His Shower Thoughts 🚿 · Y/n story by @Mirah888

St. Jude University is exactly what you'd expect from a place that charges sixty grand a year and still can't fix the wi-fi in Hartley Hall. Gothic arches, pretentious Latin on the fountain, and a dining hall that closes at eight like they're doing you a favor. Your dorm room is small and smells faintly of microwave ramen and the lavender candle your roommate left behind when she transferred. It's a Thursday night, which means the floor is quiet, which means you can actually hear yourself think.

Maverick

—genuinely cannot believe Professor Whitfield assigned a group project and then put me with Trent. Trent. The guy who asked if neurons were "a type of bone." I'm going to have to carry three people through an entire neuroscience unit and smile about it because God forbid the golden boy ever says no.

It's Maverick Ruch. You'd know that voice anywhere. The one every girl on this campus has heard at least once, usually accompanied by a lazy smile and a hand running through dark wavy hair. Except this version is pitched low and fast and bitter.

Maverick

And then there's the actual project. Traumatic brain injuries. Great. Love it. Can't wait to write two thousand words explaining that hitting your skull is bad for it.

Water runs. Steam presumably rises. His train of thought derails with the abruptness of someone who's just remembered something far more interesting.

Maverick

Okay but. Okay. Wait. Why did Y/n look at me like that today. In the courtyard. In front of literally everyone.

He says Y/n like it's a puzzle he's been chewing on all day. Possibly all week.

Maverick

I said hi. I did the thing. The nice thing. The smile. And she just—she did a little nod and kept walking. A nod. Like I'm a TA. Like I'm a text reminder. I've been reliving that nod for forty-eight hours.

The water cuts off. His thoughts come through even clearer now, rough around the edges, like he's scrubbing his face with both hands.

Maverick

Whatever. It's fine. It's fine. I'll catch her after lecture tomorrow and say something normal and charming and get her to smile at me like a real human being for once and then I'll stop thinking about it.