The weather suddenly became colder. Nowadays it's around the freezing point or below. On cold days like these I just want to sip some hot chocolate and curl up with a good book at home.
I was scribbling some thoughts down on my notebook at the campus center. Day by day I noticed that I ran out of things to write about. Writer's block, eh. I guess this was how it felt like. My coffee was half full, steam rising and billowing up in the air. I shoved my hands in the pockets of my wool coat and leaned back, staring at the campus scene. Students were congregating and walking to wherever they were headed. There were some familiar faces but I didn't know them well enough to strike up a conversation. They were, as someone said, just "Hi-friends." But then again you reach a point where you ju---
"Sean?" a feminine voice came up from behind.
I looked behind and she paused to look at my face. Immediately I began to recognize that it was nobody other than Melon.
"Sup," I said.
She took off her grey puffer coat and hung it by the seat across from me. "Mind if I pop a squat here?"
"By all means."
Small bags were visible under her eyes. She had on a red and white striped patterned sweater. As usual she had on very little makeup, a subtleness only Melon could exude.
"Why are you here? It's rare to see you here at this hour all by yourself."
"I dunno, thought I could stand to change my daily habits."
"When's your next class?" she asked.
"In about an hour."
"I'm finished for the day. Have a lot of work to catch up on nonetheless."
I nodded.
Her eyes locked on to my notebook. "Mind if I take a look?"
"Not to sound rude of me, but no," I said. "Not that I'm hiding anything. It's just a personal notebook that I want to keep to myself for now."
She frowned, but seemed to understand a couple seconds later. "I get it I get it. Trying to be all private and mysterious, oooohhh."
"Maybe."
"Psh."
"Don't be upset about it," I said. "Be upset about the weather. It's a bitter one these days."
"Hell yeah. I don't want to go outside anymore."
I gestured if she wanted some coffee but she shook her head.
"I'm assuming you get tons of sleep," I said. "You are prompt how I see it."
"No way. I'm opposite in everything you've just said. I get little to no sleep from binge-watching dramas and my desk is a living mess."
"You don't seem like you are that kind of girl," I said.
"Well at the risk of sounding cheesy, looks can be deceiving."
I nodded, taking a sip of my coffee. I guess there was a whole another side to her that I didn't know.
"By the way how does my hair look?" she asked, brushing it with her fingers. "It looked horrible this morning."
"Why worry when it's always fine?" I said.
She laughed. "My hair game is on point then?"
"It's an art. Chiseled to perfection."
She burst into laughter. "Are you Michelangelo?"
"Yeah just find a way to send me back to the Renaissance."
She smiled, checking on her baby-blue painted fingernails.
"Looking forward to Thanksgiving?" she asked.
"Sure am. I don't know if it's just me but it's come to the point where I actually miss home so much. I always stumble upon pictures online and it always makes me want to go there at that second. I'm tired of studying. I just need a decent break, and Thanksgiving seems to come at a good time."
"I'm glad that we're in the same page," she said. "Except home for me is thousands of miles away."
"How much do you miss home?" I asked. She hasn't been in Korea since this summer.
"I'm fine," she said. "It's not really something I think about a lot. When I'm studying that's all I can really focus on, you know, unless I do nothing. If I do nothing I might think about it but on normal occasions I'm too busy."
"I get you," I said. "Doing other things to make yourself productive."
"Basically. But before break, you got a show to perform."
"Yup. I gotta admit I'm excited. Pumped is not even the word. I don't think I've ever performed for that many people. I've been a part of many demos, but not in front of a concert stage watched by hundreds. I'm going to perform at the same place where I watched Jake Shimabukuro's concert last year."
"The team is performing for what? 800 or so people?"
"Think so."
"Don't worry, I'll be there. On the dot. I'll cheer you on."
"Front row?"
"Don't know. Why?"
"If I stage dived will you catch me?" I asked.
"Questionable," she laughed.
"Thanks."
"Is the team all pumped up as well?"
"Of course. My roommate too. He gets most of the credit for organizing the demo and putting everything together. It's not an easy thing to do and he's done it well. Real well."
"You're a good man," she said. "I can't wait to see you guys up on that stage."
"It's going to be a great one. Just you wait."
I finished jotting my last sentence in my notebook and read it once again:
"It's going to be a great one. Just you wait."
I closed my notebook, realizing that she was never there in the seat across from me first place.
