I nodded and smiled though it didn't reach my eyes because the news partially saddened me. "Well, nice is good, isn't it?" I asked.

Kent shook his head. "It's… odd. She's just not herself. But whatever, I'm not here to talk about Jen. I'm here to talk about you."

I shrugged my shoulders, eyes still on him. "What about me?" Inside I perked up just a bit. Was he going to to dump her anyway to be with me? My heart fluttered more.

"How's the singing going?" Kent took a sip of his iced coffee, his eyes solely on me.

"It’s good, yeah. Still doing open mic nights. And I'm writing a song for my independent study class. How's the geeking going? I heard there was a big gaming competition last month, did you go?"

He smiled and put the iced coffee down on the table. "Yeah, Jen signed me up for it, actually. I finished second overall. Got a new gaming system and three hundred dollars."

I nodded slowly, a real smile on my lips now. "Nice. Is that what you've been busy with? Gaming on your new system? What kind did you get? The Xbox or the GameCube?"

"I got the XBox. You've really got to come see some of these games, it's crazy how far they've come."

"Definitely, I mean, maybe when we're both not so busy. Finals are coming up quick and I know how busy your summers are.”

"I'd like to hang out but yeah, we're both kind of busy right now."

“Are you guys going to the Hamptons for the summer again this year?" I sipped more of my coffee. Hoping against hope that he’d say no.

He nodded, staring at his cup. "Yeah. We weren't going to go but Jen's mom felt that she wanted to take us. Said something about making it a tradition."

My heart dropped to my knees. So he wasn’t going to dump Jen for me. He was still happily in his Jen bubble. He was going to spend his summers in the same bed with her. He was going to chase her on the beach and hold her against him while the waves tried to take them out to sea. I tried to keep the disappointment off my face.

I lifted my shoulders as I inhaled deeply, trying to push the thoughts away and focus on the present, "So..." I exhaled softly and my shoulders dropped again, "I guess you're that guy who marries his high school sweetheart, huh?" I smiled softly, holding my coffee between two hands, holding back the immense pain at the thought. My alternate universe was extremely alternate. A fantasy of Star Trek proportions. He was quiet, so I continued, "I mean...you two are still pretty serious, I don't really see an end in sight for you. She's being nice and you seem...happy."