“Horrid day,” Melissa traced her finger over the table.

“I can stand rain,” I sighed, “but not while it’s dark and cold.”

The rain hissed outside. Occasionally it battered against the large hall windows. Like souls, fighting against an impassable wall.

“It opens at 6, right?” Melissa rubbed her eyes and yawned.

“6 sharp.” I yawned in agreement.

The both of us had been trapped in the university library. We’d stayed past 1am and been locked in. By the time we realised, it was nearly morning anyways. Not worth a call to security.

After a short, sleep deprived pause, we heard the characteristic ring of the dean’s bells and a faint_ click click_.

Melissa and I slung our bags on our shoulders and walked through the empty corridors. Both of us were cold and dead tired. It seemed a natural course of action to stop by the university coffee shop, The Square.

As we neared The Sqaure, Melissa rubbed her right eye over and over. Irritated. She clawed at her eyeball and grumbled louder.

“It’s my contact.” She scoffed.

Sometimes I forgot she had heterochromia. It was only in the direct sunlight light, when one eye caught the gold and the other fell flat. Or when she was excited and her left pupil dilated, the other was still small and sharp.

It wasn’t obvious.

Some of her friends still didn’t know she wore a contact in her right eye.

Melissa swiped a menu from the front of the shop and seemed to be studying the options. I though that was strange since she always got a chai but I figured sleep deprivation could do strange things.

“Hey,” a voice cut through my daydreaming.

I turned my head towards the barista but she was in the back, pouring milk into a mug. I turned around the room and saw a guy sitting alone at a table. He had huge feet and a coincidentally, a swimmer’s build. You know, huge chest, slender body. Then there was his hair, it was almost a gold blonde, like Melissa’s.

Melissa set her menu down and sighed. She walked over to his table and stood beside it, slightly hunched over.

“Hey,” the stranger said, “You two were stuck in the library.”

“Yeah. How’d you figure that?” She asked placidly.

“Saw you walk out. No one walks out this early. Only in.”

Melissa shrugged. She turned, then looked over her shoulder, “You’re sitting here alone. Haven’t ordered anything.”

“Yeah. How’d you figure that?” The stranger grinned.

“You aren’t here for the coffee.” Melissa clenched her jaw.

“Got me there, Blue Eye.” The stranger scooted his chair back, laughing to himself.

Melissa went to the front counter and ordered a chai. I stood behind her, quiet, and ordered a plain black coffee.

“Hey Mel, who was that?”

“NO ONE!” She snapped.

I looked down and noticed her hands were shaking.

“I don’t know _Who_ he is.” She replied, “he seems to know who I am. He knows about my eye. Everything about me.” She lowered her voice, “Sometimes he leaves me alone when I talk back to him.”

“Since when did this start?”

“Four-five years,” she paused, “though he’s never shown up while I was with someone else.”

I glanced at his table. It was empty.

“Sometimes I think I imagine him.” Melissa said, wide eyed.

We sat down, me quiet, she shivering. I looked out at the rain, frowning.