The next morning, Billy woke up suddenly and instinctively grabbed his phone: 6:58 a.m.
"It's so early…" he thought.
He tried to go back to sleep, but immediately realized he was perfectly awake, as if all his tiredness had vanished.
"Oh well, might as well make myself something to eat."
He made a quick breakfast and then went back to bed, hoping to fall asleep again. But it was useless—he lay there, eyes wide open, staring at the ceiling, letting his thoughts wander until about 9:50.
Eventually, he got up and sat down at his computer to work on his project. He spent hours immersed in his code.
The afternoon passed quietly until, around 3 p.m., his phone rang.
Billy glanced at the screen: Marie.
"Oh, Marie… What does she want?" he thought, a bit surprised.
He answered.
"Hello?"
"Hey Billy, how are you? Listen, do you want to come over to my place tonight? I'm having a little party with some friends!"
Billy hesitated for a second, caught off guard, then replied a bit shyly:
"Uh… yeah, why not."
Marie sounded delighted:
"Great! See you around 8 p.m.!"
After hanging up, Billy set his phone down, his heart beating a little faster than usual.
A party at Marie's, surrounded by strangers…
He wondered what the evening would have in store for him.