I turn to Robbie, who’s staring at the DJ stand. “Them.” I nod my head toward the lovers on the balcony.

“Oh. Maybe.” He examines them. “Or maybe it’s because his watch is worth more than our tuition.”

I try to focus on the hardware on Braden’s wrist from across the dance floor. It looks nice, but I can’t imagine how a watch could be that nice.

“Maybe it’s his charming personality.” I take a sip from my drink.

Robbie laughs.

I move the glass away from my lips. “He can be kind of funny though, in a sarcastic way.” I watch him talk to Colleen. “That is, when he’s not making me pull my hair out.” I turn back to Robbie. The colored lights of the club dance across his face in the shadows. I never really noticed how nice a jawline he has. I briefly wonder if he’s ever thought about modeling, or if anyone has ever approached him to sell products on his Instagram. I worry in my tipsiness I’ve been looking for too long.

I set down my glass, now just ice, on the counter.

“Another?” the bartender asks.

“Sure—actually, make it two,” I say, still not knowing what it was. I turn to Robbie. “On me, for being the only teammate I can tolerate.”

“Thanks but...I can’t drink that,” he says.

“Why not? It’s delicious.” The bartender sets two cocktail napkins and then two beautiful pink concoctions in front of us.

“All right.” Robbie sighs and picks up the drink. He takes a sip and raises his eyebrows. “You know, masculine pride is bullshit anyway.”

One frosty pink drink later, I am trying not to blush as people start to grind on the dance floor a few feet away. I look down at the bar. At my hand, which is just inches from Robbie’s. Goose bumps tingle up my arm. I don’t know if it’s the drink, or seeing him outside the library, but I find myself making an effort to remember that Robbie is just my friend and class partner, and it would be inappropriate to hold his hand.

“People are so wild.” I look up. Robbie has evidently not been thinking about, or looking at, me. I turn to see what he is talking about. The dance floor is full of couples and clusters of friends.

A girl in a pink dress so cute that I want to ask her where she got it is dancing with her friends when a dude walks up behind her and grabs her waist. But instead of slapping him in the face or walking away, she giggles and starts grinding on him.

I turn to Robbie and say, “I wish there was a way to meet someone that wasn’t so bullshit. Somewhere besides a party.”

He shrugs. “There’s online dating.”