044 4:29PM

    Typically, after school got out, Chris and Seth would walk back together for a stretch before parting ways. Where they did so depended on whether or not Seth was needed at his mother’s little restaurant/eatery. Apparently he was desperately needed today.

    “Dang, it’s not even 3 o’clock yet. What do they need him for?” Chris pondered.

    About half an hour after she got back home, Chris was bored out of her mind. Reading manga upside down while lying half off her bed didn’t help. She wanted to do something. Everybody was gone; her parents were still at work and her older brother was still at school. Today wouldn’t be a tennis day since A.J. had basketball practice until later that night.

    Sighing, Chris slapped her volume of manga down on the nightstand next to her bed and then proceeded to flip over so that she could land with her feet on the floor.

    “I wonder what Seth is up to now?” Apparently eighth graders didn’t have much to do at 4:29 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon. The below-average-height girl grabbed her backpack and slung it over her shoulder. She didn’t particularly want to do homework, but she knew that Seth could help her on it. Might as well bring it. Chris ran out into the hallway and towards the sliding glass door that led to the backyard. Quickly slipping on her running shoes (since tennis shoes were heavy and usually reserved for tennis), Chris ran over to the garage where her bike was parked. She hopped on and pedaled about fifty feet before having to stop to open and close the gate behind her, but soon she was on her way to the Sunny-Go Cafe.

    The bell tinkled as someone walked into the cafe. Seth was busy making boba milk tea for a previous customer, so he wasn’t able to turn around and look at who entered.

    “Welcome to Sunshine Cafe!” he said anyways. The drink finished mixing and Seth was able to pour it out into the cups in which he had already placed boba. He capped the drinks and took them to the counter.

    “Two orders of boba milk tea!” he addressed the aforementioned customer. The young man came and picked up his drinks and went on his way. Seth turned to the man who had just walked in.

    “Hello, what can I get for y—...woah. Mr. M??” Seth stuttered and backed up ever so slightly when he saw who it was. School teachers didn’t usually end up here. Then again, he supposed that most of his teachers weren’t Asian anyways. Mr. Miyamoto was an exception.

    “Hey, Seth, how are you?” Mr. Miyamoto said, like any ol’ good and caring teacher. “I ...didn’t know you worked at a restaurant?” (“Is that even legal?” he would have whispered to his companion, if he had one. But alas, he was alone.)

    “Yah, kind of. My mom is the current manager of the place, but something came up, so I’m just filling in for now,” Seth explained. Seeing one of his teachers here was really weirding him out. “Anyways, would you like to order something?”

    “Ummm, how about a popcorn chicken meal with boba milk tea. That sounds good,” Lance said, looking up at the menu. “Do you cook too?”

    “Ahh, nahh. Just a little bit, but not too much. There’s someone in back who’s working right now. I’m just manning the storefront.” Seth typed the code into the cash register. “$5.78 please.”

    Mr. Miyamoto handed over some cash and Seth exchanged it for some change. “The food will be ready soon. I’ll go make the drink right now.”

    Seth was preparing the milk tea and the boba when a beeping sound suddenly went off.

    “Hmm, what’s that?” questioned Mr. Miyamoto.

    The boy flinched. “Shoot,” he muttered. “Hold on a moment, Mr. M. I’ll be right back!” Seth abandoned the drink on the counter and left a very puzzled chemistry teacher in the front of the cafe. The boy ducked behind the curtains which lead to the kitchen in back and came back through after a couple minutes, slightly out of breath.

    “Sorry about that. Chris is coming over.” He went back to the drink and finished it off, handing it over to Mr. M.

    “Okay... Why the rush?” Lance grabbed a fat boba straw and stuck it into his drink. He started to sip on the straw.

    “Umm.. it’s a long story.” Seth glanced nervously around the man toward the restaurant entrance. Not a few moments later, the bell tinkled as the door opened to reveal just the person he was expecting.

    “Hey Seth! How’s it go... oh, hey there, Mr. M.” She looked up warily at him, her hands still holding onto the handlebars of her bike.

    “Why is everyone so surprised to see me?” The hand that wasn’t holding the cup of boba went up in a shrug/'what the heck' motion.

    “Ehem, nothing.” Chris pursed her lips as she wheeled her bike to the back of the cafe. While Mr. M was a cool guy, she couldn’t ever get over not liking chemistry much.

    “I think we’re just not used to seeing teachers live real life,” explained Seth. “I think some of us still believe that they sleep in the closets or cupboards at school.” If sweatdrops were real, Seth would have had a small one as he explained, and Miyamoto would have had a larger, more comical one. He had long past grown out of that misconception, so he had forgotten about his childhood thoughts.

    Chris walked out from the back of the cafe and went up to the counter to rest her crossed arms.

    “Want the usual, Chris?” asked the boy.

    “Mmm, I’ll take some fro yo today.” She hid her mouth behind one hand and mouthed a ‘why is he here?’ to her peer. Seth, who was used to reading the common phrases that came from her lips by now, gave a slight shrug in return. Obviously Miyamoto was not immune to this exchange, so there was an air of awkwardness for a few moments afterwards. Chris wanted to make an awkward turtle. Or an awkward llama.

    Seth felt a buzz in his apron pocket, signaling that the food was ready to be given to the customer. He hurried away from the silent tension to grab the plate of freshly cooked food. A minute later, he came back to the counter with a platter of steaming Asian food.

    “Here you go, Mr. M,” Seth said, trying to break the awkward silence. He held the food out to the older man.

    “Thanks, Seth.” He looked around the small cafe after grabbing his food. “I guess I’ll have a seat over there.”

    “So... do I want to know why your little brother frantically switched from wearing glasses to wearing contacts? I’m assuming that he had contacts on since it seemed like he could see well enough.” Lance shifted his shoulder to get a better grip on the phone smashed between his shoulder and his ear. His hands were busying making some instant noodle with vegetables for his midnight snack. He hadn’t gotten to eat lunch earlier that day and so ate a rather early dinner. Seven hours later, he was hungry again.

    “I’m not entirely certain about what the whole story is,” Liz started, “but it’s something along the lines of how Chris was really into megane characters at one point.”

    “Megane characters?” Lance knew what those were, of course, but failed to see the connection. Liz, knowing that he knew what she was referring to, continued on.

    “You’ve seen how Seth is—he’s the smart, responsible one, sometimes the class rep. He’s the perfect real-life megane—just without the glasses.”

    “Except he does wear glasses...” Lance was even more confused now.

    “Exactly. Seth wanted to avoid being under the fire of Chris’s megane obsession, so he didn’t want to let her know that he has to wear glasses. At first it was really difficult for my parents to understand just how much he wanted to avoid glasses, but eventually they caved and got him contacts.”

    “But I thought that Chris and Seth had been friends since forever. How in the world would Chris not know that Seth had glasses?”

    “Hmmmm, that, I don’t know. Seth must have been really sneaky. Or really squinty at that. I hope he didn’t ruin his eyes too much more.”

    “Alright. I’ll just leave it at that. I can’t imagine what it must be like for him.” Lance ran his hand through his dark hair.

    “What’d you think of the cafe?” Liz asked him.

    “It was great! Way better than this stuff I’m eating now.” He slurped up some noodles extra loud so that she could hear it on her end. “Gah! That’s hot!”

    “Don’t give yourself a tongue burn now,” she teased.

    “Wahhh, I”m afraid it might be too late. Eeek, that’s gonna hurt for a while.”

    “Your fault.”

    “I know, I know. Jeez.”

    “Are you getting some sleep soon?” she yawned.

    “Soon. I still have some things to adjust on the lesson plan.”

    “Well, don’t stay up too late.”

    “I won’t. You get some sleep, ‘kay?”

    “Mhmm...” It sounded like the woman was falling asleep.

    “Goodnight, Liz.”

    “G’night,” she mumbled. It sounded like her face was now partially muffled in a pillow.