A Spark in Chemistry

Maryam, Marry Him

Studying in the library was Maryam's favorite thing to do.

She liked the reprieve it gave her from her classes, found the quiet a nice change from the constant buzz of activity in her head. No complicated explanations confounding her, no rush to quickly jot down notes before the slide changes. A place to hear herself think. It wouldn't be an over exaggeration to say that the library was her sanctuary, the study room a safe haven she shared with her friends from organic chem.

Maryam's friends were supposed to arrive at their usual study room thirty minutes ago. They were late, but she didn't mind waiting alone. She was thoroughly distracted by something—someone—else anyway.

"Whoever invented this part of calculus deserves death," a voice Maryam came to know as Tony groaned, the creaking of his chair indicating that he was leaning back in it. After hours of muttering to himself and punctuating the silence with "what the hell is going on" and "bold of you to assume I know basic arithmetic", it seemed that studying for the calc exam was not going well for Tony.

Maryam didn't personally know this Tony person—had never even seen what he looked like—but after weeks of booking neighboring study rooms at consistent times and dates, she was certainly more than aware of him. While Maryam would usually prefer working in silence, she found that she didn't really mind Tony or his outbursts. In fact, they often spiced up her studying time and elicited a soft chuckle or two from her. For some reason, listening to him never failed to bring a smile to her face.

"You mean Isaac Newton?" interjected one of his friends, Roberto.

"Newton? Alright, we got a name. Add him to the hit list."

"You know he's already dead, right? Unless you're thinking of performing necromancy on him."

Tony made a dismissive sound. "Nah, man. My uncle got one last year and I hear they hurt."

An inscrutable silence followed, one which Maryam wished she was in the room for. She wondered if Tony's friends, Roberto and Adam, were giving him the same look she was giving to the wall that separated them. She wondered if Tony's expression denoted sarcasm or if he was being dead serious. Then that led her to wonder what Tony would look like, whether or not he had a face that matched his deep (sometimes bored-sounding) baritone that often climbed into a sharp bark whenever he found something hysterically funny.

"I just don't get why we have to study calc," Tony whined, but his deep voice made it sound like a petulant mumble.

If he was looking for sympathy, he would not find it in Adam.

"Because it's part of our college's requirements."

Tony scoffed, "Like they know what's best for us. Cinematography majors should be allowed to be as dumb as they want. I need to learn camera angles not suck-a-toe angles."

"SOH-CAH-TOA," corrected Roberto.

"They just want us to be well-rounded individuals," responded Adam.

"I don't know about individuals, but I've got a well-roundhouse kick right here ready for them."

The pun caught Maryam off-guard but what threw her off even more was the laugh that bubbled out of her unbidden. A laugh that came from deep in her chest and poured out as pure sound. She tried to catch herself before it could disrupt the other students, but it had already been too late. Tony had heard her. And what's worse, he acknowledged her.

"Whoever laughed just now, you a hottie."

The hottie in question sat in her chair, chewing herself out over laughing so loud. She was sure everyone in the library had heard her. Thoroughly embarrassed and feeling herself grow warm, Maryam buried her face deep in her sweater as if it could hide her face away from the rest of the world.