It seemed as though a significant amount of time had gone by since he last talked to someone. Although there was no indication of a message awaiting acknowledgment, Elliot took his phone out from his back pocket, expecting some sort of notification to be seen on his home screen. He wasn’t surprised to find that nobody had contacted him. The phone was immediately placed back into his pocket with a long, frustrated exhale as he pulled his rolling chair back up to his computer to try to find something to keep himself busy.
Zeb mutters to himself as he walks, skimming through his notes, narrowly avoiding some sophomore passing by him.
“Hey!” She snaps half heartedly, and Zeb mumbles an apology, not looking up. Who knew that Anatomy 203 would be so hard? He’d aced this shit in high school, and that was in New Mexico, under Gabriel Morgan’s watchful eye. College level stuff. What had changed?
Thank god the library on campus is 24 hours. He’s got a long night ahead of him. With a sigh and a frown, he tucks his notes away into his messenger bag before jogging up the steps and into the university library. Straight to the computers, thoughts of nothing but bones and muscle groups dancing in his head, he drops into a chair next to some guy, giving him a small smile.
Scrolling through generic news articles made his eyes heavy. He was slouched in his chair, nodding off when he was spooked by a noise approaching from behind. Immediately, Elliot’s index finger began to scroll through the last article he had pulled up. He turned his face away from the stranger approaching and hid a yawn in his shoulder. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the man look at him and, naturally, returned the smile.
“Hey,” he said in a tone that wasn’t quite a whisper. He left it at that, and gave his attention back to the computer with the thought that he might attempt to start his homework. The school website was the home page so he simply hit the home button and waited for it to load.
“Hey,” Zeb whispers back, typing in his login to the school homepage. Ok sure, he’s not failing any of his classes. He’s working a solid C in Anatomy, but nothing frustrates him more than a C.
He glances up from his screen to see the other guy staring at the homepage, and hides a grin. Yeah, he’s been there, falling asleep at the library computer, reflexively trying to hide it. Scrolling to the powerpoint from last lecture, he finds himself looking back at the other students screen more and more. “Bio 189?” He stage whispers, pointing at the guys login, then blushes. Great, it’s been so long since he’s had contact with another person that he’s forgotten how to interact with people. “Sorry.”
He ducks his head, cheeks bright red. Ok, he’s never been the most social guy, but who just points at someone’s computer and points out the obvious? Yeah, it’s the same course he’s in, but god, how weird.
Nah, it’s okay,” he said as he leaned back on his chair and turned it toward the stranger, hands folded behind his head for support. He didn’t recognize the man but they did have a fairly large class, after all. “Were you completely blindsided by that quiz last week or was that just me?”
School was something that Elliot typically excelled at but this semesters work load was heavier than he’d anticipated. He was desperate for a break which was becoming obvious now that he was resorting to falling asleep in public.
He pulled his arm down to yawn into his wrist once more and then leaned forward, demonstrating interest in what the other had pulled up on his screen.
