“Hey, Jessica!” Rory greets her when he enters the café with Bryden glaring at him.

“Hey, Rory,” she greets back, then turns to Bryden. “Hey, Bryden.”

“H-Hey, Jessica,” he mumbles with a shaky smile. He glances at Rory’s grinning face and inwardly grumbles. Fuck you, Rory. I was supposed to work with Jessica alone.

“Come meet my boss,” Jessica beckons them over. The boys follow her to the back of the café, where they meet a tall, middle-aged woman with her dark hair tied up in a bun. “This is my boss, Liv.”

“Hello, boys,” she greets. “You two want to work here at Marla’s, is that correct?”

“Yes,” Rory answers, nodding. Bryden nods as well.

“Well, your jobs are nothing special,” Liv puts bluntly. “We’re in need of a few servers, so all you need to do is take some customers’ orders, serve the food, and clean the tables and floors. You’ll get paid fifteen dollars an hour. Easy enough?”

“Yes!” both Rory and Bryden say in unison.

“Good. Then get to work.” Liv returns to the kitchen, leaving them alone.

“Alright, guys,” Jessica smiles at them. “Let’s get to work.”

Ugh, this is revolting, Bryden thinks in disgust as he wipes a table smeared with barbecue sauce and juice stains. Why am I doing this again? His eyes land on Jessica at that moment and he can’t help but blush. Oh, that’s why.

“My, my, Mr. Stalling,” the genie remarks. “Are you really doing manual labor to get close to a girl?”

“Shut up,” Bryden retorts, disgust apparent on his face as he cleans the greasy table. “Oh, this is so disgusting. I’m way too handsome to be putting up with this crap. You’re lucky I’m only doing this for you, Jessica.”

The genie turns his head and freezes, eyes widening when they lie on Jessica. “Mr. Stalling… th-that’s the girl you…”

“Yeah…” Bryden sighs, smiling dreamily. He then turns back to the genie, whose hands and face shake and twitch uncontrollably, and waves a hand in front of his face. “Uh, genie, what are you staring at? I know that she’s pretty, but she’s my future girlfriend, so give up on any fantasies you’re dreaming of right now.”

The genie’s face darkens and he clenches his fists. “It’s not—it can’t be—” He vanishes in a puff of smoke.

Bryden raises an eyebrow, cocking his head. Well, that was weird.

After some customers leave, Jessica goes over to the booth they were sitting at to clean it up. She glances beside her, and the table Bryden’s cleaning happens to be right beside hers. He doesn’t notice at first, however, since he’s too preoccupied with the genie’s strange reaction and sudden disappearance.

“You and Rory are pretty good friends, huh,” Jessica remarks, scrubbing the table with a wet cloth.

“Huh?” Bryden’s shoulders jerk and his heart thumps quicker, forgetting all about the genie, and he almost doesn’t hear what she said. “U-Uh, y-yeah, I-I guess.”

“I’m actually quite surprised,” she chuckles. “After what happened a few weeks ago, I’m shocked that you guys became friends so quickly.”

“Wait, ‘what happened a few weeks ago’?”

Jessica smiles. “Pretty much everyone around campus knows what happened by now. About how so many of our schoolmates surrounded you outside and threw—”

“Okay, okay, we don’t need to talk about that,” Bryden interrupts, cheeks burning. “I can’t believe you heard about that. That was so embarrassing.”

“It’s okay!” she assures, laughing. “I guess I should be a little more surprised that what everyone said about you was true. You know, about you being a player and all.”

His eyes widen. “Yeah, b-but I apologized to everyone! I-I feel really bad about what I did, s-so… I’m not the same person as before! I promise I’ve changed!”

“Really?” Jessica raises an eyebrow, stroking her chin. “Can someone really change that quickly?”

Bryden blinks. “I…”

“I’m kidding!” she giggles. “I heard from everyone about how you apologized. It seemed like you really meant it. You do seem like a nice guy, but I wouldn’t know much, since I never went out with you. I guess I should be careful, right?”

“Jessica!”

“I was joking!” she insists, laughing. “I’m sure you aren’t even interested in me, anyway. That’s why you never once tried asking me out. I mean, I’m grateful for that, because if I ever did go out with you, I might have been one of those angry girls throwing cake at you.”

Bryden bites his lip, his cheeks remaining flushed. “I don’t think you would. You’re too nice and sweet to do that sort of thing.”

Jessica tilts her head, placing a hand on her hip. “Oh? And what makes you think that I’m too nice?”

“I was joking!” he assures her, laughing. “Please, I really don’t want to see you get angry.”

She laughs as well, picking up her wet cloth and moving on to the next table. “Don’t worry, I’m not angry.”

Seeing that their conversation is ending, Bryden catches up with Jessica to keep the conversation going on longer.

“So, Jessica,” he begins, “I don’t think I’ve asked you this before. What major are you in?”

She smiles at him. “I’m majoring in graphic design. I plan on being a graphic designer after I graduate. I loved to draw ever since I was—”

“Graphic design?” Rory interrupts, shoving Bryden behind him. 

“Rory!” Bryden hisses. “What the hell?”

Rory pays no mind and grins at Jessica. “You’re majoring in graphic design, Jessica?”

She nods at him. “Yeah, I am. I know that it’s an art degree, and everyone says that art degrees are useless—”

“No, it isn’t useless,” Rory assures her. “I heard that graphic designers make great money. It sounds like it’s something you’ll really enjoy since you love drawing. I can’t draw to save my life, so I’m stuck with majoring in finance.”

“Oh, come on. Anyone can draw. All it takes is practice.”

“I don’t think so,” he disagrees. “I can barely even draw stick figures.”

“Hey, I’m ready to order!” someone calls from behind Jessica.

She turns around and calls out, “Coming!” before hurrying to them.

Rory, satisfied, turns around and sneers at Bryden, who grumbles and mouths at him, You suck.

After one long hour of waiting, and no opportunity presents itself, Bryden heads to the bathroom to vent his frustrations on the genie. “Ugh! That asshole, keeping eyes on me like a hawk! Is there any way I can use a wish to keep him from working with us next week?”

“Goodness, no,” the genie immediately refuses. 

“Oh, come on!” Bryden protests. “That guy’s so annoying! He’s keeping me from talking to Jessica!”

“And what he’s doing is valid. He’s preventing you from going back to your old ways.”

“But this is different,” Bryden insists. “It’s Jessica, the girl I’ve had a crush on since freshman year. Why doesn’t he understand?”

“Perhaps you should’ve thought about that before you dated all those girls.”

After three long hours of waiting, Bryden finally senses another opportunity ahead of him when he spots Rory busy taking some customers’ orders while Jessica mops the floor.

“So Jessica,” he starts, gripping the chair behind her, “I was just wondering, have you ever had a boyfriend before?”

She turns her head to face him. “Hm? No, I haven’t.” She raises a brow. “Why do you ask?”

“I was just curious, that’s all,” Bryden dismisses with a wave of his hand. “I’m surprised why no guy would want to date such a nice and pretty girl like you.”

Rory glances behind him and gives Bryden the stink eye, but Bryden ignores him.

Jessica blinks, stunned by Bryden’s comment. “Uh, thanks. I’ve actually been asked out by a few guys, but I rejected them. They seemed like nice guys, but I barely even knew them! I didn’t even know some of their names!”

“Wow, then you must be pretty popular, huh,” Bryden remarks. “If you rejected all those boys, then what type of boy would you have accepted?”

“What do you mean?”

Rory continues to glare at Bryden with bulging eyes, but Bryden continues to ignore him.

“What’s your ideal type of guy?” he asks her, leaning closer. “The type of guy that you wouldn’t reject.”

“My ideal type of guy?” Jessica thinks for a moment, gripping the end of her mop. “Huh, I’ve never thought about that. Well, I suppose he should be nice. He should also be smart, but not the cocky type that brags about being the smartest. He should be humble. I prefer humility over arrogance. It’s really annoying to me if all that he talks about when he’s with me is himself. A guy with a huge ego is a big no-no to me. My ideal type of guy would be similar to a… a giant teddy bear! I want him to be sweet, cuddly, and warm like a teddy bear.” She sighs, hugging herself as she imagines a guy with all of these qualities.

Bryden is momentarily stunned, unsure of what else to say.

“Oh my god, I have to show you this new dog video, Bryden!” Rory pulls Bryden away from Jessica.

Jessica snaps out of her trance. “Wait, what dog video? Can I see? I love dogs!”

Although “showing Bryden a dog video” is just an excuse to keep Bryden away from her, Rory still happily takes out his phone and shows her a video about a small puppy.

“Aww, that’s so cute!” she croons, setting her mop against a wall. 

“Right?” Rory remarks with a grin. With Jessica focused on the video, he turns behind him to stick his tongue out at Bryden before turning back to his phone.

Bryden scoffs, crossing his arms. The audacity of him…

“What are you three doing?” Liv shows up behind them with a raised brow and a hand on her hip. “Fooling around instead of working?”

Jessica’s eyes widen and she clasps her hands together. “I’m so sorry, Liv. I was distracted momentarily, but I promise not to—”

“Well, it’s nearing five, anyway,” Liv sighs as she takes a look at her wristwatch. “For the newcomers, your pay will be deposited into your bank accounts this evening. Have a wonderful rest of your day.”

Oh, thank god, Bryden thinks, wiping the sweat off his forehead. I’m finally done with this misery.

Jessica beams. “Thank you so much, Liv. Have a great rest of your day as well!”

Liv nods at them, glancing at her watch once more. “It’s five now. You may go now.”

“Alright, thanks again,” Rory thanks her before leaving the café with Bryden and Jessica.

When they’re out of the café, Jessica says, “Thank you guys for helping me out today. I know that you guys are working here just to make some extra money, but it’s so much more fun to have some friends around to talk to when I work.”

Rory nods to her. “I agree. It definitely was more fun to work with friends around, right, Bryden?”

Bryden shoots him a glare and mutters through gritted teeth, “…Right.”

On the way back to the dormitories, Jessica plugs in her earbuds to listen to music while humming along softly. 

Seeing that she can’t hear anything else around her, Bryden shoves Rory and whispers to him, “Dude, what’s your problem?”

“What’s my problem?” Rory scorns. “What’s your problem? We had an agreement that you wouldn’t try making any moves on her.”

“But I didn’t make any moves!” Bryden insists, seething. 

“Then why are you so angry?” Rory mocks, smirking. “If you insist that you didn’t make any moves.”

“I was just trying to have a simple conversation with her,” Bryden mutters, “until you kept butting in and stealing her away from me. What, do you like her or something?”

Rory scoffs. “I was simply keeping you away from her. And what do you mean by ‘a simple conversation’? How is that not making a move on her?”

“Ahem, it’s getting to know her, not making a move,” Bryden corrects. “I didn’t even know that she was an art major.”

“Then what’s the deal about you asking what her ideal type of guy is?” Rory presses.

Bryden has no explanation for this. “Uh, I-I was simply… just curious, that’s all.”

Rory raises an eyebrow. “Uh huh. And did you listen closely to her description of her ideal guy? None of his qualities match yours! You’re the complete opposite of what she would look for!”

“I mean, yeah, but…”

“But what? Do you really think it’s possible for you to become her ‘ideal type’ by becoming smarter and less egotistical?”

Bryden thinks this through for a minute, then widens his eyes. “Wait. That actually isn’t such a bad idea.”

Rory blinks, then laughs and shakes his head. “What do you mean? What’s not a bad idea? Don’t tell me you’re actually going to change yourself for her.”

“Yeah, I am!” Bryden declares, grinning as he pumps out his chest. “I just have to study more and get better grades and be more humble. How hard can that be?”

Rory snorts. “For someone like you, it’ll be very hard. I doubt you can change your entire personality overnight.”

“Oh, Rory, you underestimate me.” Bryden places a hand over his chest. “You’ll see. I’ll become Jessica’s dream boy, and she’ll fall for me instantly.”

Rory rolls his eyes. “Yeah, yeah. We’ll see about that.”

“Oh? You don’t believe me? Want to bet?”

“Nah. It’s not fair to bet when I already know you’re going to lose.”

“Hey! I am not going to lose! Just you wait.” Bryden places his hands behind his head, sighing dreamily. “She’s looking for someone to be her sweet, cuddly, and warm teddy bear, right? Well, I happen to be the most cuddleable and huggable person she could ask for, even more so than an actual teddy bear. Whenever she wants to, I’ll gladly welcome her into my arms, caressing and cradling her…”

Rory gags at him. “You disgust me.”