The exam I'd studied for all night without sleeping went exactly as badly as I'd expected. By the time I got to the last question, my eyes were watering from yawning back to back, and I couldn't even tell the numbers on the calculator apart. If I managed to score thirty out of a hundred, I'd count myself lucky.
Still, that exam wasn't the real problem. There was a second midterm, and if that failed, there was the final, and if that failed, there was makeup, and if all else failed… summer school existed.
But the "exam" waiting for me tonight was different. I had one shot to make the girls believe me without leaving a single question mark in their heads.
When I got home, I didn't even want to waste time eating. I went straight to bed. Determined not to repeat the disaster from the morning, I was set on getting real sleep this time. I silenced my phone, hugged my pillow, and fell asleep within seconds.
When I woke up with a horrible headache, I forced myself out of bed and went to the kitchen. I shoved a piece of bread into my mouth, then swallowed a painkiller with a huge glass of water.
After a warm shower that felt like therapy, I was drying my hair when someone knocked. I turned the dryer off and put it away. When I opened the door, instead of the people I expected, Nil was standing there. I stared at her with a dumb expression for a few seconds, then snapped out of it and invited her in with a smile.
"Sorry, I was expecting the girls, so seeing you surprised me. Come on in."
She stepped inside with a dry smile that wasn't exactly cheerful.
"Hi. I hope I'm not bothering you."
"No, of course not. Go sit in the living room, I'll be right there."
She nodded and walked in, and I quickly tied my hair up with a scrunchie I grabbed off the nightstand. I took my phone too, then went to her.
"You look upset. Did something bad happen?"
"I argued with my family. And since Bora has an exam tomorrow, I didn't want to see him either. Honestly… I needed some girl talk. If you have an exam tomorrow too, I don't want to distract you."
"You did the right thing. Don't worry, tomorrow's a free day for me. Aylin and Feyza will be here soon too. By the way, how did you even find my place?"
"After I left home, I went to see Rüzgar. While I was talking to him, you popped into my mind, so I asked him to drop me off here. I would've told you, but it was kind of a sudden decision. Sorry."
"Don't be ridiculous, Nil. Sorry about what?" I grinned at her. "Actually, you came at the perfect time. I was going to tell the girls about the Kerem situation. But I still haven't figured out a way to do it with minimal damage. If you back me up, maybe they won't tear me apart too badly. What do you say?"
When I smiled at her, she smiled back.
"I'll do what I can, but honestly, I don't get why you didn't tell anyone either."
Before I could answer, the doorbell rang. I stood up with a laugh.
"At least you won't be the only one not getting it anymore."
I opened the door, and when Feyza and Aylin walked in with expressions only slightly better than Nil's, my brows knitted.
"What happened to you two?"
"My exam went terrible."
"I fought with my dad. Again."
"Welcome to the club." Nil laughed and hugged Feyza, and I threw an arm over Aylin's shoulder and leaned my head against her arm.
"See? That's what a real friend looks like. I knew you wouldn't abandon me, bestie."
We went to the living room laughing and sat down. Feyza turned to me, curious.
"You didn't call us for group therapy, did you?"
"Seriously, what were you going to say?"
"Huh? Actually… should we drink something?" I glanced at them. "Wait here, I'll brew some tea at least."
I was about to get up when Aylin grabbed my arm.
"The fact that you're trying to run means you're about to say something that'll make us mad."
As I lowered my head and stared at the carpet's nonexistent patterns, Feyza's suspicious voice cut in.
"How bad is it?"
When I lifted my head, before I could speak, Nil jumped in.
"Duru and Kerem are dating."
Oh my God. This girl was literally a world brand in bluntness, I swear.
"With who did you say?"
"What are they, what?"
All three of us stared at Nil with the same shocked expression, then all eyes snapped to me. I panicked so hard I didn't know what to do.
"First of all, calm down. I'll tell you everything you want to know, but this time it really wasn't on purpose."
"What does that even mean? Did you date him by accident?" Feyza's scolding was completely justified, and I shook my head fast.
"No, not like that. I mean, I wasn't planning to tell you this late."
"How late are we talking?" Aylin asked.
I answered with a hesitant smile.
"One week..."
"One week?"
"You're kidding!"
"I wasn't expecting this either." With Feyza, Aylin, and Nil reacting all at once, I sighed and let my shoulders slump.
"When we found the right moment, Kerem and I were going to gather all of you and tell you together. But Nil and the others saw us together, and Kerem chose to say it right away instead of waiting for the right time."
"How generous of him!" Feyza rolled her eyes, and of course Aylin was the one who caught the detail.
"Where did they see you?"
"At Kerem's house. We found them asleep, hugging each other."
At that exact moment, I wanted to slap the biggest strip of packing tape right across Nil's mouth.
"If you hadn't rushed it, we could've found out through the wedding invitation too!"
"What wedding, Sapphire? Don't exaggerate!" I frowned a little. "Worst case, we would've told you after exams." Then I continued, more honestly. "To be fair, everything happened so fast, even I don't get how we ended up dating."
Even if the whole thing was fake, that part was still true. Nil grinned and turned to the girls.
"So we struggled for nothing."
The girls nodded, laughing, and I looked at them suspiciously.
"What do you mean, for nothing?"
They were all staring at me with sneaky smiles.
"Don't tell me that dressing me up and getting me drunk was to set me up with Kerem!"
As much as I wanted to scold them for what they'd done, doing that right now would only turn all the arrows back at me. Besides, there was something else I actually wanted to talk about from that night.
"Since the bar topic is open, I want to ask something. What happened between Can and that Hotshot for things to get this bad?"
Nil's smile slipped. She looked away.
"You should ask Kerem himself. It's not something I can explain."
'Let's make this show five seasons, Sebastian.'
That man had so many secrets, even the writers with the strongest imagination would get jealous.