Daylight streamed through the tall windows of the library's halls, illuminating the tables below. There, the hunched figures of countless students clustered together, whispering quietly or scribbling in their notebooks.

Kaitlyn took a deep breath, inhaling the slightly musty scent. It had been a while since she'd stepped into the building. Coming here for the computers had been a necessity during those early programming classes, but ever since she'd gotten the laptop reward from Philip's romance ending, there had simply been no reason to come back. Not until today.

Stepping deeper inside, she turned away from the main halls and towards the back of the building. A similarly large space greeted her, this one also filled with rows upon rows of bookshelves. She traced a path along the earth-toned outer wall until she encountered the first of many doors set into it. A metal plate with the number "110" hung next to it.

A surreptitious glance through the window revealed a group of four students inside, all chatting amicably. A whiteboard hanging on the far wall displayed an inexpertly-scribbled diagram that seemed math-related. It was hard to tell, honestly. Whoever had made it had terrible handwriting.

Shrugging, she continued on to the next room, then the next. Kaitlyn peeked through each window as she passed, looking for an unoccupied space to claim.

Come on… there has to be something here, right? I know it's almost midterms season, but maybe…?

She didn't particularly like the group study rooms here. The windows gave them an unnerving, fishbowl-like quality that just rubbed her the wrong way.

Working in the common room is different, she reasoned. Yeah, there's people walking by all the time, but they're meant to. And they're not just peeking in and looking at you like… this.

Regardless of her mixed feelings about the rooms, though, it didn't really matter. This was where they'd decided to meet. She wouldn't go about changing their plans now just because of something like this.

Eventually, after a fair bit of searching, she saw a group exit one of the rooms ahead of her. Her eyes flashed with opportunistic glee. Hurrying forward as quickly as she could without drawing attention, Kaitlyn checked to make sure that the room truly was empty and stepped inside.

She set her backpack on the table with a sigh of relief. The muted sounds of the library disappeared within the soundproofed space, as did the oppressive fear of being just a bit too loud in what was meant to be a quiet space. Settling in, she allowed herself a stretch and a moment to get settled before pulling out her phone.

Kaitlyn: Got a room! 142, in the east wing on the right wall. Let me know if you have trouble finding it!

Esme: Perfect! Thank you, Kate! I'll head over once I'm done planting.

Elliot: I'll head over after class.

She nodded with satisfaction. Alright. That means I'll have a little bit of time to myself. In the meantime, hopefully no one comes by and gives me funny looks for taking up a whole room alone…

Pushing away the somewhat unwarranted fear, she opened up her laptop and pulled up her web browser. It was time to look up more sheet music.

It had been her most recent focus area, aside from researching candy recipes. Now that she'd gotten a little better at both reading and playing music, pulling sheet music for popular songs was a completely valid way for her to practice. It also felt way better than playing Jingle Bells or Camptown Races or any of the other basic and generic beginner songs.

I'm not even going to try touching classical. No way I'm there yet. But aside from that? The world is my oyster. This is a way better option to really push myself.

Most of the stuff she could find easily was popular music, which was just fine with her. She wasn't particularly picky right now, especially since she couldn't transcribe the music she heard during daily life by herself. It might be a good skill to pick up, but later. Once she exhausted the possibilities that were more easily available. But for now, she already had several tabs of possible contenders to try out.

Ooh, I want to try this one. Maybe this one too. And how about that?

A flash of orange in the window caught her attention mid-search. Elliot's gaze met her own, his eyes flashing with recognition. He went for the door and slipped inside.

"Hey, Kate."

"Hey!" She gave him a small wave. "You got here fast."

"Yeah," he jerked his head toward the door. "My class is right next door. Chemistry."

"You're taking Chemistry, too? What professor?"

"Shore. And yeah, pretty much every first year bio student takes it. It's impossible to get out of…" Elliot let out a sigh of disappointment. "Anyway. Esme should be on her way soon. I hope. Did she give you an ETA?"

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Kaitlyn checked her phone. "Nope. No update aside from the group chat one, so… no idea, either."

The ginger leaned back in his chair, exhaling sharply through his nose. "Figures. Don't wait on her or anything. I told you she's bad with time. Anyway, what've you been up to?"

"Ah, not too much," she demurred. "Just, uh… looking up some music."

He arched an eyebrow. "Oh, really? Looking for something new to listen to? I've got recommendations, if you want them."

"Oh, I mean–" Kaitlyn began, then stopped. It was fairly clear that Elliot had misinterpreted her words. But maybe it was better that way.

He's a musician. An actual one. I mean, he's in a band! A bit of sweat beaded on her brow. I'm nowhere near good enough to tell him about playing keyboard…

She'd started learning music specifically for the Elliot routes, so perhaps it didn't exactly make sense to hide things like this. But it wasn't like she'd never tell him about it. Just… not right now. Not yet. Not until she was way better at it.

"Y-yeah." Kaitlyn internally cursed herself and forced her old stutter back down. "Sure. What do you recommend?"

"Well, what do you listen to? What kind of music do you like?"

For a moment, she had to think about it. She hadn't put in a concerted effort to search through this world's music yet. In fact, most of the songs she was learning now were ones she'd either learned about from Heather or simply heard in passing at the dining hall or Bash Bros. tournaments.

I guess I haven't gone out of my way to listen to that much… but maybe this is a good place to start? It can't hurt to know what Elliot likes, either.

With a bit of hesitation, she shrugged. "Hmmm… Indie, I guess? I'm not the most picky, to be honest, but that's most of what I listen to."

"Indie, huh?" Elliot nodded approvingly. "I'd guess you've already heard of Maze of Ills?"

She nodded. "Of course. My roommate loves them. I think they're pretty good, but I prefer a bit more… I dunno. A different sound, I guess? I'm looking for something with more synth or keyboard."

"You might like Largelakes, then. There's also Record Theater or Wizard Woman, too. Those are a bit older and more niche, but still excellent."

Her attention turned back to her laptop as she typed the names in. "What was the last one again?"

"Wizard Woman? They don't have a lot of music out, but the stuff they do have is great. Really distinct sound, too. They broke up a while back, which kind of sucks. If they'd stuck it out, I think they could've really gone somewhere." He sighed regretfully. "Oh, well."

Huh. Her eyes narrowed as she scanned the results. I haven't heard of any of these. Not surprising, but still. I'll have to listen to them later.

Considering Elliot's hobby, she figured it was safe to assume he had good taste in music. So maybe asking him for advice would actually help her find a new favorite.

"What about you?" She asked, looking up again. "What kind of stuff do you listen to?"

"Eh, a little bit of everything," he shrugged. "Oldies, Indie, Jazz, Classical… Country's probably my favorite, though."

Kaitlyn's face twisted up in distaste. I take it back. Maybe he doesn't have good taste. At all.

The expression elicited a lopsided grin from Elliot. "What? You don't like country?"

"...Not really," she admitted. "It's never been my favorite."

"You don't say." He chuckled, his deep green eyes sparkling with amusement. "Is that why you look like you just drank a warm glass of curdled milk?"

"I don't–!"

"You're missing out is all I'm saying." He shook his head, still smiling. "I'll agree that there's a lot that sucks out there. But some of it's pretty darn good. If you feel like getting a bit adventurous, maybe you can try out Zeke Byron or Colton Wallen. You might actually like them."

She hesitated. It was pretty unlikely. Her dislike of the genre wasn't something so easily overcome. But still…

"I'll… consider it." She gave a begrudging nod. "Thanks, really. I'll have to look into these."

"No problem. Let me know if you want more suggestions, though. I'm always happy to talk music."

Maybe I will. It seems like he's not hurting for options, at least… though I'm curious if these are all niche hipster groups or if he also goes for more mainstream ones.

It didn't escape her notice that Dream Lizards hadn't been among his recommendations. It was completely understandable, given how tight-lipped he was about his band. Still, it just reinforced that distance Elliot seemed to put between separate parts of his life.

They chatted idly for a while longer before the door clicked open once again. Esme stepped inside, her usually pale cheeks slightly rosy from exertion.

"There you two are!" She stepped inside, closing the door quietly behind her. "I hope I didn't make you wait."

"Finally," Elliot chuckled. "What were you doing, waiting for the seeds to germinate?"

She flicked Elliot's ponytail. "So impatient. I didn't take that long. I even biked over here." Settling into a chair, she sighed. "Anyway, have you two started?"

"Nope. We were just talking," Kaitlyn said. "I haven't even opened up my book yet."

Esme let out a scandalized gasp. "Oh, you slackers! Midterms are right around the corner!"

"You know we're mostly here for you, right?" Elliot cocked a grin. "Why would we start without the star of the show?"

"We're supposed to be studying together, Elli. Not tutoring me." With that, she pulled out her own collection of supplies – a textbook, notebook, and sheaf of stapled-together papers. "That being said, I did bring some materials. I even have a practice midterm, if we want to start there…"