ᴍᴏᴄʜᴀ | ᴛʏʟᴇʀ ɢᴀʟᴘɪɴ x ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ ✔︎ [ON HOLD]

X

"... and then she was like 'Y/n are you texting a boy' like oh my gosh the audacity of talking to someone of the opposite gender holy shit but anyway I told her it was just Enid but it was actually you and Xavier and Ajax so—"

Tyler snorted, burying his face into his hands.

"— and then before Wednesday left for therapy mom was like 'oh we can go to get hot chocolate after this' like bitch we all know you lying."

He nodded. "Can confirm, I've never seen her in here since the start of high school."

"Like, where was all this love when I was a kid?" I scoffed, taking a sip angrily. "Oh, you should be so grateful that I gave you money and a house even after you were kicked out of my school! Yeah, thanks for doing not even the bare minimum for your legal child."

"Imagine casually mentioning trauma," Tyler raised an eyebrow. "My break's almost over, but my shift ends in like half an hour."

I nodded and pulled my phone out; I still had another 45 minutes before my presence would be demanded. "I could do some homework while I'm waiting... but I don't wanna."

Tyler gave a little exhale-snort. "I'll find you some motivation once I'm done fixing the espresso machine. Our new guy broke it just now."

He walked away and I opened Insta, scrolling through my feed. Enid had already begun preparing for this year's Poe Cup, and for Ophelia Hall the theme would be black cats. But since I was in Bianca's dorm, I was roped into helping them with their golden siren theme.

Or it was something like that, at least.

Even though I would have much rather been on Enid's team... Bianca had an amazing track record with winning and I wouldn't mind getting in on some of that after two defeats in a row when I went against her.

But on the other hand, it hurt knowing that Wednesday would be taking my place on the team. The door dinged open and my head shot up as a reflex; speak of the devil and she shall appear. Guess she escaped... but why run here, barely a block away?

I followed her movements as she walked towards the counter, where Tyler was still fiddling with the espresso machine, which had sounded concerning when he was making my drink. Said machine whirred and hissed, finally giving up on life like me and white fog floated out of it.

I could hear Tyler's groan from my booth— then his swear as he noticed Wednesday staring at him from across the counter. "Do you make a habit of scaring the hell out of people?"

"It's more of a hobby."

Bru.

"You go to Nevermore. Didn't realise they changed the uniform."

Tyler glanced over at me, tilting his head in question. I picked up my cup and walked over. "They didn't. Tyler, this is—"

"I need a quad over ice. It's an emergency," I sighed and rested my head on the counter. I could already sense Wednesday looking at me in disapproval. "It's four shots of espresso."

"Yeah, I... I know what a quad is, but, spoiler alert, the espresso machine's having a seizure, so all we have is drip."

"But drip is for people who hate themselves and know their lives have no real purpose or meaning," the guy behind us who was pouring drip out for himself set the kettle back down, backing away. I gave her a light slap on the wrist, and bitch had the audacity to not flinch. "What's wrong with your machine?"

Without waiting, Wednesday slipped behind the counter and scooted next to Tyler. "It's a temperamental beast with a mind of its own," he replied, shuffling away slightly. "And it doesn't help that the instructions are in Italian."