Coffee & Curses {AN INFERNAL DEVICES MODERN AU}

*three*

Tessa didn't see where he was going with this, but played along anyway. "Should I tell you, or-"

"Yeah, you can tell me."

"Um....uh, sixteen?"

"Okay, good! Now, find a book that has sixteen letters in the title."

"Are you kidding? That'll take ages!" Tessa protested.

Will crossed his arms. "Or, you could go play beer pong and make out with some random guy in a corner."

She looked around at the crowd of college kids, all rowdy and drunk bathed in green and blue strobe lights. The thought of just throwing herself out there... Tessa relented. "Fine, book game it is." Will smiled. "Uh, let's see... sixteen letters..."

It didn't take as long as she thought it would, getting lucky on her fourth try with A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. She pulled it gingerly off the shelf, the mass market paperback cover wrinkled and folded.

"OH-ho, nice one," Will commented. "Have you read it?"

She had, actually. It was one of her favorite books. But she had no idea what Will's opinion on it was, so she said, "Yeah, I think so. A while ago."

"Me too, I think it was for high school english class or something. I forget."

Tess nodded. "Is that it?"

"With the game? NO! Of course not! That would be quite a boring game. Next, you take whatever number you chose, and multiply it by either three or five."

"You realize I'm an English major, not mathematics, right?" Tessa said.

"Alas, that's why we have things called calculators on the little rectangular devices in our pockets."

So Tessa pulled her phone out, opened the calculator, and typed in 3 * 16.

"48," she said.

"Okay.... Let's see, 48...." Will took the book from her and started flipping through it. Tessa realized what he was doing a moment before he stopped on page 48.

Will cleared his throat dramatically, and said, in a deep, theatrical voice: "'This is a strange chance that throws you and me together. This must be a strange night to you, standing alone here with your counterpart on these street stones?'"

Tessa laughed. "I remember that part. It's when-"

"Wait, wait, wait, I'm not done..." Will continued: "'I hardly seem yet'-... blah, blah, blah.... Oh, here! 'As to me, the greatest desire I have, is to forget that I belong to it. It has no good in it for me--except wine like this--nor I for it. So we are not much alike in that particular.'"

Tessa smiled, and shook her head slightly. "Okay?"

"That's the end of the game."

"Wait, so what was the point? Just read off whatever page you land on?"

"Yup," Will said. "It's a stupid game, I admit, but I promise you, if you're desperate to stay away from people and look like you're busy doing something, it can last for a while."

In that moment, Will seemed to be as sober as she was, gazing at her intently with clear eyes. But a second later, the moment passed, and he tossed the book back on top of one of the shelves.

"Or, you know, you can come play beer pong with me," he said, stepping back with one leg and leaning on it as he crossed his arms.

"Still no," Tessa said.

"Your loss," Will said, and disappeared into the crowd.

---

Tessa left soon after Will abandoned her. She'd seen enough, and she didn't like drunk Will as much as the sober one. He just seemed so... careless, and aloof, compared to earlier that day, when he was charming and funny and relatable.

Not that she thought he was that charming, though...

She found herself at some random cafe slash diner place, which was apparently open until 2 a.m., and grabbed a table, ordering a coffee and some sort of croissant... thing. She wasn't exactly sure what to call the pastry, but whatever it was, it was delicious.

Tessa told herself it was because she was hungry, and didn't feel like going back to her room yet. But deep down, she knew the real reason.

She'd seen Nate come home drunk enough times to know that, while it was safer than driving, walking home alone probably wasn't the best idea. And Will, she assumed, anyway, would be walking back to his dorm this way.

Tessa wanted to make sure he got back safe.

A part of her wondered why she even cared, but the other, larger part of her reasoned that she'd do it for anybody, even someone she'd just met. It was a normal thing to do, right? She didn't want to seem stalk-y, she just... wanted to make sure he got back okay, without getting run over by a car or something.

So she waited. And... waited. She waited until the employees started eyeing her over their shoulders, silently pleading for her to leave.

At two, she was forced to go.

Maybe Will had taken a different way home. It was stupid, now that she though about it. How many hours or sleep had she just wasted in there, staring out the window and occasionally her phone to check the time?

Tessa started the cold walk back to the dorms. She was maybe halfway there, about to cross a street, when she saw a figure swinging precariously around a streetlamp with one hand, the other flung out in the air. Their hood was up, but when they swung around, dark hair flopping out around it, Tessa started.

Will?

She darted across the street, after glancing both ways, and went up to him.

"Will, are you- what are you doing?"

"Oh, hello," Will said, dreamily. It was obvious he had drunk more since she'd left. "Lovely night for the monsters to be out, isn't it?"

"What?" Tessa said, startled. He clearly was just barely clinging onto reality.

"Yes, they're all over," he continued. "They think I can't see them, but," his voice changed to a dramatic whisper, "I can. Shhh..."

"Oookay," Tessa said, grabbing his forearm. "You know, you're lucky I found you. Come on, let's get back to your dorm."

She tugged him along with her for the rest of the walk, listening to him ramble about, thankfully, normal things, like pretty girls he'd seen at the party and dares he'd taken and such. He'd seemed to have forgotten what he was saying about the monsters.

But Tessa didn't.

She knew which number room was his, since she'd had to come by to borrow those bandages from Jem. She knocked gently on the door, then a little harder the second time, before Jem came and opened it, dressed in black sweatpants and a ratty gray t-shirt.

"Hey," she said. "So, yes, I realize this is he second night in a row I've stopped by, and I swear I'm not doing it on purpose-"

"Oh, it's fine," Jem reassured her. "Sleep's overrated anyway."

Tessa cringed inwardly, embarrassment crawling up her neck. "Well, I just, I found Will coming home from that party, and he seemed a bit... lost, so I walked him back here."

"I knew where I was going!" Will protested loudly, and Jem winced at the noise.

"I'm sure you did," Jem said. Then to Tessa, "Heh. Yeah, sorry, you'll find this is more common than you think. I'll make sure he drinks some water and stuff."

Tessa did that grimace-smile and waved a little before Will went in and Jem shut the door behind both of them.

One thing was for sure: She was not interested in going to another college party anytime soon.