Chapter 90: Friday Night

By the time Friday evening arrived, Roxanne’s dorm room had essentially ceased to belong to her at all. Isla, Tessa, and Serena had taken it over entirely, clothes draped across every surface and half-used makeup scattered along the desk. Tessa paced near the door, checking her reflection in the mirror for what had to be the dozenth time.

"We’ve been getting ready for an hour," Tessa complained. Roxanne glanced at her. "You’ve changed outfits four times." "That’s called preparation," Tessa said, entirely unbothered, smoothing down her sleeve one more time.

Serena helped Roxanne with the final touches, adjusting a strand of hair while Isla watched from the bed, studying Roxanne’s reflection in the mirror with quiet satisfaction. Roxanne wasn’t dressing to impress anyone in particular tonight, and that felt important after everything the past few weeks had thrown at her. She simply wanted to wear something that made her feel like herself, pretty and comfortable, with no agenda attached to it at all.

The student social filled one of the academy’s largest common halls, transformed for the night with strings of lights overhead and streamers looping across the ceiling, tables crowded with food and drinks along the far wall. Music thumped steadily from somewhere near the stage, and someone had set up a makeshift photo booth in the corner, complete with ridiculous props nobody seemed embarrassed to use. For the first time since Roxanne had arrived, Moonstone Academy actually felt like an ordinary boarding school rather than a training ground.

She walked in with Isla, Tessa, and Serena, and within seconds the group had scattered in four different directions. Tessa beelined straight for the food table, Isla spotted a cluster of classmates and waved enthusiastically, and Serena got pulled into conversation by someone from the exchange program before she’d gone three steps. Roxanne found herself suddenly, comically alone in the middle of the crowded hall.

Then Liam appeared beside her out of nowhere, grinning. "You came," he said. "You sound surprised," Roxanne said. "I was hoping," he said, and something in his tone, quieter than his usual teasing, caught her off guard more than she expected.

He held out his hand without preamble. "Dance with me," he said. Roxanne eyed him. "You don’t even know what song this is." "I know I want to dance with you," he said simply, and she took his hand before she could think better of it.

They moved easily into the crowd, weaving between other dancing couples, and for once Liam didn’t turn the moment into a joke. He still made her laugh, tugging her into a ridiculous spin at exactly the wrong beat, but underneath the humor sat something steadier than usual.

At one point he leaned in slightly. "You look happy," he said. Roxanne smiled. "I am." "Good," he said, and when the song ended he didn’t immediately ask for another. He simply let her go, leaving the next move entirely up to her, and the restraint said more than another dance would have.

The rest of the evening unfolded the same easy way, each brother finding her in his own time rather than all four crowding around her at once, as though they’d silently agreed not to compete for her attention. Roshan found her near the quieter edge of the room and handed her a drink without a word, having noticed she hadn’t eaten anything since arriving. They talked for a few minutes about nothing important, and it felt entirely comfortable, the way most things with Roshan did.

Later, when the music shifted into something louder and half the room started complaining loudly about the DJ’s choices, Lucien ended up standing beside her near the wall. "You don’t have to stay if you’re tired," he said. "I want to stay," she said. He nodded once. "Then stay," he said, and that was the whole conversation, simple and warm in a way that needed nothing more added to it.

Kai didn’t approach her right away. For a long stretch of the evening, Roxanne caught glimpses of him across the room, leaning against a pillar and watching her laugh with her friends without ever interrupting. Eventually, when the music slowed into something softer, he crossed the room and stopped in front of her. He didn’t ask whether she wanted to dance. He simply held out his hand, and she took it.

Their dance was quieter than the one with Liam had been. There was no teasing this time, no awareness of anyone else in the room at all. Kai’s hand rested carefully at her waist, steady and warm, and Roxanne found herself noticing how completely comfortable she felt standing this close to him.

"You don’t talk much," she said softly. "You already know that," he said. "I know," she said, and then, after a pause, "But you came over." Kai looked down at her. "I wanted to," he said, and the simple honesty of it landed somewhere deep in her chest. When the song ended, neither of them moved away right away, though nothing more happened between them, not yet.

The serious mood broke apart entirely when Liam climbed onto a chair and declared, loudly, that everyone had to play a ridiculous dance game he’d apparently invented on the spot. Jace joined immediately, and Tessa absolutely demolished everyone else with moves nobody expected from her. Roxanne laughed until her stomach ached, and even Lucien got dragged into the chaos despite his visible reluctance.

Kai refused at first, arms crossed firmly, clearly unmoved by the chaos unfolding in front of him. "Coward," Liam called out. "Correct," Kai replied without hesitation. Eventually Roxanne grabbed his hand and physically pulled him into the circle, and to everyone’s genuine surprise, he actually participated, moving with a stiffness that made the whole group dissolve into laughter all over again.

Later, while Roxanne stood near the drinks table catching her breath after the dance game, a boy she didn’t recognize approached her, confident but polite. He wore a pack crest she didn’t recognize, polished and unfamiliar against his jacket. "Would you like to dance?" he asked. Roxanne hesitated for a second, glancing toward her friends scattered across the room, before deciding she didn’t need anyone’s permission. "Sure," she said.

They danced briefly, nothing more than a simple, friendly turn around the floor under the colored lights, but she noticed the shift across the room almost immediately afterward. Liam had stopped smiling entirely. Kai had gone quieter, his jaw tight. Roshan watched from a distance without comment, and Lucien simply observed everything with his usual unreadable calm.

When Roxanne rejoined her friends after the song ended, Liam was suddenly very invested in his drink. "What’s wrong?" she asked. "Nothing," he said. "You’re terrible at lying," she said, and he gave her a small, sheepish smile. "I know," he admitted. Something settled in her chest then, a quiet realization that they actually cared about her, far more than she’d let herself notice, and for the first time that knowledge didn’t frighten her at all. It only made her wonder, more seriously than before, what she actually wanted.

As the party began winding down, students trickling toward the exits in small, laughing groups, Roxanne slipped outside for some fresh air, the noise of the hall fading behind her into a soft, muffled hum. A few moments later, Kai stepped out to join her, and they stood together beneath the academy lights in comfortable silence.

"Did you enjoy tonight?" he asked. "Yeah," she said. "Even with him?" Kai asked, his voice carefully neutral. She turned to look at him. "Are you jealous?" He didn’t deny it. "A little," he admitted. Roxanne smiled despite herself. "You could’ve asked me to dance again," she said.

Kai stepped slightly closer, close enough that she could feel the warmth coming off him in the cool night air. "I didn’t want to assume," he said. She looked up at him, and something in her chest tightened pleasantly. "You don’t have to," she said, and neither of them moved to break the silence that followed.