Novice in Love | on hold

Sixteen

ELLIE

"W-What did you say?" I couldn't believe my ears, frozen in shock. "Repeat what you just said."

"I said, I like you, Ellie," he repeats as he stares straight into my eyes. His brown eyes are filled with sincerity and warmth, but that was all I could see. The rest of his face was a blur. I blink to try to clear my vision but everything but his brown eyes remained unrecognizable. 

"What are you even saying?" Isn't this too sudden? Too out of nowhere? While my brain is struggling to make sense of his abrupt confession, my heartbeat quickens. Did a guy just say he likes me? Me? An ordinary bookworm like me?

"I'll show you then." He gently holds my face in his hands and begins to lean forward.

BRRRRINGGGGG BRRRRRINGGGGG BRRRRRINGGGGGGGGG! 

I jolt awake, heart still pounding in my chest from the too-realistic dream, as my alarm blares loudly beside me by my pillow. What the hell was that? Who is he? I pull my blanket off of me, get of bed, and press to end the alarm on my phone, returning the room back to silence. 

"This is just a dream. Just a dream." I mutter to myself while I walk to my drawer to choose my outfit for the day. "In fact, you don't even remember what happened. It's all forgotten. Lost in dreamland and it's never, ever, ever coming back." 

+++

The tutoring session with Bryan starts just like how the past sessions have been. 

He has materials from his business writing course with questions and I do my best to answer them. I shouldn't have expected something different, but I found myself doing that, hoping he'll mention his promise to treat me or at least our conversation via texts on Monday night. It's not like I'm that desperate for a free meal, but this guy claimed to always keep his word and that gave me an impression that he'd speak up about it today. 

Unfortunately, he does neither. No matter how much I continue to hope that words along the lines of that topic will come out of his mouth whenever he opens it, Bryan does not say what I am wishing he'd say. 

The hope in me slowly decreases and the glimmer of hope flickers out as the session neared its end with still nothing. It was my mistake, I think to myself, to actually trust the words of someone I didn't really know. To trust a man's words. 

"Well, any last questions?" I ask, keeping my eyes on the screen of my laptop, trying to act busy typing something, because I am feeling embarrassed to have spent the two hours hoping for nothing. 

"Actually, I do." 

I continue to type as if I have more things to add onto his session notes and prepare to answer another one of his questions about his assignments, but he goes silent. I assume he is thinking on how to phrase his question and give him time, but when the silence continues for what feels like the longest time, I glance up from my screen in confusion. 

"Aha, got you." He looks proud of himself with his arms crossed over his chest. "Now that I've-" he pauses to emphasize the pun he just used before continuing, "got your full attention. The question I want to ask is, what time are you free?"

"What?" Was I imagining things from all that pointless hoping? 

"What time are you free?" He carefully spaces out each word in his question, making sure I am able to hear every syllable of every word. 

"Me?"

"Why do you look so surprised?" Bryan asks as the corner of his lips slightly tilt upward. "I told you the other night I wanted to treat you for all the help you gave me."