Warning Signal: A Transcendence Short

Club XX
New York City

United States of America

November 2112
12:43AM

“Oh no,” Nico Gomez moaned. “Oh no, oh no, oh no. Fucking hell. Where is Lancaster when you need her,” the black-haired boy whined. Beside him, Danica Castle gave a carefree shrug and idly played with her margarita glass. “Seriously, Dan. You need to text Lancaster before he ends up sprawled on the floor.” 

Both of them turned their gazes to Ansel, who merely sat still in his seat, staring down at a bottle of Cognac and a few cans of ginger ale. Danica quirked a brow and whispered to Nico, “But Free doesn’t even drink.”

“That’s what everyone thought,” Nico whined back. He glanced down at his phone and sent text after text to Freya, who was nowhere to be seen in the club they were taken to. Apparently, it was a good idea, according to Freya, to just get out and start drinking a few weeks before finals. 

[Nico Gomez]: hi freya where the fuck are you

[Nico Gomez]: free’s just slumped in his seat and we’re afraid

[Nico Gomez]: well danica’s not but she doesn’t give a shit

[Nico Gomez]: SOS WE NEED YOU

“Nico, what the fuck are you sending me?” a voice from behind demands. In the midst of noise and multiple bodies all over the place, Nico nearly doesn’t hear if not for Danica pointing to Ansel. 

“Free’s in danger of getting more than loopy,” she explained over the loud music. Nico saw Freya’s eyes widen and she cursed, making her way to Ansel and nearly shoving away anyone who was in her way. She managed to squeeze herself in between, eventually sitting next to the brunet boy and lightly patting his cheek. “Can you fix him?”

“Don’t fucking doubt my abilities,” Freya muttered. She gave Ansel’s cheek another pat and then the male groaned, Nico cheering in the background upon hearing Ansel’s reaction. 

“That’s another drink to drink to—”

“I’m not bringing your sorry ass home, Gomez,” Freya snapped. Nico then proceeded to sulk, Danica chuckling as she poured herself another shot from the nearby bottle. “You too, Castle.”

“I can take my drinks,” Danica replied calmly. 

“Bullshit,” Nico muttered, taking a swig of water after.

Many hours later, the memory of Freya patting his cheek and Nico panicking while Danica watched was blurry. Incredibly blurry. 

Ansel woke up back in his dorm, a stinging pain in his head. The male groaned and pulled the covers over himself after taking in the merry beams of sunlight which invaded his room. As soon as he did, there was a quick succession of knocks on the door. 

He groaned and curled up even further within himself, hoping that he could fall back asleep—

Ansel heard the quick swipe of a card and the door opened. The scent of breakfast food from the nearby fast food chain made his stomach lurch unpleasantly. “Good morning, High Tolerance,” Nico greeted. Ansel didn’t say much in return and Nico gave a mildly amused chuckle, settling the paper bag down elsewhere and closing the door. It locked, and Ansel then heard him close the curtains. 

The room darkened and Nico turned on the nearby lamp, setting it to mild. The room lit up slightly and he approached Ansel’s bed, gently tapping the other’s shoulder. “Come on. I got you some food. Your stomach will appreciate the blessing that is fast food in the morning.” 

“I hope you got me coffee too,” Ansel muttered. He pushed the covers off himself and flinched at the light source; Nico noticed and frowned. 

“Sensitive?”

“Incredibly. What the fuck happened?”

“You see, last night was just supposed to be some kind of calm drinking session among the four of us,” Nico began. He took out a styrofoam container from the paper bag and passed it to Ansel, followed by a hot paper cup containing coffee. 

“If Caster wanted calm, then she should have just brought us to the cafe across the damn place.”

“Right? But I don’t know,” Nico shrugged, “She wanted the weird club place. So we’re there. And then she orders the cognac-ginger drink, and voila — we have the weird drink. With me so far?”

Ansel idly bites into the pack of chicken nuggets before nodding. Nico continues, “So we play the game. Never Have I Ever and all that, yeah? You’re the first to reach zero.” 

Ansel’s stomach lurches again at the memory. “Fuck. I filled the entire shot glass and took the whole thing.”

“Bingo,” Nico laughs. “Freya got so worried that she left to get us all water. I don’t know, Free…you had an entire shot glass of cognac and then two glasses of the cognac-ale-ice combination thing.”

“That much?” 

“Mhm. I’m surprised your hangover isn’t that strong,” Nico added, impressed. Ansel grimaced. 

“There are stronger ones?”

“Oh yeah. Just ask Castle and Lancaster. They’ve had some mighty ones, throughout the college experience,” the male chuckled. Ansel gave a tight smile and continued eating, soon disposing of the container and then starting to drink his coffee. Nico eyed him. “…you’re doing okay, right?”

“Huh? Yeah,” Ansel blinked and gave his roommate a weird look, “What kind of question is that?”

“Aha, nothing, nothing. You know,” Nico yawned, “It’s almost finals season and all that shit, you know?” Ansel nodded. 

“I’m okay. Are you doing okay?” 

“Hell yeah.” Nico flashed a lazy grin before taking out another container from the paper bag and throwing it, the box neatly landing beside the other male. “Eat that. That’s Lancaster’s Certified Hangover Cure.”

“You didn’t have to,” Ansel protested, but Nico brushed it off. 

“I did. It’s your cash.” this made the other roll his eyes and Nico snickered, soon reclining on his bed and taking out his tablet from under the pillow. His phone gave a beep and he glanced at it while Ansel ate. 

[Freya Lancaster]: I’m worried about Ansel.

[Freya Lancaster]: I’ve caught him stressing about projects, readings, and the different film papers he has to write. 

[Nico Gomez]: Stressed?

[Freya Lancaster]: Yeah…

[Freya Lancaster]: Keep an eye on on him, alright?

[Nico Gomez]: You make it sound like he’s gonna develop into an alcoholic. Don’t worry about him

[Freya Lancaster]: I saw him last night. You don’t just fill an entire shot glass with Cognac, Nico.

[Freya Lancaster]: He knew what he was doing.

[Nico Gomez]: …

[Nico Gomez]: Alright. I’ll watch him. 

“You know,” Nico brought up casually, “If there's anything you want to talk about, really...I mean. We're roomies, so we've gotta be friends.” He caught Ansel giving him a weird look, but it melted away into a slight smile instead. Nico wasn't sure if Ansel was masking his expression if he had really been taken by surprise by what he said. 

“We are friends, Nico.”

“Yeah." He flashed another smile, “So if there's anything you want to talk about or vent about or shit like that? I'm your man.”

Ansel laughed. “Got it. Thanks.”