Then, she was embarrassed by the text and added a hahahaha to hopefully make it less awkward that she was texting him, in a way, about sex.

Are you nervous about the interview today? Felix texted. I can come if it’ll make you feel more comfortable. But you’ll crush it either way.

Ayanna weighed the offer for a few minutes. Thanks, but I got this.

Before he responded, she typed: Why doesn’t anyone ever talk about how haunted dorms are? Why is it only houses or graveyards?

Fr, Felix responded, the most psychologically dark place I’ve ever been is Bursley. Filled with anguish, anxiety, and rage. Swear to god, saw a ghost there my freshman year, peeing out a third floor window. Everyone used to also say sixth floor was cursed floor.

Cursed floor? Ayanna immediately texted back. She wanted to go, see how many spirits lingered.

A shooting happened there a million years ago. People used to make dumb dark jokes like B6: Where Roommates Go to Kill. It’s fucked because people really did get murdered there.

Do you think just because someone died somewhere, it’s haunted?

Three dots coming and going. Ayanna looked at her hair, considered putting on some more makeup, examined what she was wearing, a black dress she had worn for school award ceremonies in high school. It had made her feel grown-up, but now seemed, maybe because it was baggy in a way it wasn’t then, a little childish.

He didn’t respond before Ayanna had to leave. She walked to the nice coffee shop with her headphones on, ordered them both cappuccinos. It was her first one, and Ayanna was surprised at how little she liked it. Bitter, tasteless foam. The coffee shop with all its smells and people picking at muffins and scones made it impossible to ignore how hungry she was. Ayanna took another sip while scanning the shop. Sitting at a table in the back was Matthias, dressed all in navy blue. He was closer to thirty now. His skin had a shine she associated with seeing people in movies and knowing their faces were coated in makeup, the world and all its light in service of underlining their beauty and health. He was holding a cake pop in his hands and inspecting it as if he had never seen anything so strange and potentially delicious.