He continued to lick his ice cream. He couldn't just move away. That would be awkward. But he gave no sign that he wanted to chat. He hoped she would get the message and sit someplace else on her own accord. But she stayed put. Kept glancing over. Keith tried using his shoulder to block her view of him enjoying the ice cream.

Then she got up. Went to the counter and ordered a 

McFlurry

. Is this girl mad, Keith thought. Was she getting an ice cream because he was?

No. That was hubris he thought. Took another lick of his ice cream. It had melted faster than he had hoped. Probably because he was thinking about her. It was getting in the way of enjoying the ice cream. He got up and left the 

McDonalds

, throwing away the rest of his melting ice cream into the trash on the way out.

He noticed the license plate. Out of state. Really far actually. Must be on a road trip, he thought. A lot of people came out here for that. The west coast. It had an allure. That's how he had ended up here after all. Would've left after the allure faded, but he had no place better to go. So stayed instead.

His life could be summarized this way. Allured by one thing after another. Before California it was space. Before that it was... what did it matter? That was lifetimes ago. He drove back to his apartment on the second floor of a moderately busy strip. It kept him sane. Felt a bit connected to humanity without having to talk to anyone. But not so busy that the cars kept him awake at night.

He liked to sleep with the bedroom window open. But he didn't sleep in the bedroom. He had his bed in the living room. And he kept the main windows in there open as well. Felt the breeze. That night he thought about what he always thought about before falling asleep. That he was on land now. Instead of up there in 

Spacecity

. For some reason he always thought of this before dozing off. Tonight though, he thought of one more thing. That McFlurry from earlier.