ETA
When I got up, the first thing I did was check on my lotus. To my shock and horror it was on the floor. The vase was broken and empty, and the tiles of the floor were dry. It seemed like the accident had happened early last night. There was a slipper next to the shards of crystal, so I could only assume that my mother stumbled upon it and tossed it on the floor.
"Too drunk to notice or care."
"William is going to kill me!" I said to myself. Brie, Gabe and Elle agreed.
I took it and cleaned it a bit with tab water, then grabbed a Florence flask from my old chemist set and added some fresh water to it. I carefully slipped the tiny lotus inside, hoping that it wouldn't die. I held my breath and began preparing apologies for William once he asked me about his flower.
To my surprise, the flower landed in the water and cheerfully opened its petals. It looked exactly the same way it did when William gave it to me. Not a leaf or a petal was damaged and it looked fresh and alive.
"Maybe it's really that resistant!" Elle said. I sighed with relief.
I didn't have to work that day, so I decided to call William to meet him early in the lab. Staying busy would distract me a bit from sulking too much about Toby. He'd probably stayed at the frat party last night, so I figured I would not call him until noon just to make sure I didn't interrupt anything. Maybe the girl or the girls would still be with him.
"Maybe I should find something else to do." My mother was, as usual, out of this world so doing something with her was out of the question.
I missed the moments when we used to just sit down and watch movies together. She loved high school and college settings and always complimented the cute actors. She also used to hint at the predictable transformation of the nerdy girl into a bombshell as something I should do to my everyday look.
"You are a lot prettier than her." She used to say. That is the whole reason I found out an alternative way to get the money I needed to study science. Much to her satisfaction and my eternal shame.
I decided to read a book, something about theoretical physics aimed toward the masses. It might be helpful the next time I helped William. I climbed on my stationary bike and started pedaling as I read.
"Mens sana, in corpore sano"
Around ten thirty, I got a call from him. I had added him to my contacts by now, and I noticed with embarrassment that I had actually saved it as DumbBill.
"Freudian slip," whispered Brie, very amused.
"Remember to change it before he sees it." Gabe said.
"Up so early?" I picked up the phone and tried to sound happy. I didn't want him to feel sorry for me again.
"I always get up at dawn," He replied. "I was just waiting for you to wake up and have some breakfast. Maybe it's not clear to you, but the matter of my... education is very urgent. The only reason I don't spent every single moment studying is because I don't think that would be good for me and you."
The me part was a bit strange. I took it to mean that his reputation would suffer. Also he probably guessed that I was not going to make a fool of myself by allowing our classmates to think this was something more than a forced partnership.
"In that case, he is right. Distance is the best for both of us."
"So you want to meet today, I guess?"
"Yes…unless you have plans?" I couldn't tell if he was mocking me or if he was seriously asking.
"Ha ha ha…" I laughed humorlessly. "I was thinking about going to the lab and practicing so