Gravity Between Us

Names in a box , Fates on a string

...

I always believed silence was my safe space. It wasn't just the absence of sound-it was where people's eyes slid past you, where you could exist without explanation, where no one expected you to fill the air with clever things or small talk. It was my refuge in the chaos of college corridors, where laughter bounced off walls and conversations collided midair.

But these days... silence had become loud.

Louder in the way his laughter carried across the canteen, breaking through every careful wall I built around myself. Louder in the way my heart gave itself away in those stupid stolen glances when I promised myself I wouldn't look. Louder when his name, spoken casually by someone else, made my pulse skip.

Aarav Verma.

It wasn't supposed to mean anything. He was the campus storm everyone warned about-the rumored heartbreaker with a reckless smile, sleeves always rolled up, and that maddening habit of acting like nothing in the world could touch him. The kind of boy you avoided if you had any sense. The kind of boy someone like me-a quiet, wallflower-type girl with a playlist for every emotion-should have been invisible to.

And yet...

There I was, sitting at the far corner of the basketball court steps, notebook balanced on my knees, pretending to jot down notes while watching him and his friends mess around on the court. The late afternoon sun caught in his hair, turning strands of it into messy gold. Every time he grinned, something tightened in my stomach in the most annoying, unexplainable way.

"Stop staring, Priya," I muttered to myself, flicking my gaze down at my half-written notes. Not that it mattered. The words blurred together, meaningless.

A voice broke my concentration. "Earth to Priya."

I blinked up to find Aanya standing over me, arms crossed, smirking. "You've been zoning out for a solid five minutes. And unless your notes on 'basic linear equations' now include Aarav Verma's face, I'd suggest you snap out of it."

"I wasn't-"

She arched a brow. "Staring? Girl, you practically forgot to blink."

I sighed and shut my notebook, my cheeks burning. "It's nothing. Just... spacing out."

Aanya plopped down beside me with a knowing grin. "Mm-hmm. Just remember what I told you about that one. He's chaos wrapped in good hair."

I laughed despite myself. "I'm not stupid, Aanya."

"Never said you were. Just... cautious."

The buzzer went off, and the game broke up. I forced myself not to look, but of course, my eyes betrayed me. And for the briefest second-half a heartbeat-Aarav's gaze met mine. No smirk, no smug grin. Just... a quiet, unreadable expression.

Then someone called his name, and he was gone.

I let out a breath I didn't realize I'd been holding.

That evening, I replayed that look a hundred times in my head, half-convincing myself it didn't happen. That it wasn't meant for me.

---

The next day, our professor announced a paired assignment for our communication skills class. The groan that rippled through the room was unanimous.

"Names will be drawn randomly," Professor Sen declared, waving a small box filled with folded chits. "And yes, no changes once it's final. Deal with it."

I sank lower in my chair. Group projects were my personal nightmare.

Aanya leaned over. "I swear, if I get that Yash dude who smells like Axe and bad decisions..."