ELLIE
Bryan: [What happened?]
Out of all the people, how did I end up selecting his contact to send the text to? That's just my luck, I suppose. Whether it was good or bad luck is the bigger question...
I contemplate on what I should say, how I should respond, fighting the urge to call Jenna for a SOS. She might have messed with me last time, but she would probably help me since I had a feeling she didn't want me interacting with him outside of tutoring sessions. For that reason alone, I hold myself back from actually calling her. It's not like I can't see where she and Michael are both coming from with their worries, but I feel like I should be giving Bryan a chance. Despite his initial weirdness, I saw potential in him being a good person... and friend.
[Nothing] I send.
[That text wasn't meant for you, sorry][Is everything okay over there though? Are you okay though?]
[Yeah, living my best life]
[Is that sarcasm?]
[Is it?]
[...I would say so]
I send a shrugging emoji, not wanting to confess anything. [🤷🏻♀️] I may be wanting to give the guy the benefit of Jenna and Michael's doubt, but I also wasn't ready to divulge my feelings to a practical stranger.
Bryan replies with a emoji too and I fight back a smile because I could imagine him making that expression for some reason. [🙄]
That's when the emoji game begins.
Me: [😶]
Bryan: [🤨]
Me: [🙃]
Bryan: [🤥]
Me: [💩]
Bryan: [🥴]
We send emojis back and forth to each other with no words being exchanged at all, yet I find myself slowly forgetting about the bad dinner and all the stress that had been silently suffocating me. I actually start enjoying it, and I think he senses this over the texts because he ends our little game with a text that actually contains words.
[Are you feeling better now?]
[Surprisingly... yes] I admit.
[Why is it a surprise?]
[You're just not what I expected.] It was a lot easier to be honest hidden behind a screen.
[I'll take that as a compliment]
[What if it wasn't🤪 ] It was also much easier to be myself, not having to worry about eye contact and all that good stuff.
[Isn't it better be unpredictable than to be like everyone else?]
[🤔] Never heard of someone twisting it into that perspective before. I am reminded of his weirdness again but wait for his reply.
[You don't agree?]
[Don't know if I do]
[Haven't you heard it's better to be different than to fit in?]
[Yes but being unpredictable is a whole other story, isn't it?]
[Close enough lol you know what idea I'm getting at]
[Sure] I purposely make my response ambiguous so he won't know if I really do, even though I do. He already caught me in a moment of vulnerability and I didn't want him to know more of what I was thinking.
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Novice in Love | on hold
Romancenov·ice in love a person new to or inexperienced in love Ellie Moon is a sophomore in college and she already has enough things on her plate to worry about. She is busy with her classes, finding internships, and preparing for life after graduation a...