The coin falls on the carpet silently, and I dive after it. Nina took the most ridiculous game ever out of her mayo jar and now we are trying to throw a coin between a fork's tines. Needless to say, I suck at it, and now I'm fumbling around on the floor to find the quarter I lost.

"Do you need help?" she asks.

"No, I got it. Don't worry."

"Not worried," she says. "Take your time. I'm quite enjoying the view."

"What?" I try to sit up and hit my head against the table with a groan. "I found it."

I sit back in my chair, rubbing the top of my head. Nina is looking at me with her head laying on her open palm. A small smile twists her lips up and I frown at it.

"What?"

"Nothing."

I don't believe her for a second. She's not winning, so that can't be why she's smirking. Is she mocking? I hope she's not mocking me. The thought alone makes my stomach twist.

"It's not nothing," I complain.

She shrugs. "Just a nice view, as I said."

I toss the quarter to her. "Is that supposed to be a joke?"

"Leave it be," she dismisses and concentrates on the game. She moves on, but I'm still looking at her waiting for a reply.

She throws the coin and, as I watch it flip in the air, I pull the fork away before the coin falls on the table. She stares at me, eyes wide open, and I hold her gaze despite its intensity. I think she's going to yell at me. It is something worth being yelled at for.

"Jade! Why did you do that?"

I don't know.

Nina rarely calls me by my name. It's usually 5E or "hey, you". My fear that she would start calling me Giada to annoy me proved wrong, which I'm grateful for. Still, the sound of my name on her lips makes me hyperaware.

"What were you laughing at?" I ask. Her eyes pierce into mine heavily, but I don't back down.

"Are you serious?" She rolls her eyes. "I was just looking at you. Chill. Give me my fork back."

I don't. She reaches for me, but I pull my arm back so she has to get up to get it. There's no way she'll get up without trying to talk me into giving the fork back.

"Come on!" she whines. "Just give it back."

"What were you laughing at?" I ask again. I fear I'm being too annoying and that she'll never want me here again after this. Still, maybe I won't want to come here again if she was truly mocking me.

"I wasn't laughing," she says with a sigh. "Can't I smile anymore? Is that forbidden?"

"Maybe. What were you smiling about?"

"You," she told me, looking me straight in the eyes. "I was smiling because of you."

I swallow. "Because I can't put the coin in-"

"Jade, I'm this close to kicking you out." She shows me her thumb and index finger almost touching. "Do you really think I was laughing at your expense? Is that the idea you have of me?"

My mouth is dry. I don't know what idea do I have of her. We don't know each other that well. I spend a lot of time thinking about her and trying to deconstruct her in my head. She's the only person I have contact with. I think it's perfectly normal that I think about her so much. And yet, I don't know if I know her.

She used to be cold to me, but she isn't anymore. It's not like she can choose who she wants to be with, so she has no choice but to be nice to me.

"No..." I mutter. "I don't really know."

She frowns. "You don't know? What don't you know?"

"I don't know if you would have a laugh at my expense or not," I mutter. "I don't know you that well."

She's silent. I think I hurt her, but I don't dare look at her. She can't possibly be annoyed that I said I didn't know her. Sure, we've been hanging out a lot in the past weeks, but that doesn't mean I know her.

"Right..." she mumbles. "Give me my fork back."

I blink, my eyes looking for hers, but she's looking elsewhere. I follow her gaze, onto the window. Another grey building stands high in front of ours, and that's the only view we'll ever have. I don't think she's looking at it. She's just avoiding me.

"Nina..." I start, but hesitate. I meant what I said, but I didn't mean to hurt her. "I don't know you well, but I'd like to."

She sighs. "Just give me the fork back. Let's keep playing."

I don't want to play. I want her to look at me and stop sounding like I slapped her. Nina has never stricken me as someone easy to hurt, or someone who would care about my opinion. Yet, I think I somehow wounded her feelings.

"Nina, don't be mad. Please."

"I'm not mad. Let's keep playing."

I shook my head. "Nina, please... Talk to me."

"I am!" she exclaims, locking eyes with me. "Can you stop?"

"I don't want you to be mad at me. Let's talk it out."

She's gripping the poor coin harder than she should. Her eyes pierce into mine, cold blue like a desert of ice. I should feel sad that she's annoyed, but all I can think about is how pretty she is and good it must be to be so pretty. How angelic she looks, even when she's frowning.

"There's nothing to talk about. You're right. We barely know each other. It was stupid of me to think you would know I wouldn't make fun of you."

"Nina-"

"'Cause I'm that kind of person, right? I just love to mock people and make them feel bad about themselves." She rolls her eyes. I swallow, knowing I thought so when I first met her.

"That's not what I meant..."

"And yet it was what you said."

I don't like the way she's looking at me. It makes me nervous and I can feel my palms getting sweaty.

"But I also said I wanted to get to know you," I start. "I don't know much, but from what I know of you so far, I'd like for us to be friends."

"I don't want to be friends," she says. There's no hesitation in her voice and I don't think nothing has ever hurt me so much.

My jaw drops and I just gaze at her, observing the way her lips purse together and her eyes remain as sharp as ever. Her expression tells me there's nothing to question. She meant every word.

"Okay," I say after a while, and get up. "That's fine. I'll leave."

Her face changes, and her frown deepens. "Leave? No, don't leave."

I blink, staring at her in utter confusion. She was mad at me not even a minute ago and said she doesn't want to be my friend. Why is she asking me to stay? I may be a lot of things, but I refuse to stay here in this humiliation. If she doesn't want to be my friend, then I will not sit here and play her games just because there's no one else.

"It's fine," I tell her. "You don't want to be friends, and that's fine. But I'm going home."

"No, don't go! Why are you leaving?"

"You don't want me here!" I complain. "Weren't you mad I said I didn't know you?"

"Well, yeah." She shrugs. "You don't know stuff about me, but I thought you would know me! We've been hanging out for weeks. I assumed you'd understand I wouldn't mock you. I assumed you'd know how I act and wouldn't accuse me like that. Apparently I was wrong. But that doesn't mean I want you to go."

"Well,..." I hesitate. She has a point. She's completely ignoring the fact that she just said she didn't want to be my friend, but she's got a point. "You're always mocking me, though. You're always being sarcastic and rolling your eyes at me."

"That's teasing you! That's not supposed to hurt your feelings!" She stares at me in bewilderment and then leans back in her chair. Her voice comes calmer when she speaks again. "Does it hurt you?"

I sigh. "No... I know people tease each other." I think of AJ. She does it and I'm used to it, but I know she's just messing around and doesn't mean it. I don't know Nina's intentions. "I mean, sometimes it makes me think if you really find me that ridiculous."

"Of course I don't find you ridiculous." She gets up and stands in front of me. She's taller than me and that's just another thing than makes me feel small. "If I really found you ridiculous, I wouldn't hang out with you at all. But I do, because I like being with you. And I'm sorry I made you feel that way."

I look down. I can't look at her. "You like being with me, but you don't want to be friends? How does that make sense?"

"What doesn't make sense about it?"

"A friend is someone you like to be with," I explain as if I'm talking to a three-year-old. I might be considering her emotional maturity. "If you like being with me, why don't you want to be my friend?"

"Not everyone you like being with is a friend," she says.

I sigh. "This is the most nonsensical conversation I've ever had. Do you just want to keep hanging out in an... unlabelled relationship?"

"Yes. Why not?"

I shake my head. "Absolutely not. I want a friend. If you don't want a friend, I won't force you. But I don't want to be the quarantine acquaintance you forget about once it's over."

Do I not? I thought that was what I was looking for in Nina. I need company and she is here. That was all it mattered. But when she told me she didn't want to be my friend, it resonated in my head like a thousand knives. I can't get past the awful feeling taking over my chest, and I know I'll be feeling it every time I'm with her.

"Thank you for these days," I tell her, "but I don't think we'll be seeing each other again."

She blinks. "No, I didn't mean it that way. We can be friends if you want."

"You don't want to, though." I shrug. "It's fine, Nina. I'll be going home now. Bye."

She doesn't stop me, and I cross the hallway hurriedly. I close the door to my apartment too harshly and sit on the floor. I couple tears stream down my face but I'm quick to wipe them with my fingers.

Nina was quite adamant about how she felt about me. It's ridiculous that I'm here crying when she doesn't care about me as much as I care about her. I just wanted a friend to make this all endurable, to save me from my desperation. Nina was that and more. I actually liked her and not just what she represented. But she didn't feel the same about me and that truly hurts.

Nina really has Nicole's personality but not the cold logic.

Hope you guys liked this chapter. Let me know what you think.

Thank you for reading!