Tina was pulled out from her trance by Erics hand movements. She turned looking at Eric slightly confused why hes agitated.

What? Tina looked at Eric, raising her right eyebrow. She acted as if nothing mattered happened.

What do you mean what? Eric was slightly jealous. That woman is hitting on you. He pointed out.

Yeah Eric, Im not blind. Whats your point? Tina nonchalantly replied, hoping that Eric would drop the topic. She turned her attention to the table, figuring out her next shot. She saw the solid orange ball there sitting really close to the pocket and decided to give the ball a little nudge. She then walked around one of the corner of the table and lower her body until her eyesight are aligned with the cue ball then stood straight to make sure that she got the right angle and took her position and hit the solid purple ball thats sitting right beside the side pocket. Shes now proceeding to hit the yellow ball that is slightly on an angle. She missed her shot. She sighed and run her fingers through her hairs, brushing the stubborn locks aside.

Your turn Tina simply said to Eric.

I heard shes a *****. Eric casually said.

Tina took in this information but said nothing else to Eric. She just watched Eric from the corner of her eye picked up his pool cue where he had rested against the wall beside the nearby barstool while shes chugging down a quarter of her pint. He then began sinking ball after balls when he finally stopped after he missed his fifth shot.

So, what are you doing tomorrow? Eric asked.

I have a class at noon tomorrow then Im going to head down to Metrotown to help my friend raise funds for the Asian tsunami. Why, what do you have in mind? Tina replied.

I was going to ask you if you wanted to go for movies. Its cheap Tuesday tomorrow. I thought you wanted to check out Motorcycle Diaries.

No, I cant. I already promised her that Id be there to help her out. Tina insisted so she could get away from Eric. Eric had been pursuing her for a couple of months now.

She met him at the beginning of fall semester last year. They were in the same class together. Correction, Eric was her Tutor in her marine geology class that she had to take for her electives. She enjoyed the banter between them and partially attracted but she doesnt really wanted to get involve with anyone at this point. This idea seemed hard to get through Erics thick skull. Okay, probably it was partially her fault too. One of the pub nights when she was half drunk and hes buzzed, they kissed and made out until it they gained an audience and broke it off. They have just been dancing around each other from that point on, playing this strange push and pull game. She asked Erics friend if she could get a lift home. He wasnt going towards Vancouver, but Kit who was the DJ that night lived in Vancouver area and drove Tina home. She knew Kit from Eric, one of Erics friends that went together to the pub night with them at that night happened to be a fellow DJ and introduced Tina to Kit.

They finally finished the game and resumed the rest of their day. She picked up her jacket and shoulder bag and parted way with Eric. She was going for a swim, while Eric has an appointment with the professor that hes working for. They went out through the same double glass door that Bette went out an hour earlier just going opposite directions. She walked along the pass that was overlooking the convocation mall then turned right to go down the steps then proceeded to walk towards the West Mall Annex heading to the ladies locker room located on the bottom floor of the Chancellors gym complex. Ten minutes later she was stretching beside the pool. After enough stretching she decided to go into the pool and do her warm up laps.

She was taking a break on the side of the pool when Tim spotted her and waved. He was dropping by to get his new schedule when he walked by Tina.

Hey, hows it going? Havent seen you here in a while.

Its going good. Tina smiled. I wasnt here. I did a field school for my program to Kephalonia, Greece. What have you been up to? (Authors note: I personally havent participated but the program is available at SFU. If my circumstances were different, Id probably be doing this)

Im now personally coaching the girls team to prepare for the upcoming competition and giving private lessons here. Tim replied.

Good for you. And how many courses are you taking this semester? Tina raised her eyebrows. She knew Tim because he was the coach in training when she was in the swimming team before she left for field school. After she came back, she didnt feel like joining back the team and wanted to do something else, which she hasnt quite decide yet.

Just two so I can work more. Winter also tend to freeze my brain up. I dont do so well in class in wintertime, work is better cos I dont get graded. Well, at least not like in class. Anyway, Ill let you get back to exercising your demons. See you around.

Its good to see you again. Yeah see you around. Tina waved and she put back her goggles on and swam for another half an hour then went for a shower and headed home.

The temperature outside is only 0 C but the wind chill made it feels like its -10 C. It was just beginning to snow when finally the bus 145: Production Station pulled up. Its about five oclock and its the hardest time to get onto a bus because its nearing the end of the day; everybody is heading downhill. While waiting, she pulled out her DJ headphones and turning her MP3 player on. Vanessa Daous voice began to caress her ears while the headphones served as ear warmers. She managed to squeezed herself in by boarding the slinky bus middle door (authors note: slinky bus is a term that my friend came up with, the bus has a capacity of two busses and joined by materials that from the outside looked like an accordion). Fifteen minutes later she got off at Production station and caught the Millennium skytrain thats heading towards Commercial Drive. On the skytrain she sat right beside the window, nearest to the heater. The actual millennium skytrain has good heaters unlike the older version. At Brentwood Town Centre station, she saw two tall skytrain officers stepped in checking for fare tickets. Seeing this, she pulled out her U-pass from her wallet and flashed the thin plastic card with magnetic stripe to the officer and put it back into her wallet.

She resumed watching out the window while the songs on Zero 7s latest album kept her company. Her thoughts wandered to Bette – how she looked, her smile and her adorable nervousness. She was wearing a white wool turtle neck and low rise jeans with brown leather belt. Her curly hair was let down freely. Why am I thinking this way about her again? Tina wondered. She was pulled out of her contemplation when the skytrain arrived at Commercial Drive. She followed the rush hour people climbing up the stairs and exited the station. She put her hands into her jeans pocket to keep it warm.

Ten minutes later she put her keys into the lock and deposited her shoulder bag on the dining chair and quickly greeted by Ollie, her two year old Labrador retriever. She saw her roommate sleeping soundly on the couch. She then quickly grabbed four plastic grocery bags, grabbed her orange tuque that she left on the dining table this morning and quietly snuck out to walk Ollie not wanting to wake Shane up.

By the time Tina returns, Shane was up and surfing the channels while nibbling on roasted pumpkin seeds.

Hey, theres a message there for you on the answering machine. Shane said in between her bites. That damn phone woke me up.

She walked to the phone and pushed the play button while taking off her jacket and the rest of winter accessories. She heard Kits voice inviting her to one of her gigs at Balthazar off Davie on Bidwell for this Friday night. What am I doing on Friday night? she muttered to herself while walking to her bedroom to change to her grey sweatpants and maroon long sleeve loose crew neck t-shirt. She decided to come on Friday night, just not knowing yet who shell go with. Shane is out of the question but Ill see if she wants to come. She thought to herself while heading to the kitchen to make dinner.

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West Mall Annex: http://students.sfu.ca/tour/images/LohnBldgpitl.jpg
Chancellor Gym complex:
http://students.sfu.ca/tour/images/gyml.jpg
Millenium Skytrain: http://translink.bc.ca/Transportation_Services/SkyTrain/default.asp">Millennium skytrain
U-Pass: http://students.sfu.ca/upass/
Balthazar: http://balthazarvancouver.com/default.asp
Zero 7: http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0001HAHY6/qid=1105257131/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl/702-9514663-4444852