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Iris stayed at her house for about two hours, tidying up and just relaxing. Now that she wasn't at the college, things there seemed a lot less pressing, and she could be more like herself. Now Iris was driving back to her dorm. It was almost 6:00, and she needed to go to the store to get food for dinner, as well as make sure her roommate hadn't trashed her room. Iris sighed, parked her car, and made her way to the girls' dorms.
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Caden saw a figure heading toward the dorms, deciding he wouldn't go see who it was. He parked, the hum of the engine silencing as he shut off the ignition. The man sighed, running his hands through his hair and holding his head in his hands. His elbows dug into his legs as he sat there, mind racing. Caden's eyes were wide as he stared at the floorboard, veins pulsing out of his skin it seemed they were going to explode. He'd completely forgotten half of the English Iris had taught him. Nevermind, it came back. Just a simple brain fart. Caden chuckled, hopping out of the car and making his way back to the dorms.
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Iris tentatively nudged open her room's door and breathed a sigh of relief when her roommate was gone. She gathered her things quickly then headed back out to go to the store. She realized with a pang of-- what was it? Well, something-- that she hadn't thought about Caden again since being at home. Maybe it mhad caused her to finally come to her senses.
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Caden was walking back when he bumped into somebody, turning and seeing it was Iris. His face lit up, a grin spreading. "Iris-I was hoping i'd see you eventually. Where you headed'?" He asked, curious as to if he could tag along or not.
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Iris was in a pretty good mood now. Her roommate was gone, the thought of food made her smile, and she didn't have to worry about getting nervous if she ran into Caden. Just then, as if by magic, she ran into Caden. Immediately she regretted thinking about him. 'Great. I jinxed it,' she thought, as her face grew warm and she forced herself to look up at him. "Caden! Uh, hi. I wasn't expecting to see you here..." She tried to mask the surprise and nervousness in her voice but it was still plain as day.
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"I wasn't either, was heading back up to my dorm then saw you so figured i'd go talk to you." He explained, glancing around before back at her.
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Iris moved her purse from her left side to her right. "Why'd you come back so soon?" She asked, half wanting to know and half just saying the first thing that came to her mind.
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Caden's jaw stiffened, flicking his gaze outward over to a tree or something far out. He hesitated for a second, eventually spitting out the truth. But what would she think? The silence was a bit too thick now he needed to hurry up and say something already--what if it sounded wrong? No, because he did like her, he truly did so it'd be fine if he mess- "I kinda missed you, don't have any friends or anything back at home and it was a bit too quiet."
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She noticed his hesitation but didn't know why. He had been acting a little strange lately, but so had she. Best not to think about it and get back to the conversation. But Iris didn't know what to say. Finally, she just nodded and changed the subject. "I'm, uh, heading to the store to get dinner, so..." She trailed off, not sure how to finish. She huffed to herself, annoyed, and added, "If you want to come that'd be cool," a little too quickly.
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"Yeah i'll go, long as it's fine with you. Still think these stores are way weird compared to the ones back home," Caden chuckled, grinning warmly as he looked back at Iris .
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