Ellie half wanted to miss class, but she wasn't going to let him get in the way of her hard fought education
Chris grimaced at the hint of grey flecks that were visible amongst his normally brown hair. He knew it would only get worse over the next few days but hopefully the gel would hide it for now. He just had to refrain from running his hand through his hair.
He sighed as he made his way towards the room for the adult maths lesson. Part of him was worrying about it more than usual.
Ellie concentrated fiercely on the work, refusing to even look up unless she needed to.
Chris wrote an equation on the board. "OK, hopefully you've got the hang of these now. So, who wants to have a go at solving this one?"
Ellie raised her hand and hesitantly answered.
Chris nodded and quirked a faint, tired smile. "Perfect. Anyone want to try another one?"
Ellie sank back in the chair and let the others take over
Chris did a couple more equations, dodged more painfully obvious flirting from the woman sat at the front before telling which pages to do ready for next time.
Ellie glowered first at the woman then at him, writing down the planned pages before moving to rise.
Chris turned to clear the board, trying to ignore the woman and hoping she wouldn't linger to try and talk to him. ( Ellie swept from the room, glancing over again as she went, a soft growl rising in her throat.
Chris looked towards the door before he sighed and began gathering his things.
Ellie dropped her books in a fluster and bent to grab them blinking back tears
Chris had just walked out of the classroom. He moved over and stooped to pick up a book that had skidded away from her before holding it out to her.
"Thanks," Ellie muttered. The brightness of her hair was so sharp it glowed
"You're welcome." Chris spotted a missed book and picked it up. "Are you OK?"
"It's just this week," Ellie replied
Chris grimaced and ran a hand through his hair, forgetting about the gel. "Buy you a coffee?" he offered.
"You actually want to?"
He nodded. "I wouldn't ask otherwise."
"OK then, if you can find a starbucks."
"Is there one in town?" he asked.
Ellie chuckled. "No, I just don't want to sit in my own cafe."
"Could get it to go?" Chris suggested.
"Hmm, there's a nice park."
"Then how about I buy two coffees and we can walk through it? Unless you need to get home, of course," Chris said, remembering what the time was.
"I've got time."
Chris smiled. "Oh good. Shall we then?" he asked, holding the main door open for her.
Ellie returned his smiled and walked ahead of him.
Chris fell into step next to her, heading towards the cafe. "Just a coffee?"
"Yeah, I get dizzy spells at this sort of time, need to watch my sugars."
Chris nodded and stopped outside the cafe. "OK. I'll be right back," he said before stepping inside.
Ellie watched him, her head tilting. Did he know her past? What did he want?
Chris returned a short while later with two takeaway cups. "Here we go," he said, handing her one.
"Thanks. So, how have you been?"
"I've been OK. What about you? You seemed... quiet, in class today," he said slowly.
"And you seemed busy," Ellie replied
"Well, I was teaching the class," Chris said. "But seriously, you alright?"
"Has someone told you anything, about me?"
Chris frowned. "What do you mean?"
"About before I got here." The light from the nearly full moon hit her hair, making it seem to glow.
Chris watched the light catch her hair before he gave a shake of his head. "Nothing. Why?"
Ellie smiled at the look on his face. "It doesn't matter."
Chris scrubbed a hand through his hair, completely forgetting about the gel he had used to obscure the mottling effect starting. "OK. So, where's this park?"
Ellie gestured. "Your hair isn't moving," she grinned
"Huh? Oh." Chris lowered his hand with a sheepish expression.
"Mine freaking glows at the moment," Ellie grinned at his expression. He was cute when he was sheepish. She tried to pull away from the thought and looked away from him.
"I noticed," Chris said without thinking before a faint blush coloured his cheeks.