School finally ended, but even as the shrill bell rang, Elliot didn't jump up immediately to launch towards the door. He felt rather peaceful then, for some reason. Maybe it was the music that he had been listening to, songs that calmed his nerves. Music had a huge impact on Elliot emotionally, he had found out, so he wasn't overly surprised that he was feeling calmer after listening to serene tunes. He also felt a bit disconnected from everything, as if he was floating through the moment instead of actively noticing his surroundings. He stood, pulling the strap of his bag over his shoulder, and waited for the crowd of students to bustle through the door before he followed after them, not feeling like he wanted to be squished in between the bodies of every student in the classroom. His attention, momentarily, caught sight of Cahill, who was standing behind and waiting, as always. An odd urge to stay behind and trail after her in case something happened to her crept to his attention, but he decided against it. It would put both of them into an awkward situation, and they had already been in one earlier. Plus, he found it kind of unlikely that any big bad kids would be out for her blood right after school; they'd more than likely be doing their own after-school activities instead.
He shook his head to himself in another notion of disbelief as he strode out the door, starting his way home. These weirs urges were so funny and new to him. The whole shock factor seemed to be passing, even if slowly, and his egotistical reputation was diminishing. His walk, as always, was pretty tranquil. He unlocked his house door and entered to start his nightly routine - getting into lay-around clothes, going about his business in his room with his laptop and homework, eating dinner with his mom. By the time he was back upstairs in his room, it was about 6:00 PM, so he just fooled around on the Internet for a while until it had reached about 9:00 PM. When it struck that time, he had already grown to become drowsy. So, distracted from everything, he hopped into bed and let himself drift off to sleep.
- - -
The next morning, Elliot found his eyes opening much earlier than usual for a Saturday, at about 7:00 AM. Waking up much earlier than usual was an occasional thing for him, but it usually conveniently happened during weekdays, not weekends. Despite the groan he made and the pillow he fruitlessly pressed over his face, he knew he wouldn't be falling back asleep. So, in defeat, he woke up and sat on the edge of his bed, feeling morose at his inability to fall back asleep and needing a wake-up call. As he scrolled through things to do for the morning, he decided that he might as well get outside and enjoy the morning air. That's what he wanted to do that day anyways - go to the park or somewhere to enjoy the day peacefully. He just wished that his body could've decided to wake him up later for it.
With a sigh, he stood and began to get dressed, pulling on some navy blue skinny jeans and a loose white T-shirt before pulling on his usual jacket for the cool morning temperatures. He strode downstairs, already knowing that his mom was off for work. She usually had days off for Sunday instead of Saturday, so Saturdays were the times he could go out and do his things, and when he had the house to himself for most of the day. He grabbed something to eat, took his wallet and house key, and began out the door.
Despite the fact that Elliot did have his license already, it was rare to see him driving. For one thing, he and his mother shared one car, so he didn't have it all the time. For another, he usually actually preferred to walk places. It normally made him feel good to walk, no doubt the exercise causing that. He locked the door behind him and began his way down the sidewalk casually, traveling towards the direction of the park. There was a certain spot there that he loved to go to; it was a tree, standing alone in the middle of a moderately wide field. He'd hang around it and climb it and sometimes do homework up in it's branches. It was an old tree, he had ruled, since it was so tall, sturdy, and healthy. His thoughts had wandered away from Cahill in that time of his walk, but would soon be refreshed to her again.
It was a while before he found the park, looking fresh and renewed with the green, dewy grass and healthy trees planted around. He loved it there. There was a children's play set near to the center of the park that he would always go to as a kid. It was so fun there, and he made a lot of good memories. With a deep, nostalgic sigh, he began to glance around, and found his bearings before starting to walk down a cement pathway towards where the field was.
When he walked beside the field and looked down it, he confirmed it was the place when he saw the big ol' tree, standing alone in the middle of an expanse of lush green. He smiled. He seemed like a social kid, and a lot of the time, he was one. But there were times that he had to escape the crowd of the school and become familiar with a little bit of alone time again. He stepped off of the pathway and began a slow walk across the damp ground, his gaze averting up and skimming across the sky. The clouds seemed to want to be very interesting that day; puffs and odd formations swirled around among a background of forget-me-not blue. The overcast from Thursday seemed to have cleared up, luckily.
He was in for a surprise, though, as he approached closer and closer to the tree. He saw something else against the tree, a figure sitting at the base of it's trunk. Oh, he thought rather shortly. So he wouldn't be entirely alone that day. He couldn't see the figure entirely, since he was still a bit of a ways away and they were sitting under the shade. He eventually decided that it would probably be polite to ask if he could hang around the tree along with the person. He understood that some people decided to be alone for their own reasons, and would rather've not just barged into something personal and ruin a moment or something.
But when he got close, he actually realized who the figure was - and stopped walking entirely, plunged into surprise. It was Cahill. It was right then that he suddenly felt the words he was about to say slip through his fingers and escape him. He didn't seem to realize it until now, but he had never seen Cahill smile until that moment in time. She had something small in her lap, what looked like a cat, and she looked actually quite at peace in comparison to how she usually looked. She was smiling, genuinely. And he realized that she looked really pretty with a smile on her face. The realization passed through his thoughts and surprised him further, suddenly having no idea what to do or say standing there.
After several seconds of stunned silence, he swallowed and got back his focus. He found his voice and, after a slight moment of hesitation, spoke, " ... U-Uhm ... " He didn't really know if she would react to that or not, and so after that, cleared his throat and said, "S'cuse me ... " He hoped he had called her attention and stood there awkwardly, one hand coming up to rub the back of his neck. It was strange to see her outside of school like that. His eyes drifted to the cat in her lap, and a sentence suddenly came to mind that he blurted out in desperation of finding words:
"Is that your cat?"
