Seven Twenty-Eight

10.

"Finals are a pain in my ass— I'm so glad they're over," Mary whined, harshly kicking her French textbook beneath her bed. "I've decided I'm done. I'm not coming back next semester."

"You aren't even leaving."

"Shut up," She called out dramatically as she threw herself back onto her bed.

Sam snickered to her, plopping down beside her. He turned to look at her, tilting his head slightly. "You probably aced all of them, Mars," He smiled, playfully nudging her legs away from him.

"Well obviously," She boasted, holding her hand out for a high-five, "My mind is incredible."

He reached out to smack it firmly, then laced their fingers together, "You're incredible."

She rolled her eyes, ignoring the blush on her cheeks as she sat up, looking to Elisa who watched them in awe.

"And you're super sure you don't want to come with me?"

"Yes," She sighed, "Someone has to make sure your brother doesn't just stay in his room for three weeks."

"He isn't going with you?" Elisa spoke up, leaning her head down on her footboard.

"No," Sam scoffed, rolling his eyes, "He'd rather stay here by himself than spend Christmas with my mother."

Her eyebrows raised, surprised by the information.

"They don't get along very well," Mary said ominously.

Sam nodded slowly, leaving a pause of silence as they glanced at each other. "Um— What about you?" He asked suddenly, gesturing his hand to Elisa, "You don't look very ready to fly twenty hours."

"You guessed it," Elisa retorted, "I'm staying here. There's no point in going home to no one."

He frowned, "What about Jack? He didn't ask if you wanted to go meet his mom?"

She winced at the thought, shaking her head. "God, no," She sighed.

Mary laughed out, leaning back on her elbows, "What? You don't want to meet her?"

"He doesn't speak very highly of her," Elisa retorted, scrunching her nose.

"Lily's great," Sam told her, "Jack's just a spoiled brat."

She pressed her lips together, shyly hugging her arms around herself. "Well, he didn't even ask what I was doing," She shrugged, "I don't think the idea of me not going home even crossed his mind."

There was a short knock on the door before Jackson himself waltzed into the room, dropping his bag onto the floor with a deep sigh.

"Manhattan is calling me," He announced, turning to Elisa. "Hi, gorgeous."

She smiled, tilting her head up to let him kiss her forehead. "Hi," She replied, moving to let him sit beside her, "Excited to go home?"

"Excited to have three weeks of no school," He told her, "Not excited to be an ocean away from you."

"More like a couple blocks," Mary told him, crossing her arms over her chest.

"What?" He frowned, "You're not going home?"

"Mnm," Elisa hummed, shaking her head as she chewed on her bottom lip, "Not worth the trip."

"I'm sorry," He pouted, pulling her into a soft hug, "I wish I knew."

She smiled weakly, letting him nudge her away as he moved to dig into his pocket.

"Good thing I got your gift when I went home for Thanksgiving," He smirked, presenting her with a powder blue box labeled in black: Tiffany & Co.