RUSH

Ch. 18: The Break Room

-Bennett-

"My laptop? Yeah, it's in my car... why?" Jonah asked while shifting over to open the break room door, peering inside before signaling for me to head in. He'd thrown my arm over his shoulder and dragged me to the back of the gym the moment Mason left, insisting that we go settle down somewhere quiet.

Which had led us here.

I pursed my lips while settling the paper bag down on the coffee table, not really eager to share more than I needed to. "I—"

"Did you forget yours at home?" he supplied while coaxing me towards one of the worn-out, obnoxiously bright red couches, likely remembering the number of times he'd found me settled down in here after my shift, working on assignments until the last bus of the night was set to pass by. "Do you need to borrow mine?"

My eyes widened. "Yeah! I—I left it on my desk."

Jonah nodded his head, finally pulling away now that we were in the safety of the break room. It was more or less just a glorified storage room with a few timeworn couches, a fridge that didn't quite freeze, and a dirty microwave that sort of heated food up... but it was also far away from most of the noise outside. I liked it in here, even if it did have this odd, persistent odor that reminded me of damp clothes.

At least there was a surprisingly expensive coffee maker, which felt so out of place atop one of the grey counters in the far back. Still, it mostly collected dust. One of our former co-workers, Kira, had more or less maintained it and refilled the pot whenever necessary. But no one else had bothered with its upkeep ever since she quit a few months back.

"I'll go fetch mine, then," Jonah replied, already turning back towards the door when I nervously cleared my throat.

"... are you sure?"

Jonah snorted, earnestly nodding his head in agreement. "I wouldn't have suggested it otherwise, Benny. Besides, you probably have an assignment you need to work on, huh?"

I hesitantly nodded my head, a bit unsure of how to shake off the guilt of asking Jonah for a favor so soon after getting into a disagreement with him. "I'm sorry for yesterday," I blurted out, hoping that clearing the air would help... at least somewhat.

Jonah's eyes widened in surprise. "Huh? You're sorry?"

"I—I mean, yeah!" I insisted. "There was no reason to—"

"I should be the one apologizing!" Jonah suddenly exclaimed, releasing an awkward chuckle. "And I am sorry. But you're not even mad at me, are you?"

I curiously peered up at Jonah, who was apprehensively shifting from one foot to the other, just warily pacing in place. "What? I thought you'd be mad," I retorted. Yet, when I glanced up to frown at him, there wasn't even a hint of irritation in his eyes.

"I'm the one who pissed you off yesterday!" Jonah explained, glancing over at the door before opting to settle down on the couch beside me. He was probably meant to be doing something else, but I didn't question it.

"But I'm the one who—still. I'm sorry; I shouldn't have been so defensive," I reiterated, feeling somewhat flustered by his unwillingness to place the blame on me. It wasn't like I'd intended to get into an argument with him at all, though. I'd just been... overwhelmed.

In hindsight, I should've known I could trust them to remain my friends; however, that hadn't made it any less intimidating to have him suddenly questioning my sexuality. I'd been so consumed by my own fears, that there had been no time to consider anything else.