Seed Crystal

143

Part 1

It's four in the morning.

The vector symbols and weird boxes are starting to dance in front of you as you tip an empty mug of coffee to your lips. The teaspoon clanking at the sides of the cup and the remnants of the brown liquid dried as it mocks you for procrastinating this long homework once again.

You've got at least 20 out of 40 down and you at least want to get at least 60% of this just to keep up with your grades in this class.

That means getting 25 of the problems answered and correct.

Or maybe 24? You're not so sure at this point.

Your playlist replays the first song in your playlist again as the music application repeats the list for the fifth time tonight. The playlist, despite your non-existent love life, consists of love songs.

The hopeful song talks about falling in love with your best friend, a gradual realization of feelings and gratefulness as-

The song stops as the ping of a message. The notification bar shows the name of a friend from the same class.

"143"

You stop in your tracks as the song resumes.

Dare you admit that you have developed a small crush on this particular friend of yours. He's kind, smart, and easy on the eyes. The pimple bothering the tip of his nose does nothing to reduce how beautiful he looks in your eyes. And the way he keeps using emojis in his messages is just too precious.

Okay, maybe not a small crush, but still...

You didn't bother to open the messenger app, just typing in the "?" from the notification panel.

Honestly, it could have been a mistype but you didn't know him to be the clumsy type. Or someone who'd still be awake at 4 a.m. cramming assignments and projects. Still, what could it have meant?

"I hate you." - I hate you for making me feel this way.

"I like you." - More than you'll ever know.

(Or dare you admit it to yourself.)

"I love you."

Is it time? Are you finally getting a love life?

You replace your phone back on the table with the screen facedown. You still need to concentrate on this assignment. But no solution or understanding comes up even as you read number 25 out loud.

You find yourself staring at your phone.

Your phone rings again and a mini adrenaline rush makes you grab your phone faster than usual. You unlock the screen and his reply pops up.

"The answer to number three is 143 N. I've checked :D"

The song changes to a singer lamenting an unrequited love. Why, oh, why do love songs have to be so relatable?

Your beating heart calms down in disappointment as you berate yourself for the irrational, wishful thinking.

You check your answer for number three.

"275 N"

You read the problem again and find that the final equation is missing a negative sign. You recompute the whole thing as the calculator gives you a different answer.

"123"

Your head lands on the table as you send a "How?" to him.

You open the music application and switch out of your playlist to shuffle. You click on the next repeatedly trying to find something that would clear your mind or just a beat to vibe in.

You stop your music scrolling when he replies. Another love song, great...

"You have a vacant period before class, right? Meet me in the library, I can let you copy mine (y)"

It was a song about how falling in love with that one person makes you feel like you're on top of the world.

"Ok. Thanks, I owe you for this."

You manage to hit send just as your phone battery dies.

Well, that's the sign to fall asleep, you guess.

You plug your phone in and turn it on just so it alarms in a few hours to wake you up. Then, you had to let out a squeal on your pillow, hoping you wouldn't wake up anybody else in the house before you could actually fall asleep.

How are you going to fall asleep now?

---------------------------------------

Notes: Cross-posted on Deviant art. However, this has seen a minor rewrite.