The Beautiful Monster

"Just be careful," she sighed, not wanting him to be caught. Thankfully, it was late at night, so maybe no one would be lingering around the front of the dorm to see him.

Elias waved his hand dismissively.

"I've got this," he told her as he slipped his backpack onto his shoulders. He walked with her to her dorm door before pausing. "I had a nice study session with you."

Alyssa couldn't help but crack a smile. Even if they only got a little bit of studying done, she did have a good time with him too. It was really nice sleeping with him. Innocently.

"Let's go to the library next time," she laughed softly. They couldn't be together alone and expect to get any serious work done.

Elias fake pouted as he placed his hand on the doorknob.

"You're no fun," he said before opening the door and stepping out into the hallway. "Goodnight."

"Night," Alyssa said. She couldn't help herself and leaned out of her room to press a soft kiss against his lips.

She wished she could drag him back into the room, but she needed to get some sleep for tomorrow. Besides, she would see him soon.

She watched him walk down the hallway toward the front of the dorm before forcing herself to shut the door.

He had this, so she just needed to relax and go to sleep. That was easier said than done of course. She laid awake in her bed until she heard her phone buzz on her nightstand.

It was a photo of Elias holding his ID. His tongue was stuck out to the side playfully as he grinned at the camera. A laugh broke from her as she shook her head.

Alyssa; You must be a magician

She held her phone against her chest as she waited for him to text back. Thanks to him, she didn't have to worry about getting in trouble now. He always looked out for her. She wished she could do more for him to balance out the scales.

Elias; Something like that

Alyssa smirked at his text. He was certainly special. Even if they had gotten really close lately, she still felt like he had this mysterious air around him.

How he answered some of her questions made her wonder if he was actually joking or not. Maybe she was overthinking things.

She didn't exactly have much luck in the best friend or boyfriend department, so being so close to someone was new. It was nice, though.

Eventually, all of the nerves and excitement wore off, and Alyssa found herself growing more and more tired by the minute.

She put her phone up after texting Elias goodnight and turned over. Her eyes fluttered shut, and she drifted off into a deep sleep with a faint smile on her face. Maybe things would work out.

************

Alyssa, Elias, and Zoe set up shop in study room 202 a few days before Thanksgiving break. It was the last time they could all get together before the break. Once they returned, it was finals week, which meant crunch time.

Zoe planned to just cram the weekend before finals week and Elias was going to read over the major points of the material over break, but Alyssa rallied them both to put in a little more study time.

She wanted them all to pass, and she knew that finals week was a huge deal. Their grades depended on these tests.

"I'm seriously reconsidering my degree," Zoe muttered as she rested her head on her hand.

Her free hand drifted along a page in her textbook as she ran her finger under the line she was reading.

"Like I get I need to know the history behind journalism, but I expected projects, not exams."

Alyssa reached out and rubbed her back in a comforting manner.

"You'll get it," she said before going back to her intensive reading of her organic chemistry textbook.

All she had were exams, and there was so much information that she had to absorb and maintain that her head hurt.

She had no idea how she was going to pull all of these exams off, but all she knew to do was to keep studying and hope she remembered the information.

For her, there was never an option to just give up. She had too many people watching her and waiting for her to fail.

She didn't want to hear the comments or the snide attitudes. She wanted to prove them wrong. No matter what. That meant she had to push herself toward the only path that laid ahead of her.

"My major isn't too bad. The information is pretty straightforward," Elias commented as he looked over his own textbook. It was far less bulkier than either Alyssa's or Zoe's.

Alyssa and Zoe gave him a pointed look.

"Doesn't your major only matter if you come up with some awesome business idea?" Zoe asked as she reached for her cup of coffee to down the rest of it.

Elias smirked and shook his head.

"You can do a lot with a business degree. But going the entrepreneur route might get you a lot of money and success," he said.

"You have to write a business proposal for your capstone, right?" Alyssa asked him. She wasn't too familiar with what they did in his major, but she did remember hearing that somewhere.

Elias nodded.

"I have to think of a business idea," he told her.

"What's it going to be? Tea shop?" Alyssa teased him. She felt his ankle rub against hers under the table as they sat across from each other, making her face burn slightly.

It was hard not acting affectionate toward him, but she wasn't about to make Zoe feel like a third wheel.

Elias chuckled and shrugged.

"I'm not sure. Maybe something in tech. I want to look toward the future, not the past," he replied.

To Alyssa's surprise, his answer was deeper than she expected it to be. She wondered if he was trying to get away from something in his past. Or maybe he just liked technology.

"That sounds really cool," she told him encouragingly. He was so supportive of her goals, so she wanted to be supportive of him too.

She believed that he could do anything that he set his mind to. He managed to be maintaining good grades in psychology.

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