The Caffeine Fix

CHAPTER 9

Tyla could hardly get a few hours of sleep that night. Her Saturday morning was lazy just as she had expected and she lazily cut some tomatoes, carrots and cucumbers and arranged them and poured some vinegar oil on it. She sat on the bed munching on the vegetables and started reading a Chemistry journal online. She read a few words and then started scrolling on her phone. She raised her hands out of laziness. She wanted a break from her routine and wanted to go on a trip. Her busy schedule could hardly spare her any time to think about a trip. Her weekdays had to be spent attending classes and doing practicals and her weekends working on papers. She was thinking about taking a trip during winter break after the exams. But even before that, a small weekend trip could fit in somewhere, couldn't it? But with whom?

She just couldn't imagine going on a trip with Carla, Alexa and Sarah. A whole weekend full of them would be simply unbearable. Besides, they never even considered her their friend. Maybe she could ask Dan and Michael. But hopefully they wouldn't consider it inappropriate. Or then she would have to start dating someone to go on a couples trip. And for that, starting with talking to someone, feeling a connection, going on a date, going on more dates, starting to like them, and finally dating them? Ummm, that's a long process. Well, a trip with the best friend and her now boyfriend (and her ex-crush and ex-best friend?) Mmm. Not such a good idea. They do need their privacy on a trip, at least for the initial months of dating. Maybe just skip the idea for now?

She sighed and started scrolling again. She was in a mood of procrastination and so decided to google Patrick James. Hah. Why didn't she do it till now? She googled him and read everything about him. She suddenly recalled, no news regarding a pregnancy. It appeared that the controversy got resolved somehow. 

"That was really honest of him to confess a scandal like that to me." She thought with a partial smile on her face. "I mean, who would confess such an intimate detail, fake as it was, to a normal person? Why would he do that? Is it true that people are the most honest after midnight?"

She spent the next 2 hours scrolling down his Instagram profile. His most recent post was him holding his award for 'Beneath' with a caption thanking his fans for their love. The post was from more than a month ago. He wasn't that regular in posting pictures as his posts had at least 15 days-30 days of an interval between them. There was no sign of him dating anyone or having ever dated anyone. Did this guy live the ultimate single life or was he really that good at hiding his affairs? 

She finally put her phone aside and started reading the online journal with a sense of satisfaction, having procrastinated enough.

      

The cafe was crowded, as expected to be on a Saturday. Tyla didn't seem as interested or enthusiastic and so Dan and Michael came up to her after finding some quiet time.

"Hey, what's up? You seem kind of down. I haven't seen you so disinterested and bored until now." Dan asked with a concerned voice.

"Hey…..well nothing special Dan."

"Are you feeling okay?"

"Well actually, you know, my roommate and her boyfriend went for a trip. As I was sitting alone in the room, I thought that I could use a trip too. I am feeling exhausted from this routine."

"Well, yeah, let's maybe plan something out." Dan replied, nodding approvingly.

"Yes, but make it a weekend." Tyla added.

"Well, it should be longer than that." Michael said.

"Well, so what, you're gonna get 5 days off from the cafe?" Dan asked.