But you don't have to worry darling, frozen hearts leave see through scarring, and no one else will know unless you tell.

A soft spoken gentleman sits at the table across from me in some unrecognizable cafe. I don't feel out of place, though, for a sort of familiarity rings about from everything. The location, the man in front of me, the conversation. Is this a dream?

He says to me, Look. Don't give her a chance. She's no -- well, she isn't her. No one ever will be.

His words seem to awaken some forgotten trouble of mine, but it isn't apparent to me who he is talking about.

You're only fooling yourself. Listen, if that plane leaves the ground and you're still with her, you'll regret it. Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of your life.

His final words begin fade to the sound of familiar white noise. I'm dreaming, aren't I?

The electric heater rattles to the rhythm of her shivering, frozen-cold body. Familiarity soothes my temporary sleep-amnesia as I begin to realize where I am and who I'm with. Noticing her troubles, I reach down from under me and pull out part of our shared blanket to give her a little more of my half. Her body shifts. Did I wake her? Her head lifts away from the pillow and turns slightly, holding it's posture there, as if someone spoke to her and she's waiting for another attempt at connection. The silence responds.

Her body cramped, she turns over to refresh her side and notices I'm awake. Through her shivering lips, she softly breathes into me, Oh, sweetheart. It's so cold! I finish covering her with part of my half. Thank you.

Half awake, half dreaming, I respond wordlessly. Mmhmm. What was that man in my dream talking about? I'm so tired, I can't focus.

Her eyes whisper to mine. This place is dreamy, isn't it? She seems to be wide awake, now. Mmm, I'm so much warmer now. It's so great that you're a romantic. Thank you so much for bringing me here.

I figured a compliment like that deserved a worded-response. Anytime, slim.

That man was still on my mind. Say, I just had the strangest dream. You want to hear about it? She nods, cupping her chin in her hand and placing her elbow on the pillow, scrunching her cute face. I was somewhere I've never been, a cafe, yet it felt like I could have grown up there. And, and there was this man there, well, more like a gentleman. And he spoke to me as if he knew me, and I felt as if I knew him. He knew about -- well, he knew about events in my past.

Her eyes began to slowly close. I continued, And he was talking to me about my future, like he knew what was going to happen. And so did I. I mean, I felt it. I felt what was going to happen.

I could tell this dream was too complicated to explain to her right now as she looked as if she was already back to sleep. Well, I guess it doesn't really matter. It was just, I was just feeling some pretty painful emotions... familiar emotions.

Her eyes closed, still resting her chin on her palm, she looks as though she's asleep and her mind is on autopilot, and she mutters, You're so good to me. No guy has ever treated me as nice as you do.

I let out a smile in the dark. She continues, I feel bad for you, though.

The cold of the room starts to get to me. Frozen shivers running down my spine, I mindlessly respond, Hmm?

It's going to hurt like a sonofabitch. Someday you'll understand that. Now, now... here's looking at you, kid. Her elbow collapsed and her back turned to the bed. She fell fast asleep.

By Calvin