Elli skidded to a halt in front of the familiar metal door with Dr. Sullivan's name plate next to it. She panted, struggling to catch her breath. She had to regain her composure before she tried to talk to him, or she'd bow out and lose her nerve.

She willed herself to stop gulping down air like an athlete chugs water and straightened her sweater, pulling a few stray loose hairs from the shoulder. She fluffed her ponytail and cleared her throat, taking a deep breath before rapping her knuckles against the cold metal.

"Come in." the familiar light male voice called.

She opened the door, mentally reminding herself to smile. "Dr. Sullivan, hi."

"Oh, Elli." He spun his chair from his overburdened desk. "Sorry, I'd almost forgot, have a seat."

She pulled herself into the chair next to the tallest stack of papers on his desk.

"It looks like you're building a city of paper in your spare time." She joked.

He laughed a rich honey sound. "Yes, I suppose a cleanup is overdue, or I might walk in one day to find I've attracted a wild Godzilla attacking my desk."

She laughed, her nervousness starting to fade. The few times she'd spoken to him out of class, Dr. Sullivan had seemed like such an easy going, nerdy type. Totally up her alley. The more she talked to him, the easier it was, even with her heart fluttering at the knowledge that she was about to ask him something that could turn out terribly awkward.

"So," she coughed, trying to figure out how the conversation should go. "What did you need to talk to me about today?"

"Ah..." he shuffled the papers closest to him, relocating them to a tray on the other side of his Mac computer. "That is a bit complicated."

She waited eagerly, her curiosity piqued.

"To tell you the truth, I was hoping it could wait until the end of the semester, and I'm certainly not hoping to ruin your birthday... but I guess it can't be helped. Would you do me the honor of having dinner with me tonight?"

Elli blinked several times, the gears in her head screeching to a halt. "What?"

"Your place or mine, that doesn't matter.... But I'd like to have a private conversation together. Tonight, preferably."

"Wha..." Elli's brain refused to start working again. "We're having a private conversation now."

"I was afraid it would be a very awkward thing to ask, sorry." Dr. Sullivan ran a hand through his hair.

"N-no!" Elli stammered. "No... Sorry, don't feel awkward. I'm awkward..."

She laughed sheepishly. "I wanted a chance to ask you.... Um, the same thing."

He blinked, his impossibly blue eyes widening in surprise. "You did?"

"Y-yes. I.... um, I've wanted to ask you a long time for a date. Just one, it doesn't have to go anywhere—just coffee, or dinner or something...."

He smiled, leaning forward.

"Well, if you want to count it as a date, I don't mind, Elli."

She could only stare at him in response, her heart making a funny pattern that seemed like it might be wise to seek medical advice if it kept up more than a few minutes.

"So, tonight, 7:30? My place or yours?"

She shifted uncomfortably under his warm gaze. This was going so well, but she remembered her grandmother, probably at home cooking up a storm.

"Er..." she wrung her hands. "Well, I sort of promised my grandmother dinner, and there's going to be a guest—"

"So your place, then." His smile held her. "If that's all right?"

She tilted her head, confused. "You'd be okay having dinner with my grandma and me?"

"It's your birthday, whatever you want."

"Um, o-okay... yeah, sure. Let me just call her real quick and let her know to plate for one more."

"Sounds good." Dr. Sullivan turned to scribble something on a scrap of paper while Elli tapped on her phone.

He handed it to her as the phone rang. It had a phone number, and the name 'Trevor' in the looped script she had memorized from her returned essays.

Dr. Sullivan's first name was Trevor. Her heart started doing that funny pitter-patter as her grandmother picked up the line. She briefly explained the situation to her grandmother, editing out the 'date' and 'with my teacher' parts. Surprisingly, her grandmother sounded cheerful and okay with it, blowing her a kiss before hanging up.

"Well, all right." Elli glanced from her phone to Dr. Sullivan, no, Trevor. "7:30, my place. I'll text you the address?"

"Sure." He nodded, standing. "I've got some papers left to grade, so I'll see you then."

She took her cue and jumped up to leave, pausing at the door.

"Um, thank you."

"Don't thank me yet." His smile wavered just a bit, "See you tonight."

"Yes, tonight." She nodded fervently and let herself out, nearly running into someone outside the door.

She gasped as her eyes met a pair of gray ones glaring down at her.

"S-sorry," she murmured, pushing past the stranger that she'd seen in class earlier.

"You have a bad habit of running into people, huh?" his velvet voice held a touch of amusement.

She glanced back, not sure what to say.

He held onto the door with one hand and waved with the other. "See you later, String Bean."

She stared at his back as he entered Dr. Sullivan's office, unsure if she should be as confused or annoyed as she was.

'String Bean?!' she fumed. Sure, she didn't have much in the curves category, but she wasn't eleven, either.

With a huff, she stomped down the corridor. Who cared if one ruggedly handsome jerk didn't find her attractive, she was going to have dinner with her crush tonight, and that's all that mattered. Her steps slowed as she realized something.

How had Dr. Sullivan/Trevor known it was her birthday?