Our second hello

--- I woke up before my alarm that morning, which never happened. But that day wasn't a normal day. That day, the whole Calloway family was gathering at Grandma and Grandpa's house_ aunt's, uncle's, cousins, everyone_ and I had exactly one thing on my mind the second I opened my eyes. * Zayne is coming* I lay there for a second staring at the ceiling, smiling that early. Then I threw the blanket off and ran to my closet like the house was on fire. I pulled out three dresses before I found the right one_ the blue one with little white flowers stitched around the collar, the one Mom said made me look like "The sky in a dress". I cared about the fact that Zayne had once said blue was his favourite colour, back at the last reunion, and I'd been holding onto that fact like it was a secret super power ever since. I stood in front of the mirror for way too long, trying to get my hair right. I couldn't do a braid myself yet, so I just brushed it a hundred times until it was smooth and shinny, the way Mom's was when she went somewhere fancy. I even snuck a little dab of her lotion on my arms because it smelled like flowers, and I decided that was important too, somehow. "Ella, breakfast!" Mom called from downstairs. "Coming!" I shouted back, taking one last look in the mirror. I turned side to side, checking myself the way I'd seen older girls do on TV, even though I didn't fully understand what I was checking *For* I just wanted look good. I wanted him to notice. I wanted him to smile at me the way he did the last time_ the big one, the one where his blue eyes ball sparkled like blue ocean. I didn't have a word yet for what I was feeling. I just knew that thinking about Zayne made me feel like it was full of soap bubbles, light and fizzy and a little bit nervous all at once. Six-year-old me didn't know that feeling had a name. I only knew I liked it, and today I was going to see him. --- Breakfast felt like it took forever. I barely tasted my pancakes because my knee wouldn't stop bouncing under the table. "Somebody's excited", Dad said, raising