Page 116 of The Pinkie Pact

"Sometimes, I actually use my brain," he joked, and I laughed, feeling happy all of the sudden.

Kara came out of the bathroom, along with a billow of steam. "What's going on?"

"Your brother just brought over some Thanksgiving goodies."

"What?" she asked, coming around the corner to the kitchen. "Are you kidding me, Kieran? I was thinking we would just order Chinese food."

He paused to stare at her. "I mean, if that's what you want."

"Hell, no. I love my sweet and sour chicken but not today." She beamed at him before turning to me. "And I was thinking you and I could go help Delia out. She mentioned that they serve a Thanksgiving meal at two o'clock and wished we could be there."

Kieran glanced at the time on the oven. "That's perfect timing, actually. You two can go while I cook."

"Perfect." My hand on a bag, I tried to peek inside to see if I could spot any of my favorites. "Whatcha have in there anyway?"

He swatted my hand away playfully. "You'll just have to wait, beautiful."

Our eyes caught at that word, and I realized by the expression on his face that it had probably slipped out. But still, it made my heart stop as his stunning eyes pierced me with a look of such longing it made the rest of the world fall away.

But Kara brought me back. "Yo, guys. I'm right here."

I tore my gaze away, wondering what was going on with me. Were the feelings for Kieran coming back?

"We need to get going," Kara said, clutching my arm. "Let's grab some granola bars to eat on the way."

***

Several hours later, Kara and I trudged through the snow, back to the dorm. Helping out today had actually been a lot of fun, and a warm feeling filled my soul despite the coldness seeping through my shoes.

Snow was brand new to me, and I absolutely loved it, I mean, in small doses. By the time we made it home, though, my feet were completely wet.

"I really need proper shoes if it's going to snow here again," I said to Kara as we waited for the elevator.

Looking confused, she glanced down at me. "Oh, girl, no. Why would you wear those?"

"Hello. I'm from California," I said as we entered the elevator and rode up to our floor. "I don't have all the right stuff like you. My mom bought me this coat like two days before I came here."

She let out a snort. "Well, lucky for you, you have a roommate from the great state of New Hampshire. We'll do a little online Black Friday shopping and get you all set up."

"Thank you," I said, getting out of the elevator, an amazing smell hitting my nose as soon as we started down the hall. "Oh, wow, do you think that could be coming from our room?"

Kara's eyes widened. "God, I hope so."

It smelled exactly like Thanksgiving at home, and I was surprised there wasn't a line of students outside our room with half the kids not being able to go home either. Rushing to our door, I paused as I heard loud music coming from inside, and Kara stopped beside me.

"Is that Kieran?" I asked.

"Must be," she said, a smirk on her face.

She keyed inside quietly, and I realized she was trying to sneak in. So I did the same, wondering what we might find. And there was Kieran by the kitchen, dancing around, singing at the top of his lungs.

Kara and I burst into laughter, and he whirled around to face us, his cheeks tinged with pink. Shaking his head and chuckling, he turned the music down and went back into the kitchen, soon bringing out some wine.

"Here ya go," he said, handing us each a glass. "Not that I should be feeding you after laughing at me."

"We weren't laughingatyou," I started.

"Yes, we were," Kara said.

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