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OUT OF TIME

"So you take the test and let the AI do the work for you," you finished explaining. "We already downloaded it," Connie and Sasha said, showing you their phone screens. Then you looked at Hitch and made puppy eyes. "I won't." She clearly refused the idea of having a lover.

"Just install it, otherwise y/n'll fail her final project" Eren added, sitting with you. "Yeah, right," Hitch crossed her arms. "Why don't you do it then?"

"I would if I didn't already have a gem with me," he said, placing his hand on Mikasa's leg. She smiled softly in response.

Connie all of a sudden shouted while staring at his phone."100 questions?!?" "More questions, more accuracy," you tried to sound convincing. "You're lucky they have nothing better to do with their lives than answer that hellish questionnaire," Hitch mocked you.

"What do we do now?" Sasha asked, she knew how the conversation would end if Hitch and you continued talking "Waste our lives," Hitch joked. "I meant about food... " she replied. You thought about your command and told it to the waiter. After finishing eating, you decided to go to your room, where you found your roommate opening a bottle of white wine.

"So soon?" you laughed. Pieck waved her phone in your face. "My mom. Lately, she's been bugging me about finding a partner," she took a big sip of her drink. You, after hearing all the story your roomate had to tell, offered the name of the app you were launching, since it was the beta version and also needed more volunteers. "Just in case you want to try it," you smiled. She took it and searched for the app on her phone. "If it helps me get mum off my back, I'll give you whatever you want," she joked.

You felt exhausted after that long day so you flopped onto the bed and sighed. "I don't know if there will be enough volunteers though," muffling a scream by burying your face in the pillow. "And I'm getting out of time."

"When is the deadline for the project?" Pieck asked curiously. "In 8 months." "That's a lot, don't be worried girl" she received a notification. "Look," she then showed you her phone. "You have one more volunteer."

"Thanks," you said while sitting up and opening your laptop. "By the way, I have until tomorrow to send the email. Can you help me write it?" "Let's do it," Pieck grabbed a glass before sitting beside you. "Do you want some?" she pointed at the bottle. You nodded, pretending to be desperate.

The truth was that you were a little scared. Afraid that all the work you had done in the previous year would go to waste simply because no one would pay attention. The main goal of the project would only be achieved if there was an audience using it, but if there wasn't, there would be no work at all, which meant you would have to repeat the last year of university. And you refused to do that at all costs. Uni life was okay, but you had had enough of it.

After a while, you sent the email to all the students at the university. Hopefully, that would be the power move you needed to make everything go smoothly.

Pieck, who was taking that never-ending test, snapped you out of your thoughts when she asked you if the app really worked. After explaining to her all the stuff about the functioning, both of  you finished preparing some assignments you had for that week and went to get some sleep since it was kinda late.

~The next day~

You woke up around seven in the morning, with about a hundred messages from the group and around thirty mentions. When you checked, you saw they had all been talking about the app having 1,5k downloads. Your eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when you verified that information. It was impressive.

Apparently, between the email you sent and Sasha going out partying and spreading the word, you already had enough users to start the practical part of the project.

A part of that, you were surprised to see a private message from Hitch, asking to meet for breakfast in an hour. You got dressed fastly and packed your bag for classes. An hour later you were already sitting at the cafeteria.

"We need to talk," Hitch said seriously.

"Okay," you furrowed your brow. It wasn't rare to see Hitch serious, but seeing her serious without reason was.

"What I'm going to ask, it needs to stay just between us, please," she seemed embarrassed by what she was about to say, as if there was a war going on in her mind about whether or not to speak up. You nodded without saying anything else, a little concerned about the situation.

"Do you think I should... try out your app?" she asked cautiously, in a low voice. Upon hearing her question, you couldn't help but let out a laugh, which quickly subsided when she looked at you as if she wanted to kill you. "If you want a partner, sure," you finally said. "Well.. I'll do it if you do it too," she demanded.

The thing was, she was embarrassed to admit that she wanted a boyfriend, and that everyone knew she had a romantic side beneath that tough girl facade she always wore. Her defense mechanism was turning the situation into 'doing you a favour' to disguise her true interests. You realised this, but played along to avoid making her uncomfortable. To get her to open up, it was best to let her do it her way and not force her to admit her feelings.

"Okay, let's do it," you took out your phone and downloaded your own app while Hitch did the same. "Look what I'm doing for you, I don't even know if I've fully gotten over my previous relationship yet..." "You can't take more than a week to get over that guy, ew," she replied with a disgusted face. "Besides, how can you not test your own project?" she mocked.

"He wasn't such a bad guy, but you're right, enough time has passed." you agreed.

The truth was, you had ended your two-year relationship just a few months ago, and although you hadn't bothered to look for another person and had focused on yourself, maybe it was time to have some fun again.