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The styrofoam cup of hot (tea/coffee) was beginning to burn as I looked around for a free table or even an empty bench at this point. Each available spot seemed to be taken, everyone was cramming for their upcoming finals. The library was packed and they wouldn’t let me bring in any drinks, meaning I had to fend for myself on campus.

I switched the (tea/coffee) between my hands before spotting a shady tree off to the side of the art building. Reluctantly, I made my way towards it being careful not to jostle my drink or let the notes jammed between the pages of my textbook fall out.

Quickly I settled down with my things, momentarily struggling with finding a safe place to place my drink before giving up and holding it. I managed to carefully set out my graphing calculator, textbook, and some sloppily done note sheets I wrote out at three in the morning.

After an hour, the numbers started to blend together. My head was pulsing and my throat was raw from absentmindedly downing a scalding drink as I tried to focus on my notes. I had a harder and harder time focusing, my thoughts going anywhere but studying for my math final.

Once more I brought the cup to my lips and after a few moments I remembered I had already finished it off twenty minutes ago. That must have been my third attempt at drinking air.

“Dammit” I groaned before tossing the drink just barely out of reach and using my textbook as a pillow. A slight breeze picked up but I couldn’t bring myself to care that my notes could be flying off somewhere. After my next final I wouldn’t need them anymore anyway.

I felt dead. My brain didn’t want to work anymore, least of all think about formulas or calculator functions. Instead I stared at the branches above me waiting until I could go and get it over with. Distractedly, I heard footsteps and the crumpling of papers.

Was someone picking up my papers?

“Shit (Name), the dead would be giving you props right now.”

I knew that voice and in my peripheral I could see red high-tops.

“Hey Da-, wait,” After a handful of seconds what he said fully processed. I narrowed my eyes into a halfhearted glare in his general direction, unwilling to move. “What are you insinuating?”

He merely chuckled before sitting down in the shade beside me. I could see him holding a handful of papers out towards me, but I refused to acknowledge them. He shook his head and tossed them onto my stomach. My nose wrinkled in distain as he continued. “Just that you look like hell right now.”

“Three hours of sleep and a math final next, I feel like crap.”

I sighed and sat up, figuring I wouldn’t get to nap or relax now that he’d sat down. Quickly I caught the papers before they scattered again and stuck them under the cover of my textbook. I felt too exhausted to hold a proper conversation, but Dave seemed persistent.

“I just finished my history final.” he paused, head tilting slightly towards me. “and I was walking to my car, when I realized I could finish two finals today. Not to mention you looked like you could use a distraction.”

I wonder if he said things without context so I’d question him or if I just wasn’t used to how he talked yet. Every now and then he’d say something sarcastic or use some type of analogy that didn’t quite click until after he explained.

“You have two finals today? That must suck. What’s the other one?”

“It’s not so much as it needs to be done today, but I did get the last piece I needed... Oh maybe… ten minutes ago? So I won’t need to think about it tomorrow. I’ll just need to edit and put them together and I’m done.”

If the growing smirk was any indicator, he knew he was edging around the question. It was just a simple question though, why bother dodging it? I mean we had talked about our classes before unless he didn’t tell me all of them. I had to force myself not to run my fingers through my hair and give away my annoyance before I asked again.

“Okay… but what class?”

He didn’t answer, instead he waited for me to figure it out. He was obviously overestimating how much my brain was working right now. It was silent for a full minute before the pieces slowly fell together. There was probably the epitome of horror written on my face.

“Oh dear god, please tell me it’s not photography.”

His shoulders shook subtly and the smirk was slowly turning into a full blown grin. I sat up a little straighter, mentally going over my appearance. Dread filled me the more I thought about it. Today was definitely not my best day for pictures.

“Come on Dave, that’s not cool. I look terrible. Delete it. Wait, no. Everything, delete everything.” I begged before trying to look over his shoulder to find his camera bag. The only bag he had was his backpack.

I leaned over him to grab it but I was too slow. He shot backwards and held it just out of reach. I pulled back for a moment, hoping he would relax and give me an opening. He didn’t so I launched forward trying once again.

Personal boundaries be damned, the class was not seeing a picture of me like this. I had been so exhausted I threw on an old comfortable pair of jeans and a random baggy shirt. My eyes were probably blood shot and my skin was paler than normal from sleep deprivation. He had said it himself, I looked like hell right now.

I ended up knocking him onto the grass, straddling his waist as I desperately stretched my arm trying to reach the backpack. Unfortunately his arms were longer than mine and I was getting nowhere. Dave on the other hand seemed to find this amusing.

“Damn (Name), I know Striders are irresistible but this is a bit much don’t you think?”

I glared and looked down, quickly realizing my chest was practically in front of his face. With the shades on I couldn’t tell where he was looking either. Heat rose in my face and I started to scramble backwards out of embarrassment, but then I saw it.

His fingers loosened up on the bag. He thought that he had won so he let his guard down. I pulled back a bit more and his shoulders relaxed, so I launched forward and caught him by surprise. I managed to pry the bag out of his grasp before rolling off of him victoriously clutching it to my chest.

The look of shock on his face was priceless.

I pulled out his camera and went to the playback button, freezing when it said no pictures were available. All of his pictures must be on an sd card. If only the shock stayed and he didn’t have the smug look he wore when I reluctantly handed the camera and backpack back to him.

We both put our things away when he pointed out that there were only a few minutes before I needed to be in class anyway. He brushed off his pants and slung his backpack over his shoulder before helping me up too. As he walked me to class, I noticed how relaxed and just how much calmer I felt.

“Thanks Dave.” He just shrugged off the compliment and kept pace with me as we walked towards my class. It was quiet for a minute before he spoke.

“If you don’t take forever, I’ll wait for you to finish and we can go out and get something to eat.”

My eyes widened and I turned to look at Dave, noticing a slight tint of pink on his face. Seeing him blush made my own face turn red. He was looking away from me, refusing to look in my direction. It took me a minute to be able find my voice to reply.

“I’d like that.”