CHAPTER 6
728 Words
CHAPTER 6
Almost Strangers
Campus had never felt this loud.
Not because the students were any noisier than usual but because for the first time, silence between Tessa and Louis felt louder than everything else.
It had been three days since their argument. Three long days of pretending the other didn’t exist.
They still shared the same classrooms, the same corridors, the same group of friends. And yet, it was as if an invisible wall had risen between them tall, glass-clear, unbreakable.
Tessa sat in the second row of the lecture hall that morning, pretending to take notes while her eyes, against her will, drifted to him.
Louis sat two rows behind, leaning back lazily in his chair, eyes on the lecturer but focus elsewhere.
Every now and then, she’d catch him looking her way. And every time their gazes met, one of them would look away first. Usually her.
“Girl,” her friend Naomi whispered beside her, nudging her lightly. “You’ve been staring into space since this lecture started. You good?”
“I’m fine,” Tessa said, closing her notebook too quickly.
Naomi squinted. “You sure? You look like someone whose heart just skipped a semester.”
Tessa laughed weakly. “You’re dramatic.”
“I’m observant,” Naomi said, glancing toward Louis. “And I know that look. You two fought, didn’t you?”
Tessa sighed. “Can we not talk about it?”
“Fine,” Naomi said, grinning. “But you know silence doesn’t mean peace, right?”
Tessa didn’t reply. Because deep down, she knew Naomi was right. The silence wasn’t peace it was noise she couldn’t quiet.
That afternoon, after lectures, Tessa went to the library to study. Or at least, that was what she told herself.
She’d just opened her textbook when she heard a familiar voice behind her.
“Seat taken?”
Her heart stumbled. She didn’t need to turn around to know it was him.
“No,” she said softly, keeping her eyes on the book.
Louis sat beside her, just close enough for her to smell his cologne the same scent that used to make her feel safe, now making her chest ache.
Neither spoke. For minutes, only the soft rustle of pages and quiet breaths filled the space between them.
Finally, Louis whispered, “You’ve been avoiding me.”
Tessa kept reading. “I’ve been busy.”
“With what? Not making eye contact?”
She looked up then, her eyes sharp. “Why are you here, Louis?”
He hesitated. “Because… I miss you.”
Her pulse betrayed her it quickened but her voice stayed calm. “You miss having someone who waits for you, you mean.”
“That’s not fair,” he said quietly.
“Neither is pretending I don’t exist after you hurt me.”
Louis sighed, rubbing his neck. “You don’t understand, Tess. I’m trying to figure things out.”
“What things?” she asked. “Because it feels like I’m the only one trying to figure us out.”
Their eyes met too long, too intense and in that instant, the air thickened again, full of everything they weren’t saying.
Louis leaned forward slightly. “Do you still hate me?”
“I never did,” she said softly. “That’s the problem.”
And just like that, the world outside the library seemed to disappear, just her heartbeat, his breathing, and the quiet space between them.
But then Adrian’s voice broke the moment. “Louis!” he called from the entrance, waving. “You’re needed at the project office, man.”
Louis blinked, reality rushing back. He stood, reluctant. “Can we talk later?”
Tessa closed her book. “We’ll see.”
He paused, searching her face for something she wasn’t ready to give. “You’re not making this easy.”
“I wasn’t supposed to,” she whispered.
He left — but the scent of him, the echo of his voice, the warmth of his nearness all of it stayed long after he was gone.
That night, as rain tapped softly on her window, Tessa finally allowed herself to cry quietly, into her pillow.
Not because of what he said, but because of what he didn’t.
She still loved him. And he still didn’t know what to do with that.
- Writer
