A Symptom of Love (GERI Labs #1)

15. Just Another Day

15

Just Another Day

H ard-to-solve issues tend to feel slightly more solvable after a good night’s sleep and a big cup of coffee. Unfortunately, Eleanor hasn’t been able to enjoy the benefit of either this morning after spending an entire night wide awake, thinking about Aiden, who just had to have the last word, wishing she’d dream of him. And regardless of who said it first, for Eleanor it still sparked a night full of… him. She also can’t put a checkmark on the coffee thing, because once her swollen, sleepless eyes came into her roommate’s view, Alannah insisted that caffeine is the last thing she needed and made her a green-purplish-brown rejuvenating juice made out of fruits and some unidentified greens. Eleanor was afraid to ask what else was in it, but it did the trick. Rejuvenated she is.

“Have a peachy day today, babe!” Alannah hugs her when they part ways at the GERI security booth.

Eleanor reciprocates the hug. “Thanks Al. Same to you!” she says to the best roommate a girl could ask for.

Trying not to freeze, she goes straight through the security stop to retrieve her temporary daily pass—somehow, she hasn’t earned a permanent one yet—then stops at the blessed little coffee place Antoine showed her yesterday.

Happy and caffeinated, she approaches Professor Harrington’s office.

“Good morning,” she greets him through half-opened door. “Do you have a minute?”

“Good morning, please come on in.” The old man smiles widely at her and gestures for her to sit. That’s progress.

“Thank you,” she says and takes a seat. He gives her a conspiratorial ‘what’s on your mind’ look, as if he knows her already. Well, he’s absolutely moving in the right direction.

“I was meaning to ask you,” she takes the golden opportunity, “what are your thoughts about having regular lab meetings?”

“From what I gather,” he smiles, obviously suspecting she has some idea, “young scientists find these meetings boring and unnecessary.”

“Well, I can help make them un-boring . And I’m sure you’d disagree with the unnecessary part.”

“What did you have in mind?” He gives her his signature intrigued look. That’s her cue.

“I’ll let you in on my trade secrets.” She gives him a content smile. “So, here’s what I’m thinking. We’re going to have a signup sheet; we can make it a weekly series. Everyone will sign up to present—we can have one or two people presenting every time.”

“I’m not sure they’ll be able to keep up with this pace of generating data…”

“That’s fine. Some weeks they’ll be presenting data, on others they’ll be presenting their plans or hypotheses, or their interpretations,” she explains, already unstoppable. “Then to make it more engaging—each speaker needs to bring some food for the group to share.”

“Food? That’s your trade secret?” He smirks.

“Yes, and the trick is that they have to make it. To get them more invested. You want people to brainstorm, and bring up ideas, and share their thinking. And also criticize when needed. The food makes the conversation flow and adds the fun component into it.”

“I don’t know about criticizing, I am not looking for fights in my lab.” The look on his face indicates she may be pulling on a sensitive nerve here.

“Constructive criticism. Better get that from your labmates than a harsh reviewer who might kill your paper later. It’s also a good habit to discuss your science with peers, especially when stuck. It helps get you out of your own rabbit hole.”

“I like the way you think, Dr. Benjamin.” He leans back in his large office chair.

“Thank you, Professor Harrington. So do I have your blessing?”

“Blessing? This sounds awfully religious, I don’t give blessings. But you have my unwavering support. Make it an early-morning meeting series so they’re fresh and not in the middle of any experiment.”

She winces at the thought of chalking up another early morning every week. “How about we make it a lunch meeting? Every Tuesday,” she offers. “Speaker’s in charge of the food, whatever they choose, hopefully nobody gets food poisoning. Would you be willing to put aside some budget for it?”

“Budget for food?” he coughs.

“For ingredients. Postdocs are typically broke,” she chuckles. “The food aspect would be a major upgrade. Just give it a try.”

Professor Harrington’s lips twitch before he lets out a laugh. Then nods. And then it’s settled.

After her successful pitch, she decides to stop by at the Kowalski lab. Because her last night’s dreams are still fresh in her imagination and also because early-morning tormenting is apparently her thing.

“Morning,” she says as her eyes land on Aiden’s handsome face. He’s sitting at his desk, staring into his computer screen, engaged in one of his deep-thinking sessions. He does look broody, exactly like Tara said.

“Ellie.” He looks up, blue eyes shining at the sound of her voice, spreading warmth and some other sensations through her core.

Goddamn his no-hugging rule.

“Thanks for helping me turn my dungeon into an actual lab yesterday. It looks awesome now. I can’t believe you found there was a window hiding in there behind all these old boxes.”

“You’re welcome,” he says, gesturing for her to sit down.

Eleanor looks around. She had been so dumbstruck in the past few days that she didn’t even notice he had a couch in his office. And some plants along the windowsill. And lots of science books and journals. All neatly organized. Dare she say alphabetically? She wouldn’t expect any less of him.

“Nice couch!” she says and lets herself sprawl on it, kicking off her shoes. “Almost like a therapy session,” she sighs, resting her head on the arm rest.

“Make yourself comfortable.” Aiden smirks.

“By the way, I’m keeping your sweater. Need something to make up for your no-hugging allowance.”

“All yours.”

“Do you have any food in here? I’m starving.”

“I have some energy bars and a banana,” he offers.

“I need meat. Alannah’s vegan food is surprisingly delicious—I’ll give her that—but I’ve been dreaming of that burger you and I had at SigmaV.”

“So you’re dreaming about food while wishing me sleepless nights full of dreams about you?”

“No, I daydream about food. My night dreams are slightly different, and all about you, I promise,” she says teasingly. “And incidentally, the sleepless part—that was your choice with your ‘no seduction ’ rule.”

“Smartass,” he mutters, glancing at his calendar. “Lunch in my office tomorrow, I’ll get the burgers.” He doesn’t ask, it’s more of a notification.

“Can’t say no to that!”

“And then after lunch we’ll talk science.” Aiden switches to a more business-like tone.

“Can’t say no to that either!”

Science, food and Aiden. This has the potential to fulfill most items on Eleanor’s hierarchy of needs.

“Good.” He seals the topic. “So how do you like GERI so far?”

“It’s decent.”

“Elaborate, please.” His blue eyes studying her intently.

“Am I really the first female scientist to ever worked at the Harrington lab?”

“Yes, you really are the first.”

“That’s insane. I mean, I like the old guy but… this trick he just pulled on me with the dungeon clean up—" The handsome guy beside her releases a gruff sound at the word dungeon , which makes her smile. “He’s definitely testing me.”

“So far, you’re acing his tests. And look at the bright side—you are making a major dent in his biased way of thinking, paving the way.”

“A debatable achievement, but I guess I could look at it this way.”

“You are always welcome to make your spot in my lab permanent.”

Somehow the combination of the words ‘my’ and ‘permanent’ sends her mind somewhere completely different.

“Surprisingly, I actually enjoy the old man’s company,” she chuckles.

“And how is your collaborator?” he asks, a tentative smile playing on his lips.

“He’s way too hot to be my collaborator, I’ll need to figure out what to do about it.” She smirks, then stands up and grabs the banana he offered earlier. “I’m starving.”

“Ellie,” he reaches out and rests his hand on hers, sparking pleasant tingling all around. “I know we’re still figuring things out.” His tone is serious again. “Putting that aside for a second—you chose me as one of your mentors. Unofficial as it may be, I want to make sure I live up to your expectations and give you what you need.”

“I have high needs and even higher expectations.” She grins impishly at him.

“As you should,” he says, eyes darkening. “I meant it on a professional level.”

“Me too,” she says. “But I have high needs and even higher expectations on all levels.”