[ he asks, but she doesn't answer right away. instead, she downloads the bar's menu onto her neural desktop and looks over the options. there are too many, really, and beer's never been her thing. there are a lot of them on the menu, too — porters and stouts and ipas and whatever a craft draft flight was.

it's easier just to tell the digital waiter that she wants a double bourbon neat. so she does. two of them, in fact; one for her and one for him, the first round on her as promised. only then does caroline turn her full attention back to him, blinking a bit to adjust her eyes from digital holoscreen to the real world. ]

I was — [ but she shakes her head, the words stilling on her lips. it's not exactly a fun story to tell, and besides, she doesn't really think he's all that interested in the specifics. ]

I'm probably the only person who says that, though. I think most people are in your shoes. They just want to get home.