The rest of the day dragged on for Chris, he kept thinking about that girl and wondered when he would see her again. It was really bothering him that he couldn't focus on his classes, even his favorite ones. Thankfully, none of Chris's professors noticed his lack of attention, he had turned in all his assignments and even found them easier to work on as he thought of  her. Chris left his last class relieved, all of his work was caught up and he planned to practice his bass and maybe watch some TV and clean his small apartment, it needed it. Chris walked towards the end of the campus, his apartment was only a block away. Chris's cell phone buzzed in his pocket, he retrieved it and looked at the number, his mother was calling, she was in Boston visiting her sister,Aunt Sarah,  who had recently had minor surgery so he knew he better answer and sit down, this would take awhile and the traffic on the main road would be noisy. His mother would be miffed if he tried to call her back, so he chose to suffer through the long minutes ahead filled with his Mother's complaints of the traffic and crowds in the city. Chris watched the squirrels chase each other as his mother rattled on about the pushy city people and some shopping she had done with Aunt Sarah. As Chris hung up the phone  he heard some people approaching the bench. His mystery girl was walking with another 2 other girls in his direction, he had seen them with her before. The girl's  two companions stopped at the nearby bus terminal. "They must be heading up town." Chris thought to himself. He had been here long enough to know that the only bus running at this time headed into the city. Chris's mystery girl kept walking towards Chris's bench towards the Freshman dorms. Chris said "hello" as she passed, hoping she would stop and he could finally catch her name. She acted like she couldn't hear him and continued walking past. Maybe she was nervous about walking by herself Chris thought to himself. He shrugged it off and walked towards his apartment. He didn't want to approach her if she was uneasy. He would wait until another time to try to talk to her.That opportunity would happen the next evening as Chris and some of his buddies were at "The Pad" His mystery girl was sitting at a  table near the window when he and his friends walked in and sat down near the wall facing the girl's table. The mystery girl got up and headed towards the bathroom located in the rear of the room, she walked right past Chris's table, again he said hello, she ignored him. One of Chris's friends noticed and said "Dude that was cold." and continued to discuss the new CD's he had just bought with the other's at the table. Chris was a little angry that the girl had ignored him twice. They were in public and he wasn't being rude to her, she never even looked at him. And she had smiled at him twice before so he thought maybe she at least didn't find him repulsive. Maybe he had judged he wrong, maybe she was a snobby rich girl after all. When she walked again past his table on the way back to her seat she Saw him and smiled and said "hello" but Chris looked away on purpose. She wasn't going to play him like that Chris decided. He hadn't seen the hurt and confused look on her face as she walked back towards her friends. She must have mentioned it to her friends because when one of the girl's friends went to the cash register to pay their bill she stopped in front of Chris's table. "excuse me may I talk to you?" She asked standing in front of Chris. "bout what?" he asked. "About you being rude to my friend," She said, not sounding very happy. "Me?" Chris countered "I said hello to her twice and she ignored me." The petite girl with long curly brown hair looked confused. "Claire would never ignore you on purpose, she's been talking non-stop all week about some guy that wears Sepulatura tee shirts. She doesn't even know who Sepulatura is!" Chris looked up at her, totally confused himself. "Well she's walked by me twice and never even looked at me when I said Hello to her." The tiny girl laughed, Chris looked at her, annoyed at her laughing. " Claire probably didn't hear you, in fact I know she didn't, Claire is deaf." That last word hit Chris like a cement block being dropped on his chest. "Deaf", this had to be a joke, he was a musician falling for a girl that couldn't hear? The tiny brunette let the thought sink in." Anyway, she said "I better go, they're waiting for me." Chris seemed to be in a fog the rest of the time he spent with his friends and later at home. It bothered him until he finally fell asleep. He kept seeing her face in his dreams, but this time she kept moving further and further away from him until she finally faded and was gone.