invisible string

five.

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the sunlight woke you up in the morning, rays peeking in from your dorm window until your entire room looked vibrant and bright. it was an optimistic start. you weren't exactly a morning person, no matter how hard you tried, but the promise of seeing ellie was enough to make you spring up in bed, tossing the covers messily around your feet.

you felt around for your phone, lost somewhere within the blankets. it was a nasty habit you developed only after getting ellie's number, falling asleep with your phone tangled in your bedding instead of putting it up and away for the night.

you quickly pulled it free, delighted to be greeted with a message from your new favorite person about confirming your plans for the day.

new favorite person.

you let your phone drop in your lap. it was hard to keep reminding yourself not to get ahead of things... but ellie made it hard. she stuck around, essentially went out of her way to speak to you and even make plans. it could be easy to dismiss everything, to let your anxiety take control once again and convince yourself that it meant nothing, that you're reading into things and making things up and practically daydreaming about ellie actually caring about you...

but she really did, didn't she? she had basically admitted it the night before, unless you really were reading into it...?

her quiet confession still rang true in your ears.

'honestly i was getting ready to leave before i saw you.'

ellie stuck around. for you.

it had to mean something. whether it be a friendship, or... she cared about you, in some way, and you weren't going to push that aside simply because you were sure that it was too good to be true. the semester would end soon anyway, would you keep this up during winter break, throughout next semester? one thing was for certain, you weren't going to miss out on getting to know her more, getting to spend time with her. it was dumb luck, a class crush turned into something more and you would leap at the chance.

nerves ate away at you after leaving bed and getting ready, prepping to see ellie at 12:30 like you had agreed. she was even going to meet you at your dorm. it was polite but felt so formal, you were glad to have the study guide as a somewhat buffer for your nerves. even though it obviously wasn't your first meet up, if you were judged solely on your level of nervousness, anyone could be mistaken. ellie was a comforting presence to be around, but yet she was so intimidating. you honestly just wanted to drink her up, learning anything and everything you could about the girl.

you were zipping your bag when a soft chime rang through the air, your phone's notification breaking through the silence and your train of thought. it was a declaration of arrival and ellie was there, waiting for you outside of your building.

you immediately booked it into high gear, sparing only one last fleeting moment to glance in the mirror, making sure everything was exactly how you had wanted. after feeling like such a mess the previous night, you wanted to be easy-going and light hearted today, especially to continue to make a good impression.

nearly racing down the stairs, (the elevator always took far too long,) you made it to the ground level in record time. despite the misleading sunshine it was still miserably cold outside, and you didn't want ellie waiting for you long in the wind.

she was easy to spot once you were outside. ellie was just a few feet away from the main entrance, hands shoved in her pockets with a lopsided grin on her face upon seeing you.