"Even silence hummed."
Silver had spent the entire day worrying about Eli being called in by the administration. By evening, when Liam texted the group chat saying everything was fine, that it had just been a formality, she should have felt relieved.
Instead, she felt restless.
The library was too quiet to think.
Every page turn, every cough, every scratch of a pen sounded louder than it should have. Even the hum of the heating vents felt intrusive. And somehow, the silence between her and Eli was louder than all of it.
They sat across from each other at a long oak table on the second floor of Sterling Memorial Library. The Gothic windows glowed faintly with the reflection of streetlights outside, and the rest of the study hall was nearly empty. Just the two of them and a pair of exhausted law students slumped over their laptops in the corner, surrounded by empty coffee cups.
