Morning came all too quickly and as Jeff repositioned he felt like everything was at least twice as heavy. A vague memory of a cartoon played in his head depicting the Wolverine's bones being injected with metal and Jeff imagined this must be how he felt after. Jeff pulled himself from the bed feeling like he'd overslept and not realizing he was actually put to bed at 7:00 giving him 10 hours of rest.
Jeff began stretching which felt both good and bad as his muscles moaned. Once done, he showered and shaved without giving himself a chance to see that he was now very close to growing facial hair like the senior men he passed in the school's hallways. The hot shower helped to dull his muscle's groans slightly and after toweling off he began applying "Morning Creme" to his face and "Body Creme" to the rest of him before realizing none of this was previously part of his morning routine. He shrugged the weirdness off getting dressed, and his brain instantly turned towards getting his caffeine fix.
Making his way down the hall back towards the Cafeteria he prayed they'd be open, he glanced to his wrist wondering where his watch got to, and cursed that he lost his phone in the fire. He made a mental note to claim it on the insurance papers, but let that thought slip away as he got to the cafeteria and found it closed. A wall clock informed him that it was 6:15 and a sign told him self-service opens at 6:30.
Jeff caught a worker setting out bagels and filling the coffee pots. The man looked up and must have caught the desperate look in Jeff's eyes because he smiled and came over with a hot cup of coffee. "You look like you need this, Sir." he offered the cup with a smile.
"You have no idea. Thank you!"
Jeff gratefully accepted the kindness and relaxed in the lunchroom, sitting down to enjoy the peace and quiet. He gingerly sipped the coffee cringing at the bitter taste and scalding temperature. Despite his mouth's strong reaction, his memories told him he was used to it and he wished he had something to read. He settled for looking out the window to enjoy the way the sun refracted off the clouds leaving part of the sky in vibrant red hues and the other half in a beautiful purple. Every few seconds he'd find himself taking another sip, cringing, finding the flavor or temperature hard to manage...
Soon the gates to the Cafeteria opened and Jeff realized he was ravenous. There was a buffet-style breakfast available for him to grab and he did. Oatmeal with the fixings of his design, eggs, hashbrowns, bacon, sausage, the aforementioned bagels, and toast. Despite already having a cup, and wanting milk or juice, he found himself back at his table with the plate of food and another full cup of coffee. As Kayla entered the lunchroom, she spotted Jeff sitting alone with just a few other people scattered around the various tables.
She sat down and Jeff acknowledged her with a grunt. She waited for him to finish and sat studying him. He did look older somehow, though she couldn't pinpoint in what way. She had been prepared for anything during these interactions and had a better idea of what was going on in Jeff's mind and body than Jeff did. The mental "augmentation" required him to be unconscious so for the hours Jeff was uploading Kayla was able to get information on the plan and how Jeff was doing.
"Morning Dad,"
Jeff looked up initially expecting their parents to have shown up before realizing that he was supposed to respond. "Morning princess." slipped out taking Jeff and Kayla by surprise. "Uh, Kayla." Jeff awkwardly grabbed for his drink and took several gulps of coffee to move past the exchange. "So uh, You know what you're doing today?"
"No, but they did say I had a debriefing at 8. That's just a fancy word for update meeting right?"
"Basically. I'm not sure where I'm supposed to be or when... I woke up this morning and needed to eat but beyond this, I'm not sure where to go or what's going to happen." Jeff scraped the last bit of food off his fourth plate finally satisfied. Looking up he saw Kayla staring intently, "What?"
Kayla pursed her lips together thinking how to express herself. "You do look a bit older but I can't quite tell how. Your voice dropped a little too."
Jeff smiled and raised his eyebrows surprised, "I hadn't noticed. I'll be ready in no time, and then we'll be able to start our new lives together."
Kayla cocked her head noticing the tiny wrinkles that appeared on Jeff's face and forehead as he smiled. Unbeknownst to either of them, the morning and night cremes Jeff used were actually very bad at making the skin look youthful and radiant, quite the opposite. Aside from balding, going gray, and to a minor extent build, wrinkles are very effective at making a young man look older.
Kayla noticed Jeff looked bulkier but was sure something she hadn't yet noticed about his face was different. She eventually accepted it without identifying the change. Yes, his beard shadow was more prominent but the drug/hormone cocktail Jeff received was not just raising his testosterone. There were a number of things going on, one of which was releasing any stored "baby fat" into his bloodstream to be used as fuel for all the cells that needed to be repaired, built, and grown.
Just before 8:00, Kayla left knowing the room she was to report to. Jeff was soon approached by people and escorted away. The next few days were much the same as yesterday. Drugged and uploaded to, IV concoctions, mealtimes with Kayla, even another round of muscle enhancement, though with more muscle to work with across his body, less muscle had to be "activated" so the side effects were less debilitating.
Jeff had resisted the urge to shave over the last few days and had a heavy stubble beard going on. His voice had dropped, his jaw had widened, he had grown 3 inches, gained around 65 lbs, and had an intense appetite, which everyone promised would return to normal over the next week or two. The various cremes had done their assorted jobs. Jeff bore no stretch marks despite his rapid height and weight gain, when Jeff smiled, crow's feet and laugh lines adorned his face, and even when not making a face his forehead showed the places where wrinkles would show up, destined to only deepen with time. For everything Jeff gained, he lost some coordination.
Despite becoming a regular coffee drinker and following through on routines the best he could, many of the uploads were simply not having the desired effect. Some of the initial memories of workplaces, completing high school, and college coursework stuck but most higher learning, non-customer service or retail work environments, relationships, household management, and most importantly his altered relationship with Kayla faded away like a hazy dream a day or so after the upload.