Amanda and Eydis walked down the hall of the Aletheia Building on the way to their next class. They’d been roommates since freshman year and even though they had different majors, they tried to take at least one elective together every semester. They watched in amusement as new students scrambled to find their classrooms without looking lost. One boy in particular caught Amanda’s eye.
“Check out that fresh meat,” she said. “Rawr.”
Eydis followed her friend’s gaze and stifled a grin. “He’s a little buff for you, isn’t he?”
“Please. He’s got tall, dark and handsome on lockdown and you think I’m going to complain about his muscles?”
“You do usually prefer them thin and brooding…”
Ligossa popped up out of nowhere, as she often did, her wings brushing against Amanda’s arm. “I hear he’s a transfer,” she said. “Scholarship boy. From community college.” Her tone put that on the same level as someone with a horrible, disfiguring disease.
“Smart, too, eh?” Eydis patted her friend on the back. “Guess you’d better pick the wedding venue.”
Amanda rolled her eyes. ”What’s his name, Oss?”
“I think someone said it was Joe.” She ruffled her feathers and sneered. “Have fun slumming it, Mandy.”
“Don’t worry, I will.” She hated snobs who cared more about genealogy than ability. Squeezing Eydis’ arm, she sauntered off toward the boy and flashed him a smile that nearly made him stagger.
“Need help finding your class?” she asked, tucking a strand of curly auburn hair behind her ear. “I’m Amanda.”
“Kojo,” he said with a polite bow. “My friends call me Joe. I believe I have found the room, but I thank you for the kind offer.”
Amanda looked up at the number over the door. “Oh, you’re taking Basic Shapeshifting? So am I! What’s your major?”
She sensed his blush even though his coffee-black skin barely showed it. “Finance. I would have preferred to take something else but my parents are rather old-fashioned.”
“Don’t worry, it will be fun.” Batting her eyelashes, she leaned closer. “You’d be surprised how invigorating it can be to… fully experience different forms.”
Eydis arrived then and Amanda introduced her. “Eydis is majoring in hydrology with a minor in luck. She’s taking the class, too.”
As tall as Joe was, Eydis could almost look him right in his big brown eyes. She decided after a handful of seconds that she liked what she saw and held out an arm for him to grasp.
“Come on, we don’t want to be late.” Amanda tucked her arm into Joe’s and steered him toward the door.
“And what are you majoring in?” Joe asked.
Joe smelled absolutely divine, like a mix of coffee, lemon and cayenne pepper. ”I’m still undeclared,” she lied. For some reason, these young sweet things always tensed up when they found out she was studying to be a love goddess. And did she ever love to study.