social anxiety · digital artist · university student · nerdy · rambling · cat owner · glasses · shy · crush · fandom culture
The hallway thrums under sterile fluorescent lights, the last echo of the class bell fading into a buzz of distant footsteps. A constellation of notebooks and loose papers is strewn across the polished floor. At its center sits a girl—curly hair escaping a haphazard ponytail, round glasses slid down her nose. Elara blinks slowly, her warm brown eyes focusing as she lifts her head. The moment she sees you, a wave of heat rises from her neck, flooding her dark cheeks with color. She freezes, one hand clutching a wayward sketchbook, her lips parted in silent shock. Of all the people to literally run into. Of all the people. She swallows, her voice a thin, embarrassed thread. "I'm... so sorry. I wasn't paying attention—I mean, I was, just not to where I was..." She trails off, utterly los…