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“Y-yeah. I’m fine. But no, I can’t ask him.”

Blaire raised her eyebrow and tilted her head. “Why not?”

“I just can’t. That’s all there is to it.”

The finality in her voice said Blaire shouldn’t push. Riley always got flustered around Seth, and he acted as hot and cold with Riley as Lukas had been with her. They were obviously attracted to each other, but why wouldn’t they act on it? It wasn’t as if they had the issue of being another species in the way.

“Anyway, they always score that high because Mera is basically a genius, and Kai is always competing with her, so he has no issue keeping up anymore. I really don’t understand what’s so fun about the competition, but whatever gets him off.”

Blaire burst out laughing as Riley held up a black dress in front of her.

“You should try this on.”

“Oh no, I can’t afford anything here. Especially now that I don’t have a job anymore. The allowance the school gives me covers my basic needs, but nothing on the scale this store offers.”

Riley waved a hand dismissively. “My parents are loaded, and since I’m the baby, they won’t care if I spend money on my best friend.”

Blaire shook her head. Big surprise, Riley’s parents were loaded. All Blackthorn Academy students came from families with money, one of the perks of coming from long family lines that had amassed wealth over centuries. Some more than others. But she was happy to know Riley saw her as her best friend, too. Moments like this made her hang on to whatever she could and not completely abandon everything.

“Fine, fine, but only because you said something sweet.” Blaire took the dress and disappeared into the dressing room.

“I did?”

Blaire laughed as she took her clothes off. “So, is it just you and Aiden?”

“Oh no, I’m the baby of four children. My older sister Heather, who’s thirty-four, and my brother Brandon, who’s twenty-nine, have already left the academy and are working elsewhere.”

“Really? What do they do?” Blaire asked as she pulled on the mini dress.

“Well, Brandon works as a chef in Korea. He’s got a bunch of restaurants and his own cooking show in Seoul. And Heather works for a pharmaceutical company. She lives in New York City near my dad.”

Blaire fought with the zipper on the dress, but finally managed to get hold of it. “What’s he do? Do you have a mom around?”

“Yeah, but all anyone knows is he works in the Mayor’s Office for International Affairs in Manhattan. We don’t even know the details of what he does.” She laughed. “Mom works in one of the branch locations of Blackthorn Academy, though.”

“What, really?”

“Oh, yeah. She’s a teacher in the high school branch. I’ll introduce you sometime.”

It must be nice to have a mother so close. Blaire swallowed hard to get her emotions in check as she adjusted the dress and stared at herself in the mirror.

It was another black bodycon dress, but it had a halter top with the back cut out, the material ruched at the waist and down the thighs where a slit up the front stopped close to the juncture where her thigh met her pelvis. She was definitely too tall for this to feel comfortable.

“Uh, Riley? This isn’t going to work,” she called from the dressing room.

“What? No way. It’s the same size as the other dress. Let me see.”

Blaire huffed a sigh and stepped out of the dressing room and held her hands out, motioning toward the long span of leg on display.

Riley whistled. “Wow. That’s…”

“See! It’s comically short for someone my height.”

“No. It’s hot, that’s what it is.” Riley lifted her phone and snapped a photo, and then tapped at her screen rapidly before looking up at Blaire. “There. All done.”

“You’re ridiculous. What are you doing?”

She shrugged, looking impish. “Oh, I just sent the photo to Lukas.”