Pomegranate

Benji - 3

Benji ran into Seth later that week, sitting in a couch on the Midnight Cafe, immersed in a philosophy book. It took Benji a moment realize was him; his hair was cut shorter under a moss green knitted hat. Benji approached slowly, hoping Seth would catch his eye, instead of creeping in like a scared deer.

But Seth hadn't looked up until Benji was nearly in front of him and said. "Hey."

Seth glanced up, and his eyes went wide with surprise. "Hi!" He shut the book closed like he had been caught reading erotica, and his eyes fixated on Benji's in a strange way, going up and down, not really staying on his face. Like he was struggling to keep focus.

The weekend before Benji had caved in and looked up Seth on Facebook. They were already friends, but Benji wanted to make sure that he hadn't missed any drastic life changes. He saw that at the beginning of break, Seth had posted that he was changing phone numbers. Benji had missed it. The whole time, texting a number it wasn't his. He felt like a moron.

"How's it going?" Seth asked.

"Good. I mean, busy semester." Benji glanced at the spot next to Seth on the couch but wasn't sure if he should sit. He could just be bothering Seth.

"Same, yeah."

"Oh, I um, I don't think I have your new number?"

"Right! Right." Seth pulled out his phone from his jeans pocket and scrolled down a list of contacts. A moment later, Benji's phone buzzed with a new message from an unknown number, simply saying It's me.

"There you go," Seth said. "Sorry, I must have forgotten. I thought Meri might have given you my new contact."

"It's okay. We should..." Why was this so hard? "Get lunch sometime? Catch up?" His voice came out high pitched and insecure.

"Oh. Right, yeah." Seth nodded, glancing down. "Yeah, I'll text you. I'm just kind of swamped right now. But yes."

"Yeah, yeah. Totally."

"But it's..." Seth's Adam's apple bobbed, and his hands twist together like he was trying to clean oil off his fingers. "It's good to see you."

"Yeah."

Benji thought of the party again. Holding Seth's hand and whispering in his ear, like schoolchildren passing along secrets, afraid of being caught. It bloomed in Benji's mind when he looked at Seth's hand. It swallowed his thoughts, along with all attempts at a normal interaction like a regular fucking human being.

"I'll see you around," Benji said and walked out, fast.