Page 84 of The Scientist
He pulled me in for a hug and said, “It’s nothing. I’d take on a hundred times this amount of work if it meant your mom got better.” He sounded like he was getting choked up himself.
We stood like that crying silently together for a few minutes. I wondered what I ever did to have such amazing friends.
“Well, don’t you two look cozy,” I heard the unmistakable sound of Nicky’s voice say as we broke apart.
“Oh Nicky, you bring such joy to a room… specifically when you exit,” Stuart said, trying to covertly wipe his eyes.
She had a smug look on her face as she fixed herself a drink. “I’ll leave you two alone,” she said, walking back out the door.
Stuart rolled his eyes. “You ready to get back out there, Betty?”
I dabbed at the last of my tears and straightened my shoulders. I came to have a fun evening. No more waterworks tonight. “Let’s do it.”
I followed Stuart into the living room, where Peter was setting up the cups again. I did a quick scan of the room but didn’t see Lex anywhere.
“I say we have a rematch, Betty,” Stuart said. “Although, it looks like your partner may have run off scared. You’ll have to pick again.”
I laughed. “Okay, let me just go to the bathroom first.” I started to head down the hallway.
“Dan just went in there,” Peter said. “He might be in there a while, too… I saw him eating a bowl of Sanjay’s vindaloo earlier."
Yeah, definitelydidn’t need that visual.
“Just use the one upstairs,” Stuart offered.
Thankfully, the upstairs bathroom was unoccupied, because I’d had way too much beer at this point. After I washed my hands, I was about to turn the knob when I heard Lex’s voice say, “What are you doing up here?”
My brain automatically thought he was talking to me, so I cracked the door open, ready to explain myself, when I heard Nicky respond, “When did you get so jumpy?”
I closed the door again as softly as I could. I knew it was wrong to eavesdrop, but I couldn’t help it.
“What do you want, Nicky?” Irritation colored his tone.
“Why are you being so uptight? I just wanted to talk to you.”
“About what exactly?”
She made a noise of derision. “God, you don’t even realize how much you’ve changed,” she said. “I don’t even know who you are anymore.”
“What the fuck are you even talking about?”
“Playing beer pong?” Her tone was full of disgust. “In the eight years we’ve known each other, I haven’t seen you take a single sip of alcohol. And now you’re suddenly playing drinking games?”
“I know you like to think you know everything about me, but you don’t,” he shot back.
“I’m not the only one who’s noticed. Everyone on the team can see how different you’ve been acting these last few months. You rush out the door every evening after work to have dinner with a certain neighbor.” The disdain in her voice was evident. “Every other project we’ve worked on, you would stay later than everyone else and be back the next morning before we even got there. Hell, some nights you wouldn’t even leave the lab at all.”
“You’re mad that I don’t sleep over in the lab anymore? Is that what you’re saying?”
She scoffed. “What’s happened to you? You used to take this seriously,” she said. “You’ve been so distracted lately, you even mixed up those ion permeabilities yesterday.”
“Everyone makes mistakes, including you.”
“I’ve never seen you so much as put a decimal in the wrong place.”
“Are you done?”
“No. I want you to admit it,” she said, her voice growing darker. “Admit that the reason you’ve been acting so different is because of Broadway Barbie down there.”