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Anyway, would you like to get lunch in the next few days to debrief? I’ll buy!
-G
PS: I have been informed that I attempted to urinate on/near you. I am deeply regretful of my actions.
I’m considering my sudden lunch popularity—take that, middle school bullies—and almost don’t notice Cece sitting next to me at the table. “Hey.” She’s eating croutons straight from the bag, picking them out with chopsticks. As per my usual policy, I don’t ask. “How do you feel?”
“I feel...” What a good question. “Like all the plot balls that I was juggling have dropped to the floor. And I have no idea what comes next in my story.”
This is not your character arc, Elsie. More like a... character bump.
“Could there be a positive side?”
I cock my head. “Positive?”
“Now you don’t have to juggle anymore. You can use your hands to... flip people off. Scratch your butt crack. Become a finger puppeteer.” She shrugs. “If you woke up tomorrow and could choose anything, what would you do?”
My eyes, quicker than my brain, fall on the upper left corner of my computer, where my Word doc sleeps its neglected slumber.I’d finish my work on two-dimensional liquid crystals, I instantly think. But how, without the MIT job? And that ball has dropped, which means that—
Cece sighs. “Okay, you know what? That was a hard question. Let’s just daydream about the future.”
“Sure.” I lean back in my seat. “Income inequality? Nuclear proliferation? Climate change?”
“I’m always up for discussing how rising sea levels will lead the merpeople to claim the lost city of Miami, but I was thinking more... next year. Money.”
I sigh. “UMass has open instructor slots, and so does—”
“No. Listen, I don’t want you to do that. I’ve been thinking about this, and... I think I can swing it.” Her earnest, heartfelt look is only slightly undercut by the waving of a caesar crouton. “Kirk is giving me a job. He said he’ll need me at least twice a week, and he wants to pay me like an employee. His team is actually drawing up a contract.”
I frown. Why does Kirk crop up so much in conversation? And above all: “Where does Kirk get the money?”
“He’s a scientist.”
“As a scientist myself, let me ask you once again: Where does Kirk get the money?” A spine-chilling thought occurs to me. “Please tell me he’s not Elon Musk.”
“Youmonster. Take that back.”
“He’s the only rich scientist I can think of!”
“Kirk is Kirk, I promise! He’d never write petulant tweets about how the world is unfair to poor billionaires. To be honest, I doubt he knows what Twitter is. He’s like...” Her eyes shine a little. “A total nerd, Elsie. In grad school he created this material that everyone wants, then he built a company around it with his friend who has an MBA. But the company is huge now, as in,ridiculouslybig. It has stocks and stuff.” Cece’s getting animated. Croutons fly all over theroom. Hedgie has noticed. “So now he has all these functions and meetings he needs to go to, and he hates them, but he says that if I’m there, they’re more bearable, even though I know nothing about scienceormoney—”
“Hang on.” I frown. “What’s the name of the material?”
“I keep forgetting. Some kind of resistant blah synthetic blah fiber blah blah.” She taps her lips with the chopsticks. “Taurus, maybe?”
I wish I were drinking, because this deserves a spit take. “Cece, are you fake-girlfriending the dude who inventedTauron?”
“Oh, yeah. That’s what it’s called.”
“Tauron is literallyeverywhere.” I blink. “He must be a millionaire.”
“I think he is. And that’s why you don’t have to teach sixty-nine classes next year.”
She gives me an expectant look till I sigh and mutter, “Nice.”
“Thank you. Anyway, I’ll cover rent. So you can work a reasonable amount. One or two classes. And the rest of the time you can stay home and do your research about sparkles.”
“Crystals.”
