"Are you okay? You look like a zombie." Lily gave out a silly smile to Mia, sitting right in front of her.
Mia stared at her and went back to her phone's screen.
"It was a joke. Come on." She said in a baby's voice, and this made Mia more aggravated.
Tony stayed to himself because he knew the exact reason for Mia's swollen eyes. He had heard from his sister over the phone about the nightmare that Mia had had.
Carys looked over towards Mia, trying to examine the reason for the tiredness clearly visible on her face. He had seen Mia walking inside the classroom this morning and she clearly didn't look good to him.
Now with Lily calling Mia out on her tiredness, it looked more serious to him.
It never was like Mia to tell people about her worries. She was not someone who opened up about her personal things that quickly.
He remembered yesterday when Mia told him about her mother. It felt like she had let go of something vulnerable in front of Carys. Mia's secret now belonged to Carys and he had sworn to not let it go anywhere.
Maybe Mia felt a bit odd telling Carys about her mother; Carys thought to himself.
Carys had no idea how Mia felt about certain things. He had no idea how Mia felt about the lunch yesterday. He could just say that she was not terribly disturbed by it. She looked fine after lunch and even praised his parents.
Talking about his parents, Carys remembered how head over heels they were for Mia. His mother could not stop talking about her. She even asked Carys to invite Mia over the next week, but he knew that this was the limit for Mia.
She would never come over to his house every week.
"Enough of random conversations. Can we focus on the project at hand? We have to turn it in very soon." Tony cleared his throat when he saw Carys glancing at Mia while Mia was engrossed in her phone, or maybe she knew that Carys had his eyes on her and she was just pretending to be on her phone.
"Yes, Yes. Sorry, I ask silly questions." Lily rested her face on her palms. She looked at Tony sitting next to her.
"The statistics part is done?" Tony asked Mia, who then looked up from her screen and nodded.
"How much?" Tony asked again. He knew that Mia was only half done. She had shown him her work a few days back.
"It is almost done." Carys interrupted. Tony was aware that the project was not even halfway done. Carys had not even started his part in the project.
"So, if we are almost done with our project, should we go out for drinks?" Carys looked at the people sitting at the lunch table with enthusiasm in his voice.
The enthusiasm was definitely not reaching Mia because she refused to even look up from her screen.
"Consider me out," Mia said without a second thought.
"I have work," Tony said, gathering his papers from the table.
"Come on. It is just a few drinks." Lily almost pleaded.
"Yeah, she is right. We can just go for a quick drink. Just the four of us. It will be fun." Carys tried his best to make it sound like it was a pleasant idea.
Mia was too tired today. She had a hard time sleeping last night. Whenever she closed her eyes, she would get those images in her mind.
"Please?" Lily looked at Tony with puppy eyes.
Tony had no idea how to respond to that. He didn't have the memo on how to react when someone asked him for drinks.
He remembered when Mia had asked him not to communicate with Carys.
"Mia? Please?" Carys peeked at Mia.
She looked up from the screen and glanced at Carys. "Just a few drinks," Mia warned, and put her phone back into her pocket.
"Tony?" Lily smiled and turned to Tony.
"Come on, they won't stop pestering you if you say no." Mia casually said and looked at Tony. when Tony met Mia's eyes he knew that this was her way of telling him that he was allowed to grab the drinks.
Tony would never make a move without Mia's approval.
It was almost 8 when the four friends entered the club. They had decided to work on their project after classes and had stayed back in the library.
"It is so crowded already. Do you think it is the best club here?" Tony asked, almost leaning into Lily's ears. She turned back to face Tony. "Yes, it is. Only a few tables are left."
Lily sprinted inside the club, which smelled like beer. It had an old rusted feel to it, almost making the group travel to the late 80s.
Tara took a deep breath and observed the surroundings in which she was standing. The people from America baffled her. They were all drinking and chatting as loudly as they could. A group of girls giggled at the nearby table after Carys passed a broad dimpled smile towards them.
Mia sighed and folded her hands over her chest as Lily made amends with the server to find the group a good table inside the club.
After what felt like a lifetime to Mia, Lily finally signalled towards them standing by the entrance. She leads them towards the very end of the rustic old club. This corner of the club was unusually quiet.
When they reached the round table with four high stools, Carys casually dragged one stool and helped Mia get on it.
He grabbed the stool firmly as Mia hopped up on the seat. He then walked towards the stool right next to Mia and settled himself without any struggle. It felt a bit weird to Mia to be helped in a way that was so subtle that nobody noticed it except her.
"Are you ready to order?" The server was already standing at their table.
"I will get the usual." Lily winked at the server and gave out a light chuckle. "And what about you guys?" The server then redirected the question specifically to Carys.
There was something different about Carys. He seemed to be the centre of attraction even when the room was filled with people with charming smiles and beautiful eyes.
Maybe Carys was the centre of attraction because he had both of those qualities in him.
"I will just have a beer." Carys smiled at the waiter. "Mia?" He then looked over at Mia, who was busy going through the menu.
"A mocktail will do," Mia spoke after shutting the menu.
"What? Are you not getting drunk?" Lily narrowed her eyebrows at Mia.
"Well, everybody else is, so it doesn't matter." Mia shrugged and opened up her phone to avoid any further questions. Although she knew that Carys would never force her to drink or ask questions if she decided to not drink.
"And for you, gentleman?" The server finally diverted her attention towards Tony, who was going through a dilemma of drinking or not drinking. Alas, he had to make a decision without any orders from Mia this time.
"I will have a beer too." Tony finally said and took a deep breath. He could not let people grow suspicious of him for not wanting to drink.
"Thank God you decided to drink." Lily glanced at Tony, who was also busy observing the unique surroundings of the club, just like Carys.
"This is a nice place, right?" Lily asked after noticing her friends looking at every corner of the club. "My uncle owns it."
"Really?" Carys was surprised to hear that.
Lily nodded.
The server had come with the orders in almost no time. Carys picked up the delicate glass of Mia's mocktail and set it upright in front of her.
Mia looked at him, doing the same for Lily. Maybe Carys was just a gracious person, and he was raised to look after everyone. He picked up his beer at last and set it up on the table, too.
"Cheers!" Lily picked up her glass which was resting on the table a second ago, "To our new friendships." She almost shouted.
At this point, Mia was used to the loud and crashing way in which Americans talked. Some people from the table nearby looked towards them, but then they talked louder the next second.
"Cheers." Carys put up his glass too and then looked towards Mia and Tony, for whom this tradition was abnormal.
Sensing the confusion on Carys' face, Tony immediately brought up his glass into the air and looked at Mia.
It took Mia a good second, but she reluctantly put up her glass in the air too.
"I am so happy to be here with you all." Lily beamed with happiness. She had a shine in her eyes, and it somehow almost made Mia smile.
The air blowing in the street outside was almost cold but inside this club, Mia felt the warmth of people sitting near her.