DREAMER ↝ Ravi Chakrabarti

↳ CHAPTER SIX

         The chuckle that sounded from outside the curtain indicated that Elliot wanted to tease about the complicated question, but he settled for a more serious response, nevertheless. "I guess I knew when I stopped holding back. There's nothing I wouldn't tell him about because I know he'll accept me no matter what. And vice versa. And I guess there's nothing I wouldn't do for him, either", he explained with sincerity, not a hint of doubt wavering his voice when he peeked through the curtain just as Freja was buttoning her skirt. "Why do you ask?"

         Grabbing her jacket, Freja hoisted her shoulders in a casual shrug and eyed the mirror to pick at stray hairs sticking out of her head. "Just curious. Along with moms, you're pretty much the role model of a good, solid relationship for me, I guess", she figured, trying to resolve it for herself, too — it was enough to blow Elliot's shy smile up into a flattered grin, and once Freja deemed herself presentable and stepped out of the dressing room with the dress in hand, he threw his arm around her and squeezed her tight.

         "We're honored. And one day, we'll be back in this shop to look for your wedding dress, instead", he insisted, choosing to ignore Freja's snort and gently jab her nose before unfolding his arm and taking the dress from her hands. "I saw your blog post, by the way. Have a lot of people been reaching out?" he sneakily changed the topic, not giving Freja the time to challenge him on his comment when he was already steering the attention to the one subject she was never silent on.

         With a huff, Freja grabbed the empty glass she had never gotten to, along with the bottle of non-alcoholic champagne that Julian had left behind, popping the cork whilst shaking her head. "Nothing significant yet. I've managed to collect a loyal group by now, but so far all I've got are questions about my questions. You know, inquiries about why I'm interested and so on. But I'm hoping someone will turn up", she informed with a sigh, one that she drowned in the bubbles that burned in the back of her throat when she gulped them down. She wasn't giving up hope, by any means, but her easily excitable nature had made the mistake of expecting results with a snap of fingers — Ravi had reminded her that science and everything alike were more of a marathon than a sprint, though.

          "Right, right. I'm sure something will come of it", Elliot comforted with a soft smile, and after gesturing for Julian, who was chatting with the women working at the store, he faced Freja with widening eyes. "Oh, hey, is your date with the doctor tonight?" A gasp rose from his chest when he remembered Freja's mentions of her plans with Ravi, but rather than mutual enthusiasm, the woman gulped down the rest of her champagne and reached out to swat his arm disapprovingly.

         "It's not a date, dumbass. We're doing important research, comparing notes and stuff", she corrected with a glare, but she was hardly taken seriously when Julian had already circled around her and tossed his arm over her much shorter figure.

         "I'm sorry, is that... not nerd speak for date?" he contemplated tauntingly, leaving Freja no choice but to poke at his chest with fond annoyance, only for both of the men to erupt into laughs around her.

         Nevertheless, even if Freja was positive that it wasn't a date, she was counting the minutes until she could knock on Ravi's door, not only because of the company but the idea of finally reading through his paper on zombies. Maybe, just maybe, it would be what she needed to figure it all out.

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          BY THE TIME nightfall struck, Freja had already organized all of her research into new files and obsessively checked her blog and email for new messages to no avail, but eventually, she made her way to the address Ravi had texted her with. Stomach full of butterflies and an indestructible smile on her face, she rocked back and forth on the porch, almost hugging her geekily decorated bag after carefully ringing the doorbell and then knocking, just to be sure. The giddiness wasn't just because of Ravi, either, although spending time with him surely added something extra to her grin, but it was more so the fact that she was spending time with anyone, at all. More often than not, she spent her evenings alone or with her family, and whenever she was in the company of a friend, it always happened to be, without change, Matilda.