Pepsi

Eliza loved Pepsi. The sweet, fizzy rush was the perfect pick-me-up on a hot day. There was just one tiny, rather embarrassing problem. Every time she drank it, the bubbles got stuck in her teeth.

It sounds impossible, right? Everyone told her so.

“Bubbles can’t get stuck in your teeth, Eliza,” her friend Sarah would say, stifling a giggle. “It’s just not a thing.”

“But they do!” Eliza would protest, frantically trying to dislodge the fizzy offenders with her tongue. It looked like she was having a seizure in her mouth.

Her dentist, a kind but slightly bewildered man named Dr. Patel, had no explanation. “I’ve never encountered this before, Eliza,” he’d admitted, peering into her mouth with a tiny mirror. “Your teeth seem perfectly normal.”

Determined to prove everyone wrong, Eliza embarked on a fizzy drink experiment. She tried Coca-Cola, Sprite, even the fanciest sparkling water she could find. Nothing. Not a single bubble got stuck.

“See?” Sarah had crowed. “It’s all in your head!”

Eliza, feeling more than a little foolish, decided to give up Pepsi. It was too much hassle, too much ridicule.

But then, one sweltering afternoon, she found herself standing in front of a vending machine. The sun beat down, her throat was parched, and there, gleaming invitingly, was a can of ice-cold Pepsi.

“Just one sip,” she whispered to herself. “What could go wrong?”

Famous last words.The moment the caramel-coloured liquid hit her tongue, that familiar, dreaded sensation returned. The bubbles, like tiny, mischievous imps, swarmed her teeth, refusing to budge.

Eliza groaned. She could practically hear Sarah’s laughter echoing in her ears.

From then on, Eliza accepted her fate. She was the woman who got Pepsi bubbles stuck in her teeth. It was her unique quirk, her bizarre claim to fame. And sometimes, when no one was looking, she’d still indulge in a forbidden sip, relishing the sweet, fizzy chaos in her mouth.

After all, what was life without a little bit of bubbly trouble?