Noah's Lifeline

Hardin Hall and a hard place

• Edited •  Another update next week (:

Zahra's POV

My latte was getting colder by the second right along with my scone, yet I couldn't bring myself to care. The ladies that ran the after hour cafe had been giving me the stink eye since I arrived and the assignment in front of me was getting no easier.

  One of them was tall and frail, the other short and paunchy yet they both had the audacity to act funny whenever they came to serve me.

Unfortunately this was the only cafe near campus  that was open late and I so desperately needed to be anywhere other than my room where Legacy had been making a ruckus for most of the night. It wasn't her fault really, I told her I'd be done with this project some days earlier and I was usually good for my word.

However, I had yet again been forced to scramble at the last possible minute to complete a project I should have been working  on with my group. Now I had to overexert myself to get it in so I could get a grade, I had long since left my group mates to fail if they so chose.

I will however admit that I hadn't been on my game where I usually can judge character well. In fact, I didn't take it serious when those in my 'group' hadn't added to the document yet and had chalked it up to them being busy in their extracurriculars.

I figured they'd get back to me 'soon' each time.

Not.

Now here I was : two macchiatos deep and working on a latte as I finished this anatomy project from hell. I was wishing right about now that I was working with someone that could have made this project a bit more lenient for me - make it tolerable at least.

Someone like Noah  my inner thoughts teased.

I clicked my tongue. They weren't wrong but I hadn't made a decision about the match yet and had been dragging my feet to reach back out to Lauren. As much as I wanted to hit send on message I'd been formulating for hours, how could I be certain that I could see him without making a fool of myself?

For some reason I felt different around Noah Westwood, out of control on pins and needles at all times. From the way he appreciated each of my words like they were the most fascinating thing he'd ever known, to the way his eyes glazed over when I said something silly.

I didn't have to be so serious around him and it was bleeding into other parts of my life - like this anatomy project that should have been finished three nights ago.

I checked my watch and saw that I had one more hour until this project was due. Six thirty in the morning has never sounded so good as it did now.  I could do this, I just needed to dig deep and remind myself why this degree was worth finishing.

The seconds turned into minutes which flew to the last five minutes on the clock. Right then my handheld timer went off and I jumped, obviously still in overdrive. I had actually done it,  MY document was complete and the submit button was whispering my name.

Just as I went to download my document and drag it to the submission tab, the wifi went out. 

"NO!"

My computer shot up a webpage is unavailable - try again with the stupid dinosaur and I froze. The goosebumps on my arm travelled to my legs - despite the yoga pants - and I now felt compelled to do something I haven't done in years.

I threw my sore arms in the air and yelled a string of curses starting with my old favorite - fuck - as I pressed the heels of my sandals into the floor. I released all the pent up frustration and stress I'd been harboring these last few days and it felt oddly LIBERATING!