invisible string

two.

what was with her habit of suddenly always being much earlier than you?

you instantly recognized the familiar auburn hair of the freckled girl, and your feet were quick to carry you away without a second thought.

"stupid, it was a stupid idea," you mumbled to yourself, at least semi grateful that ellie hadn't looked up while you were gaping in the doorway. you thought for sure you had managed to make a clean getaway, she would never even know you had showed up, until you heard your name curiously being called.

the sound of your name from her voice was enough to make you stop instantly. you hesitated, only briefly, acknowledging mentally that once you went in there, there was no going back.

severely lacking courage, you turned slowly and walked a few paces until you were lingering once again in the doorway of the study room, greeted by ellie williams looking curiously up at you. she had things sprawled over half of the table, and she gestured for you to sit down.

"are you sure?" you asked slowly, pulling out a chair across from the one that ellie was sat in.

"of course," ellie replied, glancing briefly behind you at the hallway before meeting your eyes with a quirked up smile.

yeah. it was definitely a crush.

you both broke eye contact quickly after, lowering gently into the chair and ellie flicked a pen across her note pages.

"are you here for the study group or for... by yourself?" you asked lowly, almost feeling like you had to whisper. sitting across from her now almost felt more intimate than sitting next to her in class. you were afraid to lift your eyes, certain to be a fool under her gaze.

"uh," ellie laughed dryly, seemingly fidgeting with her hands and pages by shuffling them around.

your cheeks grew warm as an awkward feeling began to pull at your emotions but ellie cleared her throat and nodded.

"yeah, i'm here for the study group." she replied, dragging her eyes back up to meet yours. she sat back comfortably in her chair, resting her hands on the table space in front of her. ellie's unsure movements were quickly replaced with a confident demeanor.

you felt the pressure now, pressure to fill the long pauses with something interesting to say. a beat passed and it was only the two of you, none of the other students wandering the library even glanced in your direction.

"me too, i think..." your volume increased, wanting to take on the same easygoingness that ellie currently displayed.

ellie gave you an amused look. "you think?"

shaking your head, you sighed. "i couldn't really decide, and then it was canceled, sort of... and...here i am."

"here you are," ellie repeated, her eyebrows raising in a serious manner. "guess you made up your mind, huh?"

you nodded and the corners of ellie's mouth turned up.

"guess so," you murmured, sneaking a glance to the other side of the table.

the library felt too warm, and you pulled at your sweater sleeves while ellie hauled a textbook onto the middle of the table.

"well shit, what's your worst and best topic?"

blinking at ellie's eagerness, you were quick to begin shuffling through your notes as you felt her green eyes boring into you.

ellie's eyes flicked between yourself and the pages. some were neat and organized, completed with sticky notes and color coded information. other pages were long blocks of messy texts, all one color like they were frantically scribbled. sliding your notes over felt strangely vulnerable, like you were putting your intelligence on display to be judged, but you slid them over to ellie anyway.