Lifeline

March

A/N: Marching right along, here's the next chapter and update. I'm just going to put the whole thing up today and be done with the damn process. Honestly just want to put the little completed tag on it.

"You know, midterms aren't half as bad as finals," Nick said optimistically as he pushed the button for the crosswalk. School started late (at 9:15), so he had rounded up Bella, Devin, Anna, and Christie, and they had started to walk towards the Starbucks near their school. It was getting warmer and Nick pulled his sweatshirt off as he crossed the street, walking next to Devin as they followed the girls.

Christie, Anna, and Bella had hooked their arms together and walked side by side down the sidewalk, which was luckily wide enough to fit them all together. Once they had crossed the street they cut through an outside café area and then got to doors, going in. The Starbucks smelled inviting, like rich coffee, sweet chocolate, and sharp cinnamon. As they moved, the scents seemed to swirl around them and they breathed in deeply, the girls shedding their sweatshirts as they were greeted by the warm, fragrant air.

"May I help who's next?" The barista, an older man with a neatly trimmed silver beard and glasses, called to them, and Christie stepped forward with Bella. They took turns buying each other coffee, but often they forgot whose turn it was and went with whoever had money. This time it was Christie, and she waited patiently as Bella looked at the drink menu and made up her mind.

"Can I get a grande java chip frappuccino, please?" she said, and the man scribbled down the order on her cup with a sharpie.

"Name?" He paused, looking up at her with the pen poised about an inch from the cup.

"Bella," she said, turning to Christie as she ordered.

"I'll have the same thing," Christie decided, not up for the long string of words that always made ordering at Starbucks ridiculously hard. Never mind when you started to add extra pumps of caramel, like Anna did.

"I'll take a venti white chocolate mocha with two pumps of caramel and extra whipped cream," Anna reeled off, causing Devin and Nick to chuckle as they waited in line for their turn. Devin did order something (simple, easy, just coffee), but Nick waited to stop by the gas station across the street for a Monster energy drink. After they had waited for a while for their drinks to come out, Nick headed across the street and the rest of them walked back towards the school.

It had become a bit of a tradition to play a game on their way back to school from Starbucks called "Real-Life Crossy Road," based on a video game that had been very popular for a while, itself based on an old game called Frogger. It had started when Christie made a dash across the street, rather stupidly, in front of a car. Her friends had scolded her, they had all laughed nervously, and ever since then they had raced across the street when there was a break in the traffic.

Nick was already on the right side of the road, so he walked down to meet them as they stood on the curb, watching the cars pass and looking for an opening. Finally they got their chance, so they gripped their drinks and hightailed it to where Nick was waiting. They laughed as they caught up, grinning from the adrenaline and bumping into each other playfully. Midterms were taken like finals, but they were much easier because there was less stress; they were taken just to see how each student was doing, and the scores did not affect grades as much as finals.

At the end of the day, everyone was inclined to agree with Nick. Midterms weren't as bad as finals, and although it was a relief to be done with them, the tests had been easy. The sky was a clear blue with puffs of clouds, the weather was warming up, and summer was well on its way. All was good.

~*~

Blair came back to the band in the first week of March. He had to do some arrangements for the funeral and figure out what to do with his mother, but he finished up everything and was able to come back and play with them. Management was very understanding about the whole thing, and he was happy to be back with the guys. They were supportive and helpful and it was easier to get back into the swing of things than he thought it would be.