"I love you Lexie," he said in a gentle voice. "I really do, it's amazing the way you make me feel." He took my hands in his own and pressed them towards his chest like he never wanted to let me go. "It's like I'm floating on clouds in the sky."

"I...I do?" I whispered, unsure of how to take this sudden turn of events.

"Yes!" Mark laughed,"I love the way your hair curls slightly behind your ear. I love how your eyes crinkle when you smile or laugh, how you're always late for everything...There's tons more I could say, but words are failing me right now. I really do love you, though"

"I...don't know what to say" I stammered, "It's all very sudden for me and--"

"Shh..." he put a finger on my lips to quiet me. "You don't have to say anything right away. I just wanted you to know, that's all."

I reached out to hug him tightly, and we held each other for a few minutes. This was what everything should be like, peaceful, quiet...just plain old happy. I was content with just being with Mark and simply sitting, doing absolutely nothing.

Finally, he pulled back and asked, "Now, really, what do you feel about me?"

I laughed, "Oh stop it!"

He looked quite serious, and the laughter died in my throat. "Do you love me?"

"You said that...I didn't have to say my answer yet" I put on my best confused face.

"I said that you didn't have to say anything right away. So we hugged a bit," he shrugged. "Now I want an answer."

"Well I can't give you an answer" I stated simply. "It's too soon"

"I want an answer, Alexandra" he spat venomously. "Now!"

"No!"

His face was contorting into an ugly shape, his blue eyes looked strained and bug-eyed, as though they were being sucked out by a vacuum cleaner, or he had goiter. The perfect ringlets were becoming shorter and thinner, discolouring from a rich brown to a light red, and his face, which was round and soft, molded into sharp and square. My heart stilled momentarily as I realized that I wasn't staring at Mark anymore. I was looking directly into the eyes of my ex-boyfriend Charlie.

"I know that you love me, Lexie. You're delusional if you think that you could get over me so quickly"

"I..."

He laughed cruelly. "But I don't love you anymore, I love Lindsey. She can give me so much more than you ever could. It also helps that she's so much prettier than you are. I don't even know why I chose you in the..."

I sat up straight and took a few much-needed deep breaths. It was only when I looked around that I realized that it was all just a dream. There I was, tucked safely in my blue and white linens, away from Charlie (and even Mark). 'Oh thank God' was all that I could think of.

"Mmph"

A noise at the foot of the bed alerted me that somebody else was in the room. Since it was so dark, as I covered the windows with duct tape, I couldn't see anything around me.

"Hello?" I asked hesitantly, reaching over slightly to grab the baseball bat underneath my bed.

"It's okay Lexie," a male voice said soothingly in front of me. A light turned on above me, and I could see Mike standing at the end of my bed. I looked around and could see no physical form of Mandy around.

That had to be a first.

"What are you doing here?" I groaned as I threw myself back against the bed. While Mandy was the most forgiving and nicest person on earth, she was still a hot blooded female and would probably wonder what her boyfriend was doing in the middle of another girl's dorm room.

Again.

"We're buds," he stated simply, while nudging me in the shoulder with his fist. "Besides," he added with a wink, "I haven't hung out with you in forever. At least it feels that way."

"No way," I replied sarcastically as I got up and made a quick grab for some shorts. "Three weeks of no phone calls, emails, or notes. I wasn't beginning to worry about whether you and Mandy got hitched and were expecting a little bundle of joy."

As I made my way out the door, I heard a loud bark of laughter and some soft snorts coming from Mike.

"C'mon, Lexie! I'm sure you know me better than that." He followed me into the living room, where there were no roommates to be seen. "If I were ever to get married, you'd be the first person I'd call to fly with us to Vegas to be the witness!"

He thought that he was so funny, and I told him as much.

"Oh I'm hurt," Mike gave me his best wounded expression, as he took his hand and put it over his chest. "My best friend doesn't think I'm a regular Chris Rock."

"My best friend," I emphasized the last two words as I stared at him harshly, "Is the phone in my room that hasn't rung in the last three weeks."

Mike pouted and opened up his arms, hoping that I'd give him a hug. I rebelled, and crossed my arms and turned away. Just as I suspected might happen, I was enveloped from behind and squeezed tighter than an orange would be to make juice.

"My poor Lexie; sitting by the phone for three weeks with nothing to do. What can I do to make it up to you? And don't worry, I'll pay for everything!"

I pretended to ponder it as he loosened his hold on me, though I really knew that I wanted him to buy me a few drinks at the bar, and play lots and lots of drunken pool. He said that he'd pay for everything…

"How about we go sit under our tree" and ten thousand other students' as well, "and have a picnic!"

"Are you kidding me?" I gasped in disapproval, while at the same time shaking my head in fear. "It's forty below outside. We'll freeze to death!"

Mike was so irrational that, at times, it scared me almost to the point of exhaustion. Three weeks of no communication and I forgot all of his personality quirks.

"Fine then," he pouted. "You'll just have to settle for coffee inside a heated building. Where's the fun in that?"

"Oh, I think I'll manage somehow."

"Hey Lexie?" Mike called me just as I was leaving the room to take a much needed shower.

"Yeah?"

"Is it okay if we stop at my dorm first?" He asked sheepishly. "I sort of forgot my wallet."

"You're impossible!" I yelled from the bathroom, before I slammed it shut in protest.

That guy really needed to get his priorities straight. Sheesh.

& & &

"My roommate might be there," Mike warned me for about the fifth time since we'd left my dorm. I didn't quite understand why he was so worried. Maybe his roomie was smelly, greasy, ugly? I hadn't a clue, but I didn't really care.

"We're only going to be in and out, right? It's not as if we have to sit there for two hours with the guy and have a few meaningful conversations. And that's only if he's there!" I tried to placate him with words, and punched him in the shoulder for being such a worry-wart.

"I know, but this guy is so boring!" He gave me the look that we reserved for the Harold Rivalder's of the world. The guys that had no business being part of society.

"That bad?" I asked in surprise. Nobody was as bad as Harold Rivalder, our high school's version of the nerd meets band geek that everybody secretly makes fun of.

"He doesn't get out much. This guy sits in his room all day and night… studying."

My face soured. "Ouch! That is kind of lonerish."

We reached his door and unlocked it, looking around to see if new Harold was around.

"I'll be right back!" Mike whispered as he quietly made his way to his room. It surprised me how much Mike didn't want his roommate to bother us.

There was a sound from the hallway.

"Wow, that was fast." I told Mike as he walked into the living room.

Only it wasn't Mike.

"Lexie?" Mark asked, looking startled that I was in his home.

"Oh jeez, Mark!" I walked over to give him a hug. "I had no idea that you lived here! You're Harold!"

A puzzled expression took over his features, making me laugh.

"Ah, so you've met my roommate." Mike said as he walked back into the room.

Mark looked between me and Mike before he put two and two together, and figured out that I wasn't just randomly in his dorm room. It was funny to see his eyes light up suddenly, as if he discovered how to turn on a light or flip a switch.

"Yeah…" Mark left his sentence hanging for a few moments before I interjected.

"It's a funny story, actually. Mark and I have Philosophy with each other…" I smiled at Mark, and he gave me a little bit of an upward lip curl back.

"Well," Mike motioned his arms back to the door, "We had better get going, Lexie. See you later, man."

"Bye Mark!"

It was kind of puzzling that my old friend and my newly acquainted friend were roommates. It was almost like something out of a fiction novel, so cliché and sort of impossible to really happen.

Isn't that funny.