Home Runs and Heart Beats

Chapter Five

The moment Adam, the day-shift worker walked through the door, Ella was out of her seat and hastily packing her bag. It had been a long night of staring into the empty library and occasionally opening her laptop to add a few more paragraphs to her research paper.

Ella nibbled on her lip thoughtfully as she made her way out of the library and down the path toward her dorm. She'd been here for three weeks and barely had enough information to fit two pages of her paper. As much as she wanted to blame the lack of literature and information on her researcher writer's block, Ella knew that wasn't the case. Northview had plenty of information about different North American cryptids and folklore, but none of it seemed appealing enough to include in her research.

Werewolves? A bore. Vampires? Mega-bore. The Swamp ape? As a Florida Native, she had a a whole piece about the swamp ape in her paper, and the public's perceptions and beliefs regarding the cryptid. Which was pretty much the same as the perception of Bigfoot. That the swamp ape was probably real at one point, but has long disappeared.

She sighed, pushing her glasses up with the back of her hand. She chose to forgo the contacts before her night shift. Namely, because it was a lot easier to take off your glasses and disassociate than it was to pop your contacts out. Dockman Hall slowly came into view as she sluggishly trudged up the path leading toward the front entrance. Unsurprisingly, nobody was out. The sun's first rays were barely peeking over the horizon and the street lamps were still illuminating the walkway.

Despite this, she knew her roommate Katie probably wouldn't be in her bed sleeping. She was either out on a routine jog or staying the night at a friend's place. Something Ella noticed she did a lot. Whether that be because of her unwelcome presence in the dorm or because of her rigorous schedule, Ella would never know.

Katie never shows any outright hostility towards Ella, but she knows that her new roommate wasn't exactly happy to have a new person show up after almost two months of having a dorm to herself. Ella felt for her though, she wouldn't be too happy either if she suddenly had to share a space with another person.

Ella tiredly swiped her card, eyebrows scrunching in frustration when she had to do so three more times to get the card to work. By the time the door actually unlocked, Ella felt irritable. She yanked the door open, trudging into the hall and up the stairs towards her room. The smell of smoke stopped her in her tracks.

She froze. Was there a fire in the dorm somewhere? No, there's no way the fire alarm would have sounded right? Unless the fire alarms weren't working, this was a pretty old building. The university wouldn't let that slide though, most schools were known for having crazy fire alarm sensitivity to prevent smoking and vaping inside the dorms. She sniffed the air. It was most definitely the smell of burnt food. Oh god, did someone forget to grab something from the oven before they fell asleep? Should she go check to make sure the building wouldn't erupt into flames?

Ella wavered, her hand hovering over the stair railing. Oh fuck it, the dorm wasn't about to burn down on her watch. Especially not while she was sleeping.

She sprinted towards the dorm kitchen, which was down the hall and to the right of the entrance. She didn't look cute or dignified. She's huffing, and her backpack bounces and rustles loudly behind her. Thank god, nobody was around to witness her embarrassment.

As she rounded the corner, she ran smack-dab into a hard, sturdy chest. Rubbing her head, she glanced up and was met with familiar twinkling green eyes.

"Tucker" Connor exclaimed, a lopsided smile overtook his stupidly handsome face. "Fancy seeing you here."

Ella resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "I live here."