and twist /sidney clue

[gamemaker kelsier]

b e n j i .

"If I had an orchard,
I'd work 'til I'm sore"

Same café, same table as always. Benji didn't necessarily like working in public, there were always so many nosy people who wanted to make small talk, ask him what he was doing. He didn't care to explain, they broke his concentration and he'd lose his train of thought.

It was just easier to meet Clara off campus, away from prying eyes that liked to tell stories about why Benji Rowland and Clara Burns of all people might be meeting up. The answer was simpler than what people thought. They were friends, had been for a long time, before Salvatore even and Benji wasn't one to change his stride to match anyone else's, least of all Salvatore's awkward popularity race.

He sketched quickly in his notebook while he waited for Clara, nothing too important, just a simple little redesign of the cafe that he was in. He'd reimagined it plenty of times over the past two years that they'd been going to it. It was a worthwhile exercise and interesting to look back at what he'd considered good a short year ago.

An iced americano sat idle in front of him beside Clara's monstrous usual, something frozen with too much caramel and whipped cream. The baristas had taken his money and had them both on the counter for him without him having to utter a single word. Perhaps the familiarity was liked by some, he found it eerie.

"Clara," he said without looking up as his friend finally sat down across from him, "Took you long enough, your liquid death is drowning itself." Which was true, the whipped cream was slowly sinking down into the depths of the blended substance which could only lightly be linked to coffee.

[sidney]

She'd be lying if she said this wasn't the best part of her day. Seeing Benji. Unlike every other girl, though, it's not because he's got those deep eyes and perfect just-rolled-out-of-bed-hair. And it's definitely not his indifference to almost everything, which usually makes girls think they can fix him or make him finally care about something. It's because whenever he's around Clara feels like she can finally breathe. His presence is calming, soothing in inexplicable ways. Almost like the sound of waves crashing onto a shore or heavy rain as it pelts atop a steel roof. Constant and unyielding, a steady flow of relaxation. 

Even walking over to their spot—a little hole in the wall cafe they've been hanging out at for as long as she can remember—she can feel the tension in her shoulders starting to let up. Because she knows just up the block sits her best friend and an iced coffee. A part of her wonders if that's all life should be about. Good company and frozen caffeine. It doesn't sound like a bad way to live. But then the twenty page to-do list she keeps in the front of her head starts to creep forward and choke the air right out of that daydream. 

Finally she pushes through the front door and half smiles at the bell that chimes above her head. "Clara!" The familiar red-haired barista greets her and her smile widens. "Hey, I'm just here to meet Ben—" but before she can finish, her eyes land on him and her coffee so she quickly rushes over. 

Clara slides up behind him and wraps her arms around his shoulders, then plants a big kiss on his cheek. "Hi," she muses before letting go and skipping to the other side of the table. "I know I'm late, but also," she pauses and picks up the sweating plastic cup in front of her and wipes away some of the melting whipped cream with her finger before taking a huge gulp, "why must you be early everywhere and make me look bad?" 

She doesn't wait for an answer and instead starts unpacking her bag, laying multiple books out across the table along with a few notebooks and stray sheets of paper. "I have so much to do and no motivation to do any of it," she sighs, not really looking for a reply, but she knows here, with him, is where she can be her most honest self. And it's why instead of picking up a pen and starting her homework, she looks up at Benji, smiles, and starts a conversation first. "So, how was your day?" Absentmindedly she pulls two pills from the front pocket of her bag and tosses them into her mouth before he can notice. Hopefully. "Anything good happen?"