Caroline's engagement ring

“So, Troy, did you ever end up taking History of Latin 2?”

“Actually, I couldn’t make it fit, so I took a different elective. I suppose you did?”

“No, I couldn’t make it work either. But, I heard its amazing course! Apparently the prof brings in old, authentic Latin texts for the class to decipher and…”

To his credit, when the girl started rambling, he tried to pay attention. At first. But as Caroline is want to do, she quickly took over the conversation and made it one-sided, silencing both him and the twins Mina and Sana with a topic no one could interject upon.

As the redhead rambled on, he turned to look at Susan, wanting to make sure that his friend wasn’t feeling too out of place with these three girls. While she’d said it in jest, it wasn’t a secret that he harbored a deep crush on her. He’d been unsuccessful at winning her heart thus far, but every interaction mattered if he ever were too. And him ditching their study session to go talk to three girls certainly wouldn’t help.

He had to suppress a chuckle when he realized where her attention was. Typical Susan and her fascinating for twins; the girl couldn’t stop examining them. While she wasn’t doing it in a creepy way, it was obvious to him that she was sizing them up. Most likely trying to figure out if they were identical or not.

Tempted to call her out on it, the only thing stopping him from elbowing her ribs was a sudden hand movement from Caroline, which reflected something bright into his eyes.

He shifted his focus back to the redhead and examined her hand more closely, shocking himself with the realization that she was wearing a ring much akin to the one he and Susan had found not a half hour later. Unlike theirs however, hers was much nicer, with finer craftsmanship, engravings, and a large gem sitting on it.

Troy grinned to himself. Bennet must have proposed. No doubt having done so recently either, given how every so often Caroline would go and fiddle with it. Her highschool sweetheart must have finally popped the question.

No sense in robbing her fun.

“Hey, Caroline!” He interrupted, cutting her off mid-sentence. “Sorry for interrupting you but, are you and Bennet still dating?”

She blinked once at the question before frowning profusely. “No, we’re not. Actually, he cheated on me. With my roommate of all people.” Her tone made him wince, Troy immediately regretting the question. She must have noticed because she took a deep breath, calming herself down. “It’s fine. I’m fine, really. He was an ass-hat and I’m over it.”

Her response made him chuckle, despite himself. “That’s a shame, I’d have seen you two getting married.”

“Me too.” She echoed, a sullen look in her eyes.

Hope to steer the conversation in a different direction, he followed with another question. “Well, any luck on the dating scene?”

This time she scoffed, telling him everything he needed to know. “Well, last night I met a guy at the bar who asked me if the carpet matched the drapes, so you tell me how it’s going.”

Susan took this moment to finally chime in. “Wait, he actually asked you that?”

“Yeah!” Caroline repeated, nodding as she confirmed her story. “What kind of guy feels it proper to ask that to a stranger? It’s completely inappropriate.”

“Right?” Echoed Susan next to him. “What is it with guys and their tendencies to ask inappropriate questions when hitting on someone? Has anyone noticed that this seems to be a common trend nowadays?”

Across, the silent twins perked up from behind their laptops, nodding profusely. “It is! We actually get propositions for threesomes at least once a day; once people discover we’re twins.” “It’s either that, or they ask if we’re into ****.”

“Even Troy here asks me something that’s completely out of line at least once a day." Susan continued, pointing at the young lad in order to demonstrate that even he wasn’t beyond their scrutiny.

He reeled back at her accusation, aghast. "I do not!"

"Uh huh!" She said mockingly, "You asked me just this morning if I ever imagined us hooking up! And the time before that, it was if I'd ever received a facial! Frankly, you asking these questions is how I know you want to date me so badly.”

Busted. With four sets of female eyes now locked on him and glaring intently, Troy swallowed nervously, feeling the increasing urge to somehow defend his gender's mating habits.