So this is a bit experimental. I stumbled across a post by Reena Bakir on Tumblr (blog rbcages) and thought it spoke perfectly to Elizabeth and Henry. This is my attempt at following six stages of Henry falling in love with Elizabeth. All credit for the quoted and italicized passages goes to the author, not me.
"One. You see her for the first time and she'll walk right past you like you are a crack in the wall and she is a skyscraper with her head so high in the air and when you can't sleep you'll think about the way her eyes strayed into yours for a moment too long before breaking away and disappearing into the crowd of people."
He's putting a stack of papers in his bag and getting ready to leave the lecture hall when he sees her for the first time. The class he's a TA for just ended, and slowly, students are filing out and those waiting for the next lecture are on their way in.
She enters the room, and he almost doesn't notice. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he spots it — a crown of golden hair, piercing blue eyes, the most beautiful woman he's ever seen. He's immediately transfixed. She walks down the aisle of the lecture hall with purpose and he can't take his eyes off of her. Something deep inside him screams that this is it and she is it and he has to go to her and he doesn't know where all of this is coming from. His gut is telling him to move but the rest of his body has decided to remain firmly rooted in place.
Seconds seem to stretch to minutes and at one point he hears a rustling sound followed by a thud. He doesn't react, beyond the fact that he's aware that he's dropped a full stack of papers but he couldn't care less because there's no way he can take his eyes off of her. She disappears from his view a few seconds later and he abruptly snaps out of his daze. He's still not quite sure what just happened — seeing a woman has never made him feel like this before — and he's sure that later, when he's out of the lecture hall, he'll replay every millisecond in his mind before he falls asleep that night.
Back in reality, he's suddenly acutely aware of the dropped papers and crouches down to gather them when he notices someone has bent down to help him.
It's her.
"I thought you might want some help with these—" she starts, and Henry's head snaps up.
"I, uh, thank you," he stammers, his eyes meeting hers. One look and he's enraptured, the blue of her eyes is deeper and more beautiful than anything he's ever seen before. He gulps, unsure of how to proceed.
They hold eye contact for a moment too long — he still swears, years later that sparks passed between them right then and there — and all of a sudden neither of them know what to do or where to look anymore, so they turn their attention back to the papers, arranging them into neat stacks. She hands him the ones she's gathered and smiles.
"Here." She stands and he gets up too, a second too late, because somehow she's making it hard for him to function like a normal person.
"Yeah, thanks again." He clears his throat, putting his papers back in his bag and realizes she's made no effort to move and find a seat. Henry gathers all his courage and tries out a quip. "So, you're waiting for me to drop more papers?"
"Actually," she replies, a coy smile forming on her lips that he can't help but find irresistible, "your stuff is in my seat."
Oh. Yeah … that makes sense.
"Well," he starts and glances at the clock (he's going out on a limb here in terms of flirtation but somehow this woman makes him flustered and brave all at the same time and he's hooked), "it's mine for another minute and thirty seconds."
She follows his gaze, looks back and cocks a brow. "I think you're down to a minute and fifteen now. You should use your time wisely, till the seat is mine."
Yeah, he really should, take advantage, get to know her while they're sharing the same few square feet of space. Except he has a million questions for her and his 75 seconds are dwindling. He decides to start with the basics.
"Well, I'd like to know who I'll be handing this seat over to."
She grins, having clearly taken the bait. "Elizabeth Adams. And who will I be inheriting it from?"
"Henry McCord, pleased to meet you." He sticks his hand out and she shakes it, and he swears a jolt of electricity passes between them. He looks up again — thirty seconds. Damn, he's already late.
"Well, Elizabeth, I hope you can guard our seat until I'm back, I have to go."
She looks a little disappointed at the prospect and he feels reassured that she doesn't seem to want the conversation to end as much as he does. "I'll do my best, Henry. And I'll give you an update on Thursday."
"Good." He grins, and so does she, and he finally grabs his bag and waves and walks out of the lecture hall, looking back to see her disappear into the crowd of people, having sat down at their seat. He leaves the room feeling giddy and excited and unable to wait for Thursday, because he knows already that he wants to get to know Elizabeth Adams, wants to talk to her for more than 75 seconds next to a lecture hall chair.
But those 75 seconds are a start, and on Thursday, he plans to use 75 more.
tbc.