On the way to the café

Cadence sighed as she waited for John to get up from the chair. Glancing at him, he was still looking over at his new device, though he wasn’t typing but swiping through the screen. Her stomach grumbled impatiently. If she missed breakfast because of him…

The elevator dinged, distracting Cadence from her thoughts as she saw her friend, Erin, entering the dorm’s main lobby. She, like her, was “fully dressed”, wearing a pink bra that hugged her breasts while her green panties clung to her hips.

“Hey, guys. On your way to the café?” Erin called out, her footsteps echoing on the polished floor.

Cadence’s face lit up with a genuine smile, the hunger in her stomach momentarily forgotten as she eagerly crossed the room to “greet” her friend.

Without hesitation, Cadence pulled Erin into a tight embrace, her arms wrapping around her friend's waist as she pressed a wet, lingering kiss on her lips. For her part, Erin reciprocated the “greeting” as she pushed her tongue past Cadence’s lips. As Cadence ran her fingers across Erin’s panties, feeling her folds beneath the fabric, it elicited a moan from Erin’s mouth as she blushed.

John whistled loudly, interrupting the “greeting” as the two turned toward him. “Wow, now that’s what I call a kiss!” he said, slapping his knees.

The two friends looked at each other with confusion. “Kiss?” they both said.

“We weren’t ‘kissing’,” Cadence said, her cheeks blushing. Kisses were something you do to show someone you loved them. What she and Erin did wasn’t that at all. “We were just saying hi.”

John slowly shook his head as he chuckled. “Sure.”

“What’s that in your hand?” Erin asked, taking a step closer to get a better look at the device in his hand.

“A semantic device,” he said, though he kept the screen away from the girl’s eyes. “It messes with people's heads. Earlier it made Cadence think her pillow looked like a chair.”

“Look like?” Cadence crossed her arms, her earlier warmth giving way to frustration. “It is a chair. I know what I saw.” She ran a hand through her hair, glancing between her friends. “I’m starting to think he’s just messing with me and that weird phone of his doesn’t do anything at all.”

“Trust me, it’s real,” he insisted, his fingers tightening around the device. Then his eyes brightened as if an idea came to him. “Why don’t you two show me the difference between a kiss and greeting someone?”

Cadence rolled her eyes. She couldn’t believe she was doing this. “If it’s the only way to get you to be less annoying.”

Turning toward her friend, a wave of nervousness washed over her. The thought of kissing her friend, no matter how innocent it might seem, felt too awkward for her. But glancing at Erin, she seemed willing to play along. With her heart fluttering, Cadence quickly closed her eyes and leaned in to plant a quick kiss on Erin’s cheek. “That’s a kiss,” Erin remarked as Cadence’s shoulders relaxed.

Now came the easy part. Cadence gently grasped Erin’s chin, feeling the soft warmth of her skin beneath her fingers. They both leaned forward, their breaths mingling in the brief moment before their lips met. As they “greeted” each other, their tongues danced gracefully, sliding past one another, eliciting soft moans that echoed in the dorm lobby. Pulling back, Cadence allowed a smile to spread across her face. “And that was saying hi,” she quipped, feeling satisfied with the “greeting”.

But John, as stubborn as he was, remained unconvinced as he shook his head and stood. “Don’t you think it’s weird that me and the other guys around here are wearing more clothes than the girls around here?” he asked, switching to another topic as he typed something in his device.

Tilting her head, Cadence glanced around the main lobby. There were several students lingering around, either talking or studying. She didn’t think it was particularly weird that the guys were wearing shirts and pants while the girls were wearing different kinds of underwear. Today was a warm day without the need for coats. “Not sure why you think that’s weird,” she finally said as she turned toward John. “Everyone is ‘fully dressed’, so I don’t see why us girls need to wear more clothes.”

“One more question,” John said, looking up from his device.

Cadence and Erin both groaned. The café was closing soon.

“What do you think about my body? Who am I?”

Cadence blinked. “Excuse me?”

She glanced at Erin, who gave her a ‘Do we really have time for this?’ look.

Looking across, the person looked like he had just rolled out of bed. He had unkempt hair, plain clothes, arms so thin they could probably lose an arm-wrestling match against a gust of wind. But despite that, Cadence knew exactly who she was looking at: “Dr. Smith”. One of the toughest professors on campus. A man who believed in surprise quizzes but not study guides.

“Dr. Smith,” Cadence said carefully. “Um… how are you doing?”

“Dr. Smith” burst into laughter, slapping his knees. “Really? You seriously can’t see that I’m John, your roommate?”

Cadence frowned. “Are you okay, professor?” she asked. Was this a test? A weird experiment? Had all of those tests finally broken him?

“Dr. Smith” sighed and typed something on his device. The air wobbled as if like reality had just hiccupped. Suddenly, she was looking at John again, standing in the exact same position.

John grinned. “Best investment ever.”

Then he stood up and strolled out of the dorm lobby like nothing had happened.

Cadence and Erin stared after him, then at each other.

“It’s official.” Erin crossed her arms. “I hate that thing.”

Cadence exhaled, shaking her head. “Yeah. But it’s not like the thing can do anything.”

And with that, they rushed to the café.