I tapped my fingers expectantly, waiting for the next question. I had blazed through the first five but I started second-guessing myself. Out of the fifteen questions he asked, I only managed to get eleven of them correct.

"You've got to relax. I know you've got this." He encouraged me.

"I do. You're just making me nervous." I breathed. "Can you stop staring at me?"

"No, I like making you nervous." A coy smile played on his lips. "What connects muscles to bones?" Tendon? Cartilage?

"Um...tendon? No, cartilage. Wait! It's the tendon." I buried my face in my hands.

"Good job." I could feel him staring at me again. "How many bones are there in the hand and wrist?"

"Twenty...twenty...twenty-seven?" I peeked at him from between my fingers.

"Oh? Is she making a comeback?" I looked up at him smiling at me. I gave him a tight-lipped smile and egged him on to continue.

"What is the limit of (8-3x+12x^2) as x approaches 2?" I hadn't written that down. Is he making this up?

"Is it 50?"

"Maybe you should start packing your bags?"

"Maybe don't speak too soon." I laughed.

"In conditioning, partial reinforcement relative to constant reinforcement leads to learning that...?" He trailed off while looking at me expectantly.

"Occurs slower...?"

"And?" He waved his hand, prompting me to continue.

"...is more resistant to extinction!" I nearly exclaimed.

He gave me a thumbs up and flashed his dazzling smile. I thanked God for my skin color, otherwise, he would've seen me blush a dozen times. I leaned back in my seat, thankful that I had managed to get through his impromptu quiz.

"Give me a high five girl." He raised his hands up and without hesitation, I slapped my palms against his. I couldn't stop myself from grinning. "Pack your bags, come on."

I stuttered, "B-but I barely made it through."

"We had a deal, come on. I'll even walk you back myself." He said as he took down my organized mess of post-its off the wall. I furrowed my eyebrows, I didn't feel 100% confident about my knowledge for these exams.

"Hey, I think you're selling yourself short. Every question you got wrong, it was because you second-guessed yourself." He handed me my notes with an earnest smile.

I pouted, "If you say so." I dejectedly took my papers from him as I was unzipping my bag. A roll of magnums unfurled and slid onto the floor. It might have well been a dumbbell with the noise it made.

With a grin, he stooped down and picked it up off the ground. He looked up at me and outstretched his hand. "I believe this is yours?" His open palm would let the whole world know.

I snatched it from him in a hurry while he snickered.

Once I was ready, we both got up from the booth and headed to a table that was occupied with his belongings.

He was seated by the ledge that looked into the interior of the library. From his seat, he could see the floors above him, and if he strained his neck enough, he could see right into the coffee shop. He had watched me indulge my caffeine addiction all day.

"You're in Berriman's 4:30 class, aren't you?" He asked me as he put on his jacket.

"Yeah,"

"I knew you looked familiar." He shook his head. "Why do you sit in the back?"

"I like it back there." I simply shrugged and followed him down the stairs.

As we reached the bottom floor he turned to me. "Since the midterm is coming up, why don't we study together?"

"As long as you don't try to make me cut down on my caffeine intake again." I looked down and laughed.

"No, you have a problem. As long as I'm here, there will be no coffee drinking on my watch." He proclaimed proudly as he puffed his chest.

"What are you, the coffee cop?" I giggled.

"I prefer the term decaf deputy." He chuckled softly as we made our way out of the library.

"More like a decaf dork." I snorted.

"Oh, you're so mean." He rolled his eyes. "Why am I the villain for trying to guide you towards healthier options?"

"Does your discount extend to coffee?" I asked hopefully.

"Now, I see where all your dining dollars went." He shook his head in disapproval. "No, you junkie. I'm not fueling your addiction."

"That's not fair!" I almost exclaimed.

"Do you see how you're acting?" He pointed at me.

"Are there any other restrictions you didn't tell me about?" I narrowed my eyes at him.

"I also can't give you a discount on alcohol." He shrugged. "Can't have a baby like you drunkenly walking the streets." He poked my forehead.

I blushed and countered. "Baby? Aren't we like the same age?"

"No, we're definitely not." He shook his head as he laughed. "I'm turning twenty-one next month."

"I'm not that much younger than you. I'm turning twenty in February."

"That does not help your case—"

"You're not twenty-one either!" I interjected

"At least I can say I'm in my twenties!" He shot back.

I took an exaggerated breath, pretending to lose my composure. "Shut up."

"Truth hurts, doesn't it?" He winked.

"I didn't wanna buy alcohol anyway," I muttered under my breath.

He bent over, putting his ear by my lips. "You wanna say that louder?"

I pushed his head far away from mine, brushing his soft locks in the process. His phone rang from his pocket. He swiftly moved away to answer it. I slowed my pace to match his. While he was distracted, I took the opportunity to admire his features again.

He had a bit of new growth on the sides of his head, maybe he hadn't gotten the chance to get a haircut lately. The top of his head was adorned by his perfect coils. I should ask him about his routine. How can I phrase it in a way that won't sound weird?

My thoughts were interrupted when I tripped over a crack in the walkway. Thankfully, it was minor enough to go unnoticed. "Can't this wait?" I heard him grumble from beside me.

His voice was hushed but forceful as I continued to eavesdrop. "You can't keep doing this." Then came a sigh of frustration. "Yeah, I'm on my way now." He bit his bottom lip as he ended the call.

"I guess you have to go?" I asked forcing my gaze forward.

"Yeah, I have some stuff to deal with." He shoved his hands in his pockets.

"Well...I was promised a walk back to the dorms." I looked over at him hopefully.

He smiled earnestly. "Unfortunately, I can't keep my promise, but I can make it up to you." My puzzled expression prompted him to continue. "There's going to be a party in 3A on Thursday. Come."

"I don't know..." I trailed off.

"I wasn't asking." He ruffled my hair and walked off in a different direction. "See you."

My cheeks reddened at how comfortable he was touching me. I replayed our conversation in my head over and over the whole way back to my room.