Regan fell in love with Ella when they were young, she was lucky to have found such a bright soulmate. But when the world took Ella too soon, Regan decided to spend a lifetime falling in love with different versions of Regan across space and time.
...
I'll never forget falling in love with my Ellie the first time.
I met her in my third year of college. I was in a writing class that was required and showed up to the first day underprepared and overslept. When I opened the door, I cut off our professor mid-sentence and the whole room looked over to stare at me. I ducked my head down and kept it down until I found a random seat that was open and the professor continued talking.
Sitting behind her, her hair was the first thing I noticed. My Ellie had blonde hair that hung down to the middle of her back. It was wavy and she never quite learned how to take care of it as much as she wanted to, but to me it always looked like she had just come back from the beach and her hair was still salt soaked and free. I didn't think much of her that first day, if I'm being honest. Was there attraction? Of course. She quickly became my designated classroom crush, the person who I'd use to motivate myself to dress nicely and show up to class. But I never expected I'd spend the rest of my life chasing the feeling of being loved by her.
When the professor wrapped up for the day, I gathered my things and stood to leave quickly, but then Ella turned around. Oh, that smile.
"Careful, before you got here he said we only get two free passes for being late." That smile could start wars. It could end wars. It could be the beginning of time and the end of time. I blinked a couple times to collect my thoughts and laughed.
"Oh gosh, I guess I'll be waking up earlier tomorrow then."
"I'll make it easier. Want to get coffee together before class? You wouldn't be late for a date, would you?"
"I certainly hope not."
We texted every day. She told me about her classes, her life. She'd text me goodnight and good morning and ask me if the lunch I had packed was any good. We kept meeting up before those classes and getting our coffee together. Slowly coffee before classes turned into movies after them. The movies turned into sleepovers.
And then, one day, it stopped.
Towards the end of the semester, she texted me that she'd have to skip our morning coffee, she wasn't feeling well. I asked her if she was okay and she said it was just a cold, and she'd be back soon. She had mentioned before that sometimes it takes her a couple weeks to get over a cold. That whole semester I told her she should see the doctor, but she insisted it wasn't that big of a deal. She'd rather get sick for a bit than have to pay to see the doctor, and she was afraid of needles. I told her I'd better see her when she felt better and she said she'd text me when she did.
I never did get that text. I dream of it all the time. My nightmares are filled with my phone buzzing with a message, "I'm feeling better! Coffee tomorrow?" flashing across the top. And every day I wake up and it isn't real.
I got a different text, with an address and a room number. I've never gotten into my truck faster.
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