Zoo // Louis Tomlinson

//11//

Lydia’s POV

 

            “This will be the hardest exam you take all year. Understand that you will not choose to write an essay about your experiences, you are required to. The exam is one hundred questions and naturally an experience essay, this is exam will be curved based off the highest score. I wish you not luck, but intelligence, you have two hours.” The professor whose name I still didn’t know spoke with a heavy Italian accent. He was quite large and incredibly professional. Aside from that, the only thing I knew about him was that he was an asshole.

            David sat to the side of the Professor, watching over all of us like a hawk. As if anyone here was dumb enough to cheat and ruin their last semester of grad school. This was where I’d met David, in Micro Biology where he was the teaching assistant, and overall square headed geek that nearly everyone pictured an animal ecology major to be.

            It took me a grand total of sixty-three minutes to finish the entire exam. Which was definitely the reason why I was receiving panicked glares as I stood up from my overly uncomfortable lab chair to hand it to the professor.

            “Did you have fun setting the curve again?” David whispered as soon as I was within earshot.

            “Don’t know if there will be a curve honestly.” I shrugged, pulling my backpack tighter over my shoulders. That wasn’t me boasting, it was the honest truth. I won’t apologize for intellect.

            “Are you doing alright after yesterday?” He pestered me again, something about his usually spiffy charm wasn’t getting to me today. Maybe it was the bowtie, or the boat shoes –which wouldn’t make sense because that was his usual attire. It was probably the shade of purple on his short-sleeved button up, I always did prefer him without anything on. That was the only time his logically stimulating, and incredibly annoying chatter about pointless biology ceased.

            “I’m just fine after yesterday, something like that shouldn’t be the reason I cease to function.” There was a whole different realm of speech I had to use when I was speaking to David as compared to Josh, Nora or Cindy.

            “You looked uncomfortable and I did consider intervening.” David was still uselessly whispering, unaware to the nasty glare we were receiving from the professor.

            “I was yelling, don’t prod an angry lion.” I grinned at my own joke, biting back a giggle when David lost the scholarly attitude and broke into a boyish grin –that’s where the charm went.

            “Can I speak with you out here? Just for a few minutes.” He wondered, standing up when I nodded and flattening out his khaki’s.

            “If this is about anything that happened yesterday I’m not up for discussing it or hearing your advice. That’s final.” I started up the second the door sounded closed behind us. It was just the empty hallway and us.

            “I’ve heard some things about this guy Lydia-“

            “And I don’t want to hear them, I don’t care, and you don’t know him.” David looked incredibly uncomfortable the second I started retaliating. Messing with his bowtie like it’d make him grow a spine.

            “You don’t know him,” he responded meekly and I nearly laughed in his face.

            “That was such a pathetic use of a cliché that I’m actually debating punching you. I never claimed to know him but you sure as hell didn’t help yesterday, I’ll see you some other time.” I rolled my eyes, running my hands through my hair in an attempt to tame it and walking away form the situation before I actually made true on my promise.