Benny walks over. “Whatever you want to do, we got your back. But honestly, you do need to work on your fashion, and we’re long overdue for a makeover montage set to a Lil Nas X song.”

I exhale and groan all at once. “Why do I feel like I’m going to regret this?”

Xavier smirks, and they get to work.

On the walk to the center of campus, Benny and Xavier are bantering about something related to Ariana Grande, but they’re just background noise to the swell of doubt screaming in my head, telling me to turn around.

I want to see Jack, but I’m petrified that he’ll take one look at me and run. Again. Or worse, pretend like I don’t exist.

My palms sweat through the pockets of my skinny jeans, and I feel super self-conscious in the shirt I ended up picking from Xavier’s carefully curated collection, a slick black button-down that X insists I leave undone basically to my navel because “chest hair is sexy.”

To be real, I feel like my moobs are practically pouring out of this neckline, like J.Lo’s infamous Grammy dress. I’m deeply uncomfortable, but Xavier and Benny tell me to push through because I “look hot.” I want to believe them, but sweat is now also dripping down my back, and I’m trying not to focus on my body.

I stop just before the entrance to the Watering Hole. “I can’t do this.”

Benny narrows his eyes. “Girl, I can’t.” He takes a deep, stabilizing breath like the YouTube influencers he watches when he thinks I’m not paying attention and forces his frustration off his face. “It’ll be okay. We’re just three hot gays on the hunt for chicken tendies, and if we happen upon a certain Gus Kenworthy–looking binch, then the power of our coven shall protect you. But honestly—” Benny leans toward the door and listens. “It sounds intense and busy in there, so we probably won’t run into him at all.”

The second we throw open the double doors, I literally run headfirst into Jack. If there is a god, she hates me.

Panic smacks his face. His cheeks redden, and he does everything he can to avoid eye contact, but I still feel this incredible pull toward him. “Oh. Hey.”

“’Sup.” Why is this my go-to? Am I an early 2000s straight-bro?

Insert: awkward AF silence.

Benny steps forward. “Chase, the line for tendies is ridiculous. Let’s go so we can get out of here!” He sizes Jack up. “Because we’re only here for the tendies.”

I sigh and resist the urge to bury my face in my hands.