Thanks to the wonderful WhatAreAllTheseTears!

~ Diana

It wasn't the first time Soul had had a composition due tomorrow and hadn't started it. He was supposed to write a bittersweet melody for his composition class but he just couldn't get out the music. So Soul did what he usually did when he was stuck. He went out to the store and bought a pint of Ben and Jerry's Chocolate Therapy ice cream, ate the whole thing in one sitting and then wrote his brains out, finishing up his homework within two hours and (on the bad days) a half.

He usually was at the store alone. After all it was 11 pm on a Friday and he should have been the only one buying a pint of ice cream. But he wasn't. He'd seen her before. She was in his art history class; she liked more classical art, portraits and statues. She seemed to be in pajamas; sweatpants and a tank top under a zipper sweatshirt as opposed to her usual green plaited skirt and button up top. He tried to remember her name; he remembered her skirts, why couldn't he remember her name? She squatted down to look at the bottom shelves in the refrigerator. Her dark blonde hair tumbled over her shoulders and back. Her emerald eyes seemed to be bloodshot… had she been crying? God damn it, what was her first name?

"Uh… hey."

A loud sniffle. She turned up to look at Soul. "Hey Soul." She knew his name! Why couldn't he—Albarn! Albarn was her last name… now what was her first? "What are you doing here?"

Soul shrugged. Keep it cool. Keep it cool. "Just looking for ice cream. You?"

She shrugged also, staring down the containers on the other side of the refrigerator door. "Bad day."

Well shit. What did he say to that? "'M Sorry."

"Huh?"

"You said you had a bad day, 'M expressing empathy."

She huffed, her tanned cheeks puffed out in irritation. "I know that. I just- I didn't expect empathy from you."

"Hey! What's that mean?"

"Oh come on Soul, everyone knows you're the 'cool kid who doesn't give a shit about his classmates'. I mean the only other people I've ever seen you talk to are teachers and Black*Star."

"You know Black*Star?" Soul asked surprised.

The girl snorted. "Who doesn't?" well she wasn't wrong, with the way he displayed himself… "Black*Star and I grew up together."

Someone who grew up with Black*Star… who could it…? He had a vague memory of someone Black*Star had mentioned. Albarn. He knew her last name was Albarn… it was on the tip of his tongue, why couldn't he get it?

"Anyway, I'm surprised you initiated conversation is all. I'm actually surprised you remembered me."

Soul bit back the comment 'I remembered your skirts'. She stood and stretched, her small body flexing in a way that made Soul kind of mad he couldn't remember her name. She nudged past him and scanned the flavors in his section. She smiled as she found what she was looking for, and pulled out a Ben and Jerry's Chocolate Therapy. Huh. She liked his ice cream. It struck him like lighting. "MAKA!" He shouted. She rubbed her ear angrily.

"Didn't have to scream."

"Sorry." Soul mumbled again. She was standing in his way. "Mind getting me one?" He asked.

She looked surprised. "You too, huh?"

Soul shrugged. "Gives me inspiration. What about you?" He asked as he took the ice cream pint from her hands, her fingers were about as cold as the container itself. "Why do you need Ben and Jerry's Therapy?"

Maka blushed as the two of them walked up to the cashier's counter. "I-I got stood up."

"What?" Someone standing up Maka (now that he remembered her first name he would never let himself forget it) Albarn? The top in her class? And, despite how Black*Star talked about her, a pretty hot girl? Maka looked up at him between strips of straight blonde hair. "The guy must be an idiot."

Maka smiled, ducking her head, blushing. "R-really?"

Soul felt himself blush now. He didn't mean it like he'd said it. Or maybe he did… "Uh yeah. I mean I guess."

He handed the cashier the $20.17, he knew the price by heart (that was what happened when one bought this product a lot). He glanced at Maka who was digging through the back pockets of her sweatpants for her wallet. "I'll get it." Soul said. The girl had had a hard day already.

"No I can-"

"No, really. It's the least I could do." He paid for her.

"Hey, Soul?" She asked as the two of them walked out of the store.

"Yeah?"

"Do you want to come over?" Soul raised his eyebrows and she blushed. "I don't mean that! I mean- well, it's Friday night and it's kind of pathetic, eating an entire pint alone. At midnight. On Friday night. In the dark."

"But it's better if we eat together?" Soul asked with a raised eyebrow, "Hey! And who said I'd eat in the dark?" Soul defended. Maka waved off the latter part of the comment.

"It would be less sad."

Soul snorted. "Sure. Why not?" Who needed to finish their homework anyway?

Maka nodded her head in the opposite direction of his apartment. Her right hand, the one that didn't hold a pint of Ben and Jerry's Chocolate Therapy ice cream, reached out towards him. Long fingers outstretched, she would be a good piano player if she ever learned. Maybe he would teach her. He snorted in his mind and smirked before making a snide comment about how cheesy this entire situation was and how he didn't want to hold her hand. She cocked a blonde eyebrow and wiggled her fingers. He felt a silly grin slide onto his face before he took her hand, and they set off into the night.

"So, do you reserve Chocolate Therapy for being stood up?" He asked. She rolled her eyes.