THE DEVIL WORKED HARD, BUT CHLOE WORKED HARDER. She shouted something along the lines of, "hello, boys!" and invited them right over. Xavier had spotted us long ago, it seemed. He had waved and smiled and Stella was frozen beside me. I had looked at her to gauge her face, but she was already gesturing at them.

And Evan—he had paused. He'd paused as if he were unsure he was seeing right. As if he'd made me up, fragments of imagination into pieces of truth, just like how I thought I might've. But he was here, and now. There was a bag slinging on his shoulders. Was he returning from practices? There were none we had today. Not like that had made him come to school in the past five days.

My chest squeezed. It was a mix of absolute panic, dread, and longing—of wanting to do nothing and so much at once—and so much so, I couldn't breathe when our eyes met.

The apparent annoyance dissipated from his face, and he stared at me as if it had never even been there. It was replaced by devastating gentleness.

Stella cleared her throat. I hadn't fathomed that they'd walked close until I heard her utter, "What are you guys doing here?"

"I need a couple of art books for my project and just dragged him along." Xavier grinned. It made me smile, almost, since that explained the look on Evan's face. "Looks like you guys are busy."

Stella motioned to all the mess laid out. "You think?"

Xavier winced, but plucked the book out of her hand regardless. "I could use a group study session too, you know."

"You should've told us earlier, then." Stella snatched the book right back. Her voice was soft when she added, "Maybe next time."

Something flashed in his eyes. Something fleeting and whimsical, but it did pass and it made all the difference, because now, Stella's face was flushed.

I grinned. Xavier was biting back a smile, too. "Maybe."

He was gone, then. Evan was left behind, in his glory of curses and sharp eyes. He pulled a chair from the table adjacent to ours and seated himself across me, arms folded. The action unfolded in a mere second. Our eyes met again.

Oh, I thought. So he isn't leaving.

I fiddled with a pencil whilst he continued to stare, eyes determined yet deterred. "Sorry for crashing your group study." He wouldn't stop looking at me. Stella was barely holding her laugh. "By all means, put the blame on Xavier."

"It's fine, we were leaving anyway. We've been here for more than four hours."

He titled his head before muttering, "Really?"

Chloe nodded. I did, too, in an attempt to not act entirely silly, but he did not acknowledge me. His eyes were on the table now, long fingers drumming lightly on the wood. Great. I had no idea what was happening. The coldness before was unbearable in its own right; it now felt like it had stooped a hundred degrees lower.

His eyes solidified on mine again, and I realized I much preferred him drilling holes onto the table.

"That must mean," he let his words float, and smiled. "That Laura can stay back for a while?"

My voice was barely hiding the horror. "Why?"

"You know why." He rose an eyebrow. He was doing something here—he knew he was. He was so painfully aware, I wanted to lunge at him across the table and strangle him with my own hair. Maybe my frustration was over-the-top. So was he. So was how we had always been. "We have unfinished business to take care of."

I had no idea what in God's name that meant. "What are you talking about?"

Stella stood up. "Sure she can." Chloe did too, eyes holding me in a cheeky stare. "We can't, though. Have fun!"

They weren't leaving without me. "Wait." I glared at him. He wasn't the only one worthy of passing those stupid looks of his. I could do them just the same. "Talk to me directly when I'm in the room. I have an exam tomorrow, and I never accepted overtime."

"My bad." He leaned on the chair, posture levelling, and it was purely aggravating—everything about Evan. Annoying how pleasing to the eyes he was, even with the plastered taunt on his face. Desperation to look away weighed heavy, but I couldn't, even if I tried. "Stay back for a bit. As I said, we have unfinished business."

I was starting to hate him. "That's a statement. Why will I ever listen—"

He rolled his eyes. "Right. That's why I asked them. It's easier."

I scoffed. Why was he being as ass?

I almost forgot Stella and Chloe were still standing, dancing on their heels and barely containing their amusement. I saw both laugh, but didn't care enough. If he thought that calling me difficult was going to solve any problems, he must've hit his head on a brick. "No." I smiled, standing up. "Goodbye."

Xavier popped in. I didn't see him arrive, eyes preoccupied with stuffing into my bag too much stationery. He'd walked over to Stella's side, three books tucked and sandwiched between his torso and his arm. I hated the fact that he'd brought Evan here, even though it made no sense. He hadn't known I was here.

I paused, thinking what his actions could've been had he known. The same.

"Don't you guys have to finish the English project?" Xavier read the awkward tension, lips twitching. "It's like, painfully overdue. Did you forget, Laura?"

Oh. My mind simply stopped for a couple seconds. That was what he was here for—not for anything else. Nothing like whatever he was so adamant on insinuating.

It made so much sense, yet none at all. Exactly how everything about him worked.

When I glanced back at him, he was flipping through my notes. "You're here for the English project?"

"Naturally," he chipped. "What else?"

My head. I sat down. Stella held up a hand, gesturing me to call her later, and Chloe winked. They were out like the wind. Having friends was awesome when they disappeared right when I needed them the most.

Xavier was gone too. By some miracle, Evan was handing me my notes back before I could snatch it from him, and his shoulders were slumped. "You forgot about the project," he simply stated. His face was unreadable now, which made me anxious.

"We've got time, right?"

He cupped his jaw, and then stared at me as if I was the most ludicrous thing he had the displeasure of seeing in his lifetime. I was. Hadn't Xavier just said the project was painfully overdue?

When life went south, I blamed it on Physics. It was the heinous subject terrorizing my sanity.

"We are past the due date. We have all the time in the world, sweetheart." He smiled like an angel. "I'm hoping we get it done by the end of next year?"

The snarky reply was resting at the tip of my tongue, but I held it back.

"Evan." I didn't want to argue, nor did I have the energy to. I didn't want to talk to him like this after days of not being able to see him. What Evelyn had told me struck my nerves all over again, and I blinked before looking up. "Why are you acting like this? You should've messaged me. I did forget. But I would've done it all by myself had you reminded me."

There was something in that look he passed me. A realization. I was grasping at straws with him for so long, anything could be misread if I wanted to.

"Do you not know?" His eyes were genuine now.

"What?"

He sighed. "Remember when we were asked to get our half-done project reviewed to make sure we were doing it right? I went back last week to get it, and was told you already took it. I thought you must be working on it now."

My eyes were wide. "What? I did not. I submitted it, but I forgot to collect it."

He just sat there in silence, and it dawned on me then.

"Oh my God, don't tell me. Who would take our project?" I added. "Everyone's topics are different."

He shook his head. "I don't think anyone took it. There were so many of them, always kept beside trash. Who knows where ours ended up."

It got lost. It got freaking lost. What the hell? I felt so much anger course through me in that instant. Couldn't they have been more serious? Did they not realize it was a battlefield out here, trying to juggle exams and classes and idiotic projects that we barely had time to do once, forget twice?

I had fallen quiet for so long, I forgot Evan was with me. And his eyebrows were pulled, much like me. But when he opened his mouth, the reason was entirely different.

"Laura," he called out. His hands moved slightly, and for a second I thought they were going to hold mine—create a junction on the table—and my body froze. He didn't even graze my hand. "I'm sorry. I thought you had it and were working on it. You didn't reach out, but neither did you submit it, so I had to ask. I'm sorry for being an asshole after days of seeing you."

He was babbling again.

I only let him because his apology was valid, and because he looked cute. Whenever he apologized, his nose scrunched up and lips twisted in this stupidest little frown. His eyes mellowed, unlike fire and ice on a regular day. There were so many things to him, the oddities which never grew old, only more endearing.

But then he decided to throw in: "Meeting you here has been the best coincidence of the week. I don't want to ruin that."

My heart stopped. Truly, he should've saved that one for the special girl he was seeing, because it was the nicest thing he'd said so far. I wasn't sure I was to be on the receiving end of it.

I grinned, even if a knife twisted in my chest. "It's fine. As for the project, I'll get it done by tomorrow and submit it. Don't worry about it."

His lips frowned. "Are you sure—"

"Just trust me." I rolled my eyes. "And woo the people, celebrity. I know you have a lot on your plate."

His lips tensed. "So do you. We should find a way to do it together, in any case."

I smiled. Somehow, that sentiment alone had warmth filling my chest. "It's really fine. How about you email me your bit and I put it all together? You'll feel accomplished too."

He winked. "Anything I can do for you in return?"

I refrained from kicking him from beneath the table. I thought, he did have some explaining to do. None that he owed me, but I was nosy. "I do have a question."

"Shoot."

"Where have you been?"

Up close, I hated how much his eyes gleamed. And Evan's eyes were darker than Evelyn's, replicating the night sky, enough flicker to be compared to the stars. There was a reason why I couldn't look away whenever our eyes met—they were magnetic for a lover of the night.

I soon realized, as seconds morphed into minutes, that that was a mistake.

He was laughing. "Missed me that much?"

I picked up my belongings, shoving them in my tote in a haste. "Very funny." I saw him stand when I did, hands in his pockets. "Since we're done here."

"Hey, Edwards," he called out to me when I'd reached the doors, voice bright. "I missed you more."

▂

"YOU LOOK UNEASY."

I wished he would look away for once, but it was too wistful for me to be demanding of that from him. He was cold stares and arrogance, intimidation wrapped up in a human. It was funny, because he was also the same person to look at me with such gentleness, it made me squirm just thinking about it.

"I just feel hot."

His lips twisted. "It's freezing, Edwards."

I wanted to disappear. Maybe I got a fever, I could've replied. Maybe your stupid face is making me confused about my own body temperature. Because it had been. I was nowhere near hot—only uncomfortably cold, fingertips numb and ice-cubes for feet.

"Right," I grinned so wide, genuine concerned morphed into his eyes. "I am cold. Intensely so. Not hot. Thank you for reminding me I couldn't possibly have been."

He paused. He knew something wasn't quite right. "Did I do something?"

If only problems ever tied themselves to him, because I was the start and the end of it all. "How can you ever do something wrong?" I sang. "That's not possible, is it? You've always been doing everything right. You were born into this world with so much greatness, I need to be bowing down to you at all times."

"Laura," he smiled. I couldn't believe how easily we could fall back to something so immature and second-nature. I was never like this with anyone. He brought out the worst and the best in me. "Want to know where I was all week?"

"Does it look like I give a shit?"

"Yeah." He quipped back. He was having so much fun. I wanted to commit a crime. "Yeah. You do. Plenty of them, too."

"My sincere apologies for showing interest in your crazy life. I should mind my business and just look away, as I will from here on. Again, sorry!" I danced around, flailing my arms around. I had lost it. The cold was numbing my brain, seizing the nerve-endings and hijacking the entirety of my nervous system. I was becoming a dead woman walking, and I got plus points for slowly losing all my bearings.

It was so fucking cold. This irritation—frustration that lined us both, but me in specific—was being amplified the more we stalled, waiting and walking and then jabbing.

My phone blinked bright light in my eyes, and I swiped it open to read Stella's new message through the notifications. Hope u kiss each other before killing each other. Love u <3

I almost snorted. The heart at the end was so mean for no reason. Or maybe I was just in the foulest moods of all.

I spread my arms too far and walked behind too quick, because Evan and I crashed into each other like meteors. Polar-opposites and hot and cold. My back hit his chest, and he was radiating so much warmth—so much heat—I almost did not pull away. It was inviting, his hold. He caught me instantly, but his arms stayed around my frame, fingers coiling around my waist.

I never knew a touch so subtle and fleeting could zap me like a bolt of lightning. It forced me to remember the night he'd held me this close, possibly closer.

Rationality kicked in, and I bounced back to maintain at least a five feet distance. I didn't want to be near him. It was so tempting to fall back and lean in and be close, simply because I now knew what it was like. And it was achingly familiar and safe, a craving too harsh, comforting every worry I could ever possess. It terrified me.

"I had to travel to London," he admitted gently. His curls were pushed behind, ears turning bright because of the cold. When I turned around, his smile had returned. "Wasn't for myself, but for dad. He needed something to be supervised, but couldn't go. So he sent me."

"You went to London?" I gaped. I was planning to try and apply to some universities there.

He smiled. Then he motioned for me to near him, which I did with much apprehension. "You're freezing," he grabbed my hand. "You'll catch a cold."

We must've been walking home, but I wasn't too sure. It was cold, but it also meant spending more time with him. "Are you coming to school anytime soon?"

He wasn't letting go of my hand. It felt wrong, even though in my head I knew I would purposefully make my hands freeze everyday if this was how he fixed the issue. But: hand-holding was for him and the someone he had found.

When I decided to pull it from his grasp, he captured the other in his hold, too. He was rubbing circles on the top, fingertips rough. If I grabbed his palm and observed it well enough, I knew I'd spot scars guitar strings had bred. Maybe I could tally his scars with mine, trace every single one and connect it to my hands, since the instrument had treated me the very same.

"I will be," he had muttered after a long-drawn breath. I'd forgotten what I asked. "Probably in a couple days."

I let my lips curve.

Happiness was fleeting. "By the way," he bumped his shoulder to mine. It was so unexpected, I almost toppled down, which just made him laugh. "You were enquiring Evelyn about me?"

Pink dusted my cheeks, and I pulled away from his grasp, quick—even though my hands were only starting to warm up. "Yeah, well, she spotted me and I couldn't not ask, since, you know, I hadn't heard from you in days, and. . .," I waffled. Paused. Looked up. Clouds were dark and swirling, and my first thought was how it couldn't possibly rain.

Amusement covered his face in silver. "Or, you know, you could text. Call. Communication 101, remember? It takes two to tango. I didn't hear from you since the night we last talked, either."

I wouldn't have called that talking. His face lacked every emotion I thought I'd get to see. Maybe he'd regretted it. Maybe it was confusing, which would be understandable. Maybe it was forgetful—so much so, that after a date and a couple days later, he had no memory of it at all.

"Twenty questions." I murmured before I could take it back. "Let's play it."

He gave me a singular look, and that was that. I folded my hands, interlocking them. It wasn't wise wearing something which had no pockets, I finally concluded. It was going to rain. I needed to get home right now.

But I had already started the impending disaster.

I braced. Tried to make myself sound unbothered, but knew it won't work. "Are you seeing someone?"

He halted in his strides, then. The movement was slow, him turning around. I did not see a smile. "If you answer my question first, I'll answer yours."

My heart raced. "That's not fair. I initiated the game."

He stared for a second. Two. He faced his back to me, then, and my arm stopped mid-air trying to stop him from leaving. His poise was so nonchalant, indifferent. Coldness seeped into my chest, because no matter what I said, he won't budge.

I grumbled. "Fine."

He was a hairsbreadth away before I could fathom. "Why do you care?"

He never meant for his words to come out so sharp, but they did. He probably didn't want to make me grimace, but he did. When I opened my mouth to speak and it fogged up my view, he was still close, staring into my eyes.

"Because." My voice was hoarse. "You're a friend of mine."

Perhaps there was no point in lying, but what was the point in being truthful when it wouldn't have mattered either way? I knew his answer to my question would be: Yes, I've started seeing someone. She's amazing. Pretty. I guessed lying softened the blow. I hoped.

It still hurt.

His eyes dropped to the ground. "Liar."

My jaw slacked. "Excuse me?"

He'd started walking, though. And he didn't turn to drop me a glance.

• • •

author's note:

they're truly idiots in love idk what else to say ,, HOWEVER i am extremely enjoying this moment and hope you are too ! stay safe and take care of yourself, ily

you're golden,

abrial