The Beautiful Monster

Alyssa nearly snorted at that. She was the one who had been putting up boundaries. Now, he was laying down the rules.

She grabbed her flashcards off of her nightstand and started shuffling through them, studying quietly as Elias read through his textbook.

It didn't take long for them to glance over at each other with smiles. Of course, it was hard to fully concentrate when they were around each other.

Elias moved to lay his head down on her pillow, holding his arm out to encourage her to lay down next to him.

"Quiz me," he told her.

Alyssa smiled to herself. At least they were trying to multitask and still study a little. She thought of a question.

"What are imaginary sensory perceptions?" Alyssa asked him, pulling the definition from one of the last flashcards she studied.

Elias narrowed his eyes slightly as he stared at the ceiling and thought.

"Wait… I know this one," he murmured before he brightened up. "Hallucinations."

"Look at you. Psychology major," Alyssa teased at him as she cuddled up against his side. She was proud of him, especially since science wasn't his strong suit.

She knew how hard it was to learn something that didn't click naturally. She was thankful math and science came naturally to her, or she'd have a lot of trouble passing her major.

Elias chuckled and shook his head.

"The only reason I'm passing this class is because of you," he said as he turned his head to smile at her.

Alyssa felt warmth bloom inside of her. She loved when he looked at her like that. Once again, studying was the last thing on her mind.

"You've been working really hard on studying. Give yourself some credit," she told him. She had only pushed him.

Elias leaned forward and rested his forehead against hers.

"Best study session ever," he chuckled.

Alyssa smirked and nudged him a little. She reached over and grabbed her flashcards.

"Come on. We actually have to study," she told him. As much as she wanted to just lay around and talk, they had finals coming up.

"Fine. Fine," Elias sighed as he took the flashcards from her.

They went over her entire deck of flashcards before taking a break. Their break consisted of cuddling up together.

Elias ran his fingers through Alyssa's hair as they casually talked about the rest of the semester.

Time had flown by so fast, but they had a whole other semester left before the school year was over.

Alyssa let her eyes flutter shut for what she thought was just for a few seconds. She only got a little sleepy from all the studying, but she must've been more tired than she thought. Before she knew it, she slipped into darkness.

*****************

Alyssa stirred what felt like a few minutes later, lifting her head off of Elias' chest to see that he was waking up too.

"We must've dozed off," she murmured as she reached over to grab her phone off of the nightstand. She checked the time and nearly dropped her phone. "It's midnight!"

Elias' eyes widened.

"We slept for that long?" he asked.

Alyssa stumbled out of bed, feeling her heart race. It was past curfew! That meant his ID was locked up in the front, and she was going to get in trouble. The last thing that she needed was to get kicked out of the dorm.

"I'm so screwed. They still have your ID. When they get back in the morning and see you didn't check out in time, I'm going to get written up," Alyssa told him. She was worried about her grades getting her kicked out. Now, it could be this situation.

Elias got out of bed and grabbed her arms to steady her.

"Hey, don't worry about a thing. I'll take care of it, okay?" he said.

Alyssa shook her head, not knowing how he'd be able to do that. He'd have to somehow grab his ID out of the locked office in the front.

The only person who had a key was the front desk manager, and they wouldn't arrive until the morning. She couldn't believe she actually fell asleep!

"I can't get in trouble. If I get kicked out of the dorms, I'll have nowhere to stay. I'll have to drop out and go back home," she rambled anxiously.

She could already hear what her parents had to say about that. They would call her irresponsible and childish, despite her working so hard to prove herself as anything but that. Maybe they were right. Maybe she wasn't ready for this.

Elias cupped her face this time, forcing her eyes on his.

"Alyssa, breathe. I won't let you get in trouble," he told her in a firm tone.

Alyssa grabbed his wrists, using the grip to calm herself somewhat. He seemed so confident for some reason.

"How?" she asked him. She didn't know what he had in mind, but she didn't want him to do something that would get them in even more trouble.

Elias didn't say anything for a few moments before smiling at her.

"I'll get my ID back without them knowing. I know my way around dorms, remember?" Elias pointed out to her. "I just need you to trust me. Do you trust me?"

Alyssa automatically knew the answer to that question. She didn't even need to think about it.

"Of course. I just don't know how you're going to pull this off," she replied. It wasn't like he had a key or a way to con someone to open the office.

Elias chuckled as he stroked her cheeks.

"I have my ways. Just relax and get some rest. I'll see you soon," he told her before leaning forward to press a soft kiss against her forehead.

Alyssa couldn't do anything but watch him step away and gather his things. It wasn't like she could do anything about the ID.

If he seemed confident enough to get it back, she just had to trust him. She did wonder how he was going to do it, though.

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