Love, after everything

Chapter 5. Lost in thought

Chapter 5

“Elora, wake up and come down for dinner,” her mom called out while knocking on the door.

She sluggishly stood up from the bed with a slight frown on her face because she was having a good dream and her mom had come to disrupt it.

She put on her nightwear and footwear and went downstairs to join her parents.

She sat down, and her mom dished out the food.

She took a few spoonfuls and became distracted once again. Her dad saw that she was distracted and also noticed a little smile at the corner of her mouth.

“Hey, princess, you’ve barely touched your food. Are you good?”

She smiled and nodded to signify that she was okay. Her dad knew something was going on with her, from the way she had woken up early to how she was barely touching her food and getting distracted, but he did not press further.

They ate, and she cleared the dishes to the sink to wash. She was about to go upstairs when her dad called her back.

“Princess, since tomorrow is the weekend, we’ll be going to the mall so I can do a little shopping for you and also get you that big pink teddy bear you requested last week.”

“Awwwn, thank you very much, Daddy. I love you,” she said as she hugged her parents and kissed them goodnight.

She went upstairs and locked the door behind her.

She picked up her phone and called her friend. After Celine picked up, the girls talked and laughed about what had happened that day.

“I think he actually likes you too,” Celine pointed out to her.

“I don’t think so. I think he was just being nice and polite.”

“Then why is he only nice to you and not the other girls in class?” Celine asked.

“I don’t know. I don’t want to get my hopes up for nothing just because we’re assuming,” she replied.

“You’re right, though. I would not want you to get hurt just because of speculations,” Celine said.

The girls drifted off to other topics, and she told Celine she would be going out with her dad to the mall the next day. They soon said their goodnights and hung up.

She was about to drop her phone when a text popped up on her screen. She opened it and saw that it was from an unknown number. She read the text and tried to guess who it could be.

UNKNOWN: Hey Elora, still up?

She started racking her brain to figure out who it could be when another message popped up.

UNKNOWN: It’s Christian.

She jumped off the bed and almost screamed.

“Oh my Godddddddd, Christian?????” she said, jumping around the room excitedly.

He sent another text asking if he could call. She texted back immediately and said yes.

Her phone rang almost immediately. She took a deep breath to calm herself down before picking up.

She picked up and tried as much as possible to remain calm as he spoke from the other end.

“Hii, Elora. Good evening. How are you doing?”

“I’m fine. How’re you doing too?”

“I’m good too. I know you’re wondering how I got your contact. I took it from Daniel. I hope you don’t mind.”

“Of course not,” she said, trying to remember how Daniel even got her number to begin with. Then it clicked. It was the day Christian was absent, and they had to ask Daniel to take them to his place.

“I hope I’m not disturbing anything, though,” he said.

“Nahh, you’re not. I was not doing anything either,” she replied.

He proceeded to ask what she did when she got home and what she was doing at the moment. She replied, and they laughed about a few things. Then he bade her goodnight, promised to text her later, and hung up.

Elora could not hide her excitement and was trying to understand what had just happened. One part of her was trying to remind her about what Celine had said, while the other part was reminding her not to get her hopes up.

She wanted to call Celine, but she decided not to and just enjoy the moment. She grabbed her pillow and buried her face in it, screaming from excitement as her legs kicked against the bed.

She looked at the text once again, still smiling, and wondered what their next conversation would be about.

She thought about the actual possibility of him liking her and felt thrilled just thinking about it.

She became restless and could not sleep immediately, so she decided to pick up her sketchbook. She had always loved designing, so whenever she had a lot on her mind or was less busy, she picked up her sketchbook to sketch.

She was halfway through sketching and still could not concentrate, so she stopped. She drank a little bit of water from the bottle she always kept by her bedside, then slipped into her bed, turned off her light, and tried to force herself to sleep.

Before long, she was asleep.