His warmth

Alyssa felt like she could properly breathe again when she saw Elias walking her way. She moved off of the fountain's edge and lifted her hand up in a subtle wave.

Elias smiled back at her as he nodded to her. A silver necklace hung around his neck, resting above the thin material of his black button down.

His hands were tucked into the pockets of his black, slim fit pants.

"Hey," he said with a sympathetic look. He stepped closer to her than she expected him to, and then her arms were around her.

Alyssa's eyes widened at the sudden hug, but she welcomed it and wrapped her arms around him. She drew him in close as she rested her cheek against his chest.

He never felt all that warm, but he was soft and firm at the same time. He felt perfect against her, and she hated the moment that she had to let go of him and step back.

"Thanks for coming. I hope you weren't busy," she told him as she threaded her fingers together in front of her.

She would've understood if he couldn't come out here and meet her. They both had their own lives, and she couldn't expect him to turn away from his to attend to hers.

"No, it's fine. I wasn't," Elias assured her as he stood at her side. He met her eyes. "But you're not fine."

Alyssa sighed softly and shrugged in a dismissive way. Now that she was with him and had taken a few minutes to calm down, the phone call didn't feel as awful and dramatic as it did in the moment.

"I just got off the phone with my mom. It wasn't that great of a call," she replied. There was a lot of baggage when it came to her parents.

She wasn't sure if he was ready to hear all of it. Maybe they weren't that close yet.

"Are you close to her?" Elias asked as he motioned for them to start walking.

Alyssa shook her head as she picked at her fingernails. She hadn't admitted these things to anyone before. It was strange to actually say the words.

"No. I'm not close to either of my parents," she replied. "I don't think I ever was."

"Did something happen?" Elias asked as a concerned look appeared on his face.

Alyssa thought back into the early years of her childhood. There wasn't one incident that caused her family relationships to be so fractured.

There were just a lot of small ones. She was constantly disappointed and let down by them. It became what she expected from them, and that shouldn't have been the case.

They were her parents. She should've been able to look up to them.

"Not really. They're just not meant to be parents. I get that not everyone can go above and beyond, but they hardly even did the bare minimum," she explained.

They enrolled her in school and showed her where the bus stop was, but they often forgot to pack her lunch or fix her hair in the morning.

"I'm sorry you had to deal with that growing up," Elias murmured with a frown. "I couldn't begin to imagine going through that."

Alyssa guessed that his family was the opposite. They were probably overbearing or crowding him too much, which was scaring him off.

She would rather have that than parents who rarely showed up when she needed them to.

"I'm just glad that I'm older now and able to be away from them," she replied. Things could be worse. She could still be a teenager in high school.

Not only did she have to deal with mean girls and gross boys at school, but she also had to deal with her parents and a crumbling home life.

She was old enough to understand what was happening and feel the full effects of it, but she was still too young to remedy any of it or to get away from it. She had been completely stuck.

"But they still call you," Elias said, bringing

her back to her original point.

"I worked a lot last summer to save up money for this semester until I got a part time job. My mom called me today to ask for some of my money," Alyssa told him, watching his eyes gradually narrow.

"They want the money you worked for?" Elias asked, sounding shocked.

Alyssa nodded, glad that he shared her bewilderment. She was still stunned that her mom actually thought that she was going to give them any of her money that she still needed.

Though, she made the mistake of giving them money when she was in high school.

"If I wasn't so shocked, I think I would've laughed," she admitted. Her parents could be ridiculous. They had surprised her more than once with their requests.

"What did they even want it for?" Elias asked.

Alyssa shook her head, wondering that herself. Her mom hadn't said anything, so it was probably for something she didn't even want to hear about.

"I have no clue. She didn't tell me," she replied. Something was going on, but she wasn't going to concern herself with it. It would just pile on unnecessary stress, and she had enough of that to deal with already.

"I'm guessing you told her no, right?" Elias said in a hopeful manner.

Alyssa scoffed. She wouldn't give them another cent. It would probably go to something dumb anyway, and she would rather spend her own money on things that she needed, like school supplies or things for her dorm.

"I'm never giving her money again. I taught myself that lesson," she muttered. She had to value her time and effort, and her parents just wanted to sabotage all of that.

She needed to put as much distance between them and her as possible before they somehow ruined her life.

"Hopefully, she leaves you alone now," Elias replied as his arm brushed hers. They walked close at each other's side as the rest of campus fell away around them.