CHAPTER 2
714 Words
CHAPTER 2
The Noise Between Us
The following week arrived like a whirlwind of deadlines and group chaos. The project defense was coming up, and the entire department buzzed like a broken generator.
Tessa sat with her laptop open, eyes half-closed, trying to format their report for the tenth time. Her group members had vanished mysteriously—except for Louis and Adrian, who sat across the table, pretending to “help.”
“Okay,” she said, exhaling, “does anyone actually know how to fix this reference format?”
Louis raised a finger. “I do.”
“Really?”
“Absolutely not,” he said, grinning.
Adrian laughed so hard his pen dropped to the floor. “She walked right into that!”
Tessa glared. “You two are useless.”
“Correction,” Louis said, leaning forward, “I’m entertaining.”
She groaned. “You’re distracting.”
He smirked. “Same thing.”
Her jaw tightened, but she couldn’t help the small smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. That was the problem with Louis—he never knew when to stop, but somehow, she never wanted him to.
After a while, Adrian excused himself to get food, leaving them alone in the empty classroom. The quiet was sudden, heavy.
Louis stretched, running a hand through his hair. “You’ve been typing for hours. You should rest a bit.”
Tessa didn’t look up. “I’ll rest when this document stops misbehaving.”
He stood, came closer, and leaned against her desk. “You’re really stubborn, you know that?”
“Focused,” she corrected.
“Same thing,” he said softly.
She looked up this time—and he was watching her, not teasing, not smirking, just watching. It made her heartbeat stumble.
Then, in the gentlest tone she’d ever heard from him, he said, “You should drink some water. You’re shaking.”
Her eyes widened. She hadn’t even realized it—her hands were trembling slightly from stress and caffeine. Louis reached for her bottle, opened it, and handed it to her like it was the most natural thing in the world.
She took it silently, their fingers brushing for a second too long.
“Thank you,” she murmured.
He smiled. “See? I can be serious sometimes.”
She scoffed lightly, trying to bury the warmth in her chest. “Miracles do happen.”
He chuckled. “You really don’t know how to take a compliment, do you?”
“I don’t trust them from you.”
“Why not?”
“Because they sound like setup lines.”
Louis leaned closer, eyes glinting. “Maybe they are.”
Tessa looked away quickly, pretending to fix something on her laptop, her pulse thudding in her ears.
The door creaked open just then—Adrian returned, holding a pack of rice and a mischievous grin. “I left you two for ten minutes and you already look like a Nollywood scene.”
Tessa rolled her eyes. “You’re imagining things.”
Louis just smirked. “Maybe not.”
Adrian laughed, handing her a spoon. “You better eat. You both need energy to argue for the rest of the day.”
And so they did—argued, teased, worked, and laughed until the sky outside turned gold.
When it was finally time to go, Louis offered to walk her home. She refused at first, but he didn’t listen, as usual.
Halfway through the walk, a drizzle began. Tessa stopped, looking at the sky. “Perfect. Just perfect.”
Louis, without a word, took off his hoodie and placed it over her head.
She froze. “Louis, you’ll get wet.”
He shrugged. “Then we’ll both get wet.”
She stared at him, speechless for once, as he smiled at her through the soft rain.
Something about that moment—the quiet street, the scent of rain, his voice when he finally said, “Relax, I’ve got you”—made her chest tighten in a way she didn’t understand.
That night, lying in bed, she replayed it over and over again. His laugh. His hoodie. His words.
It wasn’t supposed to mean anything.
But it did.
And that scared her more than she could admit.
- Writer
