Quick! Guess who's coming to see me tonight?

I reply that I don't know, but she leans in closer, and all but throws herself upon my chest with a giddy laugh.

Come on! Take a wild guess!

I shake my head, and say the first name that comes to mind. It's right. She grins widely, looking up at me; pure ecstatic pleasure radiates from her eyes, and I roll mine as I look away. She blinks and straightens, offended.

Why did you just roll your eyes at me? Is it at him?

Of course it wasn't at him... well, maybe. And it wasn't at her... it... was the situation....

I look back down at her, watching me carefully, and I decide that it's best to watch my steps as she is watching me.

It's nothing, I tell her, but she doesn't believe me, and as I turn to walk away, she hooks her arm through mine and follows suit.

Then what? she inquires; the tone in her voice is truly pleading. She wants me to be happy with her... for her.

But I reply that it's nothing, again. And again, she doesn't believe me. I sigh, and pull her into the server alley.

I don't know, I lie, doesn't he have a girlfriend?

She looks up at me in shock, and the what that jumped from her mouth was the verbal wall of her body language, pounding me between the ears. I shrug it off.

He better not.

Yeah, I think to myself... he better not... and I clench my teeth into a smile that I hope is as congratulatory and uplifting as I know it is fake. I try to smile away the heartbreak that he had handed me.