She was used to the grind. College wasn't an option unless you managed to snatch a scholarship or resigned yourself to an eternity of debt, so you drew up study timetables and you threw yourself at practice tests till you made them your bitch, and you worked. The kids at school called you weird and a freak and stuck-up, so you gritted your teeth and you promised to show 'em, and you worked. You had to keep your grades up cuz scholarship kids couldn't coast, so you worked, and your professors didn't take you seriously, so you worked, and rent was going up, so you worked, and you worked, and you worked.
And don't get her wrong, Rosario was good at it the grind. Call her Archimedes: if you gave her a jackhammer and a place to stand, she could crush right through the earth. But that didn't mean the grind didn't wear back on you. Didn't mean it didn't feel good to have someone who'd share that weight.
So yeah, she got it, and huge points in Avery's favour that he had Lyra's back like that. He might be pig-headed and arrogant and completely infuriating, but he'd also stood up to his shitty abusive family and tried to fight through a curse to warn Lyra and Rosario about Apollo, which... honestly, respect for that.
She still didn't think that equation balanced with marriage, but... gah, well, that ship had sailed. Also, not her choice to make.
Just as long as Avery kept backing Lyra up. Cuz if he broke her heart, Rosario was gonna crush through him.
She snaked an arm round Lyra's shoulders and gave her a squeeze. "You deserve that. Someone who's gonna stick up for you."