Cold wind, snowflakes and bright street lamps outlined his path. Derek rubbed his hands together, shuddered underneath his jacket and pulled his collar up over his ears. Something about the way the breeze was blowing made him uneasy. He should have just stayed home like he wanted to. His shoes scuffed against the concrete, the slush a muddy gray color. Today was just a really ugly day. Nothing exciting, no coffee, bunch of bills over filling his mail box, his stupid TV even broke. His brother had stopped by which was nice, hasn't seen him in a few weeks. But as always his brother was distracted with his phone, all the social media stuff or whatever. Derek sighed; he really should have stayed home. His cell phone buzzed in his right pocket when he rounded a corner, causing him to almost slip on the ice.

'Where r u?' the text said.

'I'm on my way.'

'K'

Rae always replied with just k, it made him want to stab his eyes in with a pencil. Maybe a knife. He tucked his phone back into his pocket, and crossed his arms across his chest as he got to his destination spot. He leaned back against the bus stop pole and closed his eyes shut. He didn't know what it was, but an odd feeling stayed there in the small pit of his stomach. What a sight he must be right now, standing there by himself, shutting the world out with his earphones in, half of his face covered by his jacket, hair tousled and eyes closed tight. Frightening to children, disgusting to adults, unappealing to woman. Derek shook his head as his shoulders slumped with sadness. Depression was never something he thought he would ever catch. Depression was a disease that just kept coming back two fold. No matter how much he wished it would go away.

That's when Derek chose to open his eyes and they landed on her. A regular looking girl, with a regular looking face, but sparkling eyes. Her head was tiled back, her arms were stretched above her head and palms open facing the sky. She laughed joyfully as snowflakes landed in her hands, caught in her hair and on her tongue as she stuck it out. It wasn't her eyes and it wasn't her body that caught his attention, it was the smile that was laid on her face. It was a smile that wasn't forced. It was playful. It was happy. Most of all it was real. Derek couldn't remember the last time where he smiled at something for the pure joy of it. A year or so, more than likely. If this woman could be so happy, why couldn't he? When he brought his gaze back to her, she had put her hands down and was now sitting on the stop bench. He felt slightly ashamed, staring at a woman so bluntly who was only sitting 7 feet away. His phone buzzed once again.

'R u here yet?!' Rae texted.

'Bus isn't here yet.'

'Hrry up!' he frowned when he read the message and shoved it back into his pocket. Would it really kill her to waste two more seconds writing out complete words? Ridiculous.

He huffed out a breath of frustration and ran his fingers through his hair roughly.

"Hey, you dropped your phone." A voice said from behind him.

Derek looked down to the ground and there was his phone. His crappy, old phone laying there in snow.

"You know at this point I don't really care, no one important to talk to anyway. Just people who make me more depressed then I already am." he mumbled, placing his foot over his cellphone and pushing it deep under the snow.

She looked down at his foot, a ghost of a frown visible. A thin layer of awkward silence filled the space between them; Derek shifted his weight from one foot to the other as he looked up at the stars. He ignored the snow and ice falling onto his face. He ignored the aching feeling of loneliness, and the dull feeling in his hands and heart. That was the name of what he was feeling all night long. Not something bad that was going to happen, but how lonely he was. The realization of how lonely his life really was. Wasn't that just wonderful? Yeah, it was peachy.

What had gone wrong? He had graduated high school and had gone to college. Majored in architecture, bought an apartment in the nice area of Chicago. Met a pretty girl, who he thought he was in love with, but actually just enjoyed their free time activities if you get what he means. Rae really was wonderful, but all of sudden it hadn't been enough for her. Marriage came into play and that wasn't something Derek had ever seen himself doing with her. That should have been the sign to end it right there, but he hadn't. Three long years he spent with her and her constant nagging. Her late night phone calls with her friends when all he wanted to do was lay down and watch movies with her. Her verbal abuse when she accused him for cheating, not trying to better than what he was and leaving them to minimum wage of an architect. Her cheating. Yeah. It may have started there.

"Move your foot." the girl said, dropping down to her knees and pushing against his leg.

"Hey! What the hell are you doing?" he asked, staring down at her in disbelief.

Reaching her hand into the snow around his feet, she looked up at him. There was a look of determination on her face, so he took two steps back.

"No one made you depressed. You made yourself depressed, it's no one else fault but your own, so don't say other people caused your problems. You're the one who let their words bother you, so shut up." she huffed, cleaning the residue of the phone. Or at least what she could.

She stuck her hand out to him, the probably broken phone gently resting in it. He then realized she wasn't wearing a coat. Or a scarf. No boots just flip flops. Her lips were blue and her eyes sunk in. A thin v neck shirt with ripped jeans was all she wore. Just that in this storm, an act of suicide maybe? Or just plain craziness? He stood there, hands in his pockets, unresponsive. Her eyes flashed, her lips pursing. He held back a chuckle. She opened up his phone and started typing on the keys. He reached out to grab for it, but she only pulled away out of his distance. She turned her back to him, so he decided to just reach out in front of her and snatched it back. His hand brushed against hers and strangely, she was quite warm. He looked down at her, since she didn't even go up to his chin more like his chest, and saw the smile there on her lips again. She rubbed her hands up and down on her arms, and then blew onto her palms as she rubbed them together.

"You couldn't have just waited two more seconds? It's not like I was going to steal it or anything. I wouldn't have gotten very far." She chuckled and pushed her hair behind her ear. Her lips trembled slightly; she blew puffs into the air.

"Here." he said, shrugging off his jacket and handing it to her.

She looked at it in question, and only shook her head.

"I have my own clothes thank you very much."

"Well you're cold, and I don't see a jacket or anything. So just take it. Where I'm going I won't need it." He huffed, was she stupid?

"Where you going? To see you girlfriend?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"What? No."

"Oh, I get it. Your boyfriend then." She grinned.

"What the- no. I'm going to a party with an old. . . friend. She's not my girlfriend, just someone who wishes she was. I have no plans on making that happen though." He rolled his eyes.

She grabbed his jacket from his hands, thin delicate fingers grabbing onto it as she placed it on. It hung off of her shoulder slightly, but other than that it wasn't overly big on her.

"Thanks Derek."

"How do you know my name?" he asked, dumfounded.

"It was on one of your message's that I accidently read." she laughed and made a gesture behind them. "Your chariot awaits sir."

He looked over his shoulder and saw the bus idle besides them. Derek didn't even hear it arrive. This was strange because he usually heard everything. The bus doors opened, the clunking noise being made. She gestured to go in at him as he just stood there.

"Um, ok. Bye, it was nice meeting you!" She picked up her bag that was resting against the leg of the bench just as Derek turned to the doors. He stopped, thinking he should turn around and say something to her; he did give her his jacket after all. But he thought twice about it and just continued up the steps a few long seconds later. He took his seat at the front of the bus, the bus made him lean forward fast then rest into the seat as it took off. The bus driver cursed and stopped the bus for a moment, trying to pick up the cigarette that just dropped out of his mouth. As he settled, he looked out the window for the girl. Strangely though, she was nowhere to be found. Had he imagined her? He really was going crazy. He blinked twice, rubbed his forehead and made a groaning noise when he heard his stupid cell phone noise go off signaling he had yet another text message that had to be from no other but Rae. It was a miracle the thing was even sill working.

One new message from Chloe, the screen read. Who the hell was Chloe?

He clicked on the open button, and there it read:

'Hey! Never frown when you are sad! You never know, there could be someone who's in love with your smile. Oh, and look besides you.'

Derek looked out the window eagerly and there under the red street light stood the girl wearing his jacket. She had the brightest smile on her face, and raised her hand above her head, waving goodbye to him as the bus started again.

When she was no longer visible through the window, he only saw himself. And he was smiling.