Light of My Life: A Newsies Soulmate College AU

Chapter 8

Maddie's POV:

"We'll...Leave you two alone. See ya back in the study room!" Jojo said, walking away and motioning for Buttons and Crutchie to follow.

"So...David." I said, cringing slightly at my own awkwardness and taking a step toward him. "What brings you to the classic lit section?" Internally kicking myself for making the situation even worse, I gestured to the shelves of books around us.

"You can call me Davey, by the way. I'm an English major." He replied, also taking a step towards me. Instead of our glows intensifying like they did when Roni and Jack met, ours remained the same. "But you aren't. I haven't seen you in any classes. So what is it that you do?"

Relaxing a bit, I finally released a breath I didn't realize I'd been holding. "Biology. I'm taking classic literature as a gen ed."

David nodded in understanding. "I got all my gen eds done last year. They can be pesky."

"Wait, you're a sophomore?" I looked up at him in surprise.

"Yeah. I guess I'm a little late to the party. All my friends found their soulmates last year." David grinned, motioning to our glows, which had subsided.

"Wow, it must've been hard to stay optimistic, seeing all your friends find theirs and being the only one left." And I thought I was jealous.

"I mean, it would have been nice to know you didn't plan on coming for another year." Davey chuckled, giving me a small smile. Small, but genuine. When I smiled back, our glows surged, as if they were making up for not glowing bright enough the first time. As soon as Davey and I noticed though, they went back to their previous state.

"Speaking of friends, mine will be wondering where I went. Unless you want to join us, we have room for one more!" I offered, eager to be back in the comfort of familiar company.

"Yeah, I'm down for that. I have to go get my stuff first though." He answered.

We walked in silence for a bit, Davey expertly guiding me through rows of books, past other study rooms and behind a lounge area, until he got a confused look on his face. He paused, the contemplative look still present, and awkwardly put a hand on my shoulder.

"Hey, what was it you were talking about before we met?" He asked. "Something about love not being ideal and all that?"

Uh oh. I'm screwed. He'd actually heard that conversation after all. "Well, uh... My friends were talking about how I needed to get out more. But you know how midterms season is kinda stressful?" Davey nodded in understanding, prompting me to continue. "I was trying to tell them that now wasn't the time to do that, since... making room for a whole other person in your life isn't easy this time of year."

I winced at the last part, seeing that there wasn't really any easy way around this conversation. Davey's face was slightly confused yet calculating, and I didn't know what he was feeling, so I resorted to rambling. "It's not that I don't want you around, I just didn't think I was ready to really put myself out there yet and-"

"No no, I get it." Davey interrupted, sensing my anxiety. "Luckily, fate put you with someone who knows what he's doing." He stopped and put a finger up, rethinking his statement. "Kinda." The revision earned a chuckle from me. Davey continued, "The point is, we're together so we can support each other, right? So that's what we do."

"Right." I agreed.

After retrieving Davey's laptop and backpack from a desk he was studying at, we ventured back to the study room. Before I opened the door, I paused. "Just a forewarning, there's... a lot of us, and they're definitely going to ask questions. But they mean well, I promise."

When I opened the door, every single pair of eyes were fixated on the door entrance in dead silence. The moment Davey shut the door behind us, the room burst into chaos. Papers flew in the air and the room was thrown into anarchy as I was backed into a corner by Princess, Roni, Buttons, and Romeo.

"Alright, who let it slip?" I sighed. Buttons was looking down at the floor, sheepish as ever. "Buttons..." I pried, turning his face towards me.

"Maddie!" Davey's voice rang out through the room. Davey was being pinned to the wall and aggressively questioned by Jojo, Albert, Jack, and Couri. I wasn't usually a defensive person, but mess with someone I'm close to, soulmates I'd known for less than ten minutes included, and you mess with me too. I pushed past Romeo and pulled Jack off of Davey.

"Al, what are you doing?" I grabbed Albert's arm. "You really think he's THAT suspicious?" I pushed Davey behind me protectively.

"Just givin' him a little tease, no sweat Shiner!" Jack lightly punched my arm, returning to his seat.

The room went back to a quieter state after everyone exchanged phone and dorm room numbers to get that out of the way, and then settled back down. I resituated myself next to Davey, who'd made himself comfortable in one of the two wingback chairs in the room.

"Well, that certainly wasn't the first impression I was hoping they'd give." I sighed, dropping my bookbag on the ground with a heavy thud.

"So much for 'meaning well', huh?" Davey replied as I flopped into the other chair.

"Yep." I rolled my eyes, picking up a copy of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe that we had to read. "Nothing says a warm welcome like an overprotective interrogation!" That earned a hearty guffaw from Albert.

"I was honestly expecting something along that scale. They think of you like a sister, Maddie. That's pretty clear." I nodded in reply, turning my full attention back to my books.

Davey's POV:

After about half an hour I took a break from looking at my book to give my eyes something else to look for a bit. Everyone else seemed focused, almost frozen in concentration. The only sounds were those of people breathing, the turning of pages, and typing on keyboards. My eyes shifted to Maddie, who was immersed in C.S. Lewis' world of Narnia. For all I knew, she was there right now in her mind, surrounded by drifts of snow, flakes falling in her hair and clinging to her lashes, making conversation with Mr. Tumnus and Lucy. Her green eyes darted back and forth across the page rapidly, and her eyes widened as the book pulled her in even more. Her breath caught in her throat and she held her breath, presumably at an action-packed climax. She'd gone astray from the reality she existed in now, to live whimsically in another. But she'd be back soon, I knew. The characters in that book were real to her, at least for now. In an hour or two, they'd be nothing more than a memory that left an imprint on her soul and now lived in her mind rent-free. As for me, I could relish in seeing her enjoy that reality, and hopefully sharing others with her. Someone coughed, bringing my attention back to the task at hand.