"What did Sapphire say?"
I grinned mischievously, wiggling my eyebrows. "She said she's waiting for us at the cafeteria. Lucky you, your man is there too, he's on register duty today."
"Perfect! I haven't seen him since last week anyway."
"Then to celebrate this you're buying coffees today."
By then, we had already reached the cafeteria. While we were searching for Sapphire in the lunch-hour chaos, she had already spotted us and was waving.
We walked over and did the usual kiss-on-the-cheek routine. I was just about to sit across from Feyza when I suddenly grabbed Aylin.
"Sit on this side. You'll get a better angle to check your guy out from here." Feyza snorted, and I grinned as I sat next to her.
While Aylin called the waiter, Feyza turned to me. "So? What happened with your housing situation? When are you going to bring the rest of your things?"
"If nothing goes wrong, this Friday evening."
"Need help?"
"If you want to be a model friend… how about kissing the taxi driver so I won't have to give him the last of my money? Because I may or may not have spent a small fortune decorating the place without telling my parents."
After we gave our orders to the waiter, Feyza slung an arm over my shoulders and proudly said, "Don't worry, we'll pick you up."
Aylin and I both stared at her in pure confusion.
Aylin reacted first: "Who's 'we,' exactly?"
Feyza answered with a huge grin. "My new boyfriend and me, obviously."
I muttered, "Which coloring book character is it this time?" and Aylin immediately burst into laughter.
Feyza had a serious obsession with tattooed men. Not the cute two-tattoo types, but the full-on 'looks like he escaped a Yakuza fight scene' types. Then she'd get bored in a week and dump them. Usually without giving the poor guys a proper explanation. She'd been like that since the day we met. Though to be fair, the way we met was pretty unusual too.
A year ago, Aylin and I had gone to a bar to clear our heads. After Feyza's boyfriend caused a scene, we went over to help her and that's how we met. She's been to the same university as us and was also a junior, just in a different department.
With her waist-length blonde hair, ice-blue eyes, and perfect figure, she had the kind of beauty you couldn't ignore. Despite being the only child of a very wealthy family, she never flaunted it. She blended into any crowd, loved having fun, and was gloriously chaotic.
After that night, she naturally joined us, and for the past year the three of us had become inseparable.
When Feyza leaned over the table and started talking with all her excitement, I focused on her.
"I don't know if you remember, but there was a new bartender at the bar we always go to…" When we nodded, she let out a deep sigh and looked down at the table before continuing. "Last night, my dad and I got into an even worse argument than usual, so I stormed off to the bar. And he was there that night too. Even though I was furious and just wanted to be alone, he still managed to make me laugh and actually talk. He's really smart and really sweet."
Whatever memory she replayed in her head must have amused her, because she stopped, giggled, covered her cheeks with her hands, and spoke with a dreamy look.
"And he's unbelievably good at making you forget your problems. Oh God.. His lips…"
Aylin realized exactly where this was going and cut her off with a slight frown.
"Seriously, Sapphire?! You turned this into a condom commercial in two seconds. Okay. We get it. He's the bartender."