I sat at a coffee shop thirty minutes away from campus. An ice-cold caramel latte imprinted the table in front of me with a ring of water. The crumb cake sat half eaten in the middle of the table between Phoebe and I.

Her curly hair was tied back in a messy bun as she swirled a spoon around a steaming cup of coffee. I had never really understood how she preferred hot coffee. It just never tasted as good. And without milk? It was wild to me.

Snow drifted to the ground outside, painting it a bright white. It was only the second time this year. Usually, we would have had a larger snow storm by now. But no. Just this light flurry.

I didn't mind it. If it had snowed too much, we would have had to cancel our date.

We tried to do one at least once a week, usually it ended up being more. Cassidy, thankfully, didn't mind how much Phoebe came over nowadays. And Phoebe had a single apartment, easy for me to enter and leave without needing to worry about roommates. I usually stayed at hers most nights. During these colder months, it was nice having someone to hold onto when the draft seeped in through the windows.

Perhaps I was the weird one for wanting to drink an iced coffee in freezing temperatures.

The cafe was bumbling with the usual people. There was one girl with blonde hair and space buns who I always saw on Tuesdays. An older man wearing a college sweatshirt. And someone sitting in the corner with really cute eclipsed moon earrings that I'd been meaning to ask them about.

"When are your finals again?" Phoebe asked, clutching her burgundy crocheted scarf closer to her neck. Her cheeks were red from the cold that we'd only barely escaped. The morning had been slow; we had stayed at her place and she had made breakfast again. We'd spent some time reading books by the window and laughing at each other when one of us made a weird face. Eventually, we'd come out to get coffee and relax.

"Mmm. Only one. Next Friday?" I said. I hadn't really thought about finals.

Phoebe reached over her hand and I grabbed it across the table. She didn't even have to ask. I squeezed her hand quickly once.

"Did you book the train tickets?" she asked.

Right. Train tickets. I had almost forgotten completely. "Crap."

She smiled as if she had expected as much. "Do you need me to book the train tickets?"

"No, I can do it," I said, blushing. Our first trip. We were going up to Vermont and renting an Airbnb. Maybe skiing. Who knew? I wasn't really one for winter sports, but apparently Phoebe used to snowboard a lot. "I'll do it later today. Promise."

The cafe started to get crowded as the flurries intensified out on the sidewalk. I was glad to be inside. I thought I saw a familiar face somewhere in the snow running out from one of the nearby shops to a car. I blinked again but the person had disappeared. Head lights had turned on. They were gone.

I sipped my coffee, held Phoebe's hand, and allowed myself peace.

_____________________________

After sitting at the cafe for a few hours, we headed home. I then grabbed my snow boots, a rather large snow jacket and my new phone. Then, I headed back out into the cold.

This was the third time I was meeting her since everything had happened.

After Cassidy had told me everything I had missed, I'd ran to get a replacement for my destroyed phone. I stopped moping, and I felt like I needed to be back in the loop. Plus, it was hard not being able to text my mom anything. She had been texting Cassidy the whole time, apparently, and therefore, knew everything that had been going on with me.

Thankfully, I had enough money in my savings to cover a replacement phone. I got a newer one with a much nicer camera. I wasn't able to back anything up from my old phone, so I was starting completely from scratch. In some weird way, I preferred that.

Andrea opened the door after the first knock. She already had a cup of hot chocolate prepared and sitting on the dining room table. I was right on time, as always. And she was looking just as polished as she always did. Nails clearly recently done. Flawless makeup. As if she just woke up looking perfect and didn't even have to try.

"Hey," she greeted as I shoved my boots onto her carpet and took my usual seat across from her at the table.

We'd been meeting like this since she had first reported here incident to Title IX.

Unfortunately, Title IX was a long freaking process. Every single thing needed to be documented and perfectly worded. Andrea's first report had been the hardest part, she had explained to me. She'd been terrified that nobody would take her seriously, and for good reason. But thankfully, the report had gone through. Apparently, the case had worried someone enough that they had actually done something.

And Andrea had actually told them about me, too. She'd told them what she knew from Cassidy. That David had tried to intimidate me away from actually reporting anything. As I'd suspected, doing so was extremely against the school's rules. And the fact that he had attacked me first, had mattered to them.

The biggest issue with including me in her case was that I didn't have any evidence. Most of my personal evidence had been saved solely on that phone that David had destroyed. I'd sent some of it to Andrea over text. But not enough.

So, the case was mostly on Andrea, but the fact that I could corroborate her story gave her more credibility. She told me that she definitely felt like it had made a huge difference.

"Anything new?" I asked her. The last time we had talked she'd told me that they were planning on officially charging David with stalking and harassment. That it was most certainly going to go through.

And she had texted me earlier that week telling me that it had.

"He's gonna be taken care of," she said, nodding her head. She sipped the hot chocolate. "He's gonna be suspended I think."

The thought of him being forced out of the school for his actions was both sad and satisfying. Yes, it was what I wanted. I didn't want him harassing anyone else. But at the same time, it almost felt like it wasn't enough. What was I getting for him getting suspended? It didn't feel like I was receiving any retribution.

But I guess that was just life.

And there wasn't much I could do now.

"That's good to hear," I replied. I let out a heavy sigh as I placed the ceramic mug back down on the patterned table. The curtains by the windows blew from an incoming snow flurry. It had only worsened since Phoebe and I had returned to the apartment.

"What?" Andrea asked, her eyes lighting up. She nudged her chair closer to the table. 

"It just feels wrong still. Like, nobody cares about what happened to me," I admitted. The thought nagged at me, banging me over the head repeatedly. That nobody even knew what he'd done fully. And that nobody cared enough to hold him accountable on my behalf.

"Maybe they don't. Maybe they do," Andrea said. Her answer piqued my curiosity.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Well... I know I care. And Phoebe cares. And Cassidy does. And maybe the school isn't showing they care at all. But fuck them, then. Right? It doesn't change the fact that it happened to you. It doesn't somehow mean what you went through isn't valid. It just means they are stupid," Andrea said.

I shrugged. "Sure. But like... I want someone to hold him accountable in my name, you know?"

Andrea paused. "I get that."

Silence filled the room for about a minute.

"I do like to believe people get what they deserve though. And even though it wasn't in your name, it still happened, and it couldn't have happened without you. And sometimes that's the best you can do. Just do what you can to get your story out there, and if your story isn't the tipping point, it will add wait, and eventually that ship will sink," Andrea explained.

I guess it was true. I'd added weight to the ship. Andrea had sunk it. But without the weight would it have sank? I'm not sure.

Probably eventually.

 David had hurt me. And Andrea. And probably others. A trail like that could not remain hidden for long. Eventually, it would come to light.

After another half hour of mindless chatter, there was a knock on the door. I checked the watch on my wrist. Right. Dinner time.

I hugged Andrea good-bye. Gave her another thank you for everything and told her I'd see her next week.

When I opened Andrea's door, Phoebe was there, waiting. She held a hefty grocery bag filled with fresh vegetables and pasta. It was a dinner date night.

I took Phoebe's hand and we walked out into the cold.