《Raine》16 | Coffee

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If mannequin-esque was an adjective to describe a feeling, then being eyeballed by everyone passing by had Zeland feeling beyond mannequin-esque.

Well, if you put it positively, Zeland had a go at how celebrities felt when they strolled down the red carpet, except minus the red carpet and Versace suits, and plus weird looks and whirling coffee machines.

"Coming through, excuse me." Someone elbowed past him, heading for the narrow glass doorway he had been blocking. Zeland stepped aside, hitching the multiple bags sliding down his hold back up.

Given the amount of people streaming into and out of the café, it was certainly no easy feat trying to balance a bag of coffee, a computer bag, a camera case, and his own sketch-bag and remain upright without rocking the bag of coffee around too much.

A sudden rustic creak of wood scraping against wood Zeland heard right next to his ear popped against the background of noise. The shrill trilling of a false-sounding bird sound that promptly followed had him flinching in surprise.

He turned, only to see an oversized cuckoo clock, which he must have missed when he came in, unfurling its tiny wooden swing doors in grandeur, and out spewed a little plastic-looking bird jingling on its rusting spring that threatened to crumble from the weight of the feathered creature perched at the end.

What caught his attention however was not the bird-spewing clock, but the hour hand reposed at number ten, and the minute hand that had just rolled to a full twelve.

It was a Tuesday. He had mass lectures on Tuesdays... and D'Fray Morgan's the lecturer.

You can skip small lectures, or slink in an hour late to graphing lectures, but you can't be late for D'Fray Morgan's architect lectures.

Why? Because that goddamn lecturer locked the doors exactly seven minutes into his lecture. And yes, the students under him were beyond thankful for the university's forward-thinkingness to install toilets attached to the back of the lecture theatre.

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The fact that D'Fray Morgan's the only lecturer to take random attendence and had a otherworldly memory also made it such that if he recognised Zeland popping up in a replacement class (that never seemed to be available for booking, period), Zeland would get chased out promptly in the notorious manner how D'Fray Morgan shooed people that weren't from the course out of the LT.

The second hand ticked away, and every click of the whirling motor seem to magnify in his ears.

"Is she even coming back?" Zeland mumbled to himself. His eyes searched the sea of people streaming through the café for a blob of maroon-coloured hair with a maroon-coloured beanie.

Just as he was contemplating whether or not to dump her stuff at the counter and leave, a tap on his shoulder had him turning around.

"Thank you so much for taking care of my things." Her husky voice rang in his ears.

She exhaled loudly, reaching to take her things from him. Warm fingers that came into contact with his cold hands left a lingering lick of fire in its wake.

The girl hugged her computer bag he passed her, her camera casing already slung across her body, and reached for the bag of coffee. "You're a lifesaver!"

Flashing him a dainty smile that lit up her pale face, she hooked the bag containing the two cups of wafting hot coffee, gave him a quick flutter of fingers, her seemingly trademark farewell, and once again, slipped into the waterfall of crowds.

It took Zeland a few seconds to recover from the dazzling smile he'd just been flashed, before he swerved a full hundred eighty turn around, the soles of his shoes squeaking, and he sliced through the crowd in a flurry of nerves.

By the time he had flopped down on his seat beside James in the LT, Zeland was breathless from dashing a good several miles-long sprint.

"What took you so long?" James handed him the worksheet he'd missed when it was passed around.

"I was getting coffee."

At his words, James made a gesture as staring at his empty hands. Zeland, too, stared at his empty hands, suddenly noticing the lack of a coffee cup in his hands.

"I was getting coffee. Past tense."

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