"You like it here?"

"I love it." A long pause. "How about you?"

"I hated it at first. Now...," she lets her voice trail off. "I don't know. I don't hate it or love it, but there's no inbetween. It's just home."

I look over at her, sitting next to me on the bench with her knees curled up to her chest in defense against the chilly night, white socks peeking out from beneath her long skirt. Her face is turned towards the stars, or maybe just the lights from the high-rise dorm next door, and her eyes move as though she were reading a book. She doesn't see me watching.

"It's home," she says again, more convincingly this time.

:~:

a little later on
a moment with the boy with the pretty eyes

It's a cold night outside and that doesnt seem to matter. He can smoke in his room, instead he's out in front of the dorm pacing around. Restless. Where are his two girl-type-friends? Is he lonely? Probably not.

I've moved to the stairwell now, lurking between the third and fourth floors. It's my usual spot. From here I can hang my head out the window facing the quad in the direction everyone will take as they stumble home from the halloween parties down on frat row. I lean out as far as I can, supporting myself on the red safety bar. My glasses slide down precariously low on my nose and the world turns fuzzy.

From below: "What are you looking at?"

I peer down at him and reply, "the way the world looks without my glasses."

"I can't see anything without my contacts" he says. It's an amusing moment, to be shouting small talk to each other, standing three floors apart.

"Sometimes you need to not see things." I don't know if he catches the double meaning, but it doesn't matter. The conversation ends there, as his friend, right on time, bursts out of the building, laughing.