She got on the bus, sunglasses on, ear phones in her ears, volume way up, book in her hand, book bag carelessly slung over her shoulder; completely disconnected from reality. An intimate smirk graces her lips now and then as she fall deeper in admiration for the love story in her in hands. The way it lights up her face and solemn her mood is captivating. He sees her as soon as she steps on. And as it did back then, his heart starts to race. They haven’t talked in what feels like years, but that smile she has now, that has always vaguely been in the back of his mind. Its even more beautiful than he could have ever recalled from memory. He reminisces on the days when he was sure it was there because of him; the days when they rarely moved far from the boundaries of his dorm room; the days when the television, the music, and each other were the only things that concerned them for hours on in. Now he’s smiling while thinking to himself, “she was really something else..” He glances up at her again, her entire demeanor is completely engulfed in her written reality, “she IS something else.” A look of sudden panic falls onto her faces as she snaps back into reality, but its calmed as she realized she hasn’t missed her stop yet. She pulls herself together, making sure that she has everything she started out the day with: “my ipod, my phone, my book bag, my coat, my glasses, my-” Out if the corner of her eye, she sees him; she feels him watching her as he did before he got the nerve to introduce himself. They make brief eye contact; she starts to panic; “Shit,” she whispers under her breath, “He saw me.” She looks at her feet, trying desperately to collect her thoughts and compose herself. “What do I do now? Just when I was doing so well not thinking about him, he shows up again. What is it about him that won’t let me move on?” She begins to feel very overwhelmed with all the memories of him but she refuses to let it show on her face. “It’s fine Mia, just smile like there’s nothing wrong.” She lifts up her head again, looks him straight in the eyes, gives him a friendly “Hi” smile, and pretends that the first time she merely didn’t completely recognize him and as if she hadn’t suffered a mental attack from the encounter. “AND THE OSCAR GOES TOO,” she thinks to herself. He sees her, he knows that smile. That one was for him, that smile was for what they had over a year ago. The bus comes to her stop, she rushes off, almost running. She can her heart beat in her ears.

She stands next to the bus-stop, her heart playing melodies in her chest. She waits for the bus to leave. It stays for an eternity. "Don't look" she thinks. "Just don't turn around." She waits, and waits, her body rigid, tense. The unbearable urge to look finally overtakes her, and she turns around, glancing through the windows at him. He's looking down. Her heart sinks. The bus begins to pull off. His head comes up, their eyes meet. He smiles. Suddenly she's back; a year ago, the loving glances, the long walks, the desperate desire to just be in each others' company. The emotions flow over her, cascading over her body like an erupting rainbow. Thought and logic are gone, blown away by the unrelenting emotion. She shakes herself back into reality. The bus has gone. The long, cold, lonely walk home is all that remains.

She turned up the drive of her apartment complex. Taking in the sight of her life, far removed from those silly days and silly nights running back and forth from each others dorms. The pain graduation brought. "Shit!" She mutters to the unnaturally silent atmosphere. She was an adult now, she shouldn't be thinking about stupid times when her heart dared to leap out of her chest, when her breath caught in her throat, to that Jerry McGuire moment when he had her at 'hello'. 'Goodbye', they had said, goodbye she thought. Hello to a new life, and a new job with responsibilities and new oppurtunities. So why did she waste Saturday evenings with Danielle Steel and Lifetime? Why when she went out, did she complain with her other single friends about the injustice of men? Being single wasn't too horrible. She took out her key and opened the front door, noticing as she was hit with a blast of heat that it was actually chilly out. Freezing weather, hot chocolate, warm kisses, embrace, NO! This wasn't the way it was supposed to be. "Are you alright dear?" Asked her kindly, nosy neighbor as she walked towards the elevator. "Fine, thank you just having, not a great day." "I'm making lasagna tonight, you're welcome to st-," "No, thank you Mrs. Barry. I'm just gonna heat something-" "Oh, well my son was coming in tonight. He's thinking of moving, well maybe not here but nearby, and he doesn't know anyone." She sighed, Mrs. Barry prided herself on being her the unofficial matchmaker, which never yielded great results. But she had seen Paul's pictures and he looked alright. And besides it was Friday night, and seemingly all her single friends had dates. But if it hadn't been for him, she might not even have considered. "I would love to come, thank you. Lean Cuisine wasn't looking too good anyway." "Wonderful, I'll let Harry know, and Paul will be so happy!" And like the wind she rushed off to her apartment down the hall. Up the elevator to the fourth floor, suddenly the icy discomfort in her heart started melting at the thought of her wonderfully timed prospect. She opened the door of the empty apartment, not minding the mess, the pile of dirty clothes, or the stack of trashy novels. Things were alright, things were, beep, beep, beep. Must be Sandy about that office party. She opened her bag, feeling for her phone. It was a number she didn't know. Curious she opened it reading: I know you saw me on the bus, even if u pretended u didn't. Please don't delete this, sometimes I miss u so much, and I know you do too. Call me. She threw the cell, only causing the battery to fall out. She slumped on her couch, and cried. Things were never simple, fate had a twisted sense of humor.