Dream a Little Dream of Me

She liked the emptiness of campus at night. Mira knew her mother probably would hate the idea of her walking around campus alone at two in the morning, but that’s why she never told her mother. She never really told anyone, not even her roommates. It was probably stupid. If anything happened to her, nobody would know. But she didn’t care. She liked being alone. All alone. Completely alone. There was something about the stillness in the brisk air, the silence of the night, that made her feel cozy and secure. She didn’t go to a major party school, so she never had to worry about running into drunk idiots. They were all mostly off campus or clustered in the dorms on upper campus.

​Tonight was a good night. There was a light mist in the air. Faint water droplets coalesced on her cheeks and hair. The pavement was damp, and all the lights reflected off it in hazes of pale yellow and orange. It was just cold enough that she needed a sweatshirt and jeans, but not too cold that she couldn’t enjoy being out. 65 degrees. Her perfect temperature.

​She made her way from the dorms down toward the quad. Her feet made slapping sounds against the pavement, the only sounds around. It was kind of strange if she thought about it. There wasn’t even outside street noise during her walks. It was like the campus was in its own little bubble and when everything in that bubble went to sleep, so did the noise.

​She walked to the middle of the quad and stood there, out in the open for a while. She did a slow rotation, surveying everything she could see from that spot. There were the customary security lights on in all the buildings, but no movement besides her. The lone person standing in the middle of the quad, in the middle of a campus of thousands of students, all sleeping in their beds or crying over assignments they should have finished weeks ago.

​Mira left the quad and headed for the SUB. As she approached the building, she could hear the radio broadcast playing on the outside speakers. The campus radio always had something playing, and it was both comforting and eerie to be walking at night and hear the indistinguishable murmur of some talk show or the floating melody of an unknown song drifting through the silence and solitude of the night. She always made sure to walk by the radio and see what was on.

​The sounds started forming into notes in a song as she got closer, and she was actually able to pick out a melody and start enjoying it when she turned the corner and saw a young man leaning against the wall under the speaker. She stopped walking.

​He didn’t look up at her. He wore a beige jacket and blue jeans with a bright red baseball hat sitting low on his head. Mira couldn’t see his face. She couldn’t see his hands. They were in his pockets. She wondered if he even knew she was there. His head bobbed a little with the music and he’d tilt it this way and that occasionally as if he were trying to hear better. She wondered if she should turn around and walk away. She wondered if he would be a threat and if it was smart to turn her back to him.

​“You like jazz?” he asked. She didn’t answer but could hear the music was distinctly jazz after he asked, even though she thought it had been classical a moment ago.

​He turned his head and looked at her then, peering out from under the bill of his hat. Smart eyes, shining in the darkness, a slightly larger than average nose.

​“You come here often?” he asked.

​“That’s a lame pickup line if I’ve ever heard one,” Mira said. He smiled and suddenly seemed less intimidating. Maybe it was the dimples. She walked a little closer.

​“Not a pickup line. Just a question,” he said. She shrugged.

​“I make sure to drop by every now and then,” she said. She could see his eyes better now but couldn’t discern the color. They were dark and watching her intently.

​“Do you always trust strangers so easily?”

​She didn’t answer.

​“That could be dangerous, you know,” he said. His smile was gone now. She stopped and wondered if it was too late to turn around and leave. “What’s a girl doing out in the middle of the night alone?”

​“What makes you think I’m alone?”

​“So, if I tried to attack you right now and you screamed, someone would magically appear and help you?” he asked. She pointed to the corner of the building.

​“Cameras,” she said. He looked and shook his head.

​“Those can’t see us here,” he said. Mira looked up and saw that the cameras were pointing in the opposite direction. She looked back at the stranger, and he smirked at her. “Plus, I feel like you’re severely underestimating me.” She didn’t say anything, and she didn’t turn and run. She didn’t want to turn her back on him.

​He pushed off the wall suddenly, lunging in her direction, his hands outstretched. She let out a strangled cry as he stopped just short of her. He smiled and slid his hands back in his pockets. He was only a couple inches taller than her— he had seemed so much bigger.

​“Have a good night,” he said. He turned and started to walk away but paused to throw one more remark over his shoulder. “Be careful. You never know who’s out this time of night.”

She watched until he was gone, leaving her alone with the muffled jazz music crackling through the speaker, until she got too cold and headed back to her room.

^^^

​“I still can’t believe we got out of there without getting busted,” Kendall said. Mira looked up from the plate of frozen lasagna she had been microwaving. Her other three suitemates were sitting in the living room reminiscing about the previous night.

​“I can’t believe you even remember it. You were having a hard time stepping up onto the curb next to the car,” Evelyn said.

​“The police showed up?” Mira asked. Kendall, Evelyn, and Hannah looked over at her.

​“Oh yeah, it was totally crazy. Evelyn and I almost had to carry Kendall out of there to get out,” Hannah said.

Kendall threw one of their throw pillows at Hannah’s head. “Shut up. I was not that drunk.”

“You pissed in a flowerpot!” Evelyn shot back. Kendall rolled her eyes.

Mira stuck her lasagna back in the microwave for another three minutes and went to sit in the only empty chair in the living room. They had only been living together for a little over a month, but they’d all picked their spots. Evelyn sat on the right side of the couch, Kendall would sprawl across the couch and Evelyn’s lap, and Hannah sat in the chair closest to the door. That left the chair on the left by the window for Mira.

“What did you do last night, Mira?” Hannah asked. Kendall rolled her eyes again and pretended to go to sleep.

“Oh, I just read a book and went to bed,” Mira said, setting up a TV tray and turning on the television to find something to watch before her food was ready.

“Lame,” Kendall said. Mira shrugged. If Kendall thought her life was lame, then so be it. Besides, she hadn’t actually gone to bed that early, but she didn’t have to tell them that.

“You know, sometimes that actually sounds kind of nice. I think I might stay in next time and just read a book,” Evelyn said in Mira’s defense. They all knew that wasn’t going to happen. Evelyn couldn’t pass up an opportunity to see Luke, and Luke was at all the parties.

​“Whatever. We need to throw a party here sometime,” Kendall said. The girls looked at her.

​“Housing would kill us,” Hannah pointed out.

​“Not if we don’t get caught.”

​“The chances of us throwing a party, having alcohol on a dry campus, being underage, and not getting caughtare slim to none,” Evelyn stated.

​“I’ve always enjoyed a challenge,” Kendall said with a grin. Mira was about to put in her two cents when the microwave beeped. She got up to go get her lasagna and would state her case when she returned.

​A party in their suite? What was Kendall thinking? They could get fined if they were caught, which they would be. They could get kicked out if they were caught, which they would be. Not to mention the noise, and the cleanup, and just the annoyance of cramming dozens of sweaty bodies in their tiny suite. No thank you. Also, where would Mira go during that time? She could go walk around campus, but what if it was cold by then? She wasn’t about to subject herself to the harsh conditions of winter just so Kendall could virtually destroy their suite with her stupid party fantasy. She wasn’t about to subject herself to the possibility of frostbite so Evelyn could flirt with Luke in her own home. She wasn’t about to subject herself to the elements so Hannah could show off her ability to make a vodka tonic. Honestly, who couldn’t make a vodka tonic? Actually, what was a vodka tonic? Mira had never seen Hannah make one and had never had one herself.

​Mira grabbed her plate of lasagna and walked back into the living room ready to make her case, but the girls had moved on to talking about something else.

^^^

“Knock, knock,” Evelyn said, pretending to knock on Mira’s open door. Mira looked up from Little Women, putting her Gender in Literature class on hold for a moment.

​“Wow, you look great,” Mira said. Evelyn was wearing a tight red dress that made her cleavage look far more impressive than it was and made her dark hair contrast against her skin even more. Evelyn smiled almost shyly.

​“Thanks,” she said. “We’re about to head out, and I was just double checking to make sure you didn’t want to go with us.”

​Mira shook her head.

​“Nah, I should really get caught up on these chapters. I have to see what’s going to happen to Beth. You know how it is,” she said.

​Evelyn gave Mira a look like “come on,” like she wasn’t buying it.

​“Seriously, I’m good. Go show Luke how hot you are,” Mira said. Evelyn turned as red as her dress.

​“I’m not- I mean, he isn’t- I don’t even-“

​“Chill, Evelyn. We all know. Seriously, go.”

​“Okay, I’ll leave the address in case you change your mind. Don’t spend your whole life reading. Come out once in a while and have some fun.” Evelyn left the doorway and Mira could hear the other girls chattering excitedly as they headed out the door. A couple seconds later Evelyn called to Mira, “the address is on the fridge,” and then the front door opened and closed, and Mira was alone.

​As much as Evelyn believed Mira was wasting her life away in her room reading, and as much as Kendall thought Mira was living a lame life, Mira knew that wasn’t true. She just lived differently. There wasn’t anything wrong with different. Besides, Mira came to college to actually goto college, to learn things, and become a teacher, and help kids so that maybe they’d value knowledge and wouldn’t all one day end up at college partying their lives away like Kendall. So, Mira finished reading her chapters, cried a little because who would do that to such a sweet character like Beth? And then pulled on her sweatshirt and shoes and left the suite per usual on Friday nights.

​She walked down the hall toward the lobby of their building and past the front desk where a resident assistantsat at all times.

​“Hey Mira.” It was Garrett sitting at the desk, and he always stopped Mira to talk.

​“Oh, hey Garrett,” Mira said, turning and smiling at him. He motioned for her to come over to the desk and talk. She didn’t want to be rude, so she obliged and went to lean her elbows on the top of the desk for a while.

​“I wanted to let you know about some events coming up. You know how important it is to get involved,” he said. Mira nodded as he pulled out some fliers from a paper organizing tray and spread them out across the top of the desk. “So, next Thursday we have a talk going on in the Klondike suites in the SUB about safe sex and consent and all that jazz, so make sure and tell your friends.”

​Mira had to stifle a laugh. The concept of having friends already amused her, but so did the fact that the closest people she could consider her friends were her roommates and they almost definitely needed to go hear that talk.

​“On Wednesday we also have a guest speaker coming in from the police department to talk about ‘safe campus’ procedures and a new program that we’re hoping to implement this year after all the rumors and stuff started swirling again last year. I don’t know if it’s necessary though, you know?” Garrett said.

​“Why not?”

​“Well, I mean, it’s all just a bunch of old stories. Nobody can even confirm anything really has ever happened here, and people leave all the time. I don’t know what more a program could do than just being aware and keeping your head on a swivel, you know? You just have tobe smart and safe. I think the biggest threat is just the school’s PR nightmare that keeps getting dredged up from the rumors that refuse to die.”

​Mira nodded. She kind of agreed with him. When her mom had heard the stories last year about the people disappearing from campus over the years and freaked out about it, almost to the point of not letting Mira go to school in August, Mira had thought she was just overreacting. It was like Garrett had said, people would leave all the time for different reasons. They would drop out without telling anyone. Or they would run away and try to start over. It wasn’t as big of a deal as some people wanted you to believe. The college had even released statements saying that the media had blown things out of proportion over the years each time the rumors resurfaced and continually touted the campus as the fourth safest in the nation. As to how they determined that, Mira was unsure. She thought that this new program initiative was probably just to cover their asses.

​“And next weekend our building is going to have a game night. It’ll be fun. There will be lots of free snacks and lots of chances to win prizes,” Garrett said, breezing on to the next flier.

​“Sounds fun.”

​“I hope to see you and your roommates there.”

​“We’ll think about it,” Mira said. She pushed off the desk and started to back away. “I’m going to head out now,so I’ll see you later.”

​“Okay, see ya later. Be safe out there.”

​Mira nodded and turned away to push out the front doors. She stepped outside and hesitated a moment, deciding which route to take on her walk tonight. Usually,she would go to upper campus first, walk around the other dorms, the science buildings, and the football stadium first, then make her way down toward lower campus and the quad before swinging by the radio speaker and heading home. She could take her normal route, but something was making her want to head down toward the quad and the radio first. She started walking toward the quad, but only made it about a hundred feet before turning around to go her normal way.

​She had all night. She could go to the quad and the radio later. There was no need to rush there.

​Mira walked toward upper campus, stepping over the cracks in the sidewalk. No need to break her mother’s back. She was already doing something her mother wouldn’t approve of.

​As she approached the other dorms on upper campus, she could hear laughter and squeals from open windows above. It sounded like somebody was having a good time. Those were the party dorms. Sure, they had all the same rules as the dorm Mira stayed in, but the RAs were a little more lax and nobody really cared anyway. It was where all the people like Kendall lived. Mira wasn’t quite sure why Kendall applied to be in the dorm they were in. It was mostly for the serious students. When Mira first met Kendall, she was surprised that she hadn’t applied for the dorms on upper campus. Most incoming freshmen did simply because they already knew the dorms’ reputations.

​Mira walked toward the football stadium, but decided it was too far of a walk and she didn’t want to go all the way up there. There wasn’t anything going on around there anyway, and it was kind of just dark and creepy around the stadium. There weren’t a lot of lights on in the parking lot. Instead, she turned and headed back toward lower campus and toward the quad and toward the radio speaker.

​There were more people out tonight. Mira could hear cars driving down the road that wound through campus and people laughing and talking as they walked between dorms and toward the SUB. She avoided those people.

​She walked to the middle of the quad and looked around at the buildings, as she did every time. There was a slight breeze making the flag by the administration buildingflap against the flagpole and cast dancing shadows on the building behind it. A car zoomed through campus, honking all the way. Probably some idiot on a peacocking high.

​Mira turned and headed toward the radio speaker. Just before she rounded the corner, her footsteps unconsciously slowed. She stopped before the speaker was in view. She didn’t know why she stopped. She didn’t know why she was being cautious. It wasn’t as late as the last time she went out, so there were definitely people around. If anything happened…

​The speaker was playing jazz again, something slow and crooning. Taking a deep breath, Mira looked around the corner and saw the same figure leaning up against the wall under the speaker. He was wearing black jeans and the same beige jacket, a black baseball cap. Hands in his pockets, head tilting this way and that. His posture wasn’t as relaxed this time though. He seemed more like a dog at attention than a cat resting in the sun. As Mira stood and watched him, she couldn’t remember why she was so frightened of him after their last meeting. She hadn’t truly admitted it to herself, but their last meeting had indeed frightened her. It wasn’t so much as a specific fear, but more of a feeling. Now, standing there again, she couldn’t figure out the source of that feeling and couldn’t remember why it had felt so intense.

​Just when she decided she was going to go over and talk to him again, her fears completely assuaged, her stomach suddenly plummeted, and her hands grew clammy and then intensely hot. She stopped and leaned against the wall. She looked at the stranger again and the fear was back, less intense than the last time, but still there. Mira started to back away, and just before she turned her back to him, the stranger took a little black notebook out of his pocket, consulted it, carefully placed it back in his pocket and walked away.

​Mira shivered and let out a shaky breath, then turned and ran back to her room.

^^^

​“Oh. My. Gosh. That was by far the best party we’ve been to this year,” Kendall exclaimed as the three girls walked into the suite around three in the morning. Mira looked away from the television as her roommates all collapsed in the living room around her in their respective spots. “Mira, you have to go with us next time.”

​“Oh, stop it. You’re exaggerating because you’re drunk,” Hannah said.

​Surprisingly, Kendall didn’t seem that drunk.

​“I am not! I’m not even buzzed anymore,” Kendall said defensively. She turned to Mira. “That’s how great this party was. I didn’t even have to drink a lot to have fun. That’s why I think you would have fun at the next one. No pissing in flowerpots for this girl. Not today, sir.”

​Mira turned to Evelyn.

​“How did Luke like your dress?” she asked. Evelyn blushed, and Kendall let out a loud snort.

​“He couldn’t even see it! He was too busy sucking herface!” Kendall screamed.

Mira covered her ear closest to Kendall and stared at Evelyn in shock. “No way! For reals?”

​“For reals,” Hannah answered for Evelyn. “Our little Evie has got some game.”

​“Mira,” Kendall turned on the couch and grabbed Mira’s hand with both of hers. “Mira,” she repeated. “You have to go with us next time. You can’t keep missing out on this stuff.”

​Mira thought about her night, reading Little Women, walking the campus, that weird sick feeling she got before heading back to the dorm, and watching Wheel of Fortune until three in the morning.

​“Please, Mira,” Kendall said. “Please.”

​Mira sighed. It wasn’t like she had anything better to do, honestly. And one party wouldn’t hurt. It would get Kendall to stop crushing her hand and making that weird pleading face. Was she trying to be cute? Maybe she wasdrunk.

​“Oh, fine. I’ll go to the next one,” Mira conceded.

​Kendall squealed while Hannah and Evelyn stared at Mira in shock.

^^^

​So that was how Mira ended up standing in front of her full length mirror the following Saturday night in a little black dress with Kendall screaming for her to hurry up so they could leave already. She pulled at the hem self-consciously. Hannah was a little less leggy than Mira, so what was an acceptable length on Hannah was borderline inappropriate on Mira. The three other girls insisted that Mira wear Hannah’s dress though, so there she was.

​“Mira, if you don’t get your ass out here right now, I’m going to come in, kick it, and then drag you out here ready or not,” Kendall threatened. Mira grimaced in the mirror, then grabbed her purse and walked out into the living room.

​“Oh my gosh!” Evelyn was the first to see her.

​“Sweet Jesus,” Hannah added.

​“Holy shit, Mira! Why didn’t you tell us you were hot?” Kendall said. Mira shrugged and folded her arms across her stomach. “No, don’t do that. Don’t hide. You have to carry yourself in a way that matches how you look.”

​“Kendall, quit it. You got her to agree to go to the party with us and we got her to wear the dress. Leave her alone now,” Evelyn said. Kendall waved her away like her baby hairs that fell out of her high ponytail.

​“First of all, get rid of this,” Kendall said, grabbing Mira’s purse. She rifled through it to find Mira’s phone and school ID that she needed to get back into their dorm building. She then tossed Mira’s purse onto the couch and shoved the phone and ID down the front of Mira’s dress until it rested securely in her bosom.

​“Um, thanks?” Mira said, staring down at her chest.

​“Don’t move,” Kendall said. She disappeared into her room. Mira could hear things being thrown on the floor as Kendall seemed to be looking for something.

​“What happened to us being late and it being the end of the world?” Hannah said. Kendall popped her head out of her door and shot her a dirty look.

​“That was before we saw her. We can’t walk in with this piece of ass looking like, well, an ass. Everyone will notice her, and since everyone will notice her and therefore us, we want her to be at her very best. Capiche?”

​Hannah rolled her eyes and sat down in her chair in the living room. Kendall disappeared again for a minute and then reappeared, looking triumphant. Mira pulled at the bottom of her dress again and Kendall’s hand shot out and smacked her wrist.

​“Don’t do that!”

​Hannah, Evelyn, and Mira all jumped at the sharpness of Kendall’s tone. Kendall shook her head and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath to exaggerate the act of composing herself. She opened her eyes and looked at Mira again.

​“Don’t let them see that you’re uncomfortable. Lips.”

​“Pardon?” Mira said. Kendall sighed again and held up a tube of dark berry lip gloss. She poised her lips as if she were going to apply it on herself but motioned for Mira to copy her. Mira obliged as Kendall pumped the application wand in and out of the tube, then liberally applied it to Mira’s lips.

​“Arms out and close your eyes,” Kendall commanded. She reached into her room and pulled what looked like an old perfume bottle off her desk.

​“Close my-“ Mira started just as Kendall spritzed a puff of golden glitter at her face. Mira choked on the gritty cloud and started coughing.

​“Mouth too. Sorry.” Kendall walked around her, spritzing the rest of her with the body glitter before stepping back and admiring her work. “Stop that coughing. It’s unattractive.”

​“I’m sorry. I’m just trying not to die here.”

​“You should wear your hair down. It makes you look more approachable.”

​Mira slowly reached up and pulled her ponytail out of her hair, letting her hair fall around her shoulders. Kendall stepped up and quickly did some adjustments to it, then stepped back for one final inspection.

​“It’ll do. Let’s go, bitches!” Kendall must have been taking shots while Mira was getting ready. She always swore more with alcohol in her system.

​The girls hustled out of their suite and headed for Hannah’s car. She was the only one with a car, so Hannah and Evelyn and Kendall would trade off who would be designated driver each week. Kendall informed Mira almost conspiratorially that she had never actually been designated driver and had always found a way out of it. Mira just smiled. It was kind of rude of Kendall to ditch her responsibilities of designated driver when it was her turn, but she was being nice to Mira, so Mira wasn’t going to tell her that.

​About fifteen minutes later, Mira and her roommates pulled up outside a small bungalow of a house in the foothills outside of town with cars parked all the way up and down the street. They walked up to the door and pushed their way past the guys standing out front, arguing with one of the hosts to let them in. The guy guarding the door smiled at the girls and waved them through immediately. His eyes lingered on Mira as she passed.

​“Man, this party is already bumping. Usually they’re still letting guys in when we get here,” Kendall said as she looped her arm through Mira’s and stepped over the threshold. A large sweaty mass of people waited on the other side.

​“Why aren’t they letting those guys in?” Mira asked, looking back over her shoulder to see the guys waiting outside just as the door closed behind her.

​“Because, there are too many people in here already so now they’re just letting girls in. It’s common practice,” Kendall explained.

​“Yeah, but-“

​“Just drop it, okay? Let’s have a good time.”

​They followed Evelyn and Hannah as they worked their way deeper into the throbbing mass of college students. Mira was highly aware of all the people around her and became even more aware of the ones that were stopping and staring at her. She felt the urge to pull her dress down but remembered Kendall’s sharp admonitions back at the suite and resisted.

​The girls pushed their way toward the kitchen in the back of the house. Mira could hear music coming from the garage toward her right and laughter and squeals coming up the stairs to her left that led down to a basement. The back door was open, letting cold night air in, and Mira desperately wanted to go stand by it. How was it so blazing hot in a house?

​Suddenly someone pinched Mira’s rear, and she jumped, swinging around to see who had violated her. Kendall noticed and turned with her. Mira recognized the guy as one of the obnoxious guys that sat in the back of her biology lecture. He obviously didn’t recognize her.

​“Hey, Kendall, who’s your hot friend?” he asked, his eyes traveling along Mira’s body.

​“Ew, get out of here, Donnie. Nobody wants to catch your eye STDs,” Kendall pushed him away and forcefully pulled Mira toward the kitchen. People filled in the space between them and Donnie, and he lost interest. “He’s disgusting. Stay away from him.”

​“He pinched my ass,” Mira said. Kendall looked over her shoulder and glared in Donnie’s direction, even though he had disappeared in the sea of people.

​“Like I said, disgusting.”

​They finally made it to the kitchen where Hannah and Evelyn were. Kendall grabbed one of the plastic cups on the counter and handed it to Mira. “Here, drink this.”

​“My mom said to never drink something you didn’t pour yourself,” Mira said looking down into the cup and the liquid within. Kendall groaned.

​“Ugh, fine. Just to please mommy, I’ll take that one and you can have this one,” Kendall said, grabbing a new cup and filling it from the keg nearby. She thrust it into Mira’s hands and grabbed the cup Mira was holding. She threw her head back and began chugging the beer as Mira and her other two roommates watched. She didn’t stop until it was all gone, and she came up spluttering and gasping and wincing. “Oh man, that stuff is nasty.” She filled her cup again.

​Mira glanced at Hannah and Evelyn to see if they were worried, but they just shrugged.

​“I’m gonna go dance now,” Kendall said, and then walked away with her full cup. They watched her cut her way through the crowd and disappear. Mira turned to ask her other two roommates if they should follow her, but when she turned around, Evelyn was making out with Luke, who had appeared out of nowhere, and Hannah was gone. She sighed and looked down at the beer in her hand. What a disappointment.

​Mira looked around the party and decided to make some rounds, looking to see if she knew anybody else. She went out of the kitchen and walked into the back room of the house. There were couches there and just as many people as there were in the rest of the house it seemed. People were making out on the couches or talking or doing other things that involved what her mother called “the devil’s lettuce.” It all made Mira uncomfortable, so she walked down the hallway on the other side of the room. There was a long line of people lining the wall, and it took her a moment to realize they were waiting for the bathroom. When she got to the front of the line, she could clearly hear crying coming from the bathroom and could tell from the faces of everyone in the hallway that it had been going on for quite some time. Mira grimaced and walked to the end of the hallway, which spit her back out in the front room by the house’s front door. She hadn’t found anyone she knew and didn’t see Hannah anywhere, so she headed for the back door to cool off.

​As she pushed through the wall of people and the back door came into view, she suddenly stopped. He was there. Not by the radio like normal. He was by the back door, in that house, at that party. He was wearing the same black jeans and black hat as last time, but instead of his beige jacket, he was wearing a black jacket of the same style. Mira swallowed and finally took a drink of her beer. She pulled her dress down and walked over to the stranger but not stranger by the back door.

​“Come here often?” she said as she leaned up against the door jamb opposite him.

​“That’s a lame pickup line if I’ve ever heard one,” he said without looking at her.

​“Yeah, well, maybe I’m just curious,” she replied. He looked at her then and smiled slightly, showing off his dimples and exposing his teeth. She half expected him to have unnaturally pointy canines, but they were normal teeth— slightly crooked.

​“That’s not the line,” he said.

​“Who said I was reciting lines?”

​He shrugged.

​“What are you doing here?” Mira asked, taking a drink of her beer again. It really was nasty stuff, but she couldn’t help herself. She wanted to keep slightly busy as she talked to him.

​“I could ask you the same thing,” he said.

​“True, I just thought that you didn’t like this scene.”

​“Now, how would you know what I like and don’t like?”

​“I know you like jazz.”

​“That’s a pretty dress you have on,” he motioned at her dress, and she suddenly felt uncomfortable again. She pulled at the hem and looked away, hoping her face wasn’t red.

​“It’s not really mine. It’s not my style,” she said quietly.

​“Still, it looks good on you,” he said. Mira looked at him then and he smiled. She couldn’t help but smile a little bit back. “I missed you last week, Mira.”

​“Wait, how do you-“

​“Kendall, you need to stop now!”

​Mira turned at the sound of Hannah’s voice over the entire crowd. She could see her roommates fighting over a plastic cup in Kendall’s hands in the middle of the front room. Evelyn ran up to Mira.

​“We have a problem, and we need backup,” she said. Kendall was screaming profanities at Hannah. Evelyn pushed her way back over to them and Mira turned to apologize to the stranger, but he was gone. She looked around in the crowd and then out the door onto the deck, but he wasn’t anywhere.

​“Mira! Tell them to stop!” Kendall yelled, bringing Mira’s attention back to her roommates. She hurried over and snaked her arm through Kendall’s.

​“Kendall, how about we go downstairs?” Mira said. Kendall stopped fighting with Hannah and let go of her cup.

​“Yeah! Let’s go.”

​They headed toward the stairs leading to the basement,and Mira looked around again for the stranger. He was just gone. Evelyn came on the other side of Kendall, and they helped her down the stairs.

​The basement was a little less crowded and they went into the room with the least amount of people. There were windows high up in the walls, couches lining the edges of the room, and a ping pong table in the middle with beer pong set up. Mira and Evelyn deposited Kendall on one of the couches and looked down at her as Hannah ran down the stairs and joined them. Kendall flung her arms out and shook her head, making raspberries. Her hair was down and in her face.

​“Welcome to our Saturday nights, Mira,” Hannah said.

​“She always has to get drunk,” Evelyn said.

​“I thought she didn’t even need alcohol last week,” Mira said.

​“She didn’t! I don’t know what happened this week,” Hannah said.

​“I do,” Evelyn said. She rolled her eyes. “I saw Jackson upstairs. He must have shown up late.”

​“Oh man,” Hannah said. Mira looked between her roommates.

​“Wait, who is Jackson?”

​“Just someone Kendall thought she was in love with,” Evelyn explained.

​“I do love him!” Kendall protested from the couch.

​“Shut it!” Evelyn snapped. To Hannah and Mira, she said, “He’s got a new bimbo, and they were here together.”

​Suddenly Kendall shot upright and threw her hands in the air.

​“Shhh. Shhh. Shhh,” she exclaimed, climbing to her feet unsteadily. “They’re coming.”

​“Oh shit!” Hannah said.

​“What? Who?” Mira asked as Hannah and Evelyn started taking their shoes off.

​“They’re here,” Kendall whispered.

​“Who’s here?” Mira asked. Evelyn swooped down and popped Kendall’s shoes off.

​“The police. It’s like a sixth sense she has,” Hannah explained, climbing on the back of one of the couches and sliding a window open. There were noises upstairs, people yelling and complaining loudly. Loud footsteps. Hannah popped the screen out and looked around outside. “Quick. We’re clear right now.”

​Hannah threw her shoes out the window and pulled herself up and out, then turned around and motioned through the window for the others to follow her. Evelyn helped Kendall up onto the couch, and with the help of both Hannah and Evelyn, Kendall climbed out through the window, flashing Mira in the process. She really wasn’t lying when she said she never wore underwear to a party. Evelyn threw her shoes and Kendall’s shoes out the window and followed them swiftly and easily. Mira heard someone coming down the stairs. She dropped to the ground, yanked off her shoes like the other girls had, threw them through the window and pulled herself up, scraping her elbows on the rocks outside the window and her knee on the basement wall. Someone grabbed her arms and pulled her the rest of the way through the window. Evelyn shoved Mira’s shoes into her hands and then they all took off running across the yard. Hannah jumped the neighbor’s fence, Mira and Evelyn helped Kendall over, and then followed. They could hear yelling from the house behind them, but whether it was the police or the college students or both or if any of it was directed at them or if they had gotten away undetected was all uncertain. Mira just ran. They made their way to the street, and all piled into Hannah’s car. Hannah drove away before any of them had their seatbelts on.

​“Good call, Kendall,” Evelyn said after they had ridden in silence for a few minutes.

​“You’re welcome, Miss Hickey,” Kendall said from the back seat next to Mira. Evelyn’s hand shot up to her neck and covered the bruise that was forming there.

​“So, I never want to do that again,” Mira said.

​“Party pooper,” Kendall said. Her head lolled to the side and smacked against Mira’s shoulder. “Don’t pretend like you didn’t have a good time. I saw you talking to that guy.”

​Mira remembered the stranger standing in the doorway. So, Kendall had seen him. But where had he gone?

​“He was cute,” Kendall said. “Who was he?”

​Mira didn’t answer, because truthfully, she didn’t know. But somehow, he knew her.

^^^

​Biology was by far Mira’s least favorite class, so while she was generally on top of all her reading for her literature classes and easily completed the homework problems for her math class, she was severely behind on all her biology work. She would always save it all for Sunday night, spend hours reading the same sentence over and over again, and not get most of it done. So, when Hannah stuck her head into Mira’s room the following night and told her that they were watching a movie in the living room and Mira should join them, Mira didn’t hesitate for a moment.

​“So, what are we watching?” Mira asked, taking her spot in the chair by the window.

​“Some lame ass black and white movie from like three hundred years ago,” Kendall said, setting up her laptop with the HDMI cable hooked up to the television.

​“I think your timeline is off a little bit,” Hannah said. Kendall rolled her eyes as she pulled the movie up on the screen.

​“Ah, Faust, a classic,” Mira said. Kendall pressed play and took her seat.

​“You’ve seen it?” Kendall asked.

​“Hell no. I just know about it to sound smart,” Mira said. Evelyn laughed. “You know, kind of like everyone claims to have read classics like A Tale of Two Cities and Pride and Prejudice and stuff.”

​“Oh, thank goodness, because I didn’t want you spoiling this viewing experience for me,” Kendall said. All the girls laughed.

​“So, why are we watching this?” Mira asked. Kendall groaned.

​“It’s for my stupid intro to film appreciation class. I thought we’d just get to watch a bunch of cool movies and talk about them in class, but we have to watch all these stupid old movies and write papers about them and talk about stuff that doesn’t even matter,” Kendall explained.

​“Well, the main character makes a deal with the devil so I’m sure there’s probably some debauchery included in this movie, so you might like it,” Mira offered.

​“I am a sucker for debauchery,” Kendall conceded.

​“Plus, you’ve got all of us here to watch it with you and make fun of it,” Hannah said.

​“True. It does make it better with you guys suffering through it with me,” Kendall said. She turned and smiled at Mira. “And I’m glad you could join us this time.”

​“This time? You mean you guys have been doing this?” Mira asked.

​“Oh, yeah. I have to watch one movie a week and Evelyn and Hannah have been watching them with me. It’s Evelyn’s turn to make the popcorn,” Kendall said.

​“We’re sorry we didn’t invite you before,” Hannah said.

​“Yeah, we thought maybe you didn’t like us very much,” Kendall added. Mira felt her face grow a little red. It was true that she hadn’t been too fond of them in the beginning. That she had been a tad bit judgmental about their habits and their partying. But that was before they had started being nice to her and acting like they actually wanted to be friends with her too.

​“Well, you know, I kind of have a hard time making friends,” Mira said instead of trying to explain her emotional journey. Kendall snorted.

​“You have to leave your room to make friends, so that’s not really a surprise.”

​“Oh, be nice to her,” Evelyn said from the kitchen. Mira could hear the popcorn going crazy in the microwave.

​“No, it’s okay. I’m out of my room now, and I’m glad I’m here too.”

​And maybe they didn’t watch Faust with perfect concentration, or even the concentration required for Kendall to write a decent paper, but Kendall didn’t seem to mind, and Mira enjoyed trying to catch popcorn in her mouth, and Mira enjoyed throwing pieces of popcorn at the other girls, and jokingly saying “that’s your boyfriend” to her suitemates when Mephistopheles would come on screenin his tights and exaggerated makeup, and Mira enjoyed when they would tease her back. Overall, it was a good way to spend Sunday night.

^^^

​“Do you have any cash?” Kendall asked as she sat on Mira’s bed watching Mira get ready for that night. Mira was carefully applying her lip gloss in her full-length mirror.

​“Um, maybe a few dollars, why?”

​“You don’t have any Benjamins or anything?”

​“Are you asking me if I have any one hundred dollarbills?” Mira turned and looked at Kendall skeptically.

​“Yeah, it’ll take at least two hundred to get us all into the club,” Kendall didn’t even look up from her phone.

​So that’s what they were doing tonight. Mira thought they were just going to another party, but her roommates had told her to dress a little more mature than she had at the last party. Now she knew it was because she needed to look older to get in somewhere.

​“A club?”

​“Yeah, they aren’t supposed to let anyone under twenty-one in, but they’re paid off pretty easily.”

​“Two hundred is easy?” Mira thought she could probably find some cheaper entertainment on a Friday night, but she didn’t necessarily want to rock the boat. It had been three weeks and three classic movies since the night she went to the party with them, and things had been going pretty great for once.

​“Well, I mean, kind of. Other places are more strict, so the price is higher. Evelyn can spot us. I just thought that if you had any then maybe you could pitch in,” Kendall said. She jumped off Mira’s bed and ran through the suite yelling Evelyn’s name before Mira could ask where Evelyn was going to get that kind of money so fast.

​Mira took one last look at herself in the mirror and nodded in approval before walking out into the living room to join her roommates. Twenty minutes and a brief explanation of Evelyn’s family’s finances later, the four girls pulled up outside a plain brick building with a green neon sign above an unassuming metal door.

​The girls got out of the car, paid the man just inside the door, and made their way deep into the building. There were crowds of people on a dimly lit dance floor in the middle of the large room that made up most of the building. On one side of the room there was a stage, presumably for bands to perform on, though there was no live music. On the other side of the room there was the bar.

​“So, game plan tonight, find Kendall a new man,” Kendall said as the girls looked around.

​“So that we can actually go back to another party without making a huge scene when Jackson shows up?” Hannah asked.

​“It wasn’t that bad.” Kendall tried to defend herself but shrunk back at the looks from the other girls. Mira looked away from her roommates and took in the club.

​The people here were older than the people they were normally around at the parties, but just as sloppy and out of control. It just goes to show you that when you introduce alcohol, people revert to lesser forms of themselves, Mira thought. Her eyes scanned the crowd, though she didn’t know what she was looking for. Her roommates were arguing about what to do behind her when her eyes landed on a figure sitting on a stool at the bar. He was facing the entrance to the club, and if Mira wasn’t mistaken, staring directly at her. She glanced around to see if there was anything more notable than her, but when she found nothing particularly interesting, looked back at him and was convinced he was looking at her.

​Without a word to her roommates, Mira started snaking her way through the crowd, headed for the bar. She never looked away from him once, and as she got closer, a slow smile spread across his face.

​“Fancy bumping into you again,” Mira said when she reached him. He hooked his foot around the leg of the stool next to him and pulled it out for Mira to sit on.

​“I could say the same thing,” he replied as Mira climbed onto the stool. He looked her over and smiled slyly. “You look good, Mira.”

​“I try,” Mira said, feeling completely different than she did the last time she saw him. He raised his eyebrows, though they could barely be seen under his black hat.

​“Confidence suits you,” he said. “What do you drink?”

​“Oh, I should just have water.”

​“Nonsense, what would you like?” He turned on his stool to face her, though she was still sitting with her back to the bar like he had been.

​Mira thought a moment. He leaned into her a little bit, hooking his foot around the leg of her stool again and pulling her a little closer.

​“Tell me what you want, Mira,” he whispered.

​“I want to pass my bio midterm,” Mira said with a nervous laugh. He leaned away from her, still looking intently at her face, and slowly smiled.

​“Okay,” he said nodding. He turned around to face the bar and lean his elbows on the counter. “Trust me, you’ll pass your bio midterm.”

​Mira looked at him, confused. How could he say something like that? He didn’t even know her, or her study habits, or her strengths, or weaknesses for that matter. If he had been a close friend, it would mean something if he said that; it would mean that he believed in her abilities. He wasn’t a close friend though, so how could he say that?

​He motioned for the bartender, and the bartender came right over.

​“A vodka cranberry for the lady, please,” he said. The bartender nodded and left them.

​“Um, you know I’m underage, right? I can’t drink that,” Mira said, turning on her stool to face him.

​The bartender brought the drink back over and set it in front of the stranger. The stranger gently nudged it in front of Mira.

​“It’s there if you’re curious,” he said.

​Mira looked at the drink, the dark red was really pretty. She always enjoyed looking at all the drinks in restaurant menus and marveling at how pretty they all were. And she was a fan of cranberry juice. And she’d never had a vodka cranberry before. Her fingers wrapped around the glass and pulled it a little closer to her.

​“My mom said never to drink anything you didn’t pour yourself,” Mira whispered.

​“I’m not making you drink it, Mira,” he said. “But your mom isn’t here, and we watched the bartender make it just right over there.”

​Mira stared at the drink in her hand. “Who are you?”

​“You know who I am, Mira.”

​“No, I don’t, but somehow you know my name,” Mira said. The stranger turned to face her, miraculously not smacking his knees against hers.

​“Does that bother you?”

​“A little, yeah. I don’t even know your name. What you’re studying. Do you even go to my school? Why do you keep showing up where I am?”

​Mira waited for him to respond, but he just stared at her, a faint smile playing at the corner of his lips. Mira looked away quickly, her stomach was starting to feel a little queasy. She really wanted some water, but the bartender wasn’t anywhere in sight, so she took a little drink of her vodka cranberry.

​“Those are all valid questions,” he finally said. Mira looked at him and he smiled. Her stomach settled down a little. “You want to know my name?”

​“That would be a good start, yes.”

​“Okay, I’ll tell you my name, but you have to guess it first.”

​“That’s not fair.”

​“That’s the rules of the game,” he said.

​Mira bit her lip and then took a quick swig of her drink and leaned on one elbow on the bar, resting her chin on her fist.

​“Okay, fine. Justin.”

​“What a horribly boring name.”

​“Anthony, Harrison, Mark?”

​“No to all three,” he said. He smiled at her, and she actually smiled back.

​“Julio.”

​“Nope.”

​“Quincy?”

​“What kind of name is that?”

​“Well, I don’t know. You said Justin was a boring name, so I went for something more out there.”

​“Fair enough.”

​“Oliver. You look like an Oliver to me,” Mira said. He looked disgusted, and Mira laughed.

​“I most certainly do not look like an Oliver,” he said.

​“Fine, give me a hint at least,” Mira said. She took another drink.

​“It’s pretty out there,” he said finally. Mira thought a moment, taking several drinks. Suddenly Mira started laughing.

​“I’ve got it!”

​“You don’t.”

​“I do too,” she said. He shook his head, and she leaned in closer to him. “No, listen, I’ve got it.” She grabbed his knee because she suddenly felt a little dizzy. “Whoa.”

​“You okay?”

​Mira looked at him and blinked a couple times to clear her head.

​“Yeah, yeah, totally fine. I know your name though. You ready?”

​“As I’ll ever be.”

​“Rutherford.”

​He just stared at her for a moment as the name sunk in between them. Mira started giggling.

​“Like the president?” He asked. She nodded and started laughing. He shook his head.

​“I assure you, my name is much stranger than that,” he said. He looked over her shoulder at something and then back at her face. He grabbed Mira’s hand that was resting on his knee and Mira sat up straight. Her stomach felt all gooey and queasy and excited and warm and her heart seemed to be beating a lot faster, but it wasn’t necessarily bad. “Good luck on your bio midterm, Mira.” He dropped her hand, and she instantly wanted him to take it again.

​“There you are!” Kendall’s voice made Mira turn on her stool. “We’ve been looking for you. Tonight’s been a total bust. Let’s get out of here.”

​“Oh, yeah, okay, let me just say goodbye.”

​Mira turned on her stool, but he was gone.

^^^

​The weather was turning cold, but Mira didn’t care much. She still liked to take her late-night walks. Since she had started going to parties though, she’d had fewer nights for walks and the nights she had been able to go on walks were weeknights. It had been a couple weeks since she had been able to take a walk, and it had been about a month since Mira had seen the stranger at the club. She couldn’t get that last meeting out of her head though. He still hadn’t told her his name, but that was technically because she had never guessed it, she supposed. She had aced her bio midterm though, which was weird. She had gone in feeling like she knew nothing, but when she got her grade back yesterday, she hadn’t missed any of the questions somehow. So now she was headed to the radio speaker by the SUB to confront him. How had he been right about her passing her midterm? How did he know her name? Why wouldn’t he tell her anything about himself? Why did he keep appearing and disappearing? And what was up with how she felt when he was holding her hand? She definitely couldn’t get that out of her head.

​She hurried down the sidewalk toward the quad and the SUB and the radio station speaker. She couldn’t explain the weird mix of excitement and nervousness inside her. Was she excited to see the stranger? Was she excited to tell him about her midterm? Was she even hoping to see him? What if he was there, but everything was different? What if he was scary again? What if he touched her again though and it was just as exciting, or better? What if it was more? Did she want more? No. She didn’t even know his name. She was going to find out though, eventually. She would get him to tell her.

​She slowed down considerably as she neared the corner that hid her view of the speaker. She stopped just as she reached it and took a deep breath, smoothing her hair and making sure she looked okay in her reflection in a nearby window. She stepped around the corner and stopped short.

​He wasn’t there.

​Relief.

​Wait, no, that wasn’t the emotion she was supposed to be feeling. Why would she feel that? She wanted to see the stranger…didn’t she?

​She approached the wall slowly, looking around to see if he was maybe approaching too. He was nowhere. Mira leaned against the wall and looked up at the speaker. It was playing some strange folksy song that she’d never heard before, not the normal jazz that was there when he was there too. She picked at her nails and slid down the wall to sit and wait. Maybe he would show up eventually and then she could say something witty to greet him and he’d be impressed and then he would say something back and then they’d start talking and she’d guess his name and tell him about her bio midterm and he’d be proud of her and then they could talk some more and he’d tell her about himself and then…

​And then…

​Mira sighed and leaned her head back against the wall. And then what? She didn’t know. She didn’t know what she wanted with him or what he wanted with her. All she knew right now was that the relief she had felt was now melting into annoyance. Why wasn’t he there? He was supposed to be there. How could he show up wherever Mira was every other time, but the one time Mira actually wanted to see him, he was nowhere to be seen?

​Maybe he was just late. Maybe he had something he had to do and so he was just running behind a little bit.

​She’d wait for him.

​She sat and listened to the radio as it switched from the folk song to some classical piece then to a talk show discussing the merits of different types of toothpastes. Mira stared up at the stars shining bright above her. It was a clear night with a soft breeze. It would have been the perfect night to start up a new, more informative phase of her relationship with the stranger, but he still hadn’t shown up several hours later.

​Mira lingered until the stars started to fade and the sky turned a little gray in the east. She sighed, knowing that dawn was coming, and she’d have to go to class soon. What a waste of a night.

​She pushed herself to her feet and walked back to her dorm to get a couple hours of sleep before heading to her intro to American Lit class.

^^^

​“So what we see here is the corruptibility that results from Puritan society’s emphasis on public morality. Rachel, can you give me an example in the story that shows this?”

​Mira flipped aimlessly through her anthology’s pages. She didn’t need to talk about “Young Goodman Brown.” She needed to figure out why the stranger wasn’t at the wall last night, why she was so drawn to him, and how to see him again. Who cared about the Puritans? They were all dead anyway.

​“Exactly. Goodman Brown decides on his own to go into the forest and commune with the Devil, but when he sees other members of his town in the forest, he hides. Why does he do this?”

​Mira could go on another walk tonight, but was there really any guarantee that he would be there tonight if he hadn’t ever shown up last night? No, she needed something else.

​“So, can we rightfully say that the text illustrates how Goodman Brown’s faith is rooted in how he’s perceived? And that his convictions are based on the idea that those around him are also religious? Ethan, what do you think?”

​The other times Mira had seen the stranger without going to the radio station speaker, she had been at a party and at a club.

​“What makes Goodman Brown decide to finally come out of hiding and commune with the devil?”

​Maybe there was something in the connection between those two environments that would draw him back out?

​“Yes, Heather.”

​“Goodman Brown sees that everyone else is doing it, so he decides that he can do it too.”

​“Correct.”

^^^

​“I can’t believe this was actually your idea. I’ve been saying we need to do this for months, but I never thought you’d be on board with it,” Kendall said as she pulled various types of alcohol out of their fridge and set them out on the counter.

​“I just thought it would be fun to cut loose after midterms,” Mira said, hanging string lights in the living room.

​“Still, it’s pretty crazy.”

​No, what was crazy was deciding to throw a party in their suite and counting on word of mouth to somehow reach the stranger and have him show up. But it was the best plan Mira could think of on such short notice. She had to see him.

​“Got the playlist ready,” Hannah said coming out of her room. She sat down on the couch and started syncing her phone to the Bluetooth speaker.

​“I wonder how many people are going to show up,” Evelyn said from over by the bathroom where she was sweeping the floor.

​“I told Donnie about it, so hopefully a good amount,” Kendall said. The other three girls looked at her in disappointment.

​“I know, I hate Donnie too, but he’s the fastest way to get the word out,” she said, tossing her hair over her shoulder. “Besides, this party is in our room. If he gets out of hand, then we can throw him out.

​“Good point. Okay, I think I have the music all ready and hooked up, so I’m going to go change,” Hannah went back into her room.

​“Oh, me too. I have to do my make up too,” Evelyn said, glancing at her watch.

​“Mira, hurry up and finish hanging those lights and then go do something about your face. Obviously, you want this party for a reason,” Kendall said. Mira looked down at the lights in her hands and could feel her face turning hot. Kendall wasn’t wrong though, so Mira strung up the rest of the lights and went into her room to get ready.

​A little while later, as Mira was just finishing putting her lipstick on, there was a knock at the door. She hurried out into the living room as Evelyn opened the door. Mira craned her neck to see who it was, wringing her fingers together. Her heart sank a little as Luke stepped into the suite and kissed Evelyn before going to the kitchen and setting a case of beer on the counter.

​“I have a feeling this is going to be a good party. It didn’t take long for me to hear about it from someone other than you guys,” Luke said.

​“See? I knew Donnie would come through,” Kendall said.

​It wasn’t long before the suite was filling with people Mira had never seen before, and with each new person squeezing into the little space that was left in the suite, her heart sank more and more. Where was he? Mira threw back the rest of her drink and grabbed another one. The party had been going on for over an hour and a half already and there was no sign of him. She sat somewhat miserably on the edge of the couch, watching the door. Kendall was dancing in the corner of the living room with three different guys. Evelyn and Luke were standing over by the door to her room, talking closely between the two of them. Hannah was in the kitchen mixing drinks for people who had asked her to. They were all having a good time…except for Mira…who had wanted to throw this party in the first place.

​Mira decided the night was a bust and started heading for her room. She had just touched the handle of her door when she felt the sudden urge to stop and turn around. She stopped, holding onto her bedroom door handle, looking at the faux wood of the door. A slight tingling on the back of her neck. Without letting go of her door handle, she turned and scanned the room. Hannah, Evelyn, Luke, Donnie, A girl from her English class, Kendall, three guys dancing with Kendall, and then…. him.

​He was standing in the middle of the kitchen with a drink in his hand as if he had been there the whole time. He was wearing his black jacket and jeans but didn’t have a hat this time. His eyes, which Mira could see clearly without his hat, locked on her face. Without looking away, he grabbed another drink from the counter and headed toward Mira, a smile twitching at the corner of his lips. Mira swallowed hard just before he reached her and wordlessly took the second drink from him. She still hadn’t let go of her bedroom door handle, so without much thought, she turned it and pushed the door open, backing into her room, the stranger following without hesitation.

​He passed her to walk farther into the room and survey Mira’s belongings while Mira closed the door and leaned back against it. There was silence between them as Mira stood and watched him, marveling at the fact that he was there and in her bedroom. He walked around the room slowly, looking at the pictures hanging on her wall, the ones on her desk. He gently laid down the one of her and her mother and then moved his attention to Mira’s plant, a hearty snake plant that had been growing since she had received it as a high school graduation present from her aunt. He gingerly touched one of the leaves, admiring the new growth shooting up from the soil. It reminded her that she needed to water it.

​“I didn’t think you’d come,” Mira said finally. She cleared her throat and hoped that she hadn’t sounded as desperate and surprised as she felt. The stranger looked over at her and took a slow drink from his cup.

​“I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

​More silence as he looked at her books on her bookshelf.

​“I passed my biology midterm.”

​He stepped away from the bookshelf and over to Mira.

​“You sound surprised even though I told you that you would,” he said.

​“Yeah, about that-“

​He reached out and guided Mira’s cup to her lips. She took a few sips and so did he. Whatever was in her cup was really good, so Mira took a few more sips.

​“You look really good tonight, Mira,” he said. He leaned closer to her, bracing an arm against the door by her head.

​“Well, you know, I tried,” Mira said. She could feel a warm buzzing in her head and chest. She looked into the stranger’s eyes. They were dark and completely focused on her. She felt him twist a couple fingers through her hair as he leaned in even closer still, bending in so his lips were right by her ear, his warm breath tickling her jaw and the sensitive skin just behind her ear.

​“I really really missed you this past month, Mira,” he whispered. Mira closed her eyes and gave way into the pleasant and warm sensation spiraling through her. She wanted to lean into him and be carried away, but she stayed still, pressed against the door, waiting for him to go on. He moved to whisper in her other ear. “Don’t ever make me wait that long again.”

​She let out a shaky breath.

​“I won’t,” she whispered.

​The stranger pulled back a little and then moved like he was going to kiss her, putting his lips so close to hers that she could nearly feel them.

​“Because I don’t think I could stand it again.”

​Mira’s heart was beating the fastest she’d ever felt it. She started to lean into him and jumped back instantly at someone knocking on the door at her back. She opened her eyes, blinking a couple times before noticing her hand longingly stretched toward the stranger, wanting to pull him to her. He had backed away and Mira dropped her hand quickly. She turned and yanked the door open.

​“Party’s over. An RA is coming to bust us. We have toclean up ASAP,” Evelyn said on the other side. She could hear Hannah and Kendall cursing out in the living room and people leaving, both through the front door and through her roommates’ windows. Without a glance back at the stranger, Mira ran out and started helping clean up the trash and alcohol paraphernalia.

​An hour later, after they had successfully gotten rid of everything and talked their way out of trouble with the RA, Mira realized she never said goodbye to the stranger and never saw him leave.

^^^

​Mira determined drinking wasn’t for her the next morning, or more like afternoon. She had woken up with a splitting headache and an intense craving for water. Lots and lots of water. She decided that it wasn’t a good day for classes and went back to sleep until about three that afternoon.

​As Mira laid in bed rethinking the night before, the buzzing feeling in her chest when the stranger was so incredibly and wonderfully close to her, she remembered his fascination with her plant and got up to water it. She grabbed the glass of water she had retrieved from the kitchen earlier and went to her desk to find her poor little snake plant withered and yellow. What was new growth the night before laid limply on top of the soil. She stared at it a moment, wondering when exactly it had died. She didn’t know much about plants, so she thought it was conceivable that it could have died from lack of water sometime between the night before and that afternoon, but she still thought it strange. Because she didn’t know what else to do, she poured the glass of water over the sad leaves and into the soil, a faint and distant hope that it might bring the plant back.

When she left her room later to find some crackers or something to fill her stomach without upsetting it, she found Kendall sitting in the living room.

​“Rough morning, huh?” Kendall said when she saw Mira.

​“I’m not used to drinking very much,” Mira said, sitting down in her chair by the window.

​“Did you have a good night though?” Kendall asked. She pushed her homework away from her and turned to look at Mira. She didn’t look like she had been bothered at all that morning. Maybe she had built up such a tolerance that it didn’t affect her.

​“Yeah, it was okay,” Mira said. She remembered the feeling of having the stranger so close to her, so close to doing something, so close to knowing what he felt like, but cut short and the cutting disappointment that followed.

​“Just okay?”

​“Well, I just wish it hadn’t ended so soon.”

​Kendall nodded and started twisting strands of her hair together.

​“Tell me about it. I think I was just getting up the nerve to ask someone out for the first time in months. You know, after the whole Jackson debacle. I just want to go on a date again. It’s been ages, and I’m finally over him.”

​“I don’t know what you saw in him to begin with,” Mira said. Kendall stopped and looked at her.

​“I don’t know. He was cute and nice to me in the beginning kind of. I guess I didn’t think it would last forever, but I just wanted to do it, you know? We’re in college. I wanted to have a little fun with him.”

​“I guess that makes sense, but Kendall, you could literally get anybody. Why him? He wasn’t ever going to treat you right. There must be more than just wanting to have fun with him. There are so many other guys you could have fun with.”

​“Yeah, but when you like someone you just have to go for it sometimes, even when you know it might not end well.”

^^^

​That night, Mira put on some makeup and the jeans she knew made her butt look good and left the suite. She walked toward lower campus, passing the “Safe Campus” flyers and the event posters taped to the buildings and light posts on the way. She didn’t walk to the quad like normal. She went straight to the SUB and stopped just before rounding the corner like she had so many times before. She stood there a moment and took a deep breath before turning the corner and seeing him standing below the radio speaker, just as he should be.

​Mira walked over to him, her strides brisk and strong. he stood there with his hands in his jacket pockets, his hat sitting low on his brow, not looking at her, just bobbing to the music. Mira stopped just in front of him.

​“Where’d you go last night?” Mira asked.

​“It was time for me to leave.”

​“I wasn’t done with you yet.”

​He looked up at her and smiled.

​“Oh, you weren’t done with me?”

​“No, and I don’t think you were done with me.”

​“Oh yeah? And what did you think was going to happen?” It was a challenge.

​Mira stepped closer, not letting her eyes leave his face.

​“Well, you know, I thought we’d get pretty close, maybe like this.”

​She stepped up so she was just as close to him as he was to her the night before. He smiled again.

​“And then what?”

​“And then…well, I hope you know what you’re doing.”

​“Don’t worry, I do.”

​“Good.”

​Mira started to lean into him, but he didn’t lean to meet her.

​“Not here.”

​“Then where?”

​“Come with me?”

​Mira looked down at the hand he was holding out to her. Without hesitation, she took it and they started to walk down the street as Ella Fitzgerald crooned over the campus radio.