Gift gaped at her. They were so forward here in the States. He finally shook his head. “I don’t want to be a sugar baby. I just want Park to…look at me like he sees me.”
“There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be spoiled,” Dove said with a sniff.
“You can be a sugar baby, then,” Gift said.
“Oh,” Dove said excitedly. “Let’s be sugar babies together!”
Gift rolled his eyes. She really was ridiculous.
Drake grinned at him. “If you want Park to see you as someone fuckable, you best start being more aggressive in your pursuit because he’s never going to relent unless you show him that you’re more than just his friend’s much younger son.”
“How am I supposed to do that?” Gift said, flinging himself back onto the pillow in Dove’s lap.
“Seduce him.”
Gift sat up on his forearms to look at Remi. “What?”
Remi shrugged, flicking his gaze to Drake for a solid five seconds before dragging it back to Gift. “Seduce him. Go after him. Like Drake said, be aggressive.”
Gift collapsed once more, hands flailing. “How? I’ve never even kissed another person before. How am I supposed to seduce someone almost twice my age?”
“You could start by telling him the truth,” Payton said.
“What truth?” Gift mumbled.
Dove sighed. “How about that you speak English? Or that you aren’t the simpering cupie doll cupcake you pretend to be?”
Gift made a noise of frustration. “But what if I am?”
“What if you are, what?” Dove asked.
“What if all I am is this simpering cupie doll cupcake?” Gift asked.
“Then change it,” Payton said, swinging into a sitting position. “If you want to, anyway.”
Gift stared at him. Payton was no cupie doll. Even wearing striped pajamas, his crazy hair standing on end, he looked cool, confident, sexy. Gift sighed. Maybe it was the benefit of being a psychopath. When you didn’t care about the opinions of others, maybe it was easy to be whoever you wanted.
Gift didn’t have that luxury. He was an only child. He carried the weight of his entire family’s expectations with him everywhere. He couldn’t justnotbe who they wanted him to be. What would that even look like?
“I gotta go,” Remi said, standing. “They’ll be looking for me at the dorms. I still have to turn in that project for Suri.”
Drake snagged his arm and pulled him down onto the bed until they were eye to eye. “Do mine for me?” he asked, giving Remi a look that made Gift feel like he was invading their privacy.
“Do it yourself,” Remi said, voice hesitant. “Have you ever done a single project of your own since you got here?”
“Sure. But you’re so much better at that stuff than me. Please?” Drake said, giving Remi puppy eyes. “Pretty please?”
They all watched as Remi licked his lower lip. “You’re emotionally manipulating me.”
Drake grinned. “But is it working?”
Remi’s gaze fell to his lap, shoulders sagging. Gift didn’t get their relationship at all. Drake called them friends. They were together often. It was clear Remi wanted to be around Drake all the time, but when he was, they were usually bickering or play-fighting. Their friendship made no sense to Gift. But he supposed it was none of his business.
Remi rolled his eyes. “Fine. Whatever. You’ll just nag me until I do it anyway.”
Drake ran a finger along Remi’s cheek in an intimate gesture that made Gift a little envious. “You’re the best.”
Remi scoffed, shoving Drake hard enough to tip him backwards before he caught himself. “You’re an idiot.”
