coincidentally caffeinated

        coincidentally caffeinated

        Brielle Goodwin let out a groan at the sound of her alarm blaring, an upbeat pop song flooding its speakers that morning. She huffed, stretching out her arm and fumbling to shut off her phone as quickly as possible. Finally met with silence once more, she rolled over and buried her face in her pillow, squeezing her eyes shut in an attempt to savor a few extra minutes of peace in bed before starting the day.

        However, the girl's luck was short lived because not even a minute later, she was met with the sound of several knocks on her door. "Rise and shine, Bri!" came the extremely bubbly (and in this particular moment, extremely annoying) voice that belonged to her roommate, Ivy. Hoping that she would just go away, Brielle bit her lip. Was it too much to ask to get ten more minutes of sleep?

        "I know you're awake!"

        Apparently so.

        With a small grumble, Brielle sat up in bed right as Ivy burst into the room with a flourish, wide grin on her face. "Goooood morning!" she practically sang, walking  over to Brielle's window. She snapped open the blinds, causing her roommate to cover her eyes behind her hands, grimacing. "Too bright..." Brielle mumbled.

        "Come on!" shouted Ivy, who was now standing right over the bed and shaking the other girl's shoulder lightly. "You need every minute possible to get ready this morning. You have a big day ahead of you!"

        "Thanks for the reminder..." came Brielle's reply, trying to figure out how Ivy always seemed so energized upon waking up in the morning. The chipper exclamations were starting to get annoying, especially on a day such as that one.

        Brielle hadn't gotten much sleep the night before, if she was being honest. Finally removing her hands from her face, she reached for her phone, squinting to see 5:00 staring back at her. She vaguely recalled tossing and turning until roughly one in the morning before she finally dozed off. Running on roughly four hours of sleep was not exactly favorable, considering she had difficulty even keeping her eyes open.

        "Do you want some pancakes?" asked Ivy from the doorframe, and a quick glance from Brielle showed her friend was already dressed and had part of her makeup already done. How does she do it? Brielle thought, before realizing that Ivy was still waiting for an answer, eyes bright and a smile still painted on her lips.

        "Uh..." Brielle drawled. "Sure, I guess," she decided with a shrug of her shoulders. She saw Ivy nod her head before the girl left Brielle alone in her room. Rubbing her eyes and letting out a small yawn, she got out of bed, stretching her arms and shuffling to the bathroom. She was honestly dreading starting her first day of work that morning, but she knew that if she didn't splash her face with cold water right that second, she wouldn't be able to muster enough care or energy to get herself out the front door.

        After getting herself dressed and attempting to make her hair and makeup look the slightest bit presentable, she made her way into the apartment's kitchen, where Ivy had laid out a plate of steaming hot pancakes with a cup of coffee on the counter. Sidestepping all of the moving boxes clustered around the room, Brielle slid onto one of the two stools by the counter.

        The two girls had just moved into their apartment in San Diego two days before, which explained the countless boxes scattered around the space. Brielle had been friends with Ivy since high school, and the two had decided to move from their hometown in the midwest out to California after Ivy had landed an internship for a public relations company that had social media influencers as clients. Not wanting to be by herself, the blonde had somehow convinced Brielle to tag along, which is how she ended up miles and miles away from home, scrambling to establish herself in a brand new city.