Strange city

(James POV)

Things were so much different than how you would imagine the future to be, like you would normally see in movies... The city felt cold, distant, almost as if it wasn't real. The blinding, colorful lights; the holograms begging you to get into every existing store; everything made me feel like I was in a videogame.

"Pretty crazy, isn't it?", Lilla looked at me.

I nodded, "there's so much people here, is it always like this?".

"Everyday, yeah. Even parks are full of ads, drones, you never get a break", she said as we got off the car. "Here we are!".

The red walls and bright signs weren't as surprising as what I saw inside the restaurant she took me to: pictures of all kinds of food decorated the walls but it seemed like every single person sitting at their tables chose to have milkshakes that day?

I followed my girlfriend as she walked inside the place, looking for a specific machine. With a confused look on my face, I whispered: "I have so many questions".

She giggled, "shh... just choose what you want to eat, I'll order the same", the machine displayed the menu.

"I uh... I'll get chicken nuggets and fries", I picked that option on the screen and she paid for it with her phone. "Who's going to get it to our table?".

"You dummy, no one works here. It'll be done in exactly...", she checked the screen, "fourteen seconds".

I couldn't understand how that was possible but just as she said, our food was done in just a few seconds. The thing was that, it wasn't exactly... food, it was a drink, the same one the rest of the people had. "Please tell me that's not a chicken flavored milkshake".

Lilla started laughing as she took our drinks and led me to one of the tables. " They're not milkshakes, they're one of the fastest, cheapest and most common ways to get food now. People don't have enough time to eat nowadays, the old restaurants who make 'real' food don't have enough money or employees to make food for the thousands of people moving around this area".

I looked down at the disgusting looking drink, then up at her, "I don't want to pour liquid chicken into my body", I grabbed the round table tightly and begged her, "please don't make me". I thought I'd throw up at any moment just by looking at her drinking it.

"Calm down, it's not as bad as it seems", she took my hand and made me hold the drink. "If you try it I'll give you a kiss", she smiled.

I pouted, "but it will also taste like liquid chicken".

"James, just do it!".

I sighed and tried it, she was right. "it's good. it's... good?", it did taste like fried chicken but it felt wrong.

"I told you", she said and kept drinking hers.

I looked around and noticed more unusual things: most of the people in there had some kind of earphones on: mostly transparent, connected to each other and attached to a small antenna. "Why do they all have those things in their ears?".

"The earphones? The most common types are the normal ones everyone uses, replacing their phones since they can easily send emails, listen to their favorite playlists or make phone calls without having to use a screen at all; and then, the psy-wave ones, they're supposed to help with mental illness".

"I see...", I finished my drink and we threw away the cups before going back to the car.

"Did you like the new experience?", she asked as she started the car.

"Aside from not being able to taste fries in my drink, yes, I loved it", I laughed.

"Should we go back home now?".

I nodded, "I'm still processing all this new information, I think I had enough for today".

"You'll get used to it eventually, Rottlestown will turn into this one day as well", she took my hand.

"I know, although I'm not looking forward to it", I closed my eyes, trying to rest for a bit. We got to her parents house a few minutes later, the traffic wasn't as bad as it was on our way to the restaurant; we took a shower before having dinner with her family and went to bed early, the city had drained my energy.