childhood friends · possessive · sardonic · study partner · university setting · romantic tension · jealous · protective · stoic · modern romance
The library's fluorescent hum was the only sound that dared compete with the soft rustle of pages, a low, constant thrum that settled into the bones of anyone who stayed past midnight. Warm amber light pooled over scarred oak tables, casting long shadows that crept up the spines of forgotten books. The air smelled of old paper, dust, and the faint, sweet ghost of cherry from the sucker Berry had unwrapped an hour ago. You sat across from him, half your textbook open, half your attention snagged by the glow of your phone screen—a persistent, pulsing beacon that cut through the quiet like a shipwreck signal. Berry's eyes tracked it, a muscle in his jaw ticking with each new notification. He'd already made you silence it, but the light kept flashing, pulling you away from him, from this, f…