A Symptom of Love (GERI Labs #1)

10. Alannah

10

Alannah

“ S orry for interrupting your… steamy moment, with—” Alannah cuts her sentence short to clear her throat.

“Probably for the best,” Eleanor snorts. “You saved the poor guy from inevitable harassment.”

“He didn’t seem like he needed saving.” Alannah’s cheeks redden.

“Oh, he couldn’t get out of here fast enough, didn’t you see?” Eleanor’s eyes trail to the door where Aiden stood just seconds before.

“No, I’m pretty sure you weren’t the reason he left,” her new roommate says, giving her a knowing look. And there’s something else in that look, like there’s an entire backstory. But since she’s known Alannah for about a minute, there can be so many plausible explanations. “Okay, I need a shower urgently.” Alannah shakes away the awkwardness. “I’ve been in airports for way too long. Give me ten minutes and I promise a proper introduction, and some food to celebrate the New Year!”

“Sounds awesome,” Eleanor agrees eagerly, mostly because she needs a few moments to breathe properly. And a cold shower. Then some food wouldn’t hurt. A cup of mint tea would be nice, but of course she forgot to ask Aiden for some fresh mint from his dad’s garden.

Eleanor washes her flushed face. Then walks back into her room. Her cell phone beeps with a reminder to submit one of the grants she’s been working on, awakening that silly lock screen image of her and Aiden.

Gosh, she can’t keep having his image surround her all the time. But she can’t help it either.

“You got lucky,” is her exploratory text to Aiden at the same number he messaged her from yesterday. Compliments of her mom. None of this would have happened if it weren’t for her mom giving him the number. He’d probably deleted his WhatsApp by now, so shouldn’t be getting this message anyway.

“Lucky?” he responds instantaneously.

Hmmm. He hasn’t deleted the app…

“Yes, lucky. You got spared,” she explains quickly. “From a voracious assault.”

“ You got spared,” he rebuttals.

“It wouldn’t have been an assault. Very much consensual,” is her response.

Very, very much. But she shouldn’t be flirting with the guy…

“Same here.”

Yet this makes her all kinds of happy inside.

“You’re probably driving right now, so no sexting and driving.”

Oh no…

“Sorry, I swear I meant to write texting,” she corrects.

“I am not driving,” he writes back. “Your sexts are too distracting, I had to pull over.”

“You’re funny!” She can’t help herself, laughing out loud over a text message.

“I’m really not.”

“Serious as always. Okay, I’ll stop distracting you. Going to do some bonding over New Year’s dinner with my new roommate. Drive safely.”

Alannah’s cheeks remain quite flushed even hours later. She must be extremely shy. Or maybe just not used to seeing people making out in public. Although this would be hardly considered public .

Nevertheless, it turns out this new roommate loves to cook, which would have been amazing since Eleanor loves to eat and barely ever has time to spend in the kitchen, but unfortunately for all meat lovers out there—and this leads to a follow-up discovery—Alannah is vegan. Which is unfortunate, since her superb dish-crafting skills will never include an avid carnivore’s favorite ingredient. But one can’t really complain when it comes to home-cooked meals prepped and served to her.

And then there’s the meat smell issue— apparently Alannah finds it repulsive. Yes, they’ve talked about all the important stuff. Eleanor will limit her meat cooking—which she rarely does anyway—to when Alannah’s not home. In return, Alannah promises to cook fresh vegan food for the two of them every day “until you see the amazing benefits of going vegan,” were her exact words. The least Eleanor can do is give it a try.

The initial rationale behind choosing one another as roommates was based on one big thing they have in common—Alannah is a postdoc at Professor Kowalski’s lab, Eleanor’s newly chosen main collaborator, and unofficial mentor—so having a lab and a commute buddy was a winning argument. But aside from their shared love for epigenetics and their superb mentor selection skills, it appears that there are a few small differences in their approach to life, other than veganism.

Alannah is an early riser—she wakes up at dawn and is in bed by 9:30 p.m., which might be a bigger challenge than her nutritional predilections, given Eleanor’s a night owl. She also does not believe in sex before marriage—which may explain the amount of time it took Alannah to recuperate from the X-rated scene she walked into—but she goes by the live and let live approach, so this part should be fine, as long as “you don’t leave men’s boxers around the house or let them walk into the kitchen naked when I’m here. And please close the door.”

She must have had some interesting roommates in the past…

They’ll have to see about that part.

“So is he… your boyfriend?” Alannah, after what seems like painful contemplation, finally decides to address the elephant that unfortunately is no longer in the room. They’re sitting in the living room on the pink couch, sharing Alannah’s homemade vegan coconut ice cream. Which is hands-down incredible.

“Aiden? No, not my boyfriend, and not mine. I really shouldn’t be starting a relationship right now,” Eleanor says, but seeing Alannah’s surprised look she adds, “I came here for my research. And he’s really distracting.”

Can’t-get-him-out-of-her-head kind of distracting.

The kind that has the potential to obliterate her heart.

“Oh, it looked more serious to me,” Alannah says, going crimson.

“I just…” Eleanor tries to explain this one simple fact she’s still struggling with, “find him hard to resist, if you know what I—“

No, of course she wouldn’t know. Alannah believes in forever love, and happily ever after, like Eleanor’s grandparents. And mostly chastity before marriage.

“But doesn’t that mean something?”

“Huh?” Eleanor tries to buy some time.

“That you find him irresistible? That you can’t stop thinking about him?”

“It means he’s sexy as hell and that I want him badly. Sorry, just stop me if I’m being too much.”

“You’re fine.”

“Anyway, that’s why it’s a bad idea for me to see him again.”

“A bad idea?” Alannah gives her an astounded look. “Good luck with that.”

“Yes, because I might not be able to control myself. And I don’t want to get emotionally involved. I also don’t want to hurt him.”

Just thinking out loud.

“And you’re not already?”

“Hurting him?”

“No, emotionally involved, silly.”

Is she?

“Hmmm… I hope not.”