Dorm Room 210 [Original]

Dorm Room 210: Confrontation

Author note: This chapter has been revised and edited. Updated in 2017

Chapter 5:

Confrontation  

I hardly concentrate in my Thursday class. The tables form in a sharp U shape, so it's hard not to notice everyone.

Each time I glance up to look at the front, Noah's right there. My heart picks up when we catch each other's eye, only for a second. His presence alone creates a fuss in my head and whispers gray rhetorical questions. I convince myself not to do it again, just aim my uncomfortable chair to the whiteboard and ignore him.

My fingers tap against my thigh. The professor hands out handouts. From the corner of my eye I watch his knee jerk up and down, and I don't look away until I'm imitating him. Great.

When our professor ends the day, she calls Noah and I up. My palms sweat. "I would like for you two to work together for this assignment," she says.

I eye Noah. "I thought we get to choose our own partners for this assignment."

Her hands are out in front of her like she has invisible rope around her wrists. "You both live in the same dorm room, no? It makes it easier if you two to get work done." Her shoulders are stiff, unapproachable. Her red thin lips unapologetically still. Noah doesn't make a comment but takes the assignment criteria with both of our names written on it and I follow him out of the classroom.

"She does know we're not sharing right now, right?"

"It doesn't matter," he says, and it's the first time in a while his words direct to me. "We're listed down in the system." He shakes his head. "This is stupid."

"Is it so bad to work on an assignment with me?"

"With the way you are now, yeah."

I play with the skin around my thumb. "I'm not, you know, afraid, or anything."

Noah grins and waves the sheet between us. "This assignment until the end of the semester."

"I know. It says so on the criteria."

His eyes hold steady with my own, never once leaving my face.

I stop fidgeting. "I can do it, Noah. It's forty percent of our grade, and grades are more important than how I feel about the room arrangements."

His lips pinch up higher on the corners. "You're in for this?"

"Definitely."

Noah passes the sheet to me. I can feel myself bubbling with excitement for us to work together. "We can start today," he says. "I'll meet you at the dorm later on."

I crease my brows. "Are you busy now?"

His avoids eye contact. "Yeah. That's all right with you?"

I want to say a few things, like the quicker we do this, the more time you have to yourself. Or, why not just run over it now while everything's still fresh in our heads? Of course, nothing I think passes my lips.

"Yeah, that's all right," I say, and smile.

We take the stairs out, and he leaves with a wave. A lingering smell of freshly cut grass engulf my lungs as I head back towards the pathway through Building-E.

I'm almost at the corner when the realisation finally hits me.

I just had a normal conversation with Noah Sky.

My face flushes. Does this mean we're okay? It's a start, I tell myself, refusing to get my hopes too high. I let my hand graze over yellow daffodils; soft petals pressing little kisses to my skin. The smile I shared with Noah hasn't left my face and I can't imagine what else I look like except cheeks flushing red.