Unconventional friendships - Atif Aslam

Unholy cars and the Continued Lack of Caffeine

The car ride was awful, no matter how much he tried to adjust the pillow, his neck refused to get comfortable. Reluctantly he allowed his eyes to watch the passing scenery. It was dark outside on the lonely road they were travelling on. Nothing but trees and trees for miles.
Salman Khan is a megastar, they said. Humanitarian, they said. Atif felt it was against humanity to ask anyone to descend upon their farmhouse, centuries away from urban areas, at unholy 'o'clock in God knows which time zone.
He shifted again flexing his neck muscles as far as he could.
"Will you stop that? " Omer snapped.
"I didn't do anything! "
"You are making it hard for me to fall asleep too, go sit at the back if you are so fidgety. "
Atif grumbled as he squeezed himself back.
It was useless. The seat was cold, the head rest never at the right height, stretching out was cramping atleast one part of his body. He twisted himself in all possible ways, until finally he was sort of comfortable at the cost of no shoes and facing the rear window shield.
"Omer? "
"Hmm? "
"The car is cursed. "
"Atif? "
"Yeah? "
"Shut the Fuck up. "
"Sorry"

Two hours and many broken naps later they were at their destination. He pulled himself out of the car trying to act a little less crumpled. It was still night, he still had no idea what time it was and he still needed a cup of tea or coffee. Anything with caffeine really.
There was a group of people standing outside. One of them quickly took his luggage from him and disappeared before he could protest.
A woman stepped forward.
"Namaste sir, I will take you to your room. You can freshen up there. Salman sir will meet you at dinner as soon as you are done."
"I guess everything is taken care of. I'mma head out, " Omer clapped his back.
"What, where???" Atif turned his neck so fast he heard a crick.
"My leave? Did you forget? "
" When did you say you want a leave? " Atif asked bewildered.
"You didn't hear a single thing I said during that flight? "
Atif looked away, trying to not feel guilty.
"This is a private meeting Salman requested for two weeks ago. If the tour hadn't gotten pushed forward you would have gotten a break too. You don't need me here anyway. The security team is here, and it's a dinner between colleagues. You were the one who suggested I take these few days to myself."
"Oh. I guess I did forget," He sighed and looked up at his best friend again.
"I will meet you then, whenever this private meeting ends".
" One week"
"Yeah yeah, that, " He tried pretending as if he didn't internally scream. "Allah Hafiz, take care".
Omer patted his back once more and got back in the car.
No coffee, no tea and now no Omer for one week. Wonderful day.

10 minutes later he was in his rather comfortable looking room, washing up and trying to look a little less like a corpse. He took his sweet time slowly walking out of his room and making his way downstairs. He was halfway down the stairs when he realised he absolutely had no idea where he was going.
"Nooooooooooooooo, " He sobbed.
Not having the energy to figure it out himself, he sat himself down at the nearest landing. Someone was bound to fetch him at some point. He rested his head against the wall. If only he had that cup of coffee.