"Now I know how you must have felt. Writing all those reports for us...God!"
Bryan's words were muffled as he sat with his face in his hands. Sitting across from him in a booth at their college's coffee shop, his friend Finola warmed her own hands around her cup of tea.
"Don't be so hard on yourself. You wrote some of those reports too, especially when things with Dee Dee were so crazy."
The two students had met last year in their science class, where they had been paired as lab partners for the semester. Finola had soon realized that between them, she hit the books harder, but she knew Bryan to be intelligent and a fast learner. When a classmate had accused Finola of cheating after she had gotten the highest grade on their teacher's notoriously difficult midterms, Bryan had defended her, and they had remained friends ever since. Finola had confided in him about her troubled family life, after which he had volunteered to write up the rest of their lab reports. When she had had to fly home to London to visit her sister after their finals, he had given her a ride to the airport. It had meant more to her than he knew.
"I'm stuck with Grace and Niels on this project," he complained now. "She keeps spouting off trivia and he brings the worst things to our meetings. Sour fish! Can you imagine the smell? I just—" He shook his head, blinking back tears of frustration. "Sorry. I need a moment."
"You need a break from all this caffeine and sugar you've been drinking," she chided gently. Three empty coffee cups, all Bryan's, were on the table before them, scattered among his laptop and notes. This had been a common sight the past few weeks, ever since this new group assignment had come up for him. Finola wasn't in his class this time, and he sorely missed working with her, but it was a new school year, and Dee Dee was doing a lot better, enough that Finola had begun representing their school in academic competitions.
"I need the caffeine and the sugar," he argued. "I've been staying up late trying to get this thing done. I have no idea what Grace and Niels have been doing! It's like I'm alone on this thing, on my own planet!"
She got up and slid into his side of the booth to put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "I'm here for you," she reminded him. "Now, you mentioned meeting with them. Don't you discuss your progress?"
Bryan scratched his cheek, looking a little embarrassed. "We tend to get into arguments first, then I just leave and work by myself."
"Arguments over what?"
"Anything. Nothing. I told Grace last time that I had it all under control, and she said no way, that she was taking the lead on this project. Then Niels asked if anyone wanted to try his fish yogurt, and I…I may have knocked it onto the floor."
"Bryan!"
"I cleaned it up! And I said I was sorry. But they didn't speak to me after that. We haven't met since."
Finola softened at the contrite look on his face. "Look, if it's so bad, why not just tell Professor Maddox you want to change groups?"
"No way." Bryan looked aghast at the suggestion. "He put me with Grace and Niels. That's the assignment. I'm doing this thing, no matter what."
She sighed, even as her hand moved from his shoulder to his back, rubbing it in soothing circles. Craig Maddox was one of the college's more popular professors. Most students respected and liked him. Bryan practically idolized him, for reasons she couldn't quite understand. Personally, Professor Maddox had always rubbed Finola the wrong way. The demise of Maddox's professional relationship with her father was partly to blame, but her gut also told her the man could not be trusted. She just wished Bryan would also see that one day.
"Well, then I suppose you'll have to learn to work with them. Ask them to meet with you again. Tell them you've been putting a lot of work into this project and remind them that it's a big chunk of your grade. I'm sure they'll respect that."
He toyed idly with one of his empty cups as he thought about her words. "Okay. I'll do it."
"And try to be patient with Grace," Finola advised. "I think she's a lot like you. Maybe that's why you don't get along so well."
But her friend shook his head. "No. It's because she's not you."
The quiet honesty in his voice made her heart skip a beat. "Well, thank you." She glanced at her watch and grimaced. "Sorry, but I've got to go."
"Meeting Gibson again?"
She stood up with a sigh and picked up her cup of tea from the table. "Yes. He's a nice guy, just...he's fixated on the glory that being in this competition could bring us."
"Well, I have no doubt that you'll win and bring back a medal or a trophy or...whatever you win at these math things."
She let out a soft laugh. "See you around?" she asked.
He nodded, and she smiled, leaving him with butterflies in his stomach. When he called home later that night, he must have brought up Finola one too many times because his mother teased that he was falling in love, which he neither confirmed nor denied.