( he watches her, because surely he's about to get some measure of an answer as to why this feels so damned familiar, so — right, in the larger scheme of things — but the reaches for the counter instead, and even though there is something in him that says wait, something that feels like some long-suffering, long-lingering hesitance where she's concerned, he. ignores it. in favor of offering some measure of comfort that she can't find elsewhere.

( is that it? )

it dawns on him near-instantly — her name and what she means to him — and it is, decidedly, the one thing he's taken to without any sort of questioning on his own behalf, because it feels like they've been doing this for years, like they've always fallen short of the things they were meant for, and neither of them know it. ) No, it's fine, I wish I could say I didn't know that feelin', but I do. ( yanno, 'cause of his own incident. it still doesn't make much sense in his head, but —

you do, somehow. ) El … Elsa. ( he stumbles a bit, because el seems so much more real to him that the whole of her name, and he looks a bit sheepish. ) High school. Um. That ring a bell?