It was days like this that Ella missed home. Back in LA, there was never a lack of things to do; there was always a crime scene, a dead body, something to occupy her hands and time and keep her from watching the clock. Here in Night Vale, the most interesting thing to happen was trying to match butt prints to a specific naked angel -- which, spoiler alert: it was always the naked angel, no comparisons needed.
But that meant the day just dragged on and on and on, minutes seemingly taking hours to creep past.
It wasn't like it was a date, though, right? He was just a nice, normal guy that she'd had a friendly conversation with and -- okay, so he was cute, but he was also apparently hung up on his (male, which Ella was clearly not) best friend, so all of that said not a date. But if it wasn't a date, then why the hell was she nervous and watching the clock that way?
Fuck, it was probably a date.
Ella felt his presence more than saw or heard him; there was just something about someone's eyes on you that made a person overly aware of their presence. She straightened from what she was doing, turning slightly (really, she assumed it was just someone coming to ask a question), but her expression shifted into a bright smile once she saw who it was. "Hi." And, in true Ella fashion, she set down what she was doing (another butt print, joy), and crossed the distance to wrap Tom up in a friendly hug.