“I’m so, so, sorry,” Itra apologized with unprecedented amounts of distress in her face, “there was something I had to do with my family yesterday, and, and, I couldn’t make it to the study session yesterday, and,”

Itra pressed her hands together in a plea-like fashion, furrowing her brows and apologizing profusely over and over again. I didn’t get why she acted so flustered from one missed appointment, but I did my best to try and calm her down. She rarely broke from her neutral demeanor, and when she did, I felt all the emotions she did, if not more.

“It’s fine, it’s okay,” I tried to assure her, “the notes you left me were a big help too, so I didn’t have a lot to worry about.”

“It was?” some of the worry on her face lifted, “That’s a relief…”

“Yeah, that’s right,” I told her, “I was able to get through the first draft with that, though it does need some tuning up…”

“Phew…” Itra sighed, letting the rest of her anxiousness leave her, and relaxed her shoulders, “okay, but I’d like to do something first, if you’re okay with it.”

“Huh?” I asked, “What do you want to do?”

“Exchange numbers,” Itra answered, “That way, I can notify you when I can’t make it to the library.”

“N-numbers?” I questioned, “I don’t, um, exactly have a phone.” A weak imitation of Itra’s fluster flickered within me.

My mother and sister had spent a lot of their savings to get me a laptop, and we simply had one phone in our apartment. Though, my mother had a work phone, and my sister always worked from home, so she rarely needed anything more than the house phone.

“You don’t? Then we can just exchange emails,” Itra improvised, “here, turn on your laptop.”

“Okay…” I replied unsteadily, as I pulled out my sleek laptop, “I’ll just need to get to my email.”

Itra sat tight, as I dragged my cursor across the screen to access my web browser. Once I clicked on my gmail, Itra had already pulled her own up on her phone. Her hand held up the smartphone for me to see its screen. It displayed her gmail, so I typed it out for me to send my first email to her.

“What should I put for the subject line,” I mused, “‘First Message,’ maybe?”

“Just keep it short,” Itra advised, “we still need to get a move on to your story.”

“Oh right, we do need to do that,” I blanked, before sending Itra a simple message.

“Hi,” Itra read aloud, then looked at me with a wrinkle in her brow, “is that it?”

“You said that I needed to hurry up,” I recounted, “so we can focus on the story.”

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“I guess I did,” Itra mumbled, “but I wanted our first email to be at least somewhat special…” her gaze then aimed to the floor.

“It’s already special,” I replied, “since it’s the first. We just need to make all the other ones special in their own ways.”

“And what about reminders or absences?” Itra asked, “How would we make those special?”

“They all have a purpose to it,” I answered, “meaning that they’re also special.”

“Right…” Itra turned her phone off and pocketed it, “let’s just get on with your story.”

Nodding, I turned back to my computer’s screen. Closing the email tab, I moved over to my file explorer, where I fished out the document that held my first draft. This pulled up what I wrote yesterday, and I slid the laptop to Itra, already leaning forward to get a better look.

“Hm,” after a while, Itra hummed, “this is pretty interesting, but, well, I don’t exactly see anything.”

“Huh? What do you mean?” I questioned, “the story’s right there.”

“No, I meant, your words don’t paint much of a picture,” Itra handed my computer back, “I think that’s one of the points we should address.”

“Okay, so I just need to describe things more?” I confirmed, “What else do I need to do?”

“You need to fix up your sentences,” Itra added, “and maybe make it a little longer.”

“So, sentence mixing and lengthening,” I noted, “what should I make longer?”

“Put a little more world building in,” Itra instructed, “it doesn’t have to be a lot. Just make things clear.”

“This is going to be hard,” I grumbled, as I stared at the computer screen, “But at least I have you by my side,” I added, “I don’t know where I’d be if you weren’t here to help point things out.”

“I’m glad about that too,” Itra replied, “I worry about what kinds of horrible grammar atrocities you might commit.”

“R-right,” I stuttered back, “that would be bad to leave me to my own devices.”

A rare giggle escaped Itra’s lips, but when I spun around to look, she didn’t even have a smile left. All she had was a soft look in her eyes, one that showed the caring that I expected from a loving mother.

“What? What is it?” Itra asked, checking behind her to see if I was looking at something, “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“I just,” I struggled to find the words, “I thought your laugh sounded nice, and I’m feeling bummed that I missed your smiling face.”

“H-huh?” Itra’s face had a little pink grow increasingly visible, “I-I don’t get what you mean…”

First, she came into the library all flustered, and now Itra became abashed from a tiny comment about her smile. She was acting off, and I wanted to figure out why.

“Are you alright?” I suddenly asked her, “You’re acting a little out of character today.”

“Out of character?” Itra tilted her head, as if she didn’t really get what I asked, “What do you mean? How am I being out of character?”

“Well, you’re usually always, uh,” I tried to find the correct words, “professional? Like nothing fazes you, but now you’re acting all weird…”

“Am I…?” Itra looked down at herself, “Well, I guess if you noticed…”

“I noticed?” I parroted, “What do you mean by that?”

“It’s just that something’s troubling me lately,” Itra replied, “but you don’t need to worry, it’s nothing serious. Let’s just focus on your story, okay?”

“If that’s what you want,” I responded, “let’s get this started then!”

I rolled up my sleeves, ready to begin editing. Though, the library’s chilly air attacked my skin, so I pulled them back down. Itra reacted to my gesture with amused confusion, lifting her eyebrows in a wrinkling manner.

And then, we began to revise and edit my draft.