The winter air made the charm appear cold, stiff, and frozen.  When Tina picked it up, the warmth in her hands warmed the lock charm, and the foggy dew around the heart began to melt away and disappeared. 

Tina’s cell phone went off again, and without thinking, Tina slid the charm into the pocket of her jeans.  She let out a sigh and took a deep breath.  ‘Wow…that scent, where is it coming from?  It’s so unique…’ thought Tina after she let out her breath.  She just stood there dumbfounded and began to daydream.

With the vibration of her cell phone, Tina was brought back to reality, and picked up her phone.

“Hello?” Tina asked, even though she knew who it was from the caller ID.

The voice on the other line happily said “Happy birthday baby!”

“Thanks…Eric…”

“Are you still studying?  It’s your birthday, can you take a little break?”  He asked sounding disappointed already knowing what Tina’s answer was going to be.

“No I can’t, I really need to study, and I’m so far behind.”  Tina was giving a partially true answer.  On one hand, she really needed to study, but for the most part, she wanted to avoid seeing Eric.

“Well, what time is your final tomorrow?”  He was hoping to at least take her out to a nice dinner.

“It’s at nine in the morning.”  Tina knew Eric didn’t do anything wrong, but she was starting to get frustrated.  “Look Eric, I’m sorry, but I’m really busy right now.  I gotta get going, I’ll call you later okay?”

Eric sighs “Okay, I’ll talk to you later then.  I love you.”

“I love you too, bye.”

Did those words even mean anything to Tina?  She didn’t know what it’s like to be in love, she isn’t in love, and she never was.  Every time Tina said those three little words to Eric, she always felt like they were forced out of her mouth.  They became more of a habit, a pattern than any actual meaning.

Just when Tina was about to hang up her cell phone, the voice on the other end shouted “TINA, WAIT!”