My Hockey Alpha

Nina

I felt like a harpoon pierced me straight through the heart when I saw Enzo walking with Lisa across the quad. She was leaning on him and holding his arm

He glanced up and saw me, our eyes locking across the quad. I froze. He froze, too, for a moment, his brown eyes focused on me with an expression that I couldn’t quite read. I hadn’t seen Enzo in a few days since the night we went to the diner… Had he been with Lisa this whole time, even though she attacked me like a madwoman?

The longer I stood there, frozen, the more tears started to well up in my eyes and the hotter my face became. I couldn’t bear to see him with her like this.

Before he could say anything, I turned on my heel and walked away. no, ran–

When I got home, the apartment was dark and empty. I slammed the door behind me and leaned on it, sobbing silently in the darkness, eventually sinking down to the floor and burying my head in my knees. I had told Enzo that I just wanted to be friends, but I knew that part of me still had feelings for him and seeing him with Lisa only solidified that.

I wasn’t sure how long I sat on the dark kitchen floor in tears, but eventually, the tears stopped coming and my face hurt from crying.

“God, I’m so stupid,” I whispered to myself, leaning my head back against the door. I sat there for a few minutes longer as my mind spun from all the crying.

Just then, my phone buzzed in my pocket. Pursing my lips, I pulled it out and squinted against the bright light of the screen. There was a text from Enzo.

“Can you talk later? I can explain.”

I rolled my eyes and shut off my phone, deciding not to answer. I didn’t want to hear explanations; I had grown tired of them at this point. If Enzo wanted to get back together with Lisa, that was his decision to make.

After a few more minutes of wallowing on the floor, I finally stood and decided that maybe it was best if I get out of the apartment and occupy myself. Besides, I had an exam the next day; some studying at the library would do me some good.

The campus was quiet as I walked to the library. I passed by a few students who were out on walks or heading to their night classes, but the quad was mostly empty — just how I liked it. The moon was nearly full and there was a gentle breeze blowing across the campus that kicked up some of the fallen leaves, and a light fog had begun to settle. It made for a spooky atmosphere, perfect for fall, and got me excited for Halloween in a couple of weeks.

preferred the library at night; not only was it more empty and quiet,

spot behind some bookshelves. The moon shone through a window above it,

an hour already, fully absorbed in my work in an attempt to drown

“Psst!”

see James peeking out from behind a bookshelf

doing here so

to get out of my

and bit his lip. The moonlight illuminated his soft features, which made my heart feel a little less broken for

sit with me?” I asked, gesturing to the spot across from

and pulled out his books. I peeked over my laptop to see that he was reading a book on genetics. The cover looked old and dusty,

there may have been humans at some point in our history who bred with animals and created all sorts of human-animal hybrids. It’s a fun read,

myself as I studied the worn cover of the

that there were, in fact, human-animal hybrids — they were just created from a curse, not breeding. Although, after

when you’re done?” I asked. “It

I’ll bring it to you when

company, though; it felt good to be around someone platonically who shared similar interests, and it took my mind off of what I saw earlier

announced that the library

wanting to

he started putting his books back in

to stay, that’s all,” I said. “I don’t really feel like

an eyebrow. “Why? Everything