Brielle didn't like the way the new girl looked at Elijah.
Correction; she didn't like the way Elijah looked at her.
It was subtle. A flicker in his eyes. A pause before he spoke. But Brielle had been watching people all her life. She could read tension like sheet music.
"So, who's the Barbie?" she asked the moment they were alone again in the library for their next session.
Elijah didn't look up. "Ariana. She used to school here."
"And?"
"She's… an old friend."
Brielle raised a brow, pretending to scribble in her notes. "She looked like more than a friend."
Silence.
"That supposed to bother me?" she added, voice light but eyes sharp.
"You're the one bringing her up," Elijah said, closing his book with a snap.
Brielle leaned back, arms crossed. "I just think it's interesting that the minute she walks in, you turn into a statue."
Elijah's jaw tensed. "Why does it matter to you?"
Brielle didn't answer.
Because she didn't know.
She wasn't supposed to care.
This whole tutoring thing was a joke. She'd laughed through their first sessions, mocked his quiet attitude, even tried to get him to quit. But now… now he was in her head. In her space. Like a quiet background song you suddenly can't stop hearing.
"I don't care," she lied with a shrug. "She can sit on your lap for all I care. Just don't mess up my grades."
He gave a dry chuckle. "Right. Because that's all this is."
"It is."
Neither of them spoke after that. The tension hovered like a mist. But Brielle noticed his hands trembled slightly when they both reached for the same pen.
And Elijah noticed how she chewed her bottom lip when she was trying not to feel something.
They worked in silence.
But silence had never felt so loud.
Why do the people we push away… always pull us in deeper?