After that day, Clara didn't hear much from Freddie for a while.

She had texted him the same night, asking if he was okay, but for the longest time the message wasn't even marked as read. A full day later he finally replied, telling her he was fine and thanking her for her help again; and after that he disappeared back into the void. Probably busy, Clara assumed, understanding all too well. Or something.

Even so, she tried not to think much of it. She would simply focus on her classes again for the time being and wait, stay patient, even if lately they'd been talking so often that the sudden silence felt quite unsettling. Which was in itself worrying, honestly. How long had they known each other? A couple weeks? Clara wasn't usually this hung up on people drifting in and out of her life.

But then again she didn't usually have people sitting injured in her desk chair either, fighting back pain and tears. She didn't have to disinfect their wounds or discover old scars on their skin or have heart-to-hearts with them about apathetic bystanders and fighting to be heard. She never gained such a personal understanding of most people she talked to.

And she didn't have to worry about them either.

That was what concerned her the most, if she was honest. Freddie's injuries hadn't looked bad, but he had still been injured. Had they healed since? Was he still in pain? And if not in pain, was he in trouble? Her classmate—she still hadn't learned the guy's name and now refused to bother—hadn't shown any signs of reporting Freddie for what he'd done, but she didn't want to be sure until she asked him directly. After all that had gone down, she didn't want to trust their luck just yet.

But Freddie was absent, and Clara was patient, and the days ticked by. The band didn't need her help for the moment, and life was strangely quiet. At least Giselle had her audition to prepare for while Clara focused back on her classes, or else the days would've been almost uncharacteristically empty.

So she didn't expect to run into any of the band in the cafeteria at lunch, even if in hindsight she should've seen it coming.

In her defense, she was pretty distracted. It had been a busy morning, and she had only grabbed a sandwich before pulling her laptop back out, revising her notes for her afternoon classes when there was a tap on her shoulder, and seconds later two familiar figures slid into the seats across from her.

"Is this still free?" Clem asked like he hadn't already sat down and started digging into his lunch—an appropriately big portion, but still smaller than the mountain of rice and vegetables TJ had piled on his plate. Clara sized him up again and had no idea where all that food was supposed to go.

"Well, now it's not," she replied with a smile, pushing aside her laptop. "Hi, guys. I didn't know you were on this campus too—right, pre-med." She pointed to TJ, then turned to Clem. "And you were…?"

"Education," said Clem, not looking up from his plate.

"He wants to become a teacher," TJ provided around a mouthful of rice. Somehow he had already managed to clear a good part of his plate; Clara wanted to ask how he had managed it and decided she was better off not knowing.

She raised her eyebrows, and Clem nodded. "Someone's gotta scare other people's kids straight," he said flatly.

Clara studied his face, trying to determine if he was serious or joking until TJ's muffled laughter gave it away. She smirked. "I didn't know you were good with kids."

Lifting a large hand, Clem reached up and gave TJ a pat on the back that almost made him choke on his food. "Been babysitting this guy since we were kids," he deadpanned, switching to more careful pats when TJ started coughing. "You learn a thing or two."

"Hey, go gentle on him," Clara said with a grin before her mind caught on something. "You've been friends since you were kids?"

"We two and Theo," said TJ, catching his breath. "We've been making music together since…" He tried to count on his fingers, then turned to Clem with a questioning glance. "Fourth grade…fifth?"

Clem let out a small snort. "I was in fourth grade, Theo was in fifth," he said. "You were eight."

"What grade is that? Third?"

"Look at this dude," Clem said to Clara, demonstratively turning back to his food. "Studying medicine and can't do math."

TJ smacked him with his water bottle. Clem blocked the hit, aiming for him under the table. Jumping away, TJ aimed and flicked a pea onto Clem's plate, and Clem leaped to his feet and threatened him with a fork. Across from them Clara watched the whole scene unfold and wished for some popcorn.

"What's up, nerds?"

A shadow fell over the table, and moments later Dylan had swiped a chair from another table and sat down next to them. "You're in my seat," he said to Clara, even though there was another perfectly free chair at her side. "You better be nice to it."

Clara took a bite from her sandwich. "Why not sit here?" she replied, pointing to the free chair.

"That's not my seat! You're in my seat," Dylan answered in a deliberately childish voice, crossing his arms and sulking. "I can't believe my own boys would replace me like that."

Clara took mercy on him. "Wanna switch seats?"

Dylan blinked at her for a moment, then burst out laughing, even if she had no idea what was so funny. Abandoning the chair he had just stolen, he slid over into the one next to hers and offered her a piece of his brownie.

"So the whole band is on this campus?" Clara asked, accepting the brownie before going back to her sandwich. "I thought more of you were studying something with music."

Dylan laughed again, shaking his head. "The whole band except the twins," he said. "Freddie and Theo," he added to her questioning glance. "They do everything together. They live together, they have the same major, they go everywhere together…At this point I'm just waiting for them to share a girlfriend or something!"

Clara took a sip from her coffee. "Sounds like they've known each other for ages," she said.

"Actually, that's the funny part," Dylan replied, his eyes glittering with unconcealed glee. "They weren't even friends when we started the band."

She almost choked on her coffee.

"That's true," TJ remarked, pushing aside his empty plate. "They knew each other in high school, but they never talked to each other till they became roommates in college."

"Freddie was like a feral cat when we started," Clem added, clearing his own plate, the single pea TJ had flicked over meticulously set to the side. "Theo had to bribe him till he trusted us."

Stifling a laugh, Clara tried to imagine that and found she could picture it all too easily. "It's hard to believe now, though," she remarked. "He's so loud about how much he loves you guys."

Cackling like a witch, Dylan gave her a slightly-too-heavy pat on the arm and messed up her hair. "You got the upgraded version," he said. "No need to 'pspsps' at him till he likes you anymore."

The others laughed, and the conversation derailed into a series of increasingly terrible jokes. Clara didn't get any revising done in that lunch break, but she found she didn't mind much. She'd simply have to do it later, if she even needed it that urgently.

And honestly, it had been worth the extra work at home. The more she hung out with these guys, the more she liked them, weird as they were. No wonder Freddie had grown so attached to them, she mused; they were the kind of people who easily made you feel like part of the group, even if you'd only been there for a handful of days. The kind of people who were easy to call close friends, no matter how determined someone could be to not let anyone in this close.

Clara sighed. She did need her lunch breaks, or always told herself she did, but the truth was that she did get lonely sometimes. Giselle was over on the same campus as Freddie and Theo after all, and while she did know plenty of people here, they were all casual acquaintances. Nice to sit with every once in a while, but in the end it didn't matter if she joined them or not.

…And now, she realized, she was getting attached to some people based on a handful of fun interactions. That wasn't her style. Was she really that lonely? That desperate for companionship, envious of the close bond they seemed to have as a group?

As if on cue, her phone lit up with an incoming message. She smiled. At long last, a text from Freddie.

U met my bandmates? he texted her, closely followed by, At lunch

He already heard about that? Clara thought, yet she was somehow not surprised. Yea lol, she wrote back. I see why you like them. They're pretty nice!

Weird tho, she added at once. But nice

Freddie started typing, and her phone blew up with a series of texts in rapid succession.

They're the WORST, he wrote.

And the best

Really embarrassing though, you cant take them anywhere

But still the best 🖤

Did i ever tell u about our first ever gig?

The smile on Clara's face grew. Pulling up her feet, she curled up in her chair and made herself comfortable. Finally, she thought. She knew she had missed this, but she hadn't realized just how much she had missed it until she had it back.

I don't think so! she wrote. Tell me everything 👀

What followed was a long and rambling story, and Clara loved every single sentence of it.