Clementine was not known for her punctuality. She always seemed to get caught up in something -- homework was a charitable excuse, but the truth was that she was much more likely to get lost scrolling through pinterest, looking for fashion inspiration, or to lose track of time while editing her latest video. Her friends had come to expect her to show up ten minutes late, sipping tea out of hand-painted travel mug and waving as if she hadn’t kept everyone waiting around at the entrance of the Institute like a bunch of weirdos.
But she was never late for her Skype chats with Eloise. It wasn’t something she could explain, but luckily no one had ever asked her to. She told herself it was because it was simply easier to keep the Skpye appointment -- she was on her computer anyways, after all. But the excuse didn’t really hold up. She was regularly late to such things with other friends. She pushed it out of her mind so that she wouldn’t have to admit the truth to even herself: that Eloise was never far from her thoughts, so it was basically impossible to forget meeting with her.
That was why, promptly at 2 PM (8 PM in France -- she didn’t even have to think about it anymore), Clementine sent the call over to Eloise. Watching herself in the webcam, she self-consciously smoothed her hair over and straightened her blouse before Eloise answered. “Ellie! Hey, girl!” She waved at the camera, giggling. She was used to being on camera by this point, between her vlogs, modelling gigs, and constant Skype chats. Still, though, she felt a little bit of butterflies -- because it was still so weird seeing her own face in the corner of the screen, she was sure.
