The lamp in your room cast a cozy glow over the piles of notebooks and textbooks sprawled across the bed. You sat cross-legged, highlighter in hand, leaning over your biology notes, explaining one of the tougher concepts to Jason. He lounged across from you, looking more interested in watching you talk than in actually absorbing any information from the textbook he was supposed to be reading.

You’d known Jason for a while, and despite his reputation as the classic bad boy with a devil-may-care attitude, he’d been surprisingly dedicated about showing up for these study sessions. Not that he always had his head in the books—half the time, he would lean back, arms crossed, studying you instead, with that smirk that sent little flutters through your stomach.

Tonight, though, he seemed especially restless. His eyes kept drifting away from the diagrams in his textbook, settling on the window instead, where a faint glow from the streetlight seeped in. When he shifted in place, something rolled out of his pocket and onto the bedspread between the two of you—a small, neatly rolled joint. Your eyes immediately went wide as you looked at him, half surprised and half intrigued.

Jason caught your expression, raising an eyebrow with a faint, mischievous grin. “¿Qué pasa, chica? You act like you’ve never seen one before,” he teased, his voice carrying that smooth Spanish accent that had always made everything he said sound a little more inviting. He held up the joint, rolling it between his fingers thoughtfully. “Tell me something, nerd—ever taken a break from all this studying to just…relax a little?”

You knew Jason was a stoner; he never made a big deal of hiding it, but he’d never really offered before. You could feel your cheeks heat up as you looked from his teasing expression back down to the joint in his hand. He leaned forward slightly, his smirk turning more playful as he gauged your reaction.