Note: All the participants are over 18.
***
For some reason, they just clicked. Everyone around them knew there was a spark between them and no one would dare have mentioned it. The banter alone was obviously a turn on but the physical reaction the two seemed to have when they got close to each other... well, that was hot. Usually, they stayed across the room, for safety almost, but sometimes, passing in the hallway, or sitting outside in the courtyard with a group of other people around... it's like the charge became more intense. She'd look across the group of students and lock eyes with him.
No one ever full on caught them looking but the verbal teasing would pick up a bit. These two were subtle and had silently agreed to play the same game. She knew what was behind his long looks at her and he knew she'd only resist him in the most cursory way. She would resist though. They were both in relationships with long-term partners and she was excellent at keeping them from being alone together.
This whole back and forth kept up for weeks in public while they increasingly chatted via text whenever they weren't physically in the same room. The teasing continued online, sometimes just barely crossing the line but only in the "bite me," "where?" type of flirting. It was never anything too racy although both of them were always deleting their whole text conversations.
Finals were fast approaching and classmates were meeting in the study rooms for early cram sessions so it wasn't unusual to see a couple or a whole group holed up in one of the small rooms for hours. They weren't soundproof but they were mostly private as there were floor to ceiling windows on the outside wall but only a small panel window in the door.
There was supposed to be five of them meeting midmorning that Tuesday and she was there early so she had the pick of the best rooms and nabbed her favorite one. It's tucked in the corner of a small cul-de-sac in the study rooms hallway and feels like you're in a treehouse as the windows are almost completely full of branches and leaves.
She set up her laptop and cord, pulled out her supplement and highlighters, and started reviewing an old exam. About 10 minutes later, he showed up, loud and joking as he came into the small room. They flirted for a second as he set up in the seat directly across from her. Then it became almost awkwardly quiet as if they just remembered that they didn't have any chaperones there to stop them. Their phones both buzzed as they received a group text from one of the other study mates saying she wasn't going to be able to make it. It wasn't long until another person dropped out. It was really getting tense in the room and they were trying to act as if nothing was going on between them when the last guy popped in the door. They were both so relieved and then the new guy went on to explain how he wasn't going to stick around.
He shut the door on his way out and they looked across the table at each other. She made a joke about being left with just him and he hopped up and moved his things around the table to sit next to her.