"Hey... Elle?"
I snap out of whatever trance I've been in for the past few hours and look up to find myself facing a concerned-looking Luke Hemmings, gazing at me silently with his bright blue eyes.
"Huh?" I ask cluelessly, he continues to stare. I'm still feeling groggy, I must've fallen asleep. "Oh, shoot, sorry. I've been out of it all day, I'm sorry."
He gives me a gentle smile. "It's fine, but... It's time to leave."
It is?
I clear my throat, caught off-guard. "Oh! Um, right. Sorry."
I feel a tinge of embarrassment as I quickly glance at the clock above the whiteboard and see that he's correct--the last class of the day is well past over.
I quickly compose myself and pack up all my belongings, realizing that I have taken no notes during Professor Cleary's three-hour-long Economics lecture.
Worse yet, the one thing I had been able to decipher is that there will be an exam tomorrow over the material he covered today.
I am toast.
But maybe, if I'm lucky, Luke will let me borrow his notes. God knows they're more detailed than mine would ever be.
Luke gives me another small smile as I stand from my seat in the auditorium, immediately feeling the blood rush throughout my body.
"Ouch." I cringe as I step towards him, realizing that my foot is asleep and is currently sending what feels like needles through my skin.
Okay, it's bad enough that I nearly fell asleep in the last lecture before a quiz, but now I have to lean on Luke for support while my foot wakes up.
But he's a good sport about it, as always. Not like I've ever leant on him before, but he's a nice enough person not to complain.
As a matter of fact, it's just like Luke to wait for me, too. We grew up together in the same town at the same school and he's always been a sweet boy, but I haven't really talked to him much in the past few years until our first term here.
Luke has always been kind of shy and bookish, someone Calum thought was nice but boring. Perhaps the worst part is that Luke somewhat used to be a childhood friend of mine, but once my relationship with Calum started, everything changed.
I adjusted to Calum's outgoing friends, Calum's loving family, Calum's perfect life.
And I guess that was why it hurt so much when he was suddenly out of my life, and still hurts today.
As soon as I regain control of my balance, I speed-walk myself out of the auditorium and outside the lecture hall faster than Luke; Luke trailing behind me and observing me with wide blue eyes.
"You okay?" He asks, still mildly concerned.
"Yes, I think I'm fine now. Thank you." I smile at him, he shrugs.
"'Twas nothing."
Pause.
"But... I meant today." Luke begins, then stops. "I mean... Are you okay... Today? You seem a bit off."
"Oh," is all I can seem to say. "Um, yeah, I'm a bit sleep deprived, but I'm fine. Thanks for asking."
A bit, though, is such an understatement.
Turns out my meeting with Ashton cost me three precious hours of sleep and one day filled with a poor attention spam and fatigue.
It was worth it, though. Oddly.
