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three.

if this is how you were after merely one study session, you were certain to be doomed. although, maybe the one study session was all you were destined to have.

your own writing utensil was untouched, abandoned on your desk as your gaze lingered on ellie. you watched as she furiously took notes, thinking back to her handwriting posted back on your wall.

time moves slower in a classroom. what feels like hours are only mere seconds according to the clock hands, taunting and teasing your restless tendencies at every given moment.

ellie doesn't look over to meet your gaze, not even once. you can easily count the number of days left in the semester, and winter break was going to come no matter how badly you wanted to talk to the pretty girl in your social psych class. with the changing of the semester, there were no promises that you would ever even see ellie on campus again, let alone share a class with her.

eventually the clock decided to agree with your concept of time, and you were determined to catch ellie while everyone was packing up. you rushed to shove things in your bag, not caring if anything was crumpled or put back perfectly into its secure place. you kept your eyes on ellie, and abruptly stood up when she stepped past your desk so you could walk out of the doorway together.

"hey," you chirped, careful not to bump ellie's shoulder as you shrugged your bag higher onto your own.

"hey," ellie replied, meeting your eyes for the first time that day.

your cheeks burned but ellie looked troubled and then indifferent, your confidence to apologize for the lack of text messages rapidly decreasing by the second.

nearing the building exit, your heart quickened with every second and your mouth began moving before your brain could process what was being said.

"hey, so, thanks for the other day. it made the studying fun," you admitted, eyeing ellie cautiously as you didn't want to overstep so soon.

ellie stopped short and turned to face you, gripping onto the straps of her bag that were loosely around her shoulders. her eyebrows furrowed as she stayed silent, but relief soon washed over your body at the words that left her lips.

"it was fun, wasn't it?" cracking a smile, ellie blew out a deep breath and shook her head. "helpful, too."

short, auburn strands released themselves from her bun, joining the loose hair that collected around her shoulders. with a newfound confidence from her reply, you pressed on.

"i wanted to text you, but, uh, i wasn't sure..." you trailed off, hard to latch onto any clear thought with her eyes meeting yours. you broke eye contact, glancing down at your shoes when you heard ellie snort.

"you weren't sure if i wanted you to?" ellie questioned. her tone was quiet and serious which made your face lift to meet her eyes once again. she was smiling, so you nodded.

"yeah," you confirmed. "it's...it's dumb."

scanning your face, ellie heaved out another sigh.

"don't you think if i give you my phone number, it's because i want you to use my phone number?" ellie raised her eyebrows, the amusement and curiosity patent on her features.

as small groups continued down the hall, you moved out of the way by sliding closer to the wall.

"fair point," you mumbled, the feeling of embarrassment creeping back up on you.

just as you were starting to doubt yourself, ellie jumped back in to save you.

"hey, when's your next class?" she asked suddenly.