forever you

[two weeks]

The doors burst open in a loud bang. Every head turned around to watch him jog down the amphitheater; he even caught Alena's worried gaze out of the corner of his eye. But Noah kept his attention on the front of the room and the two people standing there. Eye to eye.

"I'm so sorry I'm late –" he panted, rushing towards Professor Kingston and Siobhan. Who was staring at the former with what Noah would later realize was rage.

"A teammate was injured during practice, and we had to take him to the infirmary. It took longer than expected," Noah explained more carefully to his professor as he caught his breath. The forty-something average-heighted man shot him a condescending look down his short nose.

"Now that Noah is here, he can answer your question, professor, since I don't know how to." He never thought Siobhan could seethe. Didn't think her able of anything but indifference. But her tone definitely said she was. Noah was so surprised he shot her a startled look, forgetting his resolve to ignore her and keep their interactions to the cordial minimum for the duration of their project. But the other girl was too busy glaring at their professor to notice.

Who went back into the glaring competition they had been in when Noah had entered the room.

What the hell was happening?

"What was your question, Professor Kingston?" he tried to ask politely when no student seemed interested in helping diffuse the growing tension in the air.

After a beat of silence, Kingston finally turned his gaze towards him. "Mr. Alvarez, could you provide more details on the calculations of question 3? Miss Lee claimed it was your work and she didn't know how to do it."

A chill slowly made its way down his spine, but Noah ignored it. Ignored it as his brain took over, mouth reciting words and forming coherent sentences on autopilot. All he could feel was his hands fisting tight, the ugly churn of his gut that didn't disappear, even though the expression on Kington's face went from dismissive to astonished once he finished answering.

The professor hadn't believed he could provide an explanation.

He tried to loosen his fingers, realized he couldn't. After a beat of silence, Kingston cleared his throat and stammered something along the lines of very good, you can return to your seats. Noah didn't really hear it. All he knew was that Siobhan shot one last smoking glare to the man before walking towards the third row. He followed her, the numbness still gripping his mind, and would have missed his seat if Alena didn't grab his hand.

"Hey. Are you okay?" Blue eyes filled with worry landed on him. That immediately popped the grey bubble his head was in.

"Yeah. What happened?" He still couldn't figure out why there had been so much tension.

Alena gave his hand one last squeeze then sighed. "Professor Kingston was congratulating Siobhan on your paper and basically insinuated she did all the work alone. She defended you but he wasn't hearing it. He then asked his question and she refused to answer, saying only you could."

Siobhan had defended him?

The thought puzzled him so much it took over the disgust and familiar frustration at hearing Alena's words. Somehow, people always believed athletes couldn't have brains. It hadn't been the first time he'd been accused of being the free rider in a group project. Sure, he could admit that he hadn't always put in his best effort each time. But Kingston's class was notoriously hard; Noah had blindly believed no one would question his capabilities if he made it in. But the professor had openly dismissed his work in front of the entire class, when he had actually worked his butt off. And Siobhan, of all people, hadn't thrown him under the bus, hadn't tried to get all the credit and actually defended him.

No one had stood up for him that way before.

With that thought in mind, Noah ran after Siobhan when the class was over. "Wait!"

The brunette looked over her shoulder before coming to a stop, one eyebrow arched up. "Hey."

"Hey," he responded, trying to sound as cool as her. And failed. "Um, look, I just wanted to say thank you."

She frowned. But he forced the words to come out, ignoring his bruised ego and the memory of the blank look she had given him the last time they'd come face to face. Because this was the right thing to do. He might wear pride like a badge of honor, but he liked to believe he could recognize his mistakes and make up for them.

"Why would you thank me?"

Forgotten was the apology for his behavior during their last encounter about to come out of his mouth. Instead, he sounded as perplex as her when he explained: "Because you defended me in front of Kingston? Alena told me."

Understanding dawned on her features. Her brows finally softened, and he wasn't imagining the corners of her mouth lifting up. "You don't have to thank me for that. Thank yourself. It was your work, and I honestly didn't know the answer to the question. All I did was say the truth."

How could she always surprise him, he didn't know. There was no shyness in her steady gaze, no hesitation in her collected voice. Siobhan thoroughly believed her own words.

One look behind his shoulder, before Siobhan turned her gaze back to him. "Your girlfriend is coming over, so I'm gonna go. See you later."

With a final wave of her hand, she was gone, leaving him astounded and wondering.