---
I turned to leave, but his voice followed me like static I couldn't shake.
"Careful," he said. "Keep storming off like that and I might think you're obsessed with me."
I froze. Deep breath. I turned slowly, arms crossed.
"Oh, absolutely. You caught me. I rearranged my entire schedule just to be haunted by your smug face in every corner of campus."
He leaned back in his chair, hands behind his head, that damn smirk growing. "You're getting better at sarcasm. I'm proud."
"I'll add that to my résumé: Managed to survive an overconfident professor with delusions of charm."
He chuckled, low and amused. "You forgot devastatingly handsome."
I squinted at him. "Must've slipped my mind. Along with your actual teaching credentials."
"Ouch." He pressed a hand to his chest like I'd stabbed him. "Sharp tongue. You should be careful. Someone might fall for it."
I rolled my eyes. "Someone needs to fall on it."
His laugh echoed softly through the library. "You know, this back-and-forth we've got going? It's dangerously close to flirting."
"Then clearly you've never been insulted properly," I said, slinging my bag over my shoulder.
"I'll take notes. Over coffee?"
I blinked.
Was he serious?
"I don't drink coffee with people who can't hold a book the right way up," I said, nodding at the upside-down text he hadn't even noticed.
He looked down, cursed under his breath, then grinned sheepishly.
"Touché."
I turned and walked away for real this time, lips twitching against my will.
---