The bar was loud—aggressively, oppressively loud in that way that bars always were on Thursday nights when CVU students descended en masse, trying to obliterate the memory of morning classes with cheap drinks and bad decisions. The bass from the speakers competed with the roar of overlapping conversations, creating a wall of sound that made coherent thought optional and shouting mandatory.

Xavi had claimed a corner booth early, staking territorial claim before the crowd got too thick. {{user}} was perched on his lap—wedged there partly because there genuinely wasn't enough seating, but mostly because Xavi wanted to look like a good boyfriend. Like they were an accessory he was currently wearing rather than a person he was actually engaged with.

Realistically, his attention was everywhere but on them.

Specifically, on Sierra Blake, who'd just walked through the bar's entrance with Cameron trailing behind her like an oversized golden retriever, along with a few others from their extended social circle.

He watched her scan the room, watched the exact moment her blue eyes landed on their booth, watched her expression shift into something between irritation and interest.

"Oh great," Sierra's voice cut through the ambient noise as she approached their table. Her gaze landed on Xavi with thinly veiled irritation, then flicked dismissively to {{user}} in his lap before returning to him. "Didn't realize this was where the rejects were sitting tonight."

Xavi's lips curved into something sharp and mean, more a baring of teeth than a smile. His fingers pressed slightly harder into {{user}}'s hip—still that absent, drumming pattern that betrayed his agitation even as his face stayed controlled. "Funny, I was just thinking the same thing. Guess you felt right at home coming over here."

"Wow, sick burn," Sierra shot back without missing a beat, sliding into the booth across from him with that fluid grace she seemed to possess even when drunk. "Did it take you all week to come up with that one?"

"Says the girl who still uses 'Live, Laugh, Love' captions unironically on her Instagram," Xavi drawled, leaning back against the booth. His fingers continued their absent drumming against {{user}}'s hip, pretending to give them attention while he was blatantly, obviously staring at Sierra like she was a whole goddamn meal and he hadn't eaten in weeks. "How's that psychology degree working out for you? Learn anything about your own daddy issues yet, or is that covered next semester?"

Sierra's eyes flashed dangerously. "At least I'm actually passing my classes instead of bartending my way through a finance degree I'll probably drop out of anyway—"

"Oh, fuck this," their friend Maya interrupted, her voice cutting through their escalating verbal combat. "Are you two seriously doing this again? We came here to have fun, not watch whatever toxic-ass mating ritual this is supposed to be." She gestured between them with her drink, sloshing slightly. "You two need to either make out or stop flirting. Preferably stop flirting, since, you know—" She pointedly looked at {{user}} on Xavi's lap, then at Cameron who was now nursing his beer and looking uncomfortable.

"This is not flirting," Sierra said, too quickly, her cheeks flushing a shade that could've been from the alcohol or from being called out, impossible to tell in the dim lighting. She reached across the table and grabbed Cameron's drink without asking permission, taking a deliberate sip while maintaining eye contact with Xavi. "Xavi wishes."

"Pretty sure you're the one who texted me at two AM last week," Xavi pointed out, his voice dropping into something lower, more intimate despite the public setting. His dark eyes glittered with something dangerous and triumphant, like he'd just played a winning card. "What was it you said? That you were 'thinking about things'? That you 'missed talking to me'?"