My Hockey Alpha

Chapter 47: Late Night Library

Nina

I felt like a harpoon pierced me straight through the heart when I saw Enzo walking with Lisa across the quad. She was leaning on him and holding his arm

He glanced up and saw me, our eyes locking across the quad. I froze. He froze, too, for a moment, his brown eyes focused on me with an expression that I couldn’t quite read. I hadn’t seen Enzo in a few days since the night we went to the diner… Had he been with Lisa this whole time, even though she attacked me like a madwoman?

The longer I stood there, frozen, the more tears started to well up in my eyes and the hotter my face became. I couldn’t bear to see him with her like this.

Before he could say anything, I turned on my heel and walked away. no, ran–

When I got home, the apartment was dark and empty. I slammed the door behind me and leaned on it, sobbing silently in the darkness, eventually sinking down to the floor and burying my head in my knees. I had told Enzo that I just wanted to be friends, but I knew that part of me still had feelings for him and seeing him with Lisa only solidified that. Exclusive content © by Nô(v)el/Dr/ama.Org.

I wasn’t sure how long I sat on the dark kitchen floor in tears, but eventually, the tears stopped coming and my face hurt from crying.

“God, I’m so stupid,” I whispered to myself, leaning my head back against the door. I sat there for a few minutes longer as my mind spun from all the crying.

Just then, my phone buzzed in my pocket. Pursing my lips, I pulled it out and squinted against the bright light of the screen. There was a text from Enzo.

“Can you talk later? I can explain.”

I rolled my eyes and shut off my phone, deciding not to answer. I didn’t want to hear explanations; I had grown tired of them at this point. If Enzo wanted to get back together with Lisa, that was his decision to make.

After a few more minutes of wallowing on the floor, I finally stood and decided that maybe it was best if I get out of the apartment and occupy myself. Besides, I had an exam the next day; some studying at the library would do me some good.

The campus was quiet as I walked to the library. I passed by a few students who were out on walks or heading to their night classes, but the quad was mostly empty — just how I liked it. The moon was nearly full and there was a gentle breeze blowing across the campus that kicked up some of the fallen leaves, and a light fog had begun to settle. It made for a spooky atmosphere, perfect for fall, and got me excited for Halloween in a couple of weeks.

When I got to the library, it was mostly empty aside from a few late-night study sessions here and there and the nighttime librarian. I always preferred the library at night; not only was it more empty and quiet, but the dim lights made the tall wooden bookshelves, stone floors, and gothic architecture feel even more cozy. I always felt like a character out of a book when I came here at night.

I looked around for a table and found one in a quiet spot behind some bookshelves. The moon shone through a window above it, creating a calming atmosphere that allowed me to feel relaxed enough to get some studying done.

I was there for at least an hour already, fully absorbed in my work in an attempt to drown the image of Enzo and Lisa out of my mind, when I heard something behind me.

“Psst!”

I looked over my shoulder to see James peeking out from behind a bookshelf with a grin on his face. He came over to me.

“What are you doing here so late?” he whispered as he approached.

I shrugged. “Just wanted to get out of my apartment.”

James nodded understandingly and bit his lip. The moonlight illuminated his soft features, which made my heart feel a little less broken for a moment.

“You wanna sit with me?” I asked, gesturing to the spot across from me at the table.

With a smile, James sat down and pulled out his books. I peeked over my laptop to see that he was reading a book on genetics. The cover looked old and dusty, and the pages were yellowed. He saw me looking and smiled.

“Your question about DNA the other day at the coffee shop got me thinking,” he said. “It’s all sort of silly, but the author of this book actually thought that there may have been humans at some point in our history who bred with animals and created all sorts of human-animal hybrids. It’s a fun read, if you shut off the logical part of your brain.”

Yeah, I thought to myself as I studied the worn cover of the book, real silly.

I didn’t tell him that there were, in fact, human-animal hybrids — they were just created from a curse, not breeding. Although, after everything I had learned about the supernatural lately, I wondered if that was a possibility, too.

“Can I read that when you’re done?” I asked. “It does sound sort of… interesting.”

“Of course,” James replied with a nod.” I’ll bring it to you when I’m finished.”

We didn’t talk much more than that, both too absorbed in our work to pay much attention to each other. It was nice just to have the company, though; it felt good to be around someone platonically who shared similar interests, and it took my mind off of what I saw earlier between Enzo and Lisa.

Eventually, the clock struck midnight and the librarian announced that the library was closing over the PA system.

I sighed and started packing up, not wanting to go home and be alone with my thoughts.

“You alright?” James said as he started putting his books back in his satchel.

I shrugged. “I just wanted to stay, that’s all,” I said. “I don’t really feel like being home tonight.”

James raised an eyebrow. “Why? Everything okay?”

“Oh, um,” I replied, scrambling to come up with a lie that didn’t involve Enzo and Lisa, “I just… had a fight with my roommate, so I don’t really feel like being there. That’s all.”

James smirked. Part of me worried that he was going to invite me over to his place or something, which would only add to the confusion of everything going on; but his next words took me by surprise.

“So, let’s stay, then,” he whispered, leaning across the table.

I cocked my head. “But the library is closing.”

“So?” James said, his eyes suddenly mischievous. “C’mon. Follow me.”

The librarian announced that the library was closing again. I bit my lip as James stood and scurried off behind a bookshelf. This felt wrong — I had never broken rules like this before — but it also sounded… fun.

I looked around in case anyone was watching before standing and following James. He was hiding behind the bookcase and put his finger over his lips, taking my hand and leading me toward the staircase that led to the basement. No one ever really went down there, since the basement mostly

contained rare books and random items on display, so when we descended the stairs and saw that it was completely empty, it came as no surprise.

We heard the librarian walking around upstairs as she turned off the lights, and James pulled me underneath the stairwell to hide. I suppressed a giggle as we heard the librarian walk up to the top of the basement stairs.

“Anyone down there?” she called. James and I held our breath, smirking at one another. The librarian waited for a few moments, then muttered something to herself and shut off the lights; leaving us in darkness.

We stood there in darkness for a few minutes until we were certain that the library was now completely empty before James turned on his phone flashlight; when he did, I realized that we had been holding hands this entire time. We both blushed and quickly pulled away.

“Now what?” I asked.

James shrugged. “I dunno. Back to studying, I guess?”

The mixture of James’ innocence and studious nature almost made me laugh. I had expected that he would suggest another rule-breaking activity, like breaking into the locked restricted section for professors only, but he had suggested simply going back to studying…

And I didn’t mind that at all.