RED NOTES AND KISSES-Chapter 76: FRIDA -

"Girl, there’s freaking blood on our floor," Vanessa said, hands on her hips, her Lulu fit perfectly accentuating her gym persona.

Frida laughed nervously. "Would you believe I cut my finger while chopping onions?"

Vanessa arched a brow, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "Do you have feathers? Because this story isn’t flying. You know what? I’m too tired for this shit."

Frida shrugged, leaning against the counter. "I wasn’t expecting you back by midnight."

"So you thought making out with your man in the middle of the hall was a good idea?" Vanessa teased, tapping away on her phone.

Frida’s eyes widened. "It’s not like that!"

"Not like what? That ’hot piece of cake’ isn’t your boyfriend?" Vanessa raised a perfectly arched brow.

Frida shook her head.

Vanessa squinted, her gears visibly turning. "The math ain’t mathing. That man is giving off ’Joe Goldberg vibes’ with how obsessed he is, and you..." She scoffed, unzipping her top. "...are in denial. Laugh my ass off, the Nile really is a river, huh?"

Frida fought back a laugh, grabbing a sponge from the bathroom. She scrubbed at the blood on the floor. "I think he’s cute."

"Cute? That man is a Greek god carved out of temptation itself." Vanessa cracked open a can of beer. "Girl, you are reeking of inexperience."

Frida’s cheeks burned, and Vanessa nearly choked on her drink. "Holy shit. You—what?! You’ve never—?"

Frida shrugged, embarrassed.

Vanessa cackled. "If he’s your first, you’re in for a wild ride. Fun fact: impeccable taste. You really snatched him off the damn circuits." She stripped off her bra, leaving her in just her Lulu leggings.

"Careful, though," Vanessa said, lounging on her bed. "He’s a wild one. But he’s nice. Treats you right. If you get out of your head and give him a chance, that is."

Frida rolled her eyes, disinfecting the floor. "We’re just friends, Vanessa."

Vanessa froze mid-sip, staring at her like she’d grown a second head. "You’re joking."

"F.R.I.E.N.D.S," Frida spelled out, tossing her sponge in the sink. "Just friends."

Vanessa rubbed her temples dramatically. "Don’t tell me you friend-zoned Laziel."

Frida shrugged, folding her arms, then walked into the room, flopping on the bed. "Yeah, and?..."

Vanessa snorted, pulling her blanket over herself. "Has he ever taken you to his racing events?"

Frida shook her head.

"You should go sometime," Vanessa said, settling in.

"Why?" Frida asked, already half-asleep.

"So you’ll see he’s unavailable to anyone but you. He didn’t even greet me, by the way."

Butterflies fluttered in Frida’s stomach. Her phone buzzed.

"Did you like the cookie?" His message glowed on her phone screen.

Vanessa teased with a smirk, sipping her beer, gestured at the cookie.

Frida rolled her eyes mouthing a "No,"

"I haven’t eaten it yet, too tired," she replied the text and drifted off to sleep.

Unknown to her, Laziel watched her from the footage on his laptop, a bag of chips in hand.

His sunrise was deep asleep. How perfect.

----

A loud knock jolted both roommates awake, reverberating through the dorm like a fire alarm.

"The hell is knocking at this hour?" Vanessa grumbled, throwing off her blanket. A light sleeper, she was already cursing under her breath as she stalked toward the door.

The moment she opened it, her irritation vanished. "Sweet mother of Jesus... you are fine," Vanessa said, breathless.

Standing in the doorway was Reg, dressed in a fitted compression shirt that showed off every muscle, paired with gray cargo pants. Her sharp, chiseled features were framed by a few loose strands of dark hair.

"Thanks," Reg replied flatly, stepping past her. "Where’s Frida?"

Still half-asleep, Frida groaned, "What’s going on?" She sat up, squinting at the worry etched across Reg’s face.

"I can’t reach Lexi," Reg said, voice clipped, her arms crossed tightly over her chest.

Frida blinked the sleep from her eyes. "Wait, what? Since when?"

"Since last night," Reg said. Her jaw clenched, tension rippling through her muscles. She looked ready to break something, or someone.

Reg ran her fingers through her hair, styled like she could give Kristen Stewart a run for her money and rob Edward Cullen’s bank dry, groaning in frustration. "I didn’t want to bother you guys, but I was up all night calling her phone."

Her tone was uncharacteristically tense, which caught both Frida and Vanessa’s attention.

"At first, I didn’t want to overthink it, but Lexi never skips Bubble Bath Saturdays," Reg explained, slipping her hands into her pockets and pacing the room.

Vanessa, still leaning against the doorframe, muttered under her breath, "Who wouldn’t want to be bothered by this masterpiece of a human?"

She was so restless that her anxiety rubbed off on Frida, who leaned forward, concerned.

"Bubble Bath Saturdays?" Vanessa muttered under her breath, her lips curling into a mischievous grin. "As in... you guys share a bath?" She cast a sly side glance at Reg, clearly fishing for drama.

Reg froze for a second, realizing what she had just admitted. Her eyes darted to Vanessa, then Frida, before she quickly changed the topic. "The point is, she missed my call twice, didn’t post on Insta, and wasn’t active on Discord. I’m worried about her."

Vanessa, entirely unfazed shut the door, leaned against the counter, her focus split between the toast she was now making and the tension in the room. "Rock, paper, scissors... definitely scissors," she mumbled to herself, savoring every bit of this unfolding drama.

Reg wasn’t sparing her a glance. Her pacing grew more frantic, her concern as genuine as ever. Frida, caught between laughing at Vanessa’s antics and recognizing just how serious Reg was, struggled to keep a straight face.

She could hardly blame Vanessa, though. Reg was simply too much for her not-so-awake, morning-fogged brain.

"Did you check her place?" Frida asked, stretching.

Reg nodded. "Yeah. She’s not there. Leah’s not answering either, and I don’t want to disturb Tyler."

Frida sighed, already dreading where this was going. "Looks like we’re checking that douchebag’s place."

Reg’s eyes darkened, her fists clenching. "If he hurt her, I swear I’ll kill him."

Vanessa, always the extrovert, chimed in, "Do you like Lexi?"

Reg froze for a second, and for the first time, Frida swore she saw her blush, just the faintest tinge of red across her cheekbones. "No. We’re just friends," she said evenly, though her gaze faltered.

Vanessa’s laugh was nothing short of flirtatious. "Well, praise the Lord." She bit her lip, looking Reg up and down like she was a five-course meal.

Reg ignored her and turned back to Frida. "Get dressed. I’ll wait in the car."

Frida nodded as Reg walked out, leaving Vanessa following her to the doorway like a love-struck teenager.

"Vanessa, I thought you were straight," Frida teased as she rummaged for her hoodie.

"Tall, masc, muscles, looks like Avery from TikTok but hotter?" Vanessa slid down the wall dramatically, clutching her chest. "Girl, a tear just ran down my thigh."

Frida burst into laughter. "Welcome home, drama queen. This dorm is Netflix, live and uncensored."

Vanessa groaned. "Don’t keep that waiting. Godspeed, Frida."