Chapter 150: Fresh Mix

Amidst the rapport between his buddies, Theo quite looked like someone had sucked the life out of him, his head resting against the cool, metallic surface of the table with a tired look.

Then he felt the gaze of someone on him, his head subconsciously rising to look behind him.

To no avail, he couldn’t exactly pinpoint any specific eyes trained on him. Not with the constant glances their table was getting anyway.

Believing that he had probably being a bit too stimulated given how he’d been dragged around an hour prior, he simply dismissed the thought and leaned his head against the table once more.

"Wait a minute. What are you doing here anyway, Theo?" Aiden suddenly turned his attention to him.

"I thought you said you were headed to your dorm?" he curiously pressed, one of his brows rising and his head tilted slightly.

"My RA spotted me on the way and tried roping me into a party at our dorm’s common room so I told him I already had plans with my friends." Theo replied with a resigned sigh.

"You too, huh?" Aiden felt for his friend, his gaze sympathetic.

"I’m guessing you had it worse?" Theo looked to the coal-haired youth without raising his head.

Aiden simply raised five fingers first, then two after.

Casper followed suit, raising both hands with his fingers spread out wide, then flashed it a second time with an almost casual air.

"Yep. Twenty." the blonde-haired youth affirmed.

"And trust me, I wasn’t keeping count so I reckon it’s a bit higher than that." he added... not that anyone was surprised.

He was the most social and rambunctious of them all so it really didn’t phase any of them.

Still, Theo shuddered, the reaction instinctive as an audible mutter escaped him;

"And I thought being invited to four was a nightmare."

"Welcome to the club, buddy. I got invited to a couple myself." Larry remarked as he reached for one of the sandwiches Benjamin had packed for himself.

The chubby youth slapped his hand away whilst adding casually;

"It’s like everyone knows someone, who knows someone, who’s throwing a party."

"I mean, it’s not like we wouldn’t like to go... but that’s just one party too many in a single day." Clyde added, having used Larry’s brief distraction to sneak out one of their buddy’s sandwich.

"Hey!" Benjamin whipped his head over to the bespectacled youth whom was already taking a bite out of the neatly rounded sourdough and tasty fillings.

"I remember asking you little shits if you wanted some this morning but you both felt you were adults and it was too childish!" Benjamin reprimanded the duo.

"How were we supposed to know you were making your special sandwich and not the run of the mill ones?!" Larry defended as he tried to reach for it the second time, only for Benjamin to slap his hand yet again.

Aiden, Casper and Theo found themselves smiling in amusement as they watched the trio’s back and forth.

"Oh, and by the way, they’re having a Battle of the Bands Competition sometime next month. We registered for it, of course. Should be fun." Larry casually said amidst he and Benjamin’s ’tussle’.

In response, the trio on the other half of the table nodded in acknowledgement and support. Then they also shared information about some of the extracurricular activities they’d signed up for.

"I signed up for the Volleyball Club by the way," Aiden casually remarked at some point, not really giving it much thought.

"Figured it’d be a good pastime--"

Noticing how his bros were staring at him with hints of intrigue in their eyes, almost as if to say; Since when did you get into sports?, Aiden waved them off with a playful roll of his eyes;

"God forbid a man takes interest in something new."

A mild wave of laughter followed, and from thereon, the gang’s conversation shifted into more mundane territory, their energy relaxed yet spirited.

Somewhere along the line, Theo had found himself reinvigorated enough to actively partake in it, especially when they began discussing how they each wanted to arrange their spaces at the studio.

Meanwhile, from the far end of the cafeteria, amidst a chitchat between Veronica and Valerie about which dress they would be wearing to one of the parties they’d been invited to tonight, Daphne’s gaze had drifted over to the gang’s table yet again.

Given how perceptive she was, Clarissa whom had been cautioning the party monsters to pump the brakes on some of the risqué clothes they were intending to wear, caught it.

’Hmmm. Interesting.’ she thoughtfully mused when she realized whom the bleached-blonde babe was stealing glances at.

Then, as if she’d never even noticed, she returned her attention to the twins whom were seemingly trying their darndest to speedrun another PR stunt.

At the same time, Aiden had briefly excused himself from the conversation he and his buddies were having at some point and had whipped out his phone.

Currently, his gaze was reflecting a sense of genuine pride as he read the message he’d just gotten from Nathan.

SlurpPAK’s distribution model was coming along swimmingly, with the next run set to be five hundred thousand units.

In fact, by next month, Aiden could expect that they would’ve finally established things the way they’d intended, one that would allow them to distribute to areas outside of New York.

Naturally, that meant them chucking out a million units before the end of the year wasn’t just a possibility anymore. It was, in simple terms, expected.

At the same time, it also meant that come December, Aiden would’ve made back not just all of his investments into the model, but even double those investments.

That, alone, would be enough to tell his Pops that he could finally kick back and relax for the rest of his life.

It then made perfect sense why he felt so much pride as he kept reading the message.

Just as quickly, the youth’s expression soon morphed into a genuinely thoughtful look, a finger rhythmically tapping against the table.

’Well, it’d be in my best interests that I do it, so the sooner the better.’ the youth made up his mind.

Bobbing his head softly to himself, Aiden returned his phone into his pocket and resumed the conversation with the gang, briefly informing them on what was up.

Genuinely glad to see their friend making progress in his ventures, they all congratulated him and pushed for a celebratory get-together when he’d finally retired his Pops, one the youth approved as well.

In any case, the rest of the day went by, the afternoon sun slowly receding into early evening as it gradually painted the skyline and bathed the entirety of LA in a vivid, deep orange hue.

Aiden arrived home around that time, one shoulder holding his phone against his ear as he pushed open the door.

"So, all in all, it was pretty eventful. That’s how I’d describe it." he chuckled as he spoke to his old man over the line, replying to his inquiry about how his first day had been.

"Not eventful enough, clearly." Richard’s tone carried a clear humor to it as he stated;

"If you’re already back home by this time of the day, then I reckon you’re not attending any of those parties you were invited to."

"I don’t think that’s the kind of precedence a father should be setting for his son," Aiden called out his Pops, his tone playful.

"Champ. Believe me when I say you should really have as much fun as you can in your first year, ’cause I doubt you’ll have as much time in the preceding years." Richard advised, his tone genuine.

"I hear ya, Pops." the youth replied with a light chuckle, his foot closing the door behind him.

"Good," the man said in response.

"Besides, I have unwavering trust that you’re responsible enough to pump the brakes as is necessary." he casually added and Aiden could legitimately feel the shrug in his voice.

"Sure, sure," he responded with a relaxed smile, then said as a natural conclusion to their conversation;

"I’ll catch you later, Pops."

"You too, Champ. Say hi to the boys and Clarissa for me." Richard reciprocated, to which Aiden replied;

"Will do."

Hanging up the call, the youth then dropped his bag onto the living room couch, his legs already carrying him towards the kitchen with a sense of familiarity.

It wasn’t home in New York clearly, but it was clear some of his habits had seamlessly carried over nonetheless.

That said, Aiden wasn’t just planning to make himself some dinner and head to bed.

Rather, he had something just as important he needed to begin working on.

New flavors for Death Wish.

At the rate the product was growing in sales, it was only a matter of time before people wanted a fresh mix into the three flavors he’d built up.

It also didn’t help that sooner or later, Casper’s dad would bring his armageddon of copycats into the market, do his darndest to push him out of the mix and take the market he’d already established.

One way he could circumvent that, was by ensuring that he’d beaten them to the punch on the variation side of things.

That way, he could garner more customers whom were already used to a familiar taste and would be less willing to shift gears to a completely new product of the same ’caliber’.

"Now, the question is, which flavors do I intend to make, and how many?" Aiden leaned against the kitchenette counter, his expression contemplative yet curious.