A wave of warm air ran through the open apartment windows but stirred little in the stillness. Even with a breeze, the hot air still hung heavy among the rafters and the random gust of wind was the only hope for something fresh among the stale atmosphere.

The cat stirred to welcome a temperature lower than the sweltering heat she had had to bear all day. She moved the minimal amount, merely lifting her head off her paws where it had laid for the better part of the past two hours and turned to gaze down on the few pedestrians daring to wander through the sticky city streets.

At the sudden reminder of life other than her own, Mia's eyes refocused and the sleeping city came back into view. She closed the book that had laid on her lap, her progress having gone no further than the first paragraph of her assigned reading. She stowed it away into her backpack with a vague hope that she would accomplish more at her next location.

The apartment went dark when she turned off the reading lamp on her desk. She leaned forward to plant a light kiss atop her cat's head where she lay on the window sill, now once again asleep, joining the rest of the city.

Mia made slow and quiet moves to gather up all her necessary things, trying to tick off the invisible list she had made in her mind. Other things were competing for her attention but as she had spent the past hour thinking solely on such things, instead of working as she knew she should have, she easily set them aside and determined they had had enough of her focus. She still had work to do.

During her progress, from her desk packing up her books, over to the kitchen counter, to grab her jacket, then finally to the front door, she offered the only audible noise in the space.

Mia could feel soft snores coming from under one of the closed bedrooms doors. And when she turned off her desk lamp, the only light left in the apartment was a soft glow that emanated from underneath the second closed door. Mia could sense the turning of pages as she was sure her second roommate was cuddled up in her chair, seated as close to a blowing fan as possible, reading something dense.

It was with one glance at the clock, her keys clutched tight in her hand to keep them from breaking the silence, that Mia finally closed the front door and headed out.

She had watched the time change, from one number to the next until, finally. It's soft green hue had stayed in the corner of her eye ever since she had returned that night from class and it had haunted her as she tried to carry out a regular evening, taunting her as its numbers continuously changed but at such slow and agonizing pace. But with one last switch of digits, Mia's feet started out.

As she shut the door behind her, hurried down the empty staircase and pushed through the open door out into the sweltering night, in her mind she could see exactly what was happening only a few hundred miles away. She could see a hurried run, a towel drenched in sweat and then a mad dash for an awaiting bus. And she knew exactly where that bus was headed next.

Her car drove her through the city in a direction she rarely ventured. Once she hit the highway hitting west, it was then that her focus came back to center and the reality of the situation landed hard and took a spot in her passenger seat, acting as navigator.

Her hands held tight to the steering wheel, her eyes watching the red lights moving before, with an occasional glance at the white behind. Her heartbeat seemed to rise to a peak speed every fifteen minutes. She then spent the next fifteen taking deep breaths, letting her hand hang out the window and relish the feeling of cool air once again.

The winding roads of a narrow country highway offered the perfect distraction and won out for her full attention as she had left her fellow travelers behind on the main freeway and now ventured out on her own.

Rolling hills seemed to stretch out on either side of her, from what she could tell from the narrow beams of light the infrequent street lights illuminated. Her car was the only noise made along the winding roads as she rolled through small town after small town, each seeming darker than the last as time only grew later the longer she drove.

Her destination shone out like a beacon of pure light, out onto the vacant landscape that surrounded it. It stood as the first lit building Mia had seen in nearly an hour and it's bright neon signs caused her to squint as she pulled into its dirt parking lot. She was one of only four other cars parked there, two of which were pick-up trucks.

The silver chromium of the diner's exterior only helped to project it's light further, seeming as though it aimed to be seen from space. In such a dark area, Mia had a quick thought that it might be able to. But the light had made sure she had found the place just fine and she breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of a large pink advertisement boasting the restaurant's 24-hour service.

There had been an inkling of doubt that she would have reached her destination and found it closed, or worse, out of business.

She would have sat in her car and waited, having driven so far. But sitting alone in a dark parking lot in the middle of nowhere would have deterred from the overall anticipated enjoyment planned for the evening still to come. But nothing could fully take away the excitement that raced through Mia's veins and made her hands tremble as she climbed out of her car and into the light of the open and fully functioning diner.

Classic rock floated through the cool air of the air-conditioned diner as Mia stepped in, her body relaxing at the feeling of a temperature lower than boiling. A group of teens hung in the furthest back corner and Mia made no move in their direction, calculating in the ramifications of what would happen if they stayed there all night.

But they were already moving to leave as Mia took her seat at the end of a long bench divided by small tables placed along its length. And with a quick goodbye to the one waitress on duty, Mia was the only patron remaining.

She already had her books pulled from her backpack and was spreading them across the small table space in front of her by the time the waitress made her way over and took Mia's order. When she returned with a large cup of coffee and a plate of fries, Mia's nose was already buried among the spines of her textbooks.

Her glasses slid to the tip of her nose and threatened to fall off as her head rotated between her books and her notebook, her hand busy scrawling across its empty pages of lined paper.

There hung a large clock behind the row of bar stools and above the window looking into the chrome kitchen. At every five minute intervals, almost perfectly on the dot, Mia's head rotated to its third focus, glancing at the time before returning to her studies, only to then again check the time.

The lateness of the hour and the thought of the examinations still waiting for her helped her regained her usual sense of focus and determination. The night's event had not fallen during the perfect week as the end of the semester loomed large in the back of every student at Mia's university. But Jay's invitation had been accepted without a second thought, the consequences considered after everything was arranged and such consequences easily beat out by the opportunity given.

And so Mia sat studying, Ansel Adam's works proving a more companionable subject than she had expected. Her interest had gotten sufficiently absorbed in her reading that her eyes remained on her reading for the last half of her hour waiting period.

She was almost surprised when a fleet of vehicles suddenly appeared along the highway. She was smiling and her books were closed and tucked back into her backpack by the time the caravan had somehow managed to pull into the parking lot, the space seeming minuscule compared to the massive buses that now occupied the majority of its space. The additional vans found their own spots and Mia's car sat tucked among mammoths.

Mia's posture immediately straightened, her eyes doing their best to peer past the advertisements plastered on to the diner windows. She could see as the first bus opened its door and let forth a hoard of people.

Once they stepped through the swinging doors, any quiet the diner previously held slipped out into the night along with several bursts of AC-ed air as the front door stayed open for a prolonged period of time to let person after person enter the restaurant.

Each face was familiar to Mia and she stood as soon as the first hand had grabbed hold of the door's handle. It took Mia several minutes to acknowledge her fellow patrons and say hello to all her friends as the first that entered had taken up all of her attention as soon as he had hurried off the bus.

Mia's face had been wearing a smile for a week. Even during the toughest of times and the most stressful of exams, a quick thought of the smile that now approached her sent her face back to full wattage. Her smile had remained tucked into the corner of her mouth and was now given it's proper moment to shine.

Her cheeks started to hurt once her arms had remained wrapped around his neck for a long minute. The red in her cheeks nearly sizzled as a few tears managed to escape the corners of her eyes and roll down.

With the feeling of his arms wrapped tight around her waist, her heart was racing too fast for her mind to even comprehend, so much so that the thought of a possible heart attack didn't even occur to her, despite her rapidly beating heart and her total lack of proper oxygen to her lungs.

He smelled sweet of sweat just barely washed off and she was already missing it when she finally relaxed her grip and they slowly started to part. She was breathing again, but short breaths as it seemed she was crying and laughing, at the same time.

She felt the tears running down her cheeks get wiped off and pressed her hand against his to keep the feel of his callous skin against hers for a moment longer. She saw the same bright smile she knew she wore shining brightly on him. But saw too the same look of exhaustion underneath his eyes that she surely wore at that moment.

Their bubble was popped and they floated lightly down to earth as someone with a familiar voice came up behind Jay and shouted something along the lines of, "Dude. Don't hog her to yourself. We wanna say hi, too!"

Then was Mia forced to acknowledge the existence of the rest of the flood of people as she spent the next fifteen minutes saying hi to all, briefly catching up with those she was closest with, getting introduced to the few she hadn't had the chance to meet yet and greeting those she had only met once before.

By the time she got the chance to sit down again, in a seat especially saved for her because no one would dare try and take the space to Jay's left, everyone crammed around and along the long bench and row of little tables were friends and most considered the rest family.

Mia's plate of fries, which she had done a good job of eating a majority of herself while waiting, had disappeared entirely by the time she had sat back down. But it had then been quickly replaced by a flood of food.

The waitress even roped in the help of the cook and the two of them brought out plate after plate piled high with the best diner food any of them had tasted.

As it was nearing two in the morning and the majority hadn't eaten properly in hours, the proclamations made after several mouthfuls were only slightly skewed. But the cook seemed pleased to have her work accepted so enthusiastically. She even stayed out for a bit to chat with some of the crewmen, having no other patron to serve and nothing else more exciting waiting for her back in her kitchen.

The waitress hovered over everyone and soon gave into friendly chit-chat with other members of the tour as well.

Mia sat in her favorite position, one leg tucked underneath her, with the familiar weight of her favorite arm hanging heavy on her shoulders. She watched as everyone ate and laughed along with everyone else, listening intently as she was brought up to speed with what she had missed since her last visit.

It seemed everyone along the table had something to tell her, even the few she had just met jumping in to help clarify and expand on different stories. She got the jist of most of what was said but appreciated more the atmosphere she found herself sitting among.

Only a few tables down sat the group of newcomers Mia had had the wonderful pleasure of re-meeting. She had been quickly reminded that they were the new opening act for the tour. Most seemed just about Mia's age, with the only girl seeming a few years younger and the tall blonde one (the drummer, according to what she was told) appearing older than her but youthful and ageless at the same time.

When the excitement of reunion had settled into pleasant dining table talk, one softer than the initial wave of energy, Mia took to watching the four newcomers, specifically the girl and the boy who didn't look exactly like her. They sat across from each other and with their own bandmates and members of their own team, other newcomers Mia had met.

But the more Mia watched them, the more it seemed to her that the two of them saw no one else but each other. Neither ever ceased smiling and she was sure their cheeks were going to break. Red had rushed both of their cheeks and they easily exchanged stories and laughs, their conversation flowing seamlessly.

Mia felt a nudge on her shoulder and she looked up, finding Jay staring down at her with a question in his eye. She nodded in the kids' direction and he nodded with understanding. His hand pressed just a bit tighter on her shoulder as he pushed his plate away and started to drink his coffee.

Mia responded on instinct, moving closer and closing whatever space they might have had between them. They both slouched down into the bench and leaned towards each other, settling into a position familiar and comfortable and their favorite out of any other.

Mia could feel Jay continue a conversation with his bandmate, who sat across from them, and she could feel the rumble of his voice in his chest and smiled when she felt him laugh. The sensation only amplified the beauty of the sound she heard when he opened his mouth.

With his hand still over her shoulder, holding her tight to him, she grabbed hold of it and intertwined her fingers with his. Sleep peaked it's head around the corners of her eyes, starting to make its presence known. She fought back it's attempt to take control by swallowing down a large gulp of coffee and ordering another one. There was a motel bed with her name on it waiting for her but she knew sleep was still at least another hour or two down the road.

Her brain no longer held any thought of her upcoming examinations and current studies, the grace of God allowing the next day to be assigned as a day off.

She didn't work too hard to try and engage with the conversations happening all around her. She was content to just listen and be in the same room as them. Her half closed eyes instead fell back on the newcomers.

The people down on their end had all pushed their plates to the center of the table, all of them now leaning back into their chairs, most trying to stifle a yawn. But the two remained, leaning close together and talking as if they had all the time and energy in the world.

Mia smiled at the sight and her thoughts flashed her back to a few years previous, when she must have been the girl's same age, maybe a little older. The smile she wore now had been a staple on Mia's expression during that time in her life. She recognized the red cheeks and the occasional averted glance that was then followed up by an intense session of direct eye contact.

From what Mia saw, she could see that this girl (Bobbi, Mia finally remembered her name was) was better at playing cool and hiding her obvious attraction to her current companion.

Compared to how Mia remember acting, she seemed the very essence of calm, cool and collected. Mia had had a harder time hiding her attraction to Jay and it had quickly become obvious how much she liked him when she kept showing up at his shows, making a point to see every single one she could, no matter the time or location.

She looked up and saw Jay was looking in the same direction, a faraway look in his eyes too. It was when he looked down at her and into her eyes that she saw he was remembering everything she was.

It was the smile he gave her that told her that since their first meeting, nothing had changed for him. He loved her just as much as he had then, regardless of the time and distance that spread between then and now.