I Hate Football Players 3 | 18+

Chapter 102: Logan

With the exception of our water aerobics classes, or my tortured bike class while Ellie floated like a swan, I literally spent the entire day Sunday with her. While I for sure preferred we stayed busy with another activity, we studied and crammed for each of our four midterms.

Whether up close at the dining room table, at the other end of the three-seat sofa with our feet intertwined in the middle seat, or from across our small living room, the deep furrow in Ellie's forehead, the way her eyes shifted repeated over the same page, and how she tapped a pen repeatedly into her teeth all pointed to the same conclusion.

She's distracted.

While I was glad Ellie had written down how she felt to her Dad, I was disappointed when she'd crumpled up her feelings and discarded them. In a questionable move during one time Ellie was in the bathroom, I unrolled the paper, skimmed over words that pinched a tightness in my chest while I read them, snapped a quick picture on my phone, then crumpled the paper back up. At this moment, I had a feeling Ellie might've wanted those words kept, although she threw away the paper after she came out of the bathroom.

In the short-term, I supposed Ellie and I had more important worries since midterms crashed down on us the week between our parents' visits. In an almost cruel punishment, I'd rescheduled my Biotransport midterm because it conflicted with Wednesday's practice to 7am on Monday. But in a nice gesture, Ellie walked my ass to the exam.

For once, Ellie and I were largely ignored while we walked around campus. Since my thoughts swirled with formulas and definitions for all blood flow-related topics Dr. Taylor promised she put on the exam, I welcomed the silence and privacy while most students walked around in their own stressed out mindsets.

"I almost never come by here," Ellie confessed when we rounded the Drumheller Fountain. "It's nice, closer to the water."

"It is," I replied absently. My forehead tensed from more than the frown I wore but I followed Ellie's gaze. Only the center fountain was one but shot the water high upwards into the sky. The soft splattered sounds echoed in my ear until we split off the sidewalk path for my usual Monday-Wednesday-Friday destination, Foege building.

Once we passed under the silver metal bridge over the entrance for Foege, I stopped short in the empty classroom that last week Dr. Taylor had told me to report for my rescheduled exam. My face broke into a big grin when I saw that my class buddy Santanu was the other sole attendee, even if he looked as worried as I did.

"Hey Logan," Santanu greeted me with his own wide grin of flashed teeth. Just as his chest slightly lifted and mouth opened, I braced myself and wasn't disappointed when he blurted out, "Why are tertiary structures selfish? Because the amino acids are all wrapped up in themselves."

While Ellie threw me an unamused side-eyed glance, I chuckled slightly at the weird habit of jokes we'd fallen into before each class and offered, "What did the cell about to undergo mitosis say to the geneticist? I hope I have your undivided attention."

"What did the snobby metacentric say to the telocentric?" Like usual, Santanu laughed before his own punchline. "Two arms are better than one."

"Terrible," I groaned quietly and shook my head, but greeted him with a fist bump and nodded at Ellie. "Ellie, this is -"

"Hi Santanu!" she chirped out and gave him both a bright smile and small wave.

My mouth dropped open as Santanu grinned at her. "Good to see you, Ellie."

"You know each other?" I gaped between the two of them when they simultaneously nodded.

"Santanu is another tutor for the Athletic Department," Ellie offered while her smile remained. "Although he obviously does more of the science and math classes than I do."