Pomegranate

Seth - 3

Their Government class group met again the following Wednesday, this time at the library, like Benji first suggested. Benji was early, Seth was on time, and Tyler showed up seventeen minutes late. Benji kept track.

They organized their tasks and tried to work on the project together, but Tyler kept stopping to text or start asking questions about the class quizzes, or take snack breaks. He had the attention span of a goldfish, and it was clearly getting on Benji's nerves. Seth kept having flashbacks of his last semester in Trinity. He wouldn't slack off this time, but Tyler was making it hard to do this project.

"Maybe we should take a dinner break," Tyler suggested, lazily glancing at this watch.

Benji was fuming.

"Yes!" Seth rushed to agree. "Yeah, let's do that."

"Alright, then let's meet here in 30," Tyler said as he grabbed his coat and phone from the table. Once he was gone, Benji cut a glance at Seth. He finally made his distaste obvious.

"He was driving us crazy." Seth shrugged. "We also need a break. Well, mostly from him."

Benji huffed.

"C'mon, we been at it for like, two hours. Let's get some food."

"Sure," Benji said, eventually.

Seth walked out of the library, expecting to go to one of the dining halls, but Benji took a right. Seth followed him, slightly confused, the theater building. Cafe Midnight was on the first floor, and it looked exactly what it sounded like: a lot of paintings, low lighting, creative coffee names, and plush couches. Seth ordered a soup, and Benji had a slice of quiche and chai tea. They sat opposite from each other in a table, Seth sinking in a dark-orange chair and Benji on the corner of a green couch.

They ate in silence for a few moments, as it took Seth a lot of effort to sip his soup from the low seat on the chair. He noticed Benji glancing up between Seth and his own plate like he wanted to say something.

"What's up?" He asked.

"Sorry. I know I can be kind of intense about work." Benji said. "I didn't mean to be rude to you."

Seth shrugged. "That's fine." He wasn't sure what to say. Don't apologize for the kind of person you are? He got a feeling Benji was allowing his guard down if only a little. Like he could see a glimpse of the look he shared with Meredith, earlier.

"Tyler is kind of scatterbrained," Seth added, trying to make light of the discussion.

"Yeah, but I think if we finish the outline and collect the research data by tonight we can..." Benji cut himself off his ramble of checklists, looking at something in a distance like his tongue had fallen asleep.

Seth turned to see who he was looking at.

Meredith blinked at them from the staircase leading to the backstage area, and waved, skipping down the stairs.

"Hi!" She said breathlessly, her cheeks flushed. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Short study break," Seth responded. Meredith sat on the arm of his chair, leaning towards him. "You know I've never been to this Cafe before?"

"Well, then it was about time." She smiled at Benji. "It's one of Benji's favorite spots.

"Oh. Nice." Seth looked at him, but Benji wasn't really paying attention.

"Tyler just texted." He sighed, looking at his phone. "Something came up. Can't make it back."

"This guy, I swear." Seth huffed. "But we're almost done for the night anyway."