4 Debrief

Hannah rejoices as the warm water from the shower hits her shoulders and neck with the perfect amount of water pressure. She now understands Jasmine's gripes earlier as the soreness is finally setting in. She ducks her head under the spray to wash out the conditioner when she hears the suite door open. Hannah quickly finishes her shower, washing off the suds and turning off the water, eager to talk to Jasmine about her feelings for Marcus. Just as she grabs her bath towel to dry herself off, Jasmine knocks on the bathroom door.

"You almost done? I need to wash this grime off of me!" Jasmine calls through the door.

"Yeah, I just finished," Hannah calls back.

She speedily pats herself to an acceptable dryness and wraps the towel around her as she gets out of the shower and into her slippers. She grabs her dirty clothes on her way to exit the bathroom, the steamy air slightly fogging her vision. When she opens the door, Jasmine steps back trying to avoid being hit by the steam trailing closely behind Hannah.

"Oh, you really were done," Jasmine comments. "I thought you were just saying it, but I still chose to wait."

She lifts up her towel and shower caddy to show me that she is indeed ready to jump in and clean herself. Hannah shakes head. She would've waited in the room until Jasmine walked in if she were her. Just to have a guarantee that she's done and to avoid entering a completely steam filled bathroom.

"You wanna talk after you're done?" Hannah asks. She's eager to find out what Jasmine and Marcus spoke about after she sped away.

"Yeah, sure," Jasmine agrees. "Don't think that I'm not pissed about what you pulled by leaving me alone with Marcus. It was so obvious. I'm surprised he didn't get it. You almost blew my spot!"

"I was giving you space to work your magic!" Hannah defends her actions. "You wouldn't be able to flirt if I were standing there the whole time!"

"Uh huh, but don't forget you owe me the deets of your study date with Zachary," Jasmine reminds, sing-songing the name Zachary as she goes into the bathroom. She shuts the door and locks it before Hannah can respond.

Hannah huffs and crosses her arms, glaring at the door. Maybe Jasmine can feel it, she thinks. After a minute of staring at the door, Hannah becomes very aware that she is in her towel standing awkwardly outside the bathroom. She quickly turns to enter their room to change into her pajamas of a tank top and shorts.

Jasmine will probably be in the shower for at least 30 minutes, Hannah muses. It gives me time to do some reading and check my e-mails. I should probably make sure I don't actually have anything due tomorrow.

Hannah pulls out her laptop from her bookbag and makes herself comfortable on her bed, leaning against the wall with her legs crossed. She plops her laptop in the space between her legs, using her thighs for support. She opens the browser and immediately goes to her school e-mail account to check if her professors sent any last minute information. Nothing. Then, she opens her calendar to check for her assignments and due dates, along with test dates. Nothing for tomorrow, but quiz on Friday and a draft for her English Literature class due Monday.

"Okay," she says aloud. "I have to take some time over the weekend to work on the draft… Maybe Saturday before dinner. Zachary said he'd meet me here, but maybe I'll text him and say the library would be better?"

"No, I don't want to inconvenience him," she reconsiders. "Maybe I'll just work on the paper here. I don't need to go to the library to do my work…"

"But if I print here, then I'm wasting my ink and paper when I have a disposable printer balance," she argues. "It would make so much more sense to just use that and save my printer for last resort."

"Or… I could maybe work on it tomorrow since I'll be there with the group. Then I won't have to worry about it on the weekend." Hannah plans. "But I have that quiz on Friday! Ugh!"

Hannah turns off her laptop and puts it back in her bookbag, deciding to leave her dilemma for later. She instead, takes out her Child Development textbook and walks to sit at her desk. She puts the textbook on the desk with a thump, and flops down into her desk chair. Thankfully, it's cushioned. She readies her highlighter and sticky notes before resuming where she left off earlier in the evening.

Piaget… object permanence… eight months… I can't do this! Hannah resigns and pushes her textbook away from her and leans back on her chair. It's so much information! She growls. She rolls her neck and shakes out her hands, twists her back to stretch and pulls the textbook back to her. She reads a few more pages when she hears Jasmine enter the room. Hannah quickly bookmarks her page and closes her book.

"Thank goodness you're done!" she exclaims. Jasmine gives her a questioning look while continuing to dry her hair with the towel. "I didn't want to do my reading."

"Oh," Jasmine says. "I was wondering if you needed the bathroom or something, but then you didn't move from your spot so I got confused."

Hannah takes her textbook and puts it back in her bag and moves to lounge on her bed. She lays down on her left side, since she's on the left side of the room, to look at Jasmine who is standing by the dressers and doorway. Hannah tries to be patient while waiting for her to be ready so they can discuss their respective interactions with their crushes.

"Didn't realize you wanted to tell me about Zachary that badly," Jasmine teases when she notices how attentive Hannah is to her movements. "I had the impression you didn't want to talk about it at all."

"I don't," Hannah confirms. "I want to talk about you and Marcus! It's like brand new information, and I'm kind of upset I never knew because I would've made you come to study groups!"

"I'm glad you didn't then," Jasmine states. "I'm not interested in pursuing anything with him."

Jasmine sits on her bed, leaning on the wall and stretching her legs out, facing Hannah. She puts a blanket over her lap and starts playing with it while they talk.

"Oh come on!" Hannah whines. "You literally asked for his number, and I know it's not just to invite him to see our performance, and you asked for help with Stats. You already go to tutoring for it!"

"That was harmless flirting," Jasmine denies. "There's nothing wrong with having more people explain the subject to me. I really want to ace my classes."

"That's what you're sticking to, Jazz? You already admitted to being into him."

""Yeah, and I'll get over it. It's just a silly crush," she asserts. "You on the other hand, seem to have it bad for Zachary. And I want to know if there's hope in your future."

"I don't know," Hannah sighs. "I don't want to get my hopes and expectations up. You know? If I play it cool, then I won't be disappointed if nothing comes to fruition."

"All right, what did you talk about today? What happened? Any forward movement?"

"We talked about our future plans, nothing big," Hannah minimizes. "I told him I'm planning to be a Social Worker and he said it was admirable. Same response as so many other people."

Hannah turns to lay on her back and stares blankly at the ceiling. She didn't know if she should tell Jasmine about the dinner plans.

"When are you seeing him again? Did you ask him to study again?" Jasmine pushes for her friend to continue.

"He asked me to get dinner on Saturday," Hannah mumbles. "I don't think he's going to be a study group or anything until after that."

"Wait, wait, wait! He asked you to a dinner date on Saturday?" Jasmine squeals. She tosses her blanket aside and jumps up. "Why aren't you more excited about this? That's so exciting! That's major progress!"

"It's not a date!" Hannah denies. "At least, I don't think so. He wasn't really clear, he just asked if I wanted to get dinner with him after his lacrosse practice and that he'd meet me here."

"He's coming to pick you up and bring you to dinner," Jasmine gushes and paces in the space between their beds. "That's so sweet. And totally a date!"

"But he didn't-"

"Okay, yeah he didn't explicitly say it, but if it wasn't then he would've just told you to meet him at whichever cafeteria or shop or whatever, right?"

"I don't know. It's not like I've ever seen him outside the library before…"

"Whatever, even if it isn't dress like it is," Jasmine advises. "It'll make him see you differently and maybe it'll prompt him to ask you out for real!"

"But I-"

"I'm not saying all out sequin dress and full face make-up or anything, just a little nicer than normal. We're on a college campus, if you dress up too much it's a little too obvious."

"So you think I should go?" Hannah asks.

"Are you kidding me, girl?!" Jasmine exclaims in disbelief. "I didn't even know that was even a question. Yes! You should absolutely go!"

She hovers over Hannah giving her a pointed look until Hannah shrinks and forfeits.

"Okay," Hannah says. "I'll go."

"And tell me all about it after, yeah?"

"Sure, if you tell me what you and Marc talked about after I left."

"That's not a fair bargain!" Jasmine whines and plops back down on her bed crossing her legs. She grabs her blanket and fidgets with it again. "It was so awkward, I don't even want to remember it, let alone detail it to you!"

"I'm invested," Hannah teases and sits up to show Jasmine how focused and intent she is about finding out what happened.

"Okay fine," Jasmine concedes. "After you left, he made a comment along the lines of that was weird. And I just said that you had a lot to do and was probably tired from practice. Then we kind of just stood there for a few minutes. I didn't know what to say, I froze. And he was like shifting from foot to foot."

"Oh no, Jazz," Hannah empathizes. "I'm sorry I put you in that position."

"Yeah you should be!" Jasmine says. "Anyway, after fidgeting at each other, he asked me about my classes and stuff, and if I needed any help with anything other than Stats. So I listed all my courses and then said I was fine with them. And I asked if he was still TA-ing."

"It was so mundane, Han!" Jasmine cries. "At the end of it, we only went our separate ways because his roommate came looking for him!"

"Well that's a good sign!" Hannah encourages. "You found it super awkward and you were standing there, but he didn't try to leave either! And he wanted to know more about you and your classes! I'd say it's a win."

"I just-"

"You should text him," Hannah suggests. "Open a line of communication and give him your number. Maybe set up a tutoring date."

"That's so-"

"Or you could just come join our study group. We're meeting at the library at 2pm tomorrow at our usual table, but I can come get you from the entrance if you need me to."

"Won't I be intruding?" Jasmine asks. "I mean, you guys purposely study together, I'm an outsider."

"We only started studying together because some of us had the same classes and had group projects. I don't think any of us are in the same classes anymore," Hannah reveals. "It's an open group. We're always down to have new people come. And you already know Marcus, Alexandera, and me. That's half the group!"

"Okay, I'll stop by," Jasmine agrees. "I still don't think I'm going to go after him or anything, but I'm not going to say no to Statistics tutoring. And if this is the way in the door without it being super uncomfortable, I'll do it."

Hannah lays back down, a content smile on her face. She is going to plot with the help of Alexandera to get Marcus and Jasmine together. If Jasmine is going to be championing and encouraging her romance with Zachary, then it's her duty to return the favor and make Marcus and her happen. Alexandera just likes to meddle, so she's the best co-conspirator Hannah can think to assist.

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