"Does this mean I will regularly see you here again?" She means to snuff out the hopefulness in her voice - it feels girlish, and weak for that same reason, and why should she, of all people, be so desperate for casual company? If she posted a request in one of her stories on social media, she would receive messages for days – and perhaps that is the appeal, in this moment. He has, presumably, not jerked off to her last three bikini pictures.

She stirs around in her mug, her free hand tracing the simple, patternless cover of his notebook. Perhaps she should have used a silent moment to scribble her number on one of the pages, but that is cowardly, and she is a lioness. A lioness, which means she has her pride, and no reason to dwell on that odd sense of loneliness she had felt without her silent, steadfast study-companion.