He read Ivy's question again on the dim lock screen and let the beat settle before he answered.
[Advisory: Maintain LOW visibility to preserve narrative simplicity.]
He unlocked and typed with the restraint of someone who likes future options.
Card issuer pilot. Boring bank test.
He hovered a second, then hit Send. The message left neat and small. Dylan tried to see without obviously trying and failed at both.
"She funny?" he said.
"She is," Alex said. He laid the phone face down and turned to the shelf where the microeconomics book sat like a brick that had learned letters. He pulled it, flipped the first ten pages to make sure his pencil ghosts were light enough to live with, then slid it into his backpack with a zip that felt like a promise to tomorrow's self.
Jack watched the motion the way he watched everything - looking for friction. "Buyer solid?"
"Confirmed for ten thirty at the library doors," Alex said. "Forty now, forty then."
Dylan took that as permission to narrate. "Our boy will conduct commerce in the morning - then woo art at eleven."
"Please do not call it wooing," Alex said.
Jack rinsed his hands at the sink. "What are you wearing?"
"Clothes," Alex said.
"Try again," Jack said. "Neutral, fit clean, not a thirst trap and not a funeral. No logos."
Dylan pointed with a fry. "He means the black crewneck, the jeans that admit they are jeans, and the good sneakers you pretend are everyday."
Alex opened the drawer with the crewneck because both of them were right. He set it on the chair with the jeans that did, in fact, admit what they were.
His phone pulsed a discreet life.
[Text - IVY MONROE]: 11 it is. Atrium Coffee, downtown. Glass wall, plant jungle.
He typed Got it. See you then. He didn't add an emoji or a joke. He watched for the tiny delivered mark and let the conversation sit where it belonged - open, not needy.
The HUD lingered in his periphery just long enough to be useful.
[Calendar: Event created - Coffee w/ Ivy, 11:00-12:00, Atrium Coffee][Reminder set: 10:35 depart dorm (walk 18 min)][Public visibility: LOW - maintained]
"Also, hey, mentor," Dylan said, "when is our next magic bank seminar?"
"It's not magic," Alex said, pocketing the phone. "It's a promo with variance and a window I know nothing about."
"Scale is how you get noticed," Jack said, calm. "We like boring."
"I like funded," Dylan said.
"You like fries," Jack said.
Alex opened his laptop. He found the campus marketplace group and typed like a man listing gravity for parts.
FS: Intro to Microeconomics (Krugman 5e) - good condition, light pencil. $80 OBO. Pickup tonight or tomorrow AM outside library. Venmo/transfer/cash.
He attached two photos he'd taken last semester for exactly this reason - pages clean, spine honest - and hit Post.
The chat blinked. MAYA_H: Need for 8 a.m. class. Can I hold with $40 now, balance tomorrow? A second later: I can do transfer tonight.
Alex DM'd: $40 hold works. Meet 10:30 at library doors? A beat. Yes thank you.
His phone buzzed with the minimized preview he'd chosen.
[Bank Text: Incoming transfer $40.00 - MAYA H.][TIER-1 MONEY PERK roll…][Result: ×2][Critical received: $40.00 bonus][Total credited: $80.00]
The numbers hit with a softer thrill than the diner fireworks. He kept his face set to mild. Dylan's eyes flicked to the phone anyway, trained now to notice micro-glows.
"Promo blessed again?" Dylan asked.
"Deposit on a book," Alex said.
Jack trimmed the tape edge of a ramen box with nail scissors. "How many of those can you do before people smell something?"
"As many as any broke student can do," Alex said. "Textbooks, gear, odd jobs. If we treat it like air, no one will try to weigh it."
"Hypothetically," Dylan said, "if we did a hundred deposits, we could -"
"We couldn't," Jack said. "Because people don't buy a hundred textbooks from one guy in twenty-four hours."
"Variance plus caps," Alex said. "If we want a long game, we look like one."
The chat pinged again - MAYA_H apologizing for the hour: Thank you - prof is strict about editions. Alex replied No problem. Bring student ID so I don't hand it to the wrong person. The HUD nudged a tiny ribbon of text:
[Note: MONEY cap - high remaining; CASHBACK cap - high remaining]
He didn't need it; he liked it there anyway.
Alex's phone buzzed again. Ivy this time, the haptic distinct in his hand because he'd made it so.
[Text - IVY MONROE]: Tomorrow 11. I'll grab the window table. If your bank starts singing again, I want to see the choreography.]
He typed I prefer banks that whisper. See you. He considered adding If the terminal cooperates, then deleted it.
Before the screen dimmed, another message landed.
[Text - IVY MONROE]: Also... how did your bank text like that? Ours doesn't send confetti.]
He read it twice. It wasn't an accusation; it was curiosity armed with manners.
He held the phrases up to light: Bank promo. Bland. Restaurant tie-in. Better. Card issuer trial. Specific enough to satisfy, not enough to invite research.
The HUD timed its courtesy.
[Advisory: Maintain LOW visibility to preserve narrative simplicity.]
He breathed once and set his thumbs to the glass.
Card issuer pilot. Boring bank test.
He sent it before he could start polishing its bones. The haptic buzz came back almost immediately.
[Text - IVY MONROE]: Pilot, huh. I'll believe you - eventually. Tomorrow: my treat, then yours when the bank stops flirting.]
Dylan threw a hand up like a referee calling a good play. "Resolution achieved."
"Temporary," Jack said.
Another ping cut through the room - the campus marketplace this time.
[Message - MAYA_H]: Any chance we can make the handoff 10:15? Prof moved start.]
The HUD lined up the moving parts:
[Calendar: Library handoff 10:15 - Atrium Coffee 11:00][Travel estimate: 6 minutes on foot][Reminder updated: depart dorm 10:25]
Alex typed Sure. 10:15 at the library doors works. Blue backpack? and waited.
[Message - MAYA_H]: Yes - blue backpack. Thank you!
"Wardrobe selected, logistics blessed, legend stabilized - what's the move at coffee?" Dylan said. "You swipe or she swipes?"
"She offered to treat," Alex said. "I'll tip - small and normal. If they have a second round, I'll cover it. Nothing to draw lines with a highlighter."
"Payment method?" Jack asked.
"Card," Alex said. "Visa from the campus credit union. Clean app behavior. If the terminal's down, I let her pay and tip cash - fives and ones, nothing theatrical."
Ivy pinged again, light and quick.
[Text - IVY MONROE]: Also - tomorrow, do you take it black or are you a secret mocha maximalist?]
"Black," Alex typed, then added with room. He sent it and felt how small choices make a shape.
He opened his wallet and did the inventory dance - card, backup card, a small handful of bills. He swapped a twenty for two fives from the jar on his desk labeled coins, tucked two singles behind the fives, and moved the Visa to the front slot. He checked his left pocket because Dylan's superstitions sometimes doubled as useful routines.
The HUD offered a little housekeeping.
[Reminder: Bring ID for book handoff; check book condition note][Public visibility: LOW - maintained]
Ivy's typing bubbles returned, then paused, then returned. Another message arrived on their soft rhythm.
[Text - IVY MONROE]: One more - your 'pilot.' Which card?
All the air in the room stayed exactly the same temperature. Alex felt the beat thicken anyway.
"That is the question," Dylan said. "You make it specific, it gets stickier. You keep it foggy, it sounds like smoke."
"Or," Jack said, "you make it specific and harmless. A brand so big it reads like a shrug."
Alex spent three words carefully.
Campus credit union Visa - their app's Offers pilot - time-limited.
He pressed Send. The reply came fast.
[Text - IVY MONROE]: Fancy. I'll stop interrogating your poor card. See you at 11.]
"Resolution achieved," Dylan said again.
"Temporary," Jack said, and this time Alex agreed.
Another ping arrived before the room could relax.
[Message - MAYA_H]: Can I bring cash for the balance or do you prefer transfer?]
Alex typed Either's fine - transfer is cleaner. He hovered over Send as the HUD refreshed tomorrow's tiny clockwork in the corner of his sight.
[Calendar: 10:15 Library - 11:00 Atrium; travel 6 min][Note: MONEY cap - high; CASHBACK cap - high]
Dylan tipped back in his chair until two legs hovered. "Want company to the library? I can behave for six minutes."
Jack looked at Alex. "Decide."
Alex set his thumb to the glass, balanced between yes and no.