“I am taking them seriously!”
She hummed. “Then prove it.”
“How exactly do you expect me to do that?”
“Ace the midterm, or I’m pulling you out of school, Emmaline,” she said, and a chill swept down my spine at the frost in her voice.
Three beeps sounded as she cut the call, and I stared at my phone before tossing it across the bed with a groan.
She was wrong.
And I had plenty of time to worry about the midterm.
I wasn’t going to let her get to me.
But a weight settled in my chest the size of Kansas, and a minute later I was texting Noah to set up a study date.
* * *
The library was practically deserted by the time I arrived that evening. Saturday night was prime for parties, so it wasn’t surprising that I could count the number of library-goers on one hand. Layers of dust on the shelves tickled my nose, and I claimed an empty table near the coffee kiosk for my and Noah’s study session. Instead of studying while I waited, I opened a random document on my laptop and used it as a shield to play games on my phone.
It wasn’t a minute later that Noah was striding through the door, looking way too good in a midnight-black blazer with his messenger bag slung over one shoulder. I tilted my head to the side as his gaze roamed the open space, thinking he’d make a good-looking college professor if he wanted to.
Noah’s eyes landed on me from across the room. There was something about the way his shoulders relaxed when he saw me that did funny things to the butterflies.
I cleared my throat as he walked over, rubbing a hand against my chest as the twitterpated organ sped up.
“Hey, stranger.” I flashed a smile as he reached the table. Locking my phone, I turned it facedown on the table to hide the evidence of my virtual coffee shop game.
Noah returned my smile with a tame one of his own, dropped his messenger bag on the table, and slid into the seat across from me. “I should’ve warned you, but I can only spare about an hour to study.”
I propped my chin up with a palm, feeling nosy. “Got plans?”
He nodded as he pulled a notebook and ourTonal Harmonytextbook from his bag.
I waited for him to expand on said plans but got nothing. That didn’t mean I couldn’t pry. I cleared my throat, aiming for casual as I gathered my hair and pulled it over one shoulder. “Anything exciting?”
“Just meeting up with friends,” Noah said as he flipped through the textbook.
Well. I hesitated, wondering if he was going to invite me to join them. Considering we were dating, it felt like meeting the friends was the next step. He’d already met mine.
When Noah didn’t make any move to invite me to tag along, I decided to keep up my nonchalant act instead of begging to join.
“Sounds fun,” I said, scratching at my elbow.
He didn’t appear to hear me.
“While we’re here, we should talk about reworking our duet, too.” He paused in his page-flipping and glanced around the table. Not finding what he wanted, he went back to digging through his bag. “What we have so far isn’t working.”
“Isn’t workinghow?”
Noah waved a dismissive hand before lining up three fancy black pens next to his notebook. “Ravel. He’s too restrained of a composer to use as our inspirator. Slade’s looking for a higher scale of technical risk.”
I closed my laptop with a frown. “Ravel is plenty technical, and everyone’s doing their own thing. We don’t have to cater to Slade’s tastes.”
That finally got Noah’s attention, and he looked up with a downturned tilt to his lips. “Of course we do. He’s the professor.”
But I wasn’t following, and my stare must’ve shown it. “So?”
