Jace's POV
Ariana looked at me for a long moment at her dorm entrance, I noticed the air carried a particular cold that wasn't there this morning but brushed it off. My phone buzzed again in my pocket. Dad. Third call in twenty minutes.
"Can I just stay?" I asked before I could second-guess it. "We could hang out in your dorm. Watch you study, keep you company. I don't really want to go back to an empty room right now."
Something softened in her expression. "Yeah. I'd like that."
We headed back inside, and I ignored my phone buzzing again as we settled into her room, Becca thankfully still out somewhere. Ariana pulled out her laptop, propping herself against her headboard with her research project open, and I sat beside her, half watching her work, half just enjoying being near her aft
