Page 10 of The Scientist
He was a beautiful speaker, that much was clear, but what made the whole thing even more impressive was that he never once looked down at any kind of notes during his speech.
I wasn’t ready for it to be over. I felt like I could have listened to him speak all night, even if the topics were way over my head. I guess I wasn’t the only one, because he was swarmed as soon as he stepped off the stage.
“Wasn’t he incredible?” Dr. Abel said, walking up to our table. “Dr. Benson told me that he’s the smartest person he’s ever met. And that’s saying something.”
“Do you think he knows Taylor Swift?” Lionel asked.
Dr. Abel gave him an exasperated look. “Why in the world would you ask that, Mr. Vaughn?”
“Well, they have a lot in common… she’s also a genius,” Lionel said seriously. “And they both have a way with words with the same kind of dedicated fan base.”
Dr. Abel shook his head. “I never have any idea what you’re talking about.”
“If I had a dollar…”
“I think I should go over and introduce myself,” Dr. Abel said, ignoring Lionel and glancing over his shoulder. “He’ll probably want to meet all the department heads.”
“I don’t think he’s interested in us, Dr. Abel. Unless you think he’s suddenly dying to learn about classical harmonic keys and chord progression,” Sarah chimed in.
“Maybe not, Ms. Samaha, but Dr. Benson said he’s new to this area and probably doesn’t know too many people. We should make him feel welcome.”
“Doesn’t look like he’s having trouble meeting new people to me,” Lionel pointed out.
“Hadley, you’re new too. Why don’t you come with me?” he said, ignoring Lionel again. “It would probably make him feel more at ease to know he’s not the only newcomer.”
“Oh, I don’t think—” I started.
“I insist,” he interrupted, gesturing for me to follow. I sighed. Sarah and Lionel looked on sympathetically, but there wasn’t much they could do now.
“See if he knows Taylor!” Lionel called out to me as we headed toward the mob.
I followed along after Dr. Abel as he pushed his way through the throng of people surrounding the Drs. Benson and Strovinski. After a lot of“excuse-me's”and“so-sorrys,” we finally made it to where they were both standing. They were deep in conversation with a group of fellow admirers, so I was a little shocked when Dr. Abel tapped on Strovinski’s shoulder as he was mid-sentence. He stopped talking abruptly and turned to see the cause of the interruption. He glanced down briefly at Dr. Abel, who was a great deal shorter than him, before he spotted me standing there, his gaze unyielding as he took me in.
Did he think I was the one who crassly tapped on his shoulder? He must have, the way he was staring at me so intently.
“Hi, Dr. Strovinski,” my new boss said, trying to get his attention. “I’m Dr. William Abel. It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir.”
Dr. Abel stuck his hand out toward the man, who finally pulled his eyes from me and accepted the handshake.
“What do you need, Will?” Benson said, turning and looking annoyed by our presence.
“I wanted to introduce myself to Dr. Strovinski. As head of the music department, I thought it important he know that he can come to me for anything.”
“Okay, that’s great. Thank you, Will,” Benson said dismissively.
Dr. Abel continued on anyway.“I’d also like to introduce you to my colleague, Hadley Olivier. This will be her first semester teaching as well, so you’re not the only novice in the bunch.”
“Hi, it’s nice to meet you.” I smiled politely, but he didn’t return the gesture. He stood a little over six feet tall with warm, whiskey-colored eyes that seemed fixated on me once again. Up close, I noted his well-defined cheekbones and full lips offset perfectly with the squareness of his jawline.
“Your speech was really great,” I said, trying again.
“Thank you,” he said curtly. Man, he was really holding a grudge about this shoulder tap.
“I understand you’re doing Alzheimer’s research.” I was determined to break the awkward silence that followed his short response.
Benson turned to face me. “Are you familiar with Dr. Strovinski’s work?”
I shook my head. “No, the only doctor whose work I’m familiar with is Dr. Dre.”