"No, I'm alright thanks."

"Aw, but I kinda already bought one..." She pouted cutely, and I suddenly wondered why she was even offering.

"Hey, whatcha got there?"

She pointed at the book and quirked her head inquisitively.

"Oh, that, that's nothin-"

"Liar!"

She grabbed it off the floor and ran, giggling, down toward the pillars. I took off after her.

"Hey! Give that back!"

I don't know why I was chasing her. It was just a book of names, not even mine. But it felt important that I follow, oddly more for her sake than for mine.

She stopped, still giggling, by the final pillar. She leaned against it to get her breath back and read.

"Awww, it's just a book of names! Why've you got a book of names?"

"I don't rightly know."

To be fair, I didn't.

She frowned softly, and tossed it back.

"C'mon, drink with me!"

"Why?"

"Because I'm lonely!" She shouted, somehow both angry and still playful.

"Because I'm alone." She whispered, softer. I almost didn't catch it over the sound of the cars on the road.