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Iris saw his response, sent a thumbs-up emoji, and braced herself to see his face. She took a breath, patted down the wildest parts of her hair, and tapped "accept request". Caden appeared on the screen, and she smiled, albeit nervously. He looked exactly the same as before, maybe slightly more frazzled, but still handsome. Wait, no! She hadn't thought that, had she? Well, she had, but it wasn't true, was it? Ha, of course not. ....No, it totally was. Iris sighed, giving up the arguement with herself. "Um, hey." She said, knowing it sounded pathetic.
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"Privet," Caden mused casually, as if his heart wasn't beating a million times a minute. She was just as gorgeous, even if she looked...tired. He was sure he did too so, eh. Whatever. "Where are you?"
The man questioned curiously, the murmured sound of voices in the hallway just outside--most likely heading to breakfast.
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Iris glanced around her, like she needed a reminder of where she was. "Coffee shop. What about you?" She spoke quietly, so as not to disturb anyone else in the cozy building. She couldn't tell where he was from the background of his video, but she did barely hear some other voices in the distance.
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"Hotel, got a pretty view though." Caden explained, turning the camera and showing the sun crawling up with its rays dispersed all along the land. "I think it's called the Silver House Hotel or something? Heck I don't remember," He chuckled, running a hand over his face.
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Iris smiled, and the sunrise he showed her made her speechless for a moment. "Wow, it's gorgeous," she whispered to herself, then focused back on Caden. She laughed quietly at his joke, though it was clearly forced. 'Stop it, Iris. I said to act normal!' She dropped the weird laugh and tried not to look like she was nervous. She couldn't think of anything else to say, so Iris just kind of sat there in awkward silence, looking between Caden's face on the screen and down at her lap.
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Caden kept his gaze on the sunrise for a moment, squinting his eyes a little as the sun blinded him. He looked back at the screen, seeing she was still there. "If i'm honest, kinda bored. I mean there's not much to do and my jokes aren't funny to me after saying them in my mind a hundred times," The man started, chuckling. "Kinda quiet without you."
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Iris smiled at his comment about his jokes, finding the courage to look at him for longer than five seconds. When he said the thing about it being quiet without her, she looked down again, face getting a little warm. She decided to ignore that second comment and instead said, while still looking between him and her lap, "I, uh, don't think I've heard any of your jokes yet." Then forced herself to look at him. "Want to share a few?"
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Caden shared a few of them, cracking himself up half the time. The time passed and the two had some chats, had some laughs, and Caden yawned. "Well, better let you get back to it. Can't be late for class.." He explained, accent seemingly gone as he spoke fluently and clearly.
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Iris soon relaxed, laughing along with him and feeling a little bad for the other people in the coffee shop; she was probably being distracting. But she couldn't help it. When he mentioned class, she remembered her math meeting at 10:00. She looked down at her watch. It hadn't been that long, had it? 9:49. Eek! Yes, it had. . "Yikes I'm late! Sorry Caden, I have to go! It was... Really fun talking to you." She trailed off, the now familiar feeling of color rising to her cheeks coming back. "Bye!" She finished quickly, ending the call. She breathed a sigh of relief and put her phone away, then packed up her stuff. . She made it to the library where math club was held at 10:06. It was the first time she'd even been late to, well, anything. Sheepishly, Iris took a seat and focused on the task at hand, pushing Caden out of her mind.
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"Wait Ir-" He cut short as the screen went blank, sighing and running a hand over his face. Caden put his phone up and went to drift off, doing so easily.
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