"Being friends with people isn't about being worthy!" Nina snapped, stepping right up into his space there, genuinely distraught. "It's not about is he good enough or can he do enough. If it comes down to those things, then they're not your friends in the first place."

Harsh, definitely… but also true.

A terrible, horrible part of her wished she had a way to have his bros listen to him say this, and she could, but she wouldn't. Nina had lines, even if they weren't the ones everyone else had.

"If they willingly spend time with you, if they tease you but help you when you make mistakes, then you're already friends. You don't have to be perfect to be friends with them. I bet they're not perfect either. I bet they do things that bug you and that you don't like, right?"

Her eyes narrowed and she poked him in the chest.

"You don't like that I went and told your boys you were coming off a bad weekend, right?" Nina raised her chin in defiance of the fact that maybe, just maybe, asking this next question was one she was scared of the answer to. "Does that mean you're going to stop being my friend? You're my friend, even when you do things I don't like."

She had a list. Mostly centered around the whole dating-Yang thing, so she wasn't going to air that list, but the point still stood.

Nina blew out her breath. "You having a hard time one weekend… you screwing up… friends aren't going to drop you for that. It's okay."

It… it had to be… right?