Victoria returned his smile. She stood, the legs of her chair sliding noisily over the floor as it pushed back. She swirled the remainder of her latte in the cup, trying to gauge how much still remained inside, and whether or not it would last the walk home.
	[i]Back to campus,[/i] she corrected herself dismally.
	Her aunt and uncle’s small, quaint home--though it wasn’t much and felt fairly crowded with just them, her thirteen-year-old cousin, Tristan, and her--suddenly felt far less crowded than where she planned on returning to. The place where, besides Alex and the library, there was little to be found familiar or comforting.
	“Want to meet up for lunch tomorrow?” she asked hopefully, already half-expecting his usual affirmation. “Same place we met up today?” She grabbed her purse, slung it over her shoulder, and took a slight step toward the exit.