dité always went back to school earlier than heff, for sorority stuff. technically heff was also supposed to go back, but he hated fraternity stuff, so usually he just picked a day that worked best for julia to see him off at the airport. he had told her eight hundred million times that he was perfectly capable of taking the subway, or even a taxi, but she always got that expression on her face like she was contemplating hitting him with a pillow, so he let her drive. julia was one of those nutjobs who maintained a car in the city, for inexplicable reasons.
this year, dité met him at the airport on the other side, in a red convertible rental car with helen and sappho in the back.
“i saved you the front seat,” dité told him, looking pleased with herself. “sappho tried to claim that she had dibs because her legs are longer.”
“is that a joke about my leg,” heff asked, raising an eyebrow.
a look of horror flashed across sappho’s face, but then her eyes narrowed at him. “fuck off,” she complained. “you’re the worst.”
helen popped her head between the driver and passenger seat to press a quick kiss to heff’s cheek. “hiya,” she greeted. “dité has been really excited for you to get back.”
“no i wasn’t,” dité snapped, cheeks heating, a little. “i barely even like you. i think you’re okay at best.” heff waited a beat and was rewarded with her mouth tipping up into a smile before she leaned forward and kissed him once. before sappho or helen could say anything, dité held up a firm hand. “not a word,” she commanded.
helen slumped back into her seat and let sappho put her feet on her lap.
“well now that we’re here, we figured we could drop your stuff off at the house and then go right to the party at theta chi. i heard they’re going to have a hotdog eating contest, and athena’s gonna absolutely clean the floor.”
heff shrugged. he didn’t mind what they did or where they went; he was glad to be here. it hadn’t been that long since he’d seen dité but he’d missed her anyway, and now here she was, red nails in her red car, smiling over at him with her friends in the backseat.
dité was watching him with an eyebrow raised. “are you gonna ask?” she prompts, voice pitched quiet under the sound of the radio. behind them, helen and sappho were shout-singing along out the window.
heff felt his cheeks heat a little. “have you seen him?” he asked obligingly. “is he back yet?”
“he’s back,” dité said. “we hung out yesterday, a little. it was fun. not as fun as when it’s all three of us, but.” she shrugged, apparently content with knowing the what and not the why of it. “he’s excited to see you.”
“cool,” said heff, and hid his smile by looking out the window.