The moment Adam, the day-shift worker walked through the door, Ella was out of her seat and hastily packing her bag. It had been a long night of staring into the empty library and occasionally opening her laptop to add a few more paragraphs to her research paper.

Ella nibbled on her lip thoughtfully as she made her way out of the library and down the path toward her dorm. She'd been here for three weeks and barely had enough information to fit two pages of her paper. As much as she wanted to blame the lack of literature and information on her researcher writer's block, Ella knew that wasn't the case. Northview had plenty of information about different North American cryptids and folklore, but none of it seemed appealing enough to include in her research.

Werewolves? A bore. Vampires? Mega-bore. The Swamp ape? As a Florida Native, she had a a whole piece about the swamp ape in her paper, and the public's perceptions and beliefs regarding the cryptid. Which was pretty much the same as the perception of Bigfoot. That the swamp ape was probably real at one point, but has long disappeared.

She sighed, pushing her glasses up with the back of her hand. She chose to forgo the contacts before her night shift. Namely, because it was a lot easier to take off your glasses and disassociate than it was to pop your contacts out. Dockman Hall slowly came into view as she sluggishly trudged up the path leading toward the front entrance. Unsurprisingly, nobody was out. The sun's first rays were barely peeking over the horizon and the street lamps were still illuminating the walkway.

Despite this, she knew her roommate Katie probably wouldn't be in her bed sleeping. She was either out on a routine jog or staying the night at a friend's place. Something Ella noticed she did a lot. Whether that be because of her unwelcome presence in the dorm or because of her rigorous schedule, Ella would never know.

Katie never shows any outright hostility towards Ella, but she knows that her new roommate wasn't exactly happy to have a new person show up after almost two months of having a dorm to herself. Ella felt for her though, she wouldn't be too happy either if she suddenly had to share a space with another person.

Ella tiredly swiped her card, eyebrows scrunching in frustration when she had to do so three more times to get the card to work. By the time the door actually unlocked, Ella felt irritable. She yanked the door open, trudging into the hall and up the stairs towards her room. The smell of smoke stopped her in her tracks.

She froze. Was there a fire in the dorm somewhere? No, there's no way the fire alarm would have sounded right? Unless the fire alarms weren't working, this was a pretty old building. The university wouldn't let that slide though, most schools were known for having crazy fire alarm sensitivity to prevent smoking and vaping inside the dorms. She sniffed the air. It was most definitely the smell of burnt food. Oh god, did someone forget to grab something from the oven before they fell asleep? Should she go check to make sure the building wouldn't erupt into flames?

Ella wavered, her hand hovering over the stair railing. Oh fuck it, the dorm wasn't about to burn down on her watch. Especially not while she was sleeping.

She sprinted towards the dorm kitchen, which was down the hall and to the right of the entrance. She didn't look cute or dignified. She's huffing, and her backpack bounces and rustles loudly behind her. Thank god, nobody was around to witness her embarrassment.

As she rounded the corner, she ran smack-dab into a hard, sturdy chest. Rubbing her head, she glanced up and was met with familiar twinkling green eyes.

"Tucker" Connor exclaimed, a lopsided smile overtook his stupidly handsome face. "Fancy seeing you here."

Ella resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "I live here."

I know," he said a little too giddy for someone awake at 5 in the morning. "It's called a joke, ever heard of it?"

"I feel like I'm looking at it," she grumbled under her breath.

"What?"

"Nothing," she peered behind him. "Is there anyone burning something in the kitchen?"

Without taking his eyes off her, he jerked his thumb behind him. "Yeah, we are."

"We?"

He nodded. "Me and the bros."

Before Ella could inquire further a voice called for him from the kitchen. "Holmes, get your ass back in here it's time to frost the cake."

Ella raised an eyebrow. "The cake?"

He grinned down at her, shoving his hands in his pockets, he looked almost bashful. Ella ignored the skip in her heartbeat. "Yeah, we won the game last night, gotta celebrate somehow."

"It's five in the morning."

He shrugged. "We might have had a little party upstairs before coming down here to cook." Well, that explains the giddiness. He probably wasn't in the clearest headspace. He leaned towards her, just a teeny bit. "Hey, you should come to the one we're throwing next week for our sixth win of the season."

She scrubbed a hand over her face, doing her best to avoid ogling at him. "The game hasn't even happened yet how do you know you'll win?"

"Oh, we're gonna win." His met her gaze head-on and Ella almost felt tempted to lean in and close the gap between them. She blamed that on the sleep deprivation. Something she seemed to be doing lately to excuse her actions.

"Well," she said awkwardly, taking a step back. "I don't know if I'd be able to anyway, I usually work the night shift at the library around this time."

"It'll be this coming Tuesday. You usually at the library on Tuesdays?"

No.

"Yes," she blurted out. Ella winced. She didn't like lying. "I mean, uh, no."

Ella watched his face contort in confusion. "Yes or no?"

She sighed. "I don't have my schedule yet but..." she trailed off before continuing. "I usually don't work on Tuesdays." She admitted.

"So, I'll see you there?" If Ella knew any better he almost sounded hopeful.

"I'll let you know."

A large grin overtook his face, and she almost smiled back. Almost.

Bang.

A loud resounding crash and a few garbled cries from the kitchen. "Oh shit man, our cake!" a loud, deep voice exclaimed.

Connor rolled his eyes. "I better get back in there and help them clean up."

Ella nodded, turning to leave before a hand caught her wrist. She glanced back at the man behind her, raising an eyebrow. He held his phone up, waving it slightly.

"You said you'd text me later," He thrust his phone toward her, waiting for her to grab it.

"No, I said I'd let you know."

He smiled. He was a smiley person, Ella had learned. "Yeah, but who knows when I'm going to see you again."

"I've seen you like three times this past week."

He tilted his head slightly, wiggling his phone in front of her face.

She sighed and snatched the phone from him. The screen was already open to a contact page. She quickly typed in her phone number, backspacing a few times when she typed too fast.

"Here," she said, handing him back the phone.

"Sweet," He pocketed his phone. I'll text you." It was said like a promise, and Ella ignored the flutter in her heart.

"Okay," she said, turning away quickly. "I'm going back to my room now, I've been up all night."

"Catch you later, Tucker."

"Ha!, Catch!" she heard another male voice slur from the kitchen. "Cause, like we're baseball players, so it's funny."

"Shut the fuck up, Whitaker."

She snickered lightly, speed-walking back to her dorm.

A few girls, who looked like they may have been on the volleyball team judging from their compression shorts emerged from the communal bathrooms. Ella slid over to the left to let them pass through.

Once she made it back to her room, she tried the handle. It was locked. Katie was most definitely out then. Ella had noticed when her roommate was home she never locked the door. It was a little jarring, but honestly, Katie looked like she could take on an intruder if one happened to enter their room.

Once inside, Ella promptly dropped her bag and sprawled on top of her bed. She glanced at the clock on the wall. It was a quarter till six, and she had approximately four hours to sleep till her first-morning class.

It wasn't enough. Ella felt like she never had enough sleep since moving to Northview, but maybe this was the college experience. Working overnight, getting absolutely zero sleep, and prepping for a thesis hearing that would most likely result in a plethora of questions and quick dismissal of 'run the research, again.'

She blinked blearily. Yes, this was most definitely the college experience.