Exasperation

2 | A Sweet Treat From Yours Truly

As Madeleine raced to the center of the kingdom he was stopped by Latte.

"Oh hello Espresso! Who's your friend?"

"Friend?"

Espresso questions.

Madeleine frowns, hurt by his comment.

He then lets go of Espresso's arm.
Espresso, realizing his mistake, says,

"Oh yes. My friend, of course... This is Madeleine. Quite surprised how you don't know him."

Latte giggles.

"I've just been at the Institute a lot! Anyways, nice to meet you Madeleine"

"Nice to meet you too.. Uhh."

"Latte."

"Nice to meet you too Latte."

"Same to you!"

As they shake hands, Espresso turns to Madeleine who is looking straight forward.

Espresso sighs and follows him. As they walked into the bakery Madeleine finally spoke,

"You are free to pick whatever you want, it's on me."

Espresso readjusted his glasses while shrugging.
Even after not eating for so long he doesn't feel hungry. He doesn't crave anything. Espresso turns to Madeleine.

"Madeleine, I don't know what to get."

Espresso says calmly.

Madeleine stares back at him and looks back at the menu. Madeleine smiles and says,

"Its fine. We'll just get the same thing."

Espresso nods and goes to look for a table. He wonders how he even got into this situation.
Espresso sits down as Madeleine follows. Madeleine was about to open his mouth before the waiter came up to us.

"Hello! What would you two like today? Let's start off on drinks shall we?"

"Hello, yes, may I get some co-"

"He'll get a water, please. Same for me as well."

Madeleine interrupts.

"Okay, I'll get that for you! Once I come back I'll be ready to take your orders."

The waiter grins.

As the waiter walked away Espresso turned to Madeleine.

"Why did you interrupt me?" Espresso asked.

"Just watching your sleep schedule for you. You need to learn how to manage it."

"You were supposed to just check up on me not not take care of me."

"Well I do not care."

Espresso rolled his eyes as the waiter came with their drinks.
As the waiter placed it down they asked,

"Okay, did you guys figure out what you want?"

"Ah, yes. We'll take two Golden Croissants."

Madeleine responds.

"Okay and will that be all?"

They ask.

"And one Glazed Donut."

"Of course, I'll be right back!"

The waiter exclaimed as they walked away.

Espresso stared out the window at all the cookies talking.

Madeleine then spoke,

"Espresso, may I perhaps ask you a question?"

"Go ahead."

Espresso replied.

"What can I do to make you take a break off your experiments?"

Espresso paused.

Take a break?

"Depends. How long is that break?"

"Let's say, a month."

Madeleine answered.

Espresso opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out.

A break? For a month? That would be a whole lot of experiments to catch up on. And twelve whole studying hours. What the fuck?

"I must refuse. I have a lot to catch up on because of today."

Madeleine sighed.

"How about 2 weeks?"

Madeleine asks.

Basically half as much as the last.

"Maybe. Depends what I do in those 2 weeks."

"Well I don't know maybe we can go on a-"

"Hello! I'm back with your 2 Golden Croissants and a Glazed Donut. Enjoy!"

The waitress smiled while walking away.

As soon as the food came down Madeleine grabbed a plate.
Madeleine took the croissant and took a bite while staring at the window. Espresso took his portion and started chewing it.
After taking a bite he sipped his water and almost chokes on it.
He catches his breath as he explains he had forgotten it was water.
Madeleine laughs and takes a bite off the croissant again. Espresso finishes his plate.

"Hey Madeleine, who's the donut for?"

Espresso asks.

"For you."

Madeleine exclaims.

Espresso rolls his eyes as he grabs the plate. As he began chewing on it Madeleine starts calling the waiter over for the check.
As the waiter runs to get their check, Espresso had completed eating the donut. The waitress then brought the check over, as they both thanked the waiter they also had left a good tip.

"Yours?"

"..."

"Okay."