This time it was my turn to laugh, and Feyza shot her a mischievous grin. She rolled her eyes dramatically and pointed behind her.
"What are you aiming for, the Vatican? You've supposedly liked this guy for two months but haven't looked him in the eyes for more than two seconds!"
"What am I supposed to do! I get shy. I'm not as comfortable as you two."
"Anyone would think we're telling you to do a striptease! It's just the universal tactic: 'Hey handsome, I like you. We should talk. Come flirt with me.'"
Aylin shot her a look that said 'English, please,' and I shook my head.
"I thought nothing could be worse than my physics professor. What Sapphire is trying to explain, using her own personal theory of relativity, is basically that you should look at the guy every now and then and throw a couple of cute smiles his way."
"That's literally what I said." Feyza rolled her eyes and checked her phone while Aylin and I laughed at her fake sulking.
When our food finally arrived, we were happily digging in when I noticed a shift in the room. I looked up to see what was happening and realized everyone was staring toward the entrance and whispering, so I turned too. The moment my eyes met a pair of icy black ones, a sudden chill ran down my spine.
"Looking at people like that should be illegal!"
Feyza put down her phone, probably texting her new boyfriend, and looked in the same direction I was staring.
"Who? Rüzgar?"
"I don't know his name. The half-portion guy with his hair pushed up."
Feyza laughed and turned back to me.
"Yeah, that's Rüzgar. He and the other two are seniors in our department. Everyone at this school knows them. You just haven't run into them because you barely hang out here. Let me give you the essentials. Rüzgar is the mysterious one. He barely talks, and no one knows anything about him. I used to have a class with Kerem. Besides being stupidly attractive, he's smooth, confident, and knows exactly how to charm people. But I don't see him today. The huge one is Demir. He has a girlfriend but never stops flirting with other girls. Total player. The one glued to his girlfriend is Bora. He's the friendliest of their group. He and his girlfriend, Nil, study in another department. I think they've known each other forever, they're more like siblings. They're practically never apart. Because of their looks and whole vibe, they attract a ridiculous number of admirers."
"Oh, please! What is that? They look like a limited-edition boyband gone wrong!"
The girls snickered at my comment, and when Aylin held up her phone and said, "We really need to go or we'll be late." we nodded and started gathering our things.
Feyza winked at me and handed money to Aylin. "Teresa, pay for ours too? We'll wait by the door so we don't crowd the cashier."
I handed her my own money and grinned. "Same here, babe. Thanks in advance."
Aylin hurried to the counter, way too excited, and Feyza and I watched her with stupidly huge smiles.
I lifted my hands dramatically toward the sky. "Dear God, please help this girl. Amen."
Feyza snorted. "Your prayer isn't enough for Aylin's level of shyness. We'd need an entire theology department reciting scriptures for her."
I smacked her arm, laughing. "Don't underestimate my prayers, blondie. I practically lived in the mosque as a kid, even if it was just to play hide-and-seek." She laughed, and I added defensively, "What? The courtyard had great hiding spots!"
As we walked arm-in-arm toward the door, Aylin rushed over, still looking stunned. "You guys won't believe this… I still can't believe it myself… I think it actually happened…"
Of course, Feyza couldn't hold herself back. "Girl, stop mumbling! What happened? Did someone say something to you?"
"He asked for my name. When I told him, he said "Nice to meet you, I'm Giray." Then he asked for my number… and I gave it to him. Then I panicked, said "see you," and ran back to you guys."
Feyza and I screamed, completely ignoring everyone around us, and threw ourselves at Aylin in a hug.
I flipped my hair dramatically at Feyza and said, "Told you my prayers always hit their target."
Feyza burst out laughing, while Aylin, still in shock, didn't even catch what I said.
When we stepped outside, Feyza said, "I'm off, my boyfriend will be here any minute. See you tomorrow. And Teresa, text us immediately if you hear from him." Then she kissed us both and waved as she left.
As Aylin and I walked toward the labs for our next class, we followed the most sacred rule of being a girl, retelling the entire story over and over again while giggling like idiots.