Sitting at his desk in his dorm room, Jae Hwa tapped his pencil against the textbooks stacked before him. His watch read 9:30pm, and he had yet to concentrate on the studying he should have been doing. Blowing a strong stream of air mixed with frustration, he tilted back on the wooden legs of the chair.

    He could hear his own breathing, and the sound of pages turning beneath his roommates fingers.

      Looking at his watch again, time had managed to move an entire minute forward.

      " Hey James, what do you have planned? You've been looking at that watch for days."

     It was true.

    The last time he had seen Lisa was on Sunday.

    Monday, he went to her dorm room to see if she was there.

   Tuesday, he camped out at the dance practice building, hoping that he could catch her on her way out.

    And today-Wednesday-he sat anxiously in their row in class, watching the door like a hawk in the sky for her to come in, smiling as always, and talking up a storm. He had been waiting for her warmth for three days now, and had finally reached his boiling point.

     Falling back down on all four legs of the chair, he viciously opened his composition book, and began the math problems that had been prodding at him all night.

    He had no one to ask about her. No one who seemed to know more than he did about her whereabouts. How could a person leave a friend hanging around like this?

    The crackling of a radio dial took over the screaming in his mind.

   " Break time! Hey, you don't mind if I turn this on, do you? No, okay sweet." Jae Hwa's roommate's name was Thomas. He had started to become used to his ways as they lived together in the small space. There were so many things Thomas did that Jae Hwa couldn't wrap his head around, but he figured that's what to expect when two people from two different worlds came together. Thomas had become his answer bank whenever he became perplexed about something in The States.

     Right now, Lisa perplexed him, and he needed a little insight from someone else.

    Turning around, Jae Hwa sighed, and asked," Thomas, can I ask you a question?"

   " As long as it doesn't require too much energy." Laying on his back, he tapped his toes in time to the music." But go ahead, shoot."

    " Well, it's kind of a personal question."

   Popping one eye open, Thomas's interest was piqued. Sitting up with his elbows on his knees and a suggestive grin on his face, he said," Go on...."

   Becoming embarrassed, Jae Hwa began shaking his hands and head.

   " Nevermind, I-just-nevermind."

   " Nah, man! It's about a chick, isn't it? Did you score? Got an itch? I can help you in that department, I know just the place where you can go-"

   " Score?"

    " Yeah...you know. Bang. Hook up. Who was it? Was she smokin'?"  Thomas's questions made as much sense to Jae Hwa as it would have to a five year old.

   " I don't know what that means....Bang? Doesn't it hurt to bang something?"

    " Well, if it's a chick, then it shouldn't be that painful." Watching Thomas chuckle at his own inside joke, Jae Hwa rolled his eyes, and stood to his feet as he began pacing the room.

   " It is about someone though. A girl."

     Sobering up, Thomas turned his full attention to Jae Hwa as he swiped the blonde hair from his eyes. " Do you need my guidance, son? Then you've come to the right place." Patting the seat beside him, Thomas offered him a seat.

     Jae Hwa had too much stored energy to sit down any longer. Coming to a stop in front of Thomas, he began moving his hands around as he searched his mind for the right words.

   " I met a girl, and we are friends, okay?"

   " Okay."

  " Okay. We are friends. I think good friends."

   " Being good friends is good...yes..."

   " We have fun, we laugh. It's all good. Sometimes we even eat together."

    " Wait, I think I know who you're talking about. I see you with her all of the time...What's her name, Lucy or something?"

    " No not Lucy..."

    Snapping his fingers, Thomas exclaimed," Lacy! It's Lacy right?"

    "No, Lisa. Lisa is her name...."

     " She's a hot one there. I've never done a black chick before...but if I did..." Narrowed eyes stopped Thomas before he went into detail.

   " She's avoiding me. She's avoiding me, and I have no idea why."

    "Well, did you do something to make her mad?"

   "No. She invited me to her church Sunday, and then disappeared."

    "Just like that? Into thin air?"

   "Thin air?"

    "I mean, did she just go off with no warning?"

    Jae Hwa could feel his heart become a little heavier at the thought. He didn't like the separation between them, and the weight of loneliness was excruciating.In his mind, he continued to tell himself to not feel so strongly for this girl. She won't give him an education. She won't make his family proud of him. She may not even be accepted by them.

      He had never had the urge to go against what he was used to, and that was pleasing others before himself. If anything, the only person he could think of pleasing at this point was Lisa. Except, he had no idea how, and he had no idea how to handle any of the alien things that ran through his mind, coursed through his body because of her.

    "Yeah. She did." The thickness of his voice made it hard for him to swallow. Sinking down onto his bed across the small space in the dorm, Jae Hwa stared at his knuckles as his grip on the bed became tighter, and they became whiter. "And I don't know why."

    Seeing a fellow male in distress because of his obvious blooming love, Thomas sighed in understanding. He himself had fallen for a girl in high school, and had been heartbroken when the relationship fell through the just weeks before college started. Though he could talk big, Thomas truthfully had as little experience in this department as Jae Hwa. So, offering up the best he could, he gave Jae Hwa the only explanation he could think of.

    " Sometimes, girls are...They can be hard to read, you know? Hard to understand. They say one thing, but mean the other. Happy one moment, sad the next. They are like a rollercoaster ride. Just too much if you ask me...That's why I will forever be in it for the goods." Wagging his eyebrows, Thomas stood up, laced up a pair of sneakers.

    "Matter of fact, I'm supposed to meet this cutie in a few minutes." Dusting off his clothes, he gave Jae Hwa a thumbs up and headed out of the room.

      Why did I even ask this guy?  Tilting his head to the ceiling, Jae Hwa closed his eyes, and let the silence engulf him.

    He could see Lisa's eye's glistening the way they did when she laughed to hard. And the way her gums would show when she smiles so big that her face looks like it will split in two.

   The way her hands held her pen as she wrote was even something worth fantasizing about.

    Get out. Get out, get out get out get out. He pleaded with his thoughts. They were stubborn, and lacked concern for the person they ran crazy.