and insecurity while James was irritatingly confident and borderline smug. But now that I knew more about their story, I realized that their friendship was less 'odd couple' and more 'brothers from other mothers'.

I was casually checking my watch for the time when Dex gasped suddenly, his mouth falling agape and his eyes bulging from his skull.

"OMG!"

A tiny part of me wanted to slap him for using an acronym out loud.

Instead, I followed his gaze back up the room to the bar. It didn't take long to spot Holly chatting expressively with another girl, her caramel-dusted bangs falling over her face as she erupted into a fit of laughter.

"It's her," Dex declared.

"It is," I confirmed wryly, but I felt a pang of my own relief. Sure, Holly said she'd be at the mixer, and she hadn't unclicked 'attending' on the Facebook event as far as me and my cyber-sleuthing were aware. But how many times had I clicked 'attending' on an event before later deciding not to go? In the last few weeks, especially? Honestly, more times than I could count.

"She's so pretty." The weight of Dex's gaze fell squarely on me, the lovely color draining from his cheeks. "She could have any guy she wants."

"And yet, she's single," I told him. "Which means that she hasn't found what she's looking for."

"She could be gay," Noah pointed out.

Dex looked as though he'd been told that Violet Apex was disbanding.

Actually, that was a vast understatement of the level of anguish that swirled frantically in his amber eyes. It was near heart-wrenching, if not slightly amusing due to the theatrics of it all.

"She's not," I assured him, throwing Noah a don't you dare glower that rivaled those I'd seen teachers throw Eli back in high school. "I checked on her Facebook 'About' section. All good, Dex. You're in the clear."

Dex's relief was tangible, but his panic wasn't quite shaken. When I arched a brow to silently prod him, he sighed. "I have to go say 'hi', don't I?"

"You don't have to," I reasoned. "But I thought that you wanted to."

Dex swallowed. Hard. I tried not to show my irritation. Why was it that I always found myself talking him into doing something that he apparently wanted so badly to do? That he had quite literally got down on both knees and begged me to help him do in front of a corridor full of our peers?

"You do want to, right Dex?" James asked, reading my mind.

Dex nodded fervently. "Of course."

I smiled, leaning across the booth to place my hands over his. "Then go for it! Remember"—I winked—"you're a whole new man now."

Dex looked toward the bar. "What would I even say?"

I ran a hand through my loose curls. Did I have to do everything for that kid?

Apparently, yes.

I pulled my hands into my lap, fiddling with my rings while I contemplated our next move. My next move. Was this how competitive chess players felt? The mounting pressure on my shoulders was colossal, the potential for Holly to turn Dex down higher than I wanted to admit. I needed a cute—but still assertive—and relatively foolproof hook. Dex-proof, at least. I wondered whether it was time to call Ivy, to consult my lab partner. Then again, she was shaping up to be even worse at replying to my messages than my older sister was.

I didn't have Ivy. Didn't have much information about Holly to go off. So I fell back on the one thing I did have. Experience. I utilized the same, generic move that Eli had once used on me.

I rested my weight on the booth, clasping my hands as though I was conducting a business meeting.

"I think," I told my patiently waiting protégé, "that you should buy Holly a drink."

You guys! Dex might finally be making a bloody move!

One of the things that I love playing with the most in this story is the flip of stereotypical gender roles, especially since I class this as a romcom of sorts (though in the vein of Juno and 500 Days of Summer). I often see a lot of the same types of characters in romcoms; the love-obsessed, wants-to-be-married-before-22 leading lady and the smug, arrogant male who's a total love cynic (but incredibly swoon-worthy). What I'm trying to do here is flip those stereotypes around — we have leading lady Madison who doesn't try to hide her cynicism when it comes to love and men. And then there's Dex, the doe-eyed, innocent, lovesick puppy dog who couldn't be further from smug and arrogant. Ultimately, there are women and men like this in the real world, and I think it's about time that the romance genre played around with them 😄

Let me know what you think about the characters so far, or leave any questions/theories/observations you have here -->

See you in the next one!

- D