Cycle 31-2: Familiar Faces (Patreon)

Software Engineering turned out to be in the same lecture hall as her Algorithms class had been – something for which Kaitlyn was incredibly grateful. The relatively modern space was home to the most comfortable seats on campus. The opportunity to take advantage of them almost made the class worth taking on its own.

The ones in Calculus are the worst. I don't know how the cushions are somehow more stiff than straight plastic, but they pulled it off. Those things probably made me subconsciously hate the class even more.

Descending the stairs, she glanced around at the collection of students. Some appeared to be familiar faces from Algorithms. It was hard to be sure though. They didn't particularly stand out in her memory, and it was entirely possible she'd simply seen them around campus at some point during the last thirty loops.

She neared the bottom of the steps, then froze. There, in the front row of the leftmost section, she saw a raven-haired student with astonishingly straight posture. He faced away from her, toward the front of the lecture hall, but she didn't need to see his face. She could have recognized Philip anywhere.

Obviously she'd expected him to be here. She'd even prepared herself for the possibility. That was the only reason it hit like a truck instead of a train.

His stormy gray eyes were fixed on his laptop, completely ignorant of her presence. Though even if he had seen her, it still wouldn't have meant anything, Why would it? She was just another student now.

I'm no one special. Because… he's not my Philip.

Despite knowing it, some small corner of her heart burned with a vague hope. Maybe he would remember. Maybe this time would be different.

Clenching her teeth, she turned away. Now isn't the time to find out, she assured herself. Class is about to start. I can't have a real conversation with him here. I'll have to wait on that until we "meet" at the restaurant.

There were only a few seats remaining in the front row, but she managed to claim one in the center section near the right side. Further away from him. Despite her resolve, she couldn't help but sneak a glance over at the guy. From this distance, it was hard to tell what he was working on. Likely setting up his class notes or working on coding problems or something equally productive.

…It's no use. I can't tell if he's different. Not like this.

It would take a face-to-face encounter to tease out any differences between the Philip she knew and the post-romance-ending one. Something that promised to be more than a little painful. But she'd already committed to this path. There was no backing out now.

"Mornin'." A rather tired-looking woman with sleek blonde hair stepped up to the podium with a yawn. The buzz of conversation quieted as her amplified voice echoed through the hall. "This is Software Engineering. Here's how it's gonna work…"

The class began with little fanfare. To Kaitlyn's surprise, the class promised to be a pretty interesting one. It featured a lot of practical projects and programming assignments throughout the semester, each meant to improve her problem-solving skills and introduce her to real-world approximations of what a Software Engineer might do. The only issue was…

…These are all group assignments, aren't they?

It took an effort not to glance toward Philip. But even with her restraint, it was hard to not mentally kick herself.

Of course it's group work. OF COURSE. If only I'd taken this one first…

A huge part of the course focused on real-world examples. That included working in a team and designing applications that could easily be maintained by others. In other words, it was a class built around group work.

A deep, calming breath let her settle her thoughts. It's ok. It's fine. I don't regret choosing Algorithms. I really don't know how I could have made it through that class without him. And besides… he probably wouldn't have partnered with me early on, either. It took him a while to come around to that idea.

As she continued to soothe herself with rationalizations, she focused on the lecture itself. Hopefully, learning something new would be enough to keep her away from too much negativity.

…Still. I feel even worse for Philip now. Kaitlyn bit her lip. How did he handle this alone? Especially if he didn't have access to the materials. Did he just go off of the assignment descriptions she gives in class? Or is he still making up his own study materials for this, too?

As the lecture ended, she stood and headed toward the professor. The woman had been chugging a coffee the whole lecture, but the bags under her eyes still spoke of chronic sleep deprivation.

Guess I'll be on my own, then. But that's ok. She adjusted the backpack on her shoulder. The work can't be that bad. And even if it is, I'll just have to keep trying until I get it right.

Stepping forward, mentally prepared her spiel about auditing the class.

***

"Oh. My. Gosh."

Heather gaped openmouthed at her roommate. Before her spread a table full of various plates from Cappy's. Soups, pastas, and pizza slices were grouped together in neat pairs, each with a few bites taken out of them.

Kaitlyn crossed her arms and smiled. "Well? Do you think it'll work?"

"Uh, obviously!" Heather reached toward one of the cheese pizza slices. Compared to its twin, this one had a subtle sprinkling of spices atop it. "Kate, this is genius! Like, seriously! How did you come up with this?"

Trial and error. Boredom. Years upon years of eating the same exact things.

But rather than saying any of that, Kaitlyn's grin just widened. "I like cooking. A lot."

"Girl, if this is what you can do with dining hall food, then I don't know if I can handle your actual cooking…" Heather wiggled appreciatively as she devoured the pizza. "Mmmm! Like, seriously! It tastes totally different!"

"I'm glad." Kaitlyn nodded in satisfaction. "Really. Hopefully other people like this stuff, too."

It had taken a bit of trial and error, but Kaitlyn was quite happy with the final product. She'd spent a decent amount of time last loop trying to create the perfect spice blends and ended up with a few that really knocked it out of the park. There was definitely room for improvement, of course – especially once she got grocery store access – but for now, she was pretty proud.

"Trust me. People are gonna love it." Heather flapped a hand. "Especially the older students. They've gotta be, like, so bored of campus food. This'll totally change the game!"

You don't even know how right you are.

Kaitlyn still preferred to make food whenever possible. Hence why she had started off this loop by ordering her usual kitchen supplies for Kate's Kitchen. But spice blends like this were easy to make in bulk, not to mention cheap.

This is way more scalable than anything I've ever done – even soup! She couldn't help but smile. Even better, I got all of these spices from the on campus market, so it didn't even cost me anything!

But the best part was the untapped potential. Right now, she only had mixes optimized for a few dishes. Some of them did double duty – her cheese pizza spice worked excellently with spaghetti and red sauce, for example. But there was an entire dining hall's worth of other food to experiment with and doctor up.

Heather leaned forward in her chair and rested her elbows on the table. Her crystal eyes sparkled in that way they always did when they talked business.

"Ok. So," Heather began. "You want to sell this and your own meals, right?"

"That's right," Kaitlyn nodded. "I'll just do meals once a week, though. I don't want to commit to more than that."

"Can you do twice per week to start?" Heather quickly elaborated. "Just for two or three weeks, then bring it back down to one?"

Kaitlyn blinked. "I guess so… but why?"

"Because," the blonde gestured to the food in front of her. "People aren't gonna buy this stuff outright. It's gonna sell way better once your brand is out there. So we've gotta get as many people eating your actual food as possible, and like, spread the word. We'll get everyone who comes to go 'omigosh this is amazing' and come back for more!"

"Right…" She understood that much. "But won't the same thing happen if I make food once a week? We might miss out on a few customers, but it wouldn't be that many. Right?"

A grin spread across Heather's face. "Oh, it'll be a ton. Just you wait. Once people get used to having your food, and they suddenly can't? They're gonna go nuts! They're totally gonna flood the reservations, and the ones that can't get in are gonna beg their friends for their spot. And then, when they're desperate…" A calculating glint flashed through her eye. "You'll give them an alternative."

…Yeah, this is definitely Heather's supervillain arc. She's even got her fingers steepled and everything.

Kaitlyn wasn't sure whether to be excited or terrified. The plan sounded… good? Maybe a little bit manipulative, but good. It was worth a shot, at least.

"...All right." She shook her head in wonder. "You're the marketer, here. I'll trust you know what you're doing."

"Awesome!" Heather straightened brightly. "Don't worry, Kate. Between you and me? We're gonna have the whole campus on this stuff by the end of the year!"

"I… sure." She chuckled. "I don't know if I can even make that much, but I'll try. I'll see about making other mixes, too."

"Oh! I can help with that." Heather snapped her fingers. "Not the cooking, obviously. But I can totally, like, research what's popular at Cappy's and the price points. We can do some cost benefit analysis and spice up the most common ones, or – omigosh! We could totally work with the cheap stuff no one likes and turn it amazing! Or should we focus on the big items first…"

Kaitlyn watched on with a smile as her roommate spun plan after plan. Heather was entirely in her element, gesticulating wildly as she formulated the best way to move forward with their little business.

I'm glad she's excited. Though I'm starting to worry that I may be in over my own head.