“Since when do you have friends in Tribeca?” Amina asks.
I’m not your friend, Lili.
“Um—no, uh. Petrov.”
Jackie chokes on her food. A victorious smile breaks across Amina’s face. “Pay up,” she demands of Jackie, palm outstretched.
“You cheated, youknewwhere she was,” she protests.
“What?” Lili interjects, alarmed.
Amina scoffs, folding away the twenty Jackie sullenly slaps into her palm. “You think I don’t have location sharing on your phone? You wander when you’re drunk.”
“That’s a violation of privacy,” Lili mutters, swatting at their knees so they make room for her on the couch.
“I played fair,” Jackie insists, giving her coffee. “I right swiped on a BlackRiver associate weeks ago to see if I could get some intel.”
“Excuse me?” Lili squeaks.
“Don’t worry, I can’t get anything out of him. I just didn’t think you’d, like, moveinwith Petrov—”
“I’m not staying with him,” she says hastily. “I mean, yes, at his place—but he’s not there, he’s on a work trip, he just gave me his keys so I had somewhere to work—”
“What?”
“It’s nothing, really! We talked it over before he left, we’re both clear.”
“Clear on what, exactly?” Amina asks, amused.
“We’re just sleeping together.” Lili’s proud, honestly, about the surety in her voice. “That’s it. Neither of us wants anything else, we’re fully on the same page. I haven’t even gone through my Saturn return, he’s probably already past his second.”
Jackie rolls her eyes. “You resort to astrology when you’re lacking actual substance.”
Lili glares at her. “Astrologyissubstance—”
“Ignore her!” Amina entreats, winding her arms around Lili’s waist. “Ignore her, Li. This is good, it really is. Tell her, Walsh.” She hits Jackie’s knee. “Tell her.”
“I’m teasing,” Jackie relents, snuggling against them, kicking her feet onto the coffee table. “You’re allowed to have fun, and I’m happy to reap the extended benefits.”
Lili raises an eyebrow. “Extended benefits?”
“Dude, I have never—never—had fresh bagels that good, and I have lived in this city my entire life. Just think, he could probably get us into Zero Bond—”
Lili snorts. “You can get into Zero Bond, Jackie. Besides, that’s not really his scene.”
Her roommate smirks. “You know his scene?”
“Oh, myGod—”
“Alright, alright,” Amina says, clapping her hands together. “Tell us, what’s his apartment like?”
“It’s an apartment.”
She snorts. “He’s filthy rich.”
“Hosseini, you’re rich.”
Amina shakes her head. “Not like that, I’m not.”
