The Caffeine Fix

CHAPTER 27

Tyla hesitantly walked towards Aiden's flower shop. She took a sneak peek and saw Aiden typing furiously on his laptop. He seemed tensed and so Tyla didn't know whether to disturb him or not. She finally decided to step inside and perhaps ask if she could help in any way. Aiden didn't notice her stepping in and thought it was a customer.

“Yes, how may I help you? Feel free to look….” 

He looked up and saw her.

“Oh, Tyla, hello….”

“Hi…”

“Sit.”

Aiden continued typing and in the middle, muttered “Oh, no!” and pressed the backspace key.

“Aiden, what's wrong?” Tyla finally asked.

“Oh Tyla, I wanted to start working on this presentation right from the morning…..But I woke up so late today…..and I still feel hungover from last night….I hope you are doing okay.”

“Yes, yes…..in fact I attended the talk today….”

“Oh, the astrophysics one? I would have liked to attend too…..but…..”

“What's wrong? Why are you so worried?”

“Oh, I have to finish this fast because I wanna go to the events tonight…..and tomorrow…..and Monday is the deadline…”

“Why'd you wait till today anyway?”

“Well, that's on me really…..I shouldn't have procrastinated so hard on this….I mean, it's half done but…..”

Tyla got up and checked his presentation. She pointed out some mistakes and helped him make his completed slides better. They spent a lot of time working on the rest of the presentation together. In the middle, they went to a nearby place and had lunch together. However, as Aiden was worried about the presentation, Tyla motivated him and they could not talk about anything else. Tyla didn't realize when time had passed and it was almost 5:30 in the evening. 

“Oh, Aiden, I have to leave now…..you can do the remaining bits now…..and have fun….”

“Oh Tyla, I can't thank you enough! I wish you could stay back….”

“Oh no, I already took a leave from the cafe yesterday. And you know what happened….”

“Oh, nevermind that…..I still had fun….with you….”

Tyla looked away and blushed a bit.

‘Stop it Tyla.’

“Yeah, me too…..actually, thank you for looking out for me firstly…..and staying back with me.”

“Are you kidding Tyla? Of course I would look out for you.”

Tyla simply smiled in response.

“I'll see you later then….”

“Sure Tyla. Take care.”

“You too.”

As Tyla walked out, she decided to take a quick look at the event lined up for the evening. It was going to be a silent DJ night and preparations were in full swing for the same. Students had already started assembling in crowds. 

‘Looks like a lot of fun, for sure….’

Suddenly, a girl stumbled on her. She was clearly quite drunk.

“Please, please, take me back to my dorm room….,” she said to Tyla.

“Okay, just take it easy….” 

Tyla supported her and helped her to her dorm room. All this time, she thought about how Aiden did the same for her the previous night. 

Tyla helped her inside the room. She made her lay in a comfortable position on the bed.

“Where is your roommate?”

“Oh, I don't know…..I think my friend Erna…..is in the next room….could you please call her?”

Tyla quietly stepped out of the dorm and closed the door. She wondered which of the two doors on either side of the girl's room she should knock. She randomly knocked on the door to the left. There was no answer.

“Er….Erna?” She called out.

“Yes? Coming…”

As the door opened, Tyla was shocked to see the girl from the morning. But, she looked different. It seemed as if she had smoked something and was high. But she appeared to have recognized Tyla and felt a bit embarrassed.

“Um….your friend in the next room…..she has gotten quite drunk….she needs you in her room….”

“Mhmm….,” the girl replied sheepishly.

Tyla wondered whether this girl, who was so high herself would be able to handle her friend or not.

Erna quietly closed the door of her room and followed Tyla to her friend's room.

“I don't know what it is that you have smoked…..but I just…..I wish that you stop smoking it…..I saw you this afternoon….we bumped into each other…..and you looked so inquisitive and…..and now….” 

Erna simply looked at her and Tyla stopped speaking.

“I have to go…..You'll be able to take care of your friend, right?”

Erna nodded and went inside.

‘Well, this girl, she really looks familiar……I hope she stops doing whatever that is…’

As Tyla almost sprinted past the dorm rooms, she kept thinking about why the girl looked so familiar. Who was she? ‘Erna…..Erna’, she kept thinking about the name but couldn't quite place her. ‘Oh, just let it be,’ she finally gave up. 

As she was riding the bus back, Tyla saw a text from Aiden,

“Complete! Can go and enjoy the night now!”

“Will you come for tomorrow's events? You should…..a cast of some brilliant actors….”

‘Actors? No way, I think I have had my share of them….,’ Tyla thought to herself.

‘Besides, there's the brunch with Nancy tomorrow…..’

Then, she read the complete text, ‘There could be someone I like….maybe,’

‘Alice Jones, Walter Lohan, Juli…..Julia Goldman?’

Tyla's face cringed upon reading her name. She recalled the events that Patrick James had talked about.

‘Wild nights, eh? Just give me one chance and I can create some nice gossip out of your names…..but don't worry, I won't do that….’

“No, Aiden, I think I'll skip this one,” was what she wanted to type, but held herself. It was a chance to spend some time with Aiden as well. “I'll see if I can Aiden,” she typed.

‘Well, I am sure Nance can understand if I want to attend a college fest…..maybe we can go for breakfast instead?’