Through The Dark

13: Study Buddies

Saph

I have no idea what came over me at that moment. Maybe it was the unfamiliar and sudden feeling of being in control for the first time in my life. I could feel how nervous he was from the moment he came back into the room. While stealing glances of him as he sat on his deskchair facing me, it was painfully obvious he was anxious from the constant biting of his nails.

The close proximity of my face to his made him blush like I've never seen before. His chest was rising and falling rapidly from the heavy breathing and his pupils were dilated.

"Am I making you nervous, Blondie?" I whispered, my voice low and deep.

"W-what are you doing?" He nervously said, giving me the confidence I needed to keep the dominant facade I had suddenly found within myself.

"There you go, stuttering again." I couldn't help but smirk at the way he was reacting. I liked having the upper hand for once.

And then he glanced down at my lips, making every ounce of confidence in me go down the drain. Feeling the heat rise in my cheeks and my throat dry up, I pulled back, turning my full attention back to the obnoxiously bright screen infront of me. I swallowed hard in an attempt to soothe the slight scratchiness in my throat.

His stare still lingered on me. He was still flustered and confused as to what just happened, but I was not going to address it.

"What did you come up with for your part?" I asked in an attempt to change the dense atmosphere in the room. He cleared his throat and turned his attention back to the laptop on his lap.

"Not much, but it's a start." He shrugged, tilting the laptop towards me to show me the information he had gathered.

"I'll keep looking for more, do you wanna start writing the essay?" He asked. I nodded in response and scooted a little higher up the bed, placing the laptop on the grey duvet infront of my crossed legs in an attempt to get more comfortable. I expected him to go back to his desk, but he didn't. Instead, he turned to his side towards me, curling a leg on the bed while the other dangled off of it and placing the laptop on the duvet next to mine.

I preferred having him sit next to me rather than all the way across the room. I liked feeling him close to me, because he was the only one that I could have so close in my life at that moment.

"Sorry, I don't mean to be rude, but can you take your shoes off? It's kind of my worst pet peeve when people have their shoes on the bed." I couldn't help but laugh at his request, but I completely understood it. It's his bed after all.

"Someone's a neat freak." I mocked as I kicked my white converse to the floor.

"I can't help it. It's the most annoying thing ever." He said with a small laugh.

"Then why are you still wearing yours? You're on the bed too." I argued with a chuckle. Even though I haven't spoken to him in two days, it felt like we were back in the diner, and that brought me a sense of comfort.

"Ah, you see, I am on the bed, but my feet are not." He pointed out, motioning to his feet that were not actually in contact with the duvet.

"That's just a technicality."

"But that's the whole point." He smirked but kicked his shoes off as well.

"Now, I've gathered everything I could find about the vaccine, but I think we should analyze that during the last paragraph." He suggested, crossing his legs on the bed as well.