“No, but you need to learn how to take a girl on one, so get practicing. I’ll see you in fifteen minutes. Showered.” I let myself out, and only then does the panic set in, because I may have helped dress Salem, but who’s going to help dress me? Yes, most of the point of tonight is to get Salem noticed, looking like an actual human, but a tiny part is about people seeing me out and about with an actual boy, rather than fifty ~lovers~ they’ve made up in their minds.

Salem is only a couple of minutes late, but he looks fresh and clean, and the jeans are, admittedly, excellent-ass jeans, literally. His hair isn’t neat, but it looks more rock-star disheveled than stoner mess. All in all, I’d give the cleanup a seven out of ten on the “Am I taking this seriously or just humoring the annoying girl downstairs” scale.

“Are you ready?” he asks on a sigh that sounds way too exasperated for the fact that our night is only just beginning.

No, I am not ready. I’d put on my black jeans and a silky green top and I realize now I look way too overdressed for a freaking on-campus movie night. But I was already running late and I had to apply eyeliner three times before I got it right, and how am I still a disaster? “One sec—I just need to change my shirt.”

His gaze flickers over me. “You look fine, Skeevy.”

“Just gimme one minute. You can wait inside. I’ll change in the bathroom.” I grab a T-shirt that’s admittedly plain but has a very flattering (read: low) neckline and hang it on the grab bar by the toilet while I remove the fancier top.

“Where’s all your stuff?” Salem calls. “You seem like someone who’d have pictures all over the place.”

I make a mental note to hang up some random garbage so people will stop asking me that. The thing is, he’s not wrong; I was that person, once. My room at home was full of silly portraits done by Claire and my mom’s favorite inspirational sayings in shades of purple and silver. My bookcases were packed with candy-colored romance novels, and there were cute little cactus candles dotting the shelves and strings of fairy lights brightening my walls with a soft glow.