Chapter 1

The University Science Library always smelled of vanilla-tinted decay and dust, but today, the air was thick with the ozone of an impending Midwest storm. Leo sat at his usual corner carrel, his charcoal pencil hovering over a sketch of a cantilevered bridge. He wasn’t looking at the paper, though. He was watching the way the silver light from the overhead skylight caught the stray dark curls of Maya’s hair three tables away.

She was pressed into a Botany journal, her fingers tracing the veins of a dried leaf. She hadn't looked up once, yet Leo felt the familiar, magnetic thrum in his chest—the one that told him she knew exactly where he was sitting.

A sudden crack of thunder shook the heavy glass above them. The sky turned a bruised purple, and within seconds, a torrential downpour began to drum against the roof, drowning out the hum of the HVAC system. The library felt smaller, more intimate.

Leo realized he needed the *Encyclopedic History of Structural Form*. He stood up, his chair scraping loudly against the linoleum. He winced, ducking his head as he retreated into the shadows of the narrow architecture stacks.

The book was on the highest shelf, tucked away in a corner where the shelves didn't quite meet the wall, creating a tiny, triangular pocket of space. At the same moment Leo reached up for the spine, he saw a flash of movement through the gap from the adjacent aisle.

He gripped the heavy tome and pulled.

As the book slid out, it created a window. On the other side stood Maya. Her eyes, wide and startled, met his. She had been reaching for the same shelf, perhaps looking for a book on organic structures. The sudden loss of the book’s weight caused it to tip toward her side.

"Watch out," Leo croaked, his voice cracking from disuse.

He lunged forward to steady the shelf, but his foot caught on the strap of his oversized messenger bag. He stumbled, losing his balance in the cramped quarters. Maya didn’t move away; instead, she instinctively reached through the gap to catch his arm.

The momentum pulled them both. Leo tumbled through the end of the aisle, and Maya was swept back against the opposite shelf. They landed in a tangle of limbs and soft denim, pinned together in the narrowest part of the stacks.

Leo’s breath hitched. His chest was pressed directly against hers, the heat of her body radiating through his thin hoodie. He could smell rain and peppermint. Maya’s hands were locked around his forearms, her grip surprisingly firm.

Neither of them moved. The shyness that usually acted as a wall was suddenly a bridge. In the dim light of the back stacks, with the rain screaming against the roof, the world outside the library ceased to exist.

"I'm sorry," Leo whispered, his face inches from hers. "I’m so clumsy."

Maya didn't pull away. Her cheeks were flushed a deep rose, but she didn't look down. "I've been waiting for you to say something all semester," she breathed. "I didn't think it would take a structural collapse to make it happen."

A small, pressed yellow wildflower—a primrose—slipped from the pages of her notebook, which had fallen during the collision. It drifted down, landing on Leo’s chest. He picked it up, his fingers brushing hers as he handed it back. The touch sent a physical jolt through him, a spark that finally burned away the last of his hesitation.

Maya took the flower, but she didn't let go of his hand. She offered him a shaky, brilliant smile that made the gloomy library feel like it was flooded with sunlight.

"It's finally stopped raining," she lied, though the thunder was still rolling overhead. "Do you want to get out of here? There’s a coffee shop across the quad that has better lighting than this."

Leo felt the weight lift from his shoulders. He didn't need the sketchbook or the cantilevered bridge anymore. He just needed the girl with the pressed flowers.

"I’d love to," he said, finding his voice at last.

He helped her up, their fingers remaining interlaced as they walked out of the shadows and toward the light of the lobby, leaving the silence of the stacks behind them for good.