Morning arrived with the comforting sizzle of batter hitting the hot pan. The decadent aroma of berries and vanilla wafted through Telly's sleek kitchen, weaving a warm invitation.
Peter sat at the island, happily digging into a stack of pancakes, while Kendrick was glued to his phone, tapping and swiping as he tested the latest version of their app.
The sound of shuffling feet preceded Sarah's entrance. She rubbed her eyes groggily and yawned, "We're working from home, for God's sake. Why do you have to wake up so early?"
Telly, mid-flip with a fresh pancake, smirked but said nothing. Sarah paused, her brows knitting together as her gaze landed on Kendrick.
"Did you two bone each other or something?" she asked bluntly.
Peter choked on his pancake, Kendrick nearly dropped his phone, and Telly froze for a moment, the spatula hovering mid-air.
"S-Sarah!" Kendrick stammered, his face heating as his hands scrambled to put down his phone.
Unbothered, Sarah slid into the seat between Peter and Kendrick. She grabbed a fork, eyeing the fresh plate of pancakes Telly placed before her.
"What gave it away?" Telly finally broke the silence, arching a brow as he leaned casually against the counter.
Sarah stabbed into her pancake, chewing thoughtfully before pointing her fork at Kendrick. "You're good at hiding it," she said to Telly. Then, with a sly grin, "But he's glowing."
Peter snorted. "Well, that explains the creaking last night."
All heads turned toward him.
"My bed doesn't creak," Telly said, tilting his head.
"Oh, that's me," Sarah said casually, cutting into her pancake.
"With what?" Peter blurted, his face wrinkling in confusion.
Sarah's smirk turned devilish. "You think toys are exclusive to him?" she teased, gesturing at Telly with her fork.
The table fell into a stunned silence, their expressions a mix of amusement and mild horror.
"Anyway," Sarah said, turning to Kendrick as though she hadn't just dropped a bomb, "how's the new feature coming along?"
Kendrick smiled as he led the group to the living room. He tapped his phone, casting the screen onto the TV. The splash screen transitioned to a sleek retina scan prompt. Kendrick tilted his head slightly, and the system unlocked, revealing a series of blurred chats overlaid with colorful graphics.
As he tried to screenshot the screen, the app immediately blurred the contents further, turning the text into an indecipherable mosaic.
"Oh, kinda like Grindr," Peter blurted.
All heads turned to him.
The room fell into awkward silence as Peter's face turned red. "What? Just an observation!" he added, glancing nervously around.
Ignoring him, Kendrick grinned. "The best part is this," he said, turning his back to them. "Try peeking."
Sarah stood and leaned over Kendrick's shoulder to take a look. Instantly, the TV display changed, flashing a bold yellow warning: Someone's peeking.
Sarah raised a brow, impressed. "Okay, that's pretty slick."
"Now, try taking a picture while I'm reading," Kendrick said, still facing away.
Sarah pulled out her phone and snapped a photo. When she looked at the image, her jaw dropped.
"Wow," she said, holding up the blurry, encrypted mess. "It's like the app knows!"
"Exactly," Kendrick said, smirking.
Telly leaned back with an approving grin. "You had an idea and executed it. Well done."
Sarah rolled her eyes dramatically. "It's too early to rub your sex life up my vajayjay."
Telly shot her a look, and Kendrick tried to suppress a laugh.
"But seriously, how'd you do it?" Peter asked, clearly fascinated.
"Well," Kendrick began, "I got the idea from how TVs refresh when you try to record them. You know, that weird flicker effect? I asked Telly if we could emulate that with text display."
Telly picked up from there, his tone matter-of-fact. "The app essentially loads one chat at a time and stores it locally, temporarily, depending on the device's storage capacity. This prevents the server from being overloaded. In between fragments of a second, the chats are encrypted and decrypted at a speed faster than the human eye can detect. Cameras, however, catch the encryption phase, which results in a blurred or scrambled image—making it impossible to capture the full conversation."
Sarah shook her head, clearly impressed. "It's genius—and annoying. You've just destroyed every nosy partner's dream."
"Exactly the point," Kendrick said, grinning.
"So, have you told Mariah?" Sarah asked Kendrick.
"She's on leave until Monday, but I've told her about it," Kendrick said.
A simultaneous ping cut him off, and everyone glanced at their phones.
"Okay…," Peter said.
"Ohhhh…" Sarah chuckled.
"She said you have to go," Peter returned to Telly.
Telly sighed, reluctant.
"It might help you get off your meds," Kendrick said softly.
Sarah rolled her eyes.
"Are we really doing this?" Sarah rose. "Team bonding, we're living under the same roof, eating the same food, and practically I've sniffed your farts. How close does she want us to get?" Sarah said.
A thud of the door and Sarah and Telly glanced into the rearview mirror. "You had to ask, didn't you?" Telly mumbled.
"If you stooges don't stop whining, your 'tram bonding' gig will be walking back from the forest," Mariah said from the driver's seat.
Peter shut the trunk of the minivan, filled with bags.
"Lead the way," Mariah said to Kendrick in the front as Peter slid into the back.
The wheel turned and they left the suburban high-end neighborhood for the city. The cityscape emerged as the green canopy's leaves broke the sunlight into pieces on the road as they drove under it.
Kendrick's eyes darted between the phone on the dock and Sarah and Telly, their heads resting against each other. The car soon made a slow turn off the road to a muddy trail that led them to an arching doorway to the camp.
Their bags dropped by the wooden floor of their cabin. "You two, one room," Mariah in her driver's seat said, gesturing to Sarah and Peter.
"You two love birds in the other," she turned to Kendrick and Telly.
Kendrick's brows knitted together. Mariah rolled her eyes. "I know who gets laid when I see 'em."
"Now, I'm going to see you by Monday, so no calling, no message," Mariah put on her sunglasses and rolled the window up, drove off, leaving the site in a cloud of dust.
Everyone except Telly waved until the minivan was out of sight.