The Thing about Falling ✓

Seventeen • The Thing about Libraries II

Owen

I woke up to the sound of paper bags scrunching by the side of my ear and I lifted my head up from the table only to see that our papers were all organized into neat piles and the laptop was currently charging. Confused, I sat back up in my chair and turned towards Maya who was calmly sipping some coffee from Starbucks.

As soon as I turned my head and blankly looked at her, the girl seemed hyped. She shot me a warm smile and handed me some coffee as well and a bagel.

"Take it. You'll need it if we want to finish this thing tonight. Or should I say, early morning tops?" Maya said with a chuckle.

I gratefully took the items from her hands and nodded subtly. My head was still a bit woozy from falling asleep as soon as Maya went out.

"Are you sure we can really finish this in one sitting?" I asked as I bit into the cold bagel Maya brought. Although it was practically tasteless, it felt as if it were the best snack I've had in years. But nothing can beat Delta's food back home, to be honest.

"If we stay caffeinated then sure. Maybe we can. Sorry for the wait. The line to get some coffee around here was kinda long and I had to wait for an hour in line and half an hour for a stale bagel." she said with a slight roll of the eye. I stifled a tight tipped smile as I took off the lid of the coffee cup and sipped slowly. It was warm now.

"It's okay. I fell asleep when I should've been working. Sorry we got behind schedule. I would gladly help you study for midterms though to make up for this." I suggested.

Maya grinned as she clicked her tongue and leaned back in her seat.

"Studying for midterms with me? Dude, that would be really awesome. We're totally gonna kick ass." She said as she made her way to reach for a stack of papers she organized earlier and handed them over to me. I blankly took them and shook my head, remembering the reason why Maya and I were staying up late in the first place.

"Oh the things I would give just to physically kick Anderson in the arse though." I muttered as I cracked my knuckles and removed the laptop from its charging port.

"I could only imagine." Maya said, shutting her eyes.

"I'm gonna take a short nap. I already sorted the papers and highlighted what needs to be explained further on paper. I also did a few paragraphs while you were knocked out so it wouldn't be too hard on your side." she continued.

Maya heaved out a sigh and turned her back away from me as she slept. I, on the other hand diverted my focus away from Maya and towards our paper. It was totally shit that Dr. Anderson, among all the other professors, had this big project for his class. To think that this class was supposed to be all about laboratory and experiments. It was funny how he required us to pass a paper when we could simply do one of his little lab tests, goddamn.

A little bit dazed and distracted, I took my phone from the inside of my bag and checked the time. It was incredibly late.

It was 10:23pm on a gloomy Friday night and I haven't told Athena that I'll be staying here past curfew for the sake of my grades.

I quickly typed in a text signifying that I'll probably be back past midnight if Maya and I can finish this paper tonight. I think I would also need some backup plan to get back into the dorms after the residence people locked the doors. Curfew was at 10 during weekdays and I swore at myself for not setting an alarm earlier.

With a sigh, I went back to writing and continued looking at the things Maya found credible in our notes and reference books. As I typed quickly due to my increased productivity which was all due to a spike in caffeine, I glimpsed toward my side to a sleeping Maya. The way she slept looked so innocent and calm and her curled position somehow resembled a cat.