An ex shows up

Cassie and Tony returned down to the front hall, where Cassie's friend was sipping on her drink. She waved and her friend's eyes lit up. They started chatting again, welcoming Tony into their little group while he waited.

The friend's name was Marissa, she was also a Junior (though Cassie was only a sophomore), and she was a Philosophy major. She admitted she started taking philosophy classes in order to coast through college (like Cassie, she also had employment lined up, at her mother's furniture store, when she graduated), but had realized that philosophy was both a lot more challenging and a lot more interesting than she had expected it to be. She talked at length for a while about how Immanuel Kant was a hack, saying on multiple occasions how he was "too deontological" and how she hearted David Hume. Tony's eyes began to glaze over.

The front door suddenly slammed open, and a man with eyes full of anger barged in.

"Where's Jessica?" he half-growled, half-yelled at a guy grabbing another drink from the fridge.

"Oh shit." Cassie muttered looking up the stairs.

"Who is that?" Tony asked.

"That is Mitch," Marissa interjected coldly, "A son of a bitch who dated Jessica for a while. He still thinks he owns her, so if he's here, it's not going to be pretty."

"No," whispered Cassie, worry lining her face. "That it most certainly will not be"

"Wait, was Jessica the..."

"Yes," Cassie whispered to Tony, grabbing his arm to follow Mitch, who was already bounding up the stairs.