‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾　☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙

IT'S NINE PM on a Friday when Devina walked into the Imperial College Library like a woman possessed. The caffeine from her seven o'clock coffee was still humming in her finger tips as she tapped them anxiously on her denim-covered thigh to the beat of some song she'd forgotten the title to, her mind pre-occupied on searching the empty rows of shelves for the textbook she needed to check out. Her timing meant that she was almost alone as her boots carried her through the rows of shelves, everyone else seemingly having decided to temporarily forget about their university existence for a night as they spent it at the local bars or club. Devina wished she could be one of them, but unfortunately her project had put a pause on her plans for the weekend, which she knew would now consist of her staying locked inside of her apartment until she got all of her work completed.

She felt her feet carry her habitually into the astronomy section of the library, a place which she knew like the back of her hand, making her job easier as she walked straight towards the shelf that she knew was holding her precious textbook. Her eyes slipped across the spines of the various physics-themed books, searching for the one on particle mechanics and laws. But as soon as they landed on the shelf, she noticed a gaping hole in the line of books that made her stomach drop; her book was gone.

"Fuck," the brunette swore, her hands leaning on the empty metal as if wishing her book might suddenly spring up and hit her in the face. She knew for a fact that without that book her chances of passing her class dropped from slim to none, and the thought of having to bear her Physics professor for another semester already made her head ache. Even worse, though, was the knowledge that she could kiss her last hopes of a honours scholarship goodbye.

She could already imagine the smug look on her father's face if he found out that she'd failed, the words 'never ask a girl to do a man's job, Devina,' playing like a broken record on repeat in her mind. She thought that getting accepted into Imperial College was supposed to be the break that she'd been waiting for. But now she was convinced it was all some cruel joke to see her suffer, because how the fuck did a library run out of the one book she needed to make this class?

Defeated, she turned around to make the long march back to her apartment. The only other person in the entire library was sitting at one of the study tables on the other side of the room when she passed him, oblivious to the brunette's expression as he kept his face buried inside of his textbook. Devina spared the stranger a sideways glance as she walked by, noticing the way his long, dark hair was curled slightly around the ends as he kept his face hidden behind the book in his hands. Her footsteps suddenly faltered and stopped as she turned back around again to look at him... or, more specifically, at his book; Physics Fundamentals IX.

That was her book.

"Excuse me." The boy dropped his book an inch to look up at the woman as she walked over to stand in front of him. She pointed at the book in his hands, "Your book. Where'd you get it?"

A slight smile tugged at the edge of the strangers lips when he heard her question, which might have seemed like a rather dumb thing to ask someone in a library. "The astronomy section," he told her, folding the book closed and setting it on the table in front of him before he fixed his hazel eyes back on her. "It was the last copy, actually."

"I know," Devina told him, frowning at the book that sat underneath his hands. "I've been trying to find one."

The boy frowned a little as he pressed his lips into a thin line. And then, as if he knew exactly what the expression on her face meant, he asked; "Professor Garrison?" Devina nodded in response, both of their noses wrinkling at the memory of their not-so-loved professor yelling at them during regularly scheduled two-hour blocks. He let out a short sigh, almost apologetically, as he drummed his fingers over the frayed vinyl coating of the textbook. "If I could give it to you I would, but I need it for my essay as well."

Devina knew that had been coming, but it still stung a little. And the worst part was she couldn't even be mad because she was just a moment too late. "You're right, I'm sorry," she told him with, pushing her hair behind her ear as she turned around to go.

"But," Suddenly her ears perked up again when he spoke again, her eyebrows raising in question as a quiet prompt for him to go on. "If you're desperate... I mean, we could share it."

"Share it?" Devine didn't mean to sound disbelieving as she questioned him, but having joint-custody was not something that she had in mind when it came to textbooks, much less sharing them with a perfect stranger she'd just met in an empty library. Still, she was desperate, and she would do just about anything to get her hands on that copy. "How would that even work?"

"Well I can't let you take it home with you," he told her with a small shrug, a slight smile starting to form on his face again as he spoke. "But if you need to you're welcome to work on your essay with me so we can both use it. I'm going to be here most of the night and at my apartment all weekend working on this thing... some company wouldn't go unappreciated."

This time, Devina did let out a short, almost disbelieving laugh. "You don't even know my name yet," she reminded the perfect stranger, well aware that she didn't know his either. Although he hardly seemed like the intimidating type. "I could be some crazy stalker."

"True," he nodded with a small chuckle, tilting his head a little like he was genuinely considering the fact that she was some kind of psychopath. "But you could also be a very unlucky astrophysics student who needs a hand, and my dad made me swear before I left for college that I wouldn't leave a lady in need if I could help it... but you're right, knowing your name might help a little."

Devina eyed him for a moment, a slightly amused smile still barely curled across her lips as she weighed up her options; leave the stranger and his textbook behind and fail her first semester... or, well... take him up on his words and hope that he was just a really nice guy. The decision seemed rather obvious. "Devina," she told him after a second, sticking out her hand for him to shake. Because what did she have to lose by trusting him... right? "But you'll have to reach second-level friendship if you want to earn a last name."

"I'm Brian," he told her, laughing a little as he shook her hand before letting it drop back on his thigh beneath the table. "Hopefully we get to last-name basis by the time this essay is over then, yeah?"

"We'll see," Devina shrugged as she pulled out the chair across from him and sat down at the table with her arms crossed over the wood in front of her. "First, though, I'm going to need another coffee because this is looking like it's going to be a long night. And as a token of my eternal gratitude for helping me out, I think I'm going to need to buy you one too."