Tweetie

22

The cafe filled little by little as lunch continued and the rain slowed to nothing more than a soft wash of water, falling slowly but still enough to soak everything it touched for longer than five minutes. The sounds grew subtly, chatter filled the air from the few students who risked the rain for a coffee before they had to go back to lessons and work through the final portion of the day. Yet, despite the sound of gossip, brewing coffee and footsteps, Hazel was yet to wake and the three boys she sat with were yet to acknowledge their surroundings.

Hazel still rested against Ryan's hand that held the warmed peas, her hand had dropped, leaving a small scribble on the page she was writing on, but the pen remained in her grasp. Ryan was absorbed in his phone, lost in what nobody else could see. Leo worked through his own studies, jotting notes and revisions down in a half-full notebook while Oscar listened to music and doodled badly against a page in his maths workbook.

People turned to them every so often, curious about the mess they sat in. All wondering why Hazel was sitting with them and why she had a mess of once frozen peas held to her face by a boy they could only describe as cold and intimidating. But, on their tired and dreary day, they moved on, talking about it every so often but deciding not to do anything to upset the group of boys they both admired and feared.

"...What is going on...?"

A voice spoke directly behind Ryan, forcing him to turn and shift, which, consequentially brought Leo's attention to the movement. And of course, once the sight of shifting caught Oscar's view, he also sat up, lifting himself from the book he rested his head on and pulled his earphones from his ears.

It would take more than a shuffle of movement in her peripheral to wake Hazel, however. She hadn't slept properly in weeks.

"You guys are a mess," Joel laughed warmly, glancing back to Fox who approached slowly behind him. "Did you even notice anyone come in?"

"...What time is it?" Leo asked, glancing around at everybody who sat in the cafe. There weren't many people, but it was enough for it to be a shocker for the group who thought it was bare of life only five minutes ago.

"Half twelve," Fox answered, moving around the table and dropping himself into his seat.

"Oh," Oscar chirped, glancing towards Hazel beside him who breathed soothingly, "I thought it had only been ten minutes."

They glanced around again, giving themselves time to adjust and take everything in. The smell of rain from the door which opened too many times, the chatter, the footsteps, the lingering taste of coffee in the back of their throats and on their tongues. It didn't take long to feel as though they were back in the cafe where they would almost always be found.

"...Is she okay?" Joel asked, taking his own seat as he leaned forward against the table, inching closer to Hazel to see if her lowered head was really asleep. But, from the way she breathed and didn't move an inch, he assumed she was.

They fell silent, looking at her for a moment before looking at the peas, and then, like following an arrow, they followed Ryan's arm up to his face as he also acknowledged the fact that she definitely wasn't awake.

"When'd she fall asleep?" He furrowed his eyebrows, glancing around at his friends who shrugged. "My hands kinda gone numb..."

"Why are you holding peas to her face?" Joel asked, letting a confused smile form on his lips while his head fell to his shoulder. "Was she hungry or something?"

"No..." Ryan grumbled, unable to stop himself from wriggling his fingers that held the bag to her, the numbness becoming too much. Even keeping his arm in place against the table got difficult.