Eleanor's Voicemail.

[what_big_teeth]

"Oh. Hello. This is Eleanor's phone. I'm sorry I missed your call, but I'll try and get back to you, if you leave a message. Thank you!"

**BEEEEP!**

Comments

[what_big_teeth]

That response was not at all helping with Eleanor's confusion, wondering what could have possibly have inspired this. She started to wonder if it was one of those traps she never really saw coming because she could never really get a grasp on normal social skills, but, just as she sometimes couldn't help what she said outloud, she was already typing a response before she could stop herself.

I don't think you could be boring even if you tried.

Yes, Eleanor acknowledged that she had a very firm bias on that, but she still felt plenty of people would agree.

Or that, if they didn't, clearly they were just wrong.

[slothbabyproductions]

And with that statement from Eleanor, not only did her anxiety vanish but Kamala’s heart melted a little.

Awww! You’re so sweet! Sorry. My professor made us take a quiz and it messed with my head. Hey, would you be up for a movie night next week?

[what_big_teeth]

When Eleanor looked into it a little, this whole exchange would start to make a little more sense, but, at the moment, she just couldn't help but really, really wonder what type of quiz that could have been.

And, at the moment, she was much more distracted by the latter part of the last text than the first, with both a flutter in her chest and a brick dropping into her stomach.

The response was a little delayed, as Eleanor agonized for a few moments on exactly how she should probably response.

All that agonizing, just to end up with:

Sure. I'd like that. When were you thinking?

[slothbabyproductions]

Not to worry about the Delay Eleanor. Kamala had already hit the T&C and gotten another Squishy on the way back from class while she waited on a response.

Tuesday? Wednesday? Whatever works for you really.

And then as an afterthought:

And we can wear our favorite shenanigan outfits if you’d like!

[what_big_teeth]

And Eleanor almost thought to herself that, yes, this, here, was where Kamala showed her hand. Where she made a revealing move on the chess board, in shining a light on the trap. She would convince Eleanor to show up in one of those ridiculous outfits, but no one else would, leaving her mortified and the laughing stock of the entire rest of the summer.

Almost. Because, no, she didn't have to think hard at all to remember Kamala at the shenanigans and how this was a young woman who genuinely loved some of those costumes. And as paranoid and hurt as Eleanor had been in the past, even she couldn't see anyone playing that long of a game for just one dumb prank.

I don't know how I could possibly pick a favorite.

Oh, the tragedy of the doible-edged dryness inherent in the statement being lost to the medium of text!

But maybe Wednesday is better. Just in case the outfits are good enough to blow all the previous ones out of the water.

[slothbabyproductions]

There might have been a little happy dance as Kamala went up the stairs to her room.

Awesome! You, me and meta-for Shrek. Perfection