"Why didn't you guys tell me Cinder Linh is a girl?" Kai fumed at dinner on Saturday. Liam, refusing to use chopsticks even at a Vietnamese restaurant, let his fork hang mid air.

"I don't see why that matters, man."

"Because it made me feel like an idiot!" he ranted.

Cress swallowed her mouthful of pho before responding. "Why would not knowing she's a girl make you feel like an idiot?"

"Because she's hot," stated Liam before Kai could even open his mouth.

"What- I never said- I mean she is cute- but I never said..." Liam smiled knowingly at Kai before dipping his fork back into his soup. Cress clapped her hands together.

"You like Cinder? Oh that's so sweet!"

"Hey wait a second- I never said-!"

"You two would have the most adorable babies together!" Cress exclaimed, a starry look in her eyes. Liam laughed.

"WHOA! No one said anything about babies."

"Not yet anyway," said Liam with a smug smile.

"Ooooooh!" Cress squealed, totally lost in her own romantic fantasies. "I SHIP IT!"

"Cress calm down will ya! Nothing is going on between Cinder and me! We barely even know each other!" Cress turned to him and gave him an appraising look.

"Well then. I guess you don't need to know anything about her, do you?" Kai furrowed his brow.

"Excuse me?"

"Well if you aren't interested in her than there is no point in me telling you every little detail I know about her." The table fell silent for a moment, Kai caught between his adamance that he didn't have feelings for Cinder and the fact that he wanted to know more about her. Really. Badly. Liam smirked.

"...I would really like to know more about her. Please." Cress flashed him a patient smile and folded her hands in her lap. Kai sighed. "Ok ok. I think she's pretty cute." Cress blinked at him. "The way she ties back her hair is kinda sexy?"

"Getting warmer." Kai huffed, but then he remembered something.

"She has these beautiful dark brown eyes that just-" Cress drowned him out with a squeal so loud that the other customers shot her dirty looks. Liam glared them down.

"I knew it! I knew you liked her!" Kai sighed and pretended like his ears weren't burning, saving his argument until after she spilled the beans.

"Just get on with it already." Cress started.

"Yes! Operation Kaider: commence!" Kai rolled his eyes and started working on his own bowl of pho while she began her diatribe.

"Cinder Linh is Asian American mechanical engineering major at our university. I'm not sure what her grades look like but she is always talked about as one of the prodigies of the department, and she's only a sophomore. My age actually, although the I think she's a little bit older. Apparently she came out of nowhere, no one had heard of her within recruiting or normal paths of finding engineering students. She just emailed the head of the department one day and told them what she could do and bam! They made sure she went here. I think she comes from one of the neighboring towns in the area but I'm not sure. I do know, though, she's not on great terms with her adoptive family and-"

"Wait," Kai interrupted her monologue, "Cinder is adopted?"

"Well, yeah. I don't think she knows who her biological family is. She's very quiet about her past. She's very quiet about herself in general actually."

"Then how do you know all this stuff?" Liam asked with suspicion. Surprisingly Cress' cheeks turned pink.

"Well, I mean, Cinder is just... I think she's really cool. She is always in old ratty clothes but she has this confidence, like it doesn't matter what she's wearing. She says things like they are and she's always really funny. And every time we end up in a class together she sounds so smart. I just think she's cool." A silence passed between the table.

"So pretty much you have a massive girl crush on her but are too scared to ask her to be your friend," said Liam.

"Well . . . "

"Geez! Both of you saps are head over heels about this girl! Next thing you know I'll be waiting on her hand and foot." Liam grumbled.

"I do not have a thing for Cinder!"

"Yeah! Me-me too!"

"You two are so easy to see through," Liam paused to take another bite. "Kai, why don't you just invite her for our next Saturday dinner? That way you could both fawn over her at the same time and just get it over with."

He opened his mouth to argue but stopped, considering. Though it was spoken condescendingly, like most of the things Liam Kinney ever said, it was actually a smart way to pull her into their friend group. "That's not a bad idea." Liam snorted. Kai and Cress exchanged glances.

"It would be nice to see her outside of classes," Cress murmured.

"Just ask her the next time you are at shop."

"But I don't know her shifts, should I just walk in and hope she's there?" Kai sighed, wishing he had chatted with her a bit more when he'd had the chance.

"Monday and Wednesday after 3:30, Friday starting at noon and all of Saturday." Both Liam and Kai stared at Cress who felt her face start to burn with embarrassment. "So... have any big plans for next week?"