Chapter Text
“I swear, I was this close to cracking him in the jaw,” Petra huffs, gesturing with her fingers barely an inch apart. “My buddy Jack had to step in before I lost it, which—okay, fine. Gotta keep a ‘good image’ or whatever.”
Hands tucked in her pockets, Jesse bites back a grin, watching Petra talk about an incident that happened last night at the auto shop. Something about a sexist customer. “What’d Jack say to him?”
“I dunno, I went in the back. I was pissed.” Petra scoffs, “Probably for him to go fuck himself.”
Jesse laughs. Between this meet-up and the last, she’d quickly learned that Petra never passes up the opportunity to swear.
“Yeah, sounds like a real headache.”
The two are on their way to Jesse’s first class, a routine that she’s becoming very fond of. Petra had initially been pretty reserved when they’d first met. But now, she’s so expressive.
Jesse’s picked up on a handful of things. One of which being that Petra is as fiery as her red hair. She has a bite to her—she isn’t scared of conflict.
Yeah, Petra is intimidating at a glance. But if she ever wants to, she can easily back it up with something to actually be scared of. She’s already told Jesse a handful of stories in which she’d verbally told customers to back off. With more vulgar words in between the lines, of course.
“It’s like me being a woman means I haven’t been doing this for years,” Petra goes on. “Like I don’t know cars better than I know half the people in my life.” She runs a hand through her shoulder-length hair. “It’s just annoying. Funny, but annoying.”
Jesse feels a pang of sympathy, looking up at Petra with a frown. “I’m sure it doesn’t get any easier to deal with.”
Petra exhales sharply through her nose, shaking her head. “Nope. But it’s whatever. At the end of the day, I know I’m better than half the guys that walk in there thinking they can talk down to me.”
Jesse hums in agreement. “It’s gotta be exhausting, though.”
Petra shrugs. “Yeah, but what else is new? It’s always been like this.” She kicks a loose pebble on the sidewalk, watching it bounce along the pavement. “Honestly, I’ve stopped letting it get to me most days. The guys that pull that shit don’t last long, anyway.” She shoots Jesse a playful grin. “Either they storm out when I prove them wrong, or they get humbled real fast when their ‘years of experience’ don’t check out.”
Jesse snickers. “Sounds entertaining, frustrations aside.”
Petra laughs before letting out a tired sigh. “It is. But…yeah, last night was just one of those nights. You’d think by now I’d be used to the whole ‘oh, wow, a woman working on cars’ thing,” she glances up at the foggy morning sky, “but sometimes I’m just really not in the mood.”
Jesse nods, “Yeah, I don’t blame you.”
Jesse likes seeing Petra like this—unfiltered, completely at ease around her. The way she’s venting is different from just complaining—she’s not asking for pity, she’s just sharing. Talking to Jesse like she’s known her for ages. It’s nice.
For a while, they just walk, falling into a comfortable silence. Jesse’s designated hall comes into view as they round the last corner.
Jesse is more than familiar with this routine now; these walks with Petra, the ease of their conversations…she already feels like this is one of her favorite parts of the day.
Suddenly Petra speaks up again, her voice teasing. “So you haven’t gotten sick of calculus this early yet?”
Jesse laughs, shaking her head. “I can’t,” she says. “As much as I want to, it’s kind of important. Plus, Lukas makes it bearable.”
At that, something in Petra’s demeanor shifts. It’s small, but Jesse catches it. A slight stiffening of her shoulders, her gaze averted.
Petra glances ahead, her tone more neutral when she responds. “Right… how’s that going, by the way?”
Jesse tilts her head, surprised by the sudden shift. “It’s…good,” she says slowly. “He’s nice. Helps me stay awake, that’s for sure.”
Petra nods, but she doesn’t say anything else right away.
Jesse watches her, debating whether to ask what that was about. Before she can though, Petra clears her throat, schooling her expression back into something more casual. “Yeah, well,” she says, voice lighter now, “better you than me. Math is a nightmare.”
Jesse snorts, letting it go altogether. “Oh, I’ve heard it a million times.”
“You could just skip, y’know.”
Jesse raises an eyebrow, amused at such an idea. “And do what?”
Petra glances at her, and for just a second, there’s something unreadable lacing her features. Then she shrugs, topping it off with a coy, lopsided grin.
”Hang out with me.”
Jesse blinks, caught off guard by how easily Petra says it. It’s so casual, so offhanded, but it admittedly makes something stir in Jesse’s chest.
She should say no. She knows that. She should roll her eyes, laugh it off. But admittedly…the thought lingers.
Skipping class, something she wouldn’t normally even entertain, honestly doesn’t seem like the worst idea. It’s not just the idea of avoiding calculus for a day. It’s the idea of spending some extra time with Petra.
…Uh oh.
Jesse bites the inside of her cheek, glancing at the lecture hall ahead. Then back at Petra.
Petra suddenly snickers, nudging Jesse lightly. “Relax, I’m joking.” A pause. “Mostly.”
Jesse exhales, shaking her head, but she can’t deny the flicker of disappointment in her chest. Stop that. “You’re just trying to get out of Econ.”
“Guilty.”
Jesse rolls her eyes, but she’s still smiling as they approach the entrance. She hesitates for a second before stepping through the propped-open doors, glancing back at Petra one last time.
“I’ll see you later?”
Petra nods, hands still tucked in her pockets. “Yeah. Catch you later.”
Jesse nods back in farewell and walks inside, but even as she heads toward her class, she can’t stop thinking about Petra’s comment.
Realistically, it wouldn’t be that big of a deal…and Lukas wouldn’t care, right?
Glancing ahead to her seat, she sees that Lukas isn’t even there yet, which is unusual. Maybe that’s a sign to just go for it.
She hesitates just beside the doorway, gripping the strap of her bag as students shuffle past her.
…
…
…I’ll see him at lunch anyway.
With that, Jesse turns around on a heel and weaves through the other students coming in, refusing to let herself second-guess. Fuck it.
Once she makes it into the main lobby, after a moment of scanning the area, Jesse sees no sign of Petra.
Damn. There’s no way she walks that fast.
A small pang of disappointment tugs at her chest, but she brushes it off. She couldn’t have gotten far, Jesse thinks, already heading briskly toward the doors.
She pushes past a few more students, her pace quickening with each step. She isn’t sure why, but suddenly, she really wants to commit to this. As long as Petra is still down for it.
Jesse swings the door open, squinting in the brightening morning light as she makes it outside. She scans the area, her breath catching in her throat when she sees Petra making her way down the entry-steps, towards the street.
Jesse’s heart picks up its pace, a mix of excitement and nervousness bubbling up in her chest.
“Petra!”
She feels a bit awkward calling her name somewhat-loudly amidst the other students lingering about. But Petra turns within the second, her expression a mix of confusion and surprise.
“Oh! Jesse?”
Jesse walks up to her, putting a little pep in her step. She smiles. “I uh…figured it wouldn’t hurt,” she shrugs, feeling something all twisty-turny happening in her chest.
Petra takes a moment to connect the dots as she watches Jesse confusedly, turning to face her in full. She then breaks out into soft laughter, a sound that makes Jesse’s skin feel impossibly warmer. “You’re…actually serious?” Her eyes are bright with amusement. “You really don’t have to—“
“Yes, I’m serious. Let’s do it!” Jesse laughs too, and she isn’t entirely sure why, but she can’t help it. Something about this feels so exciting, so freeing. “We can get breakfast or something, I dunno. Whatever you want.”
They’re now less than a few feet apart. Petra is just staring down at her, clearly stunned.
Jesse doesn’t notice that as much as she notices the faint, red hue dusting her cheeks. She must be getting cold. We should go.
“Well…?” Jesse peers up at her, waiting.
“I— um…yeah! Yeah, let’s…” Petra looks over her shoulder, her eyes scanning the campus a bit before she looks back at Jesse. “Let’s go get some food. I know a place, it’s right by my first class.”
Jesse’s grin widens, her initial rush of boldness turning into a satisfied warmth. “I’m game. Lead the way.”
Petra’s expression shifts, her usual relaxed demeanor softening into something a little more curious, more playful. She looks at Jesse for a moment longer than usual, almost as if she’s trying to read her, but then she just nods and starts walking toward the street.
———
The next thing Jesse knows, she’s stepping into a place called The Commons, the scent of fresh coffee and a myriad of breakfast foods wrapping around her like a warm hug.
The place is quieter than she expected, save for the occasional clatter of plates and the low murmur of students chatting over their early-morning meals. She recognizes the space from when she toured the campus months ago. The Commons isn’t just another dining hall—it’s run under the college’s culinary program, with students cooking real, five star-quality meals instead of the usual prepackaged cafeteria stuff.
Jesse remembers seeing some flyers mentioning it, emphasizing how it was one of the best spots to eat on campus if you wanted something good. She’d meant to check it out, but never found the time.
After greeting the worker scanning student keycards at the door, Petra leads the way, weaving between empty tables before settling into a booth tucked away from the windows, where the rising sun won’t blind them. Jesse slides in across from her.
“See?” Petra says, smiling proudly as she leans back in her seat. “Way better than sitting through a lecture, isn’t it?”
Glancing up at her curiously, Jesse huffs a laugh, shaking her head. “Don’t get used to this.”
Petra arches a brow, amusement flickering in her eyes. “Oh, so you’re saying this is a one-time thing?”
“Absolutely,” Jesse says, although the conviction in her voice isn’t as strong as she wants it to be.
Petra hums like she doesn’t quite believe her, her expression challenging in a playful way. “We’ll see.”
Jesse just rolls her eyes and focuses on the menu.
That focus doesn’t last, however, when Petra suddenly starts laughing.
“Holy shit,” Petra chuckles, crossing her arms. "You totally ditched Lukas, didn’t you?”
Jesse freezes mid-menu flip, guilt and amusement warring inside her. “…I didn’t ditch him,” she argues.
“Oh, you so did,” Petra teases, now leaning forward with her elbows on the table. “He can’t really blame you, though.”
Still feeling some semblance of guilt, Jesse groans, fidgeting with the menu a bit before setting it down. “He’ll be fine,” she mutters, more to convince herself than Petra. “I’ll text him.”
“You don’t even have his number.”
It’s said so quickly, so casually, that it catches both women off guard. Jesse, because she didn’t even realize that it was true; she has yet to get Lukas’s number.
Petra, because she had no business bringing that up at all. Even if she thought it was a little funny.
“...And you know that how?” Jesse inquires with a teasing grin of her own. “Is he already talking about me that much?”
Unbeknownst to Jesse, it’s actually Petra’s fault that the idea even came up at all. But she doesn’t tell her that.
”You could say that,” is her response instead, struggling to keep eye contact as she clears her throat. “I might’ve given your number to him anyway.”
Jesse’s eyebrows rise, surprised. “Oh?”
Petra huffs a laugh. “Yeah. He asked if I had it, so I just passed it along. Figured you wouldn’t mind.”
“I don’t,” Jesse affirms. “How long has he had it?”
“Since like, last night.”
Jesse tsks jokingly, shaking her head in mock offense. “And he still has yet to text me…”
Petra shrugs. “I told you. Dude’s not a texter. I honestly don’t know what he plans to do.”
"So you gave my number to someone who might never use it?"
“I’m just out here playing matchmaker,” Petra answers with a shrug, her tone casual. She meets Jesse's gaze, and suddenly, there it is again. That hint of pink on her cheeks, gracing the bridge of her nose.
But it’s far from cold in here.
Jesse laughs, but it feels like her heart might be beating just a little too fast over some simple banter. “Right. Just casually playing both sides.”
“Uh-huh,” Petra smirks confidently, “I can do both. Trust me.”
Jesse tilts her head, her teasing smile slipping into something more curious. "So…I’m guessing you asked him if he got my number? Checking in on his progress or something?” She chuckles a bit at the notion.
Petra laughs with her, “Yup. And to be honest, I already knew he hadn’t. You would’ve texted him by now if you did. And then he would’ve told me.”
Jesse stares at Petra for a moment, her pulse quickening. Petra had confidently, and correctly, assumed something about Jesse. It was small, sure. But this soon into meeting her?
Interesting.
Jesse leans back in her seat, crossing her arms. “You’ve been paying attention,” she says, half-teasing, half-probing.
Petra hums, clueless to Jesse’s thought process. “Maybe a little. Or just a lucky guess.”
Jesse then notices the way Petra’s fingers twitch, restless. She’s fidgeting. The brunette’s breath catches a bit, something warm stirring in her chest. She’s not sure what exactly she’s feeling, but whatever it is makes her want to try something.
Casually, she props her chin up on an open palm. Similarly to they day they’d met, Jesse holds Petra’s gaze.
“What else have you been paying attention to?”
Jesse’s voice is slightly quieter now, laced with both genuine curiosity and something borderline flirtatious. And she knows that. She can’t quite explain what she’s doing, but there’s something about Petra’s energy that makes Jesse want to see how far she can push.
And by push, she might mean flirt. Just a little.
Sure enough, the red hue on Petra's face deepens. Jesse feels something fluttering in her stomach, and she doesn’t even blink, wanting to savor this for as long as she can.
It lasts no longer than a few seconds before Petra just laughs, averting her gaze. “Pick something to eat already.” Her voice is steady, underlined with that same natural charm of hers, but Jesse can see that there’s something else lingering.
Her mind races. She glances over at the now-approaching server, but her thoughts don’t stay there at all. Instead, she’s replaying that reaction, over and over, feeling nothing but a buzzing heat creeping up her neck.
———
Their food arrives maybe fifteen minutes after ordering, and Jesse can’t help but admire how good it looks for being made by students.
She ordered a fluffy omelet filled with fresh vegetables, a side of golden-brown hash browns, and a sweet iced vanilla latte. Petra’s order is more straightforward—a classic breakfast of scrambled eggs and toast, accompanied by a steaming cup of black coffee.
This is the second time Jesse’s seen her drinking it, and she can’t help but comment. “Black coffee again?” Jesse smiles, curling an eyebrow. “Is it really that enjoyable?”
“Don’t speak a word to me about my coffee when you’re willingly eating hashbrowns,” Petra fires back fast, clearly having the thought on her mind before Jesse even opens her mouth.
“What? They’re good,” Jesse scoffs, looking down at her hashbrowns in disbelief.
“I hate potatoes.”
At the absurdity, Jesse bursts into laughter. She doesn’t expect that. Petra watches her, amusement sparkling in her eyes as she crosses her arms defiantly. “You’re serious?”
Petra nods. “Absolutely. Top ten worst foods of all time,” she then takes a performatively large sip of her coffee out of spite.
“Wow, I never thought I’d meet someone who could find a way to hate potatoes.” Jesse says, still smiling as she takes a sip of her latte.
“Yup. I’m more of an ‘everything else’ kind of person,” Petra goes on, taking a bite of her toast and settling back in her seat. “You can’t change my mind.”
“Wasn’t going to try,” Jesse remarks, watching the redhead curiously. “I was actually wanting to ask you something.”
Petra curls an eyebrow. “Okay. Shoot.”
It was something Jesse had been wondering about these past few days. She feels like now is as good a time as any to ask.
“You and Lukas…how’d you guys meet?" She cuts off a piece of her omelet. "I mean, you seem practically like siblings. So I was wondering.”
Petra sets her coffee down, her expression softening. She’s clearly not expecting the question, but Jesse’s curiosity seems to catch her off guard in a pleasant way.
Eventually, she laughs softly. “We met through a… kind of complicated situation,” Petra begins, her voice taking on a more thoughtful tone. “I was dating a girl he was friends with at the time.”
Jesse’s heart skips a beat. It shouldn’t come as a surprise—because it really isn’t—but hearing firsthand confirmation that Petra’s into women affects her in a way that she refuses to acknowledge.
“I…didn’t anticipate that,” Jesse says, her voice softer now.
“Yeah, it’s been a while,” Petra mutters. “But she wasn’t really the person I thought she was.” Her eyes flicker to Jesse, something almost guarded behind them. “And Lukas had been telling me that. Started sending me texts through my socials and stuff. Telling me she was acting sketchy.”
Jesse leans forward a bit. “So...he was friends with your girlfriend, but told you to break things off with her?”
“Yup. And I didn’t listen.”
Jesse can’t help but laugh at the notion. “What was she even doing?”
At that, Petra rolls her eyes, a slight edge of frustration creeping into her voice. “She was…” she laughs bitterly, shaking her head. “She was flirting with everyone but me.”
Sensing a shift in the tone of conversation, Jesse frowns. Petra keeps going.
“It was like she couldn’t get enough attention from other people, but every time I tried to talk to her about it, she’d brush it off like it was nothing.”
Jesse's eyes widen, genuinely surprised. “And you stayed with her?”
After a brief moment of silence, Petra simply shrugs, her smirk slowly falling. “…I mean, yeah. I was stupid, I dunno.” She then sighs, “I really liked her.”
The words make something tug at Jesse’s heart.
“But hey— it was a long time ago,” the redhead goes on, waving her hand dismissively. “And a great lesson to have learned, I guess.”
Jesse nods slowly, her gaze softening. Despite her urge to comfort, she instead decides to lighten the mood. “I...guess that’s one way to make a best friend,” she murmurs.
Petra seems to light up a bit at that, and she laughs fondly. “Yeah, definitely. Lukas has always had that ‘older brother’ thing going for him. Always looking out for me.”
“I’m guessing he dropped your ex soon after the breakup?”
Petra scoffs. “Not…exactly. He's stubborn, so he tried to 'make things right.' Tried getting her to explain herself," she shakes her head. "But I wasn’t having it.”
Jesse finds this particularly amusing, curling an eyebrow. “What is there to explain at that point?”
“Exactly,” Petra points at Jesse with her fork. “Lukas tried to say that she ‘didn’t technically cheat.’ But, I mean, come on. I tried to bring things up to her and she just…pushed me away.”
Jesse keeps quiet. Something is telling her that Petra needs this.
The taller woman sighs and pokes at her eggs, her frown laced with something bordering frustration. “Barely flirted with me, like I said. Let alone touched me. I think we only made out once, and that was on our first—no, scratch that. Our only date.” She starts to mutter, "Every other kiss felt like nothing."
Jesse blinks. This is starting to sound a lot more…fresh than she anticipated. She can’t help but ask, “When did you guys break up?”
“Little over a year ago,” Petra answers, taking a particularly harsh bite of her food. At that moment, her gaze suddenly flicks up to Jesse with something unreadable behind them. Then, she sighs heavily.
“Ugh. I’m sorry,” she laughs guiltily, bringing a hand to her face in shame. “I totally just rambled about my ex.”
Jesse immediately shakes her head, her voice soft but reassuring. “No! No, it’s okay, really. You don’t have to apologize.” She gives Petra a small smile, her tone genuine. “I don’t mind listening, especially if it helps.”
Petra seems to relax slightly at that, though the guilt is still there, lingering in her eyes. “I’m over her, really. It just bothers me that I liked her so much, and yet…” she pushes her plate away a little, setting her fork down, and rubs her forehead as if to shake off the weight of the conversation.
“I don’t know,” she mutters, more to herself than Jesse. “I guess it still gets to me sometimes.”
“As it would for anyone,” Jesse says gently, her heart aching for the girl across from her. “Seriously. Don’t worry about it.”
Petra’s eyes soften. Her smile is small, but it’s there. She’s clearly happy to hear that. “…Thanks, Jesse.”
The way Petra's looking at Jesse does something stupid to her. “It’s good you had Lukas looking out for you, too,” she goes on, not trusting the butterflies in her stomach to control themselves unless she keeps talking. “Does he still talk to her?”
Petra snorts. "Hell no. We both cut off a lot of people after graduating. Too many weirdos at my highschool.”
“Oh, same here,” Jesse muses, taking a quick bite of her food. “I could tell you so many stories about this Aiden guy. Total asshole.”
“Oooh,” Petra leans in, “now is it your turn to tell a shitty ex story?”
“Wh—“ Jesse nearly chokes on her drink, shaking her head. “Ew, no. I did not date this guy.”
Petra laughs. “That bad, huh?”
“Worse,” Jesse huffs, her eyes lighting up as a playful idea strikes her. With an exaggerated eye roll, she shrugs. “Plus, he’s a guy.”
The reaction is subtle, but it’s there. Petra freezes for just a second, her eyes locking onto Jesse’s without blinking. Then, in a quick motion, she shakes her head and reaches for her coffee again. “So’s Lukas,” she responds curiously.
Jesse watches closely, catching the faint blush that creeps up Petra’s neck. Her heart flutters, but she keeps her cool. “Yeah. And I like him,” she responds. She then leans forward just a touch, her voice going lower, laced with something coy. “But can’t a girl have preferences?”
This time, Petra totally fails to hide it. She stills again, just for a beat longer than before. Jesse sees the way her fingers twitch against her coffee cup, the way she’s blinking a little faster, the way her cheeks flush a little more. It’s cute.
“…For sure,” Petra eventually murmurs, offering a light smile before taking a notably slower swig of her coffee, likely to hide the deepening blush on her face.
The moment passes, and within a minute or two, they've fallen into easy conversation again.
Jesse keeps stealing glances at Petra between bites, listening to her talk about some more work stories and, more specifically, how she got her current job in the first place.
While shw tries to stay focused on the conversation, though, her thoughts keep drifting.
Jesse told herself she wouldn’t let this be anything more than a harmless crush, that she wouldn’t let it turn into anything else. She tries to ignore the growing heat in her chest, the way her mind starts to wander to random things about Petra: her raspy voice, the way she laughs, the muscles in her arms when she—
Stop.
Jesse mentally smacks herself. Above all else, above all of the little things Jesse had come to like about her…she literally just flirted with Petra. Like, actually flirted. She couldn't help it.
And Petra reacted. She tried to hide it, but she reacted, and Jesse knows that she won’t be able to stop thinking about it. Hell, a part of her wants to do it again. And that’s dangerous.
…Fuck. This was exactly what Jesse had been trying to avoid. But Petra was different. Petra was exciting.
Petra was also best friends with the boy Jesse had flirted with yesterday.
Dread, along with guilt, trickles down Jesse’s spine. She has to do something.
But what? Petra just talked about how Lukas always looks out for her, how he has her back. There’s no way Petra will date Jesse, solely because Lukas is already into her. "Bro-code" or whatever. It’s a shame, but it’s the truth.
Still, Petra’s reactions were thrilling to her. A stark contrast to how she’d felt with Lukas.
As they finish their food, Jesse manages to push the complicated thoughts to the back of her mind—at least for now.
Lunch later today is going to be interesting.