Luca started sitting beside Autumn every day.
It wasn't subtle.
Mr. Dalton had assigned seats for the project, but that didn't explain why Luca kept arriving early just to drop into the chair next to hers before class even started.
At first, Autumn pretended not to notice.
She opened her notebook.
Read ahead in the book.
Focused on anything that wasn't the boy beside her.
But Luca noticed everything.
The way she tucked her hair behind her ear when she concentrated.
The way her pencil tapped lightly against the page when she was thinking.
The way her smile formed a heart shape when she was genuinely happy.
And the way she avoided looking directly at him for too long.
It amused him.
"You always this quiet?" he asked one morning.
Autumn didn't look up from her notes.
"Only when people ask unnecessary questions."
He leaned back in his chair, grinning.
"So… always with me then."
She finally glanced at him.
His hair had fallen into his eyes again, messy like he had run a hand through it on the way to class.
"You talk a lot," she said.
"Someone has to," he replied.
"Why?"
"Because if I didn't," he said, leaning a little closer, "you'd never say anything."
Autumn closed her notebook slowly.
"Maybe I just like silence."
Luca studied her face for a moment.
Then he said quietly,
"I don't think you're quiet."
Her brow lifted.
"No?"
"No," he said, tapping lightly on the sketchbook sitting beneath her notebook.
"I think you just talk in other ways."
Her stomach dropped slightly.
"You went through my things?"
"I didn't have to."
He pointed.
"You left it open yesterday."
Autumn froze.
Because she knew exactly what page he meant.
The one where she had drawn him.