The line for the Shake Shack spilled out the door onto Newbury Street. Elizabeth begged Jules to grab something elsewhere. But Jules craved a burger, and Elizabeth couldn’t refuse her, so they waited fifteen minutes. After standing there with the smell of greasy meat for so long, Elizabeth wanted one too.

Jules looked great today. She’d borrowed Elizabeth’s purple California sweatshirt and yoga pants. There was something about her wearing Elizabeth’s clothes that made her especially cute. The hoodie didn’t fit, so when she raised her arms, her midriff was exposed. She asked Elizabeth if she could borrow it since she was out of clothes; Jules was never good at doing laundry. The black-and-maroon Huskie’s beanie did not fit the outfit. She put it on the second that the weather changed, and the temperature dropped below fifty degrees. That was at Thanksgiving. Now, in early December, Elizabeth wished she had one of the stupid hats.

“Liz?” Jules asked. Elizabeth realized she had zoned out, staring at her while she was talking.

“Sorry, you said his name is Sebastian?” Elizabeth said, snapping back into focus.

“Yes, a few minutes ago,” Jules said, laughing at her delayed response. She had been telling Elizabeth about a guy she’d met in her statistics class. She continued gushing over him, “He asked me out. We’re going to the movies tonight at six, and then we’re going to some Italian place. He’s kind of cute. See?”

Jules took out her phone and showed her a picture from his Instagram. He wasn’t anything to write home about, not Elizabeth’s type. But Jules seemed excited, so she went along with it.

“Oh, he is,” she choked out. “Is he interesting?”

“I don’t know. Sebastian is hilarious; quiet, but he always has some quip to say under his breath about the professor.” Jules knew nothing about him. She was happy to have a date, a rare occurrence. Elizabeth couldn’t understand why, as Jules was gorgeous. She didn’t like whatever emotion that evoked, so she changed the subject.

“So, you can’t binge Breaking Bad tonight? I guess I’ll just have to watch alone.” She turned away and sighed.

“Don’t you dare, Brown,” Jules said as she pushed Elizabeth. “If you do, you won’t wake up tomorrow morning.” She had a pretend angry face on that didn’t match the smile in her eyes.

“Fine, fine. What am I going to do with myself tonight, then?” She asked, “It’ll be so boring.”

“You’ll survive one night alone,” Jules said with an eye roll. “I’ll be back before you know it.”

They reached the front of the line and ordered their meals. They sat in the fast-food joint, ate their lunch, and talked about their classes, basketball, friends, and anything but the date.

When they were done, they said their goodbyes and headed separate ways. Elizabeth to her calculus class, and Jules to her macroeconomics class. Elizabeth couldn’t stop thinking about Jules’ plans. She didn’t pay attention to the professor at all. When she got back to her dorm that night, she looked in her notebook and found three words written: “She deserves better.”

Editor: Lucy Cafiero