Things Done

“Gwen, your boyfriend’s here again,” Sadie said, shaking my shoulder. I squinted up at her, groggy with sleep.

“I told you, he’s not my boyfriend,” I mumbled before sluggishly rolling out of bed. All of a sudden her words hit me and I was wide awake. “Wait, what? He’s here? Now? What time is it? Why is he here?”

“Whoa, cool your horses,” Sadie grinned at me. “He’s waiting outside the dormitory. I told him he could come inside the building, but he said he’d rather wait for you. I think he knew you’d be a mess.”

“Probably,” I muttered, going to my dresser to pick out my clothes for the day.

“Oh, I already did that for you,” my roommate said, crossing the distance much faster than I had and holding something behind her back. It was probably because she got up much earlier. She had classes almost every day because she was double majoring, so she was used to being up in the wee hours of the morning.

“What is it?” I asked suspiciously, trying to peer around her. She thwarted my every attempt.

“It’s…ta-da!” she cried as she finally brought forth what she had been hiding. It was a colorful, flowery dress. A resplendent mix of greens and yellows that I decided I was not wearing. “What do you think?”

“I think…” Instead of giving her an answer, I continued choosing my own clothes. I emerged with underwear and a plain T-shirt and baggy jeans.

“What?” Sadie pouted, still holding out the dress with the sunflower pattern. “You would choose that over this? For a date?”

“It’s not a date, and he’s not my boyfriend, and I would never be caught dead wearing something like that,” I told her over my shoulder as I speed-walked to the bathroom. I quickly brushed my teeth, took a shower, and dressed.

“It is too a date,” Sadie persisted as soon as I came out. She was still pouting.

“No, it’s not. Now what time is it?”

“Seven-fifteen. It is a date. Dates aren’t always between boyfriend and girlfriend, you know. This could be a get-to-know-each-other date. Do you really want him to think you’re a crass, dull girl who can’t even be bothered to get dressed up for a date?”

“This isn’t a date.”

“Then how come he was wearing fancy clothes? Why did he say it was one?” she said smugly as she shoved the facts in my face.

“Fancy clothes?” I was momentarily distracted by what that meant, as he had always appeared well-dressed to me, but quickly recovered. “What do you mean by ‘say’? Did he ‘say’ something you made him say? Like before, with your suggestions?”

“Eheh, guilty as charged,” she flushed, “but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s for something important. He wore nice clothes yesterday, too, but today they’re even nicer. I think you guys are going somewhere special.” She suddenly frowned, looking down at my outfit with a disgusted expression. “Speaking of special, don’t tell me you wore something like that to the dinner yesterday. That was a five-star restaurant. How could you even dare to walk in dressed like that?”

“What do you mean by that?” I whined, but she could already tell that I was breaking. I met Edgarton fifteen minutes later in a compromise: a nice blouse with jeans that fit properly. She had wanted to give me her ballet flats, but I refused, opting for my trusty old sneakers, because I at least wanted my feet to be comfortable. I had no idea how long the trek was to the place I suspected Edgarton would be taking me to.

“Your roommate is quite the talker,” Edgarton said when I reached him. He had been standing by a large tree a little ways off from the dormitory exit. “She filled my ears with all sorts of nonsense.”
“Yeah, that’s because someone told her that we were going out,” I grumbled, blaming him for the clothes I was wearing.

“I decided it would be an effective ruse,” he shrugged as we walked on. “If she believed that, it would not be so odd if I were to come around every now and then to meet with you.” I considered the notion. It made sense, but it didn’t appease me.

“Why don’t you run these things by me before running your mouth like that?” I complained testily. “It’s an inconvenience to have to play along to something I didn’t even agree to in the first place. And why do you have to get me? You could just give me a note or something like last time. Étienne or Clinton could come. I could give you my cell phone number and you could call me, though I’m pretty sure you already know it anyway.” I muttered the last phrase.

“My apologies if you had your eye on someone else,” he said, chuckling. It didn’t sound anything like an apology to me. He ignored my other inquiries and I decided to let it go.

“Whatever,” I sighed. We had reached a bus stop. If we were going where I thought we were headed, it was necessary to wait; our destination was on the other side of town. “Now, tell me about today. We’re going to the LoboTech office, right?”

“Very good,” he said, smiling.

“Whatever,” I repeated. “What are we going to do there? Why does LoboTech interest you so much? I bet you even had a hand in getting Étienne a job there, huh? You probably hoped he’d be your spy—your way in.” Edgarton’s smile remained unchanged, except for a brief twinkle in his eyes.

“Nonsense,” he told me. “Étienne’s employment had nothing to do with me. He really is quite the brilliant mind. My interest in this company is in no way urgent and I am never at a lack of a ‘way in’ as you say.”

“Right,” I replied, peering up the street just in time to see the bus arriving. It stopped and we boarded. Most of the seats were taken but, lucky for us, there was still the large one in the back, so we sat there and settled in for the half hour ride.

“I am correct,” he said mildly. “Thank you for noticing.”

The next twenty minutes passed by uneventfully, and we were pretty silent as the bus driver drove on. It was easy to do because the seat was large enough to be a roomy two-seater and we both got our own windows to look out of. Watching the scenery calmed me down, and I would have been completely at peace if it weren’t for the times when I looked down at my clothes and remembered what Clinton, Sadie, Étienne—everyone—had been saying about me and Edgarton. Needless to say, my eyes narrowed several times on the short trip. I didn’t think it was very noticeable, but I was quickly proved wrong.

“Why are you angry now?” Edgarton asked me. The question was so startling that I didn’t even have time to appreciate the novelty of him asking me a question instead of the other way around like it usually was.

“Wh-What?” I mumbled. “Oh, I’m not angry.”

“Yes, you are.”

“No, I’m not.”

“Yes, you are.”

“No, I’m n—”

“What a pleasant surprise it is to see you, Mr…!” a cheery voice called as the owner made her way over to us. I groaned, instantly recognizing it. “Sorry, I didn’t catch your name yesterday?”

“Edgarton. Mr. Edgarton,” he told her kindly while I scowled at my lap. “It’s nice to see you again as well. I see your dog isn’t here to tangle me up this time.”

“Oh, you know,” she replied, laughing a little too much at his casual joke. “If I brought her to work I would definitely get fired. That dog loves to chew up everything she sees, and we’re doing some important work right now. Did I tell you about the zygotes?”

“If it has to do with the A.I., then yes,” I muttered harshly.

“Oh, well…really? Hm, well there are a lot of other things I could tell you about. I can go on and on.”

“Isn’t your work confidential? Are you sure it’s okay to be telling us this?” I protested.

“What do you mean?” she replied vacantly, “It’s not like there’s a nondisclosure agreement or anything, and everything I’m telling you about isn’t exactly under wraps. The prototypes have already been built and the product is expected to be released soon. That’s my job. I’m sort of like a proofreader or, what do you call them, editors, yeah, except I work with electronics instead of stories and articles. My department double-checks all the sequences and then puts the finishing touches on each item. It may sound boring, but it’s actually an interesting job. In fact, just the other day—”

The bus driver chose this moment to start the bus again. Okay, well maybe he didn’t choose it, since this happened to be the time when all the passengers had boarded and, he must have thought, been seated, but he didn’t look too closely at us riders in the back. Kelsey Sanders stumbled and fell forward, landing almost completely on top of me.

“Oh, I’m so sorry!” she exclaimed, quickly standing up to hold onto the bar. I caught a small, disappointed glint in her eye as she glanced at Edgarton. She’d been hoping to fall on him. She didn’t account for, however, the second push as the bus accelerated, so she fell again. This time, she fell directly into the small crevice between Edgarton and me. What was once a spacious two-seater quickly became a cramped three-seater.

“Would you like me to stand up?” Edgarton asked. I could hardly turn my head to see his face, so I wasn’t sure if it was spoken in jest or earnest.

“No, no, that’s okay.” Her words came out in an excited rush.

“How about me?” I suggested. “I could hold the bar. I don’t mind.”

“No, you’re fine. It’s alright. It’s only a few minutes more, anyway, then I can go and get to work. My stop’s coming up soon.”

That was when I understood what was going on: Sanders did not really care for the discomfort the squeeze caused everyone. No, she only cared for the fact that she was squished next to Edgarton. If he got up, she wouldn’t be able to smell him (like the creeper I was sure she was), and if I got up she would have no reason to be pressed so close against him. The woman was really starting to freak me out.

“What a coincidence,” Edgarton said with some difficulty. “We just happen to be headed to your workplace as well.” From the corner of my eye, I saw Sanders’ entire face brighten up.

“Oh, really! That is great. I was hoping you would stop by. Actually, I was hoping we’d see each other again because I really li—” she stopped herself at the right time “—ke the way you two think. When I met you guys yesterday all I could think about was how easy you guys were to talk to! I really enjoyed it, and I hope we can all be great friends soon. Maybe you’ll even join LoboTech so we can see each other every day!”

“Not going to happen anytime soon,” I said, knowing full well that she didn’t care what words came out of my mouth. “I’m not studying engineering or information technology.”

“Students change their majors all the time,” Kelsey assured me. “It’s practically a part of nature. I can’t even remember how many times I changed mine. When I finally got my neurology degree, in fact, I was recruited for the job I have now. That was about…let’s see…maybe six months ago?”

“You got recruited for a job you weren’t even qualified to do?” I inquired, astonished enough to forget to scowl at her. She chuckled.

“Yes, you could say that. You’d also have to mention, however, how I spent pretty much my entire high school in a laboratory or at the community career and technology center learning about what I do now. Every summer was spent in techno-bliss.”

“That’s amazing. And also strange. Why major in neurology when you seemed to know exactly what you wanted to do? You prepared yourself and everything.”

“Yeah, well things came up, and I wasn’t too prioritized back in those days. I was kind of boy crazy,” she confessed. I spent so long deliberating on whether or not I should roll my eyes that I completely missed the chance to do so.

“Really?” I said instead, trying hard to keep the sarcasm out of my voice.

“Yes, I know it’s difficult to believe, but still,” she replied. I wasn’t sure if she was serious or not, so I didn’t say anything more. “I kind of did everything to match my crush at the moment. Crush, because I come from a very strict family. My parents absolutely forbid any sort of dating before college. And after that, until I received my bachelor’s. And after that, until…” she sighed. “I think you get the point. So, in high school there was this boy who I liked who was in all of those extra-curricular activities. He wanted to be an engineer and failed, but that’s a whole ‘nother story that I won’t go into now. Anyway, I found an even cuter one in my freshman year of college, so I changed my major in order to see more of him. That sequence of events continued to repeat itself until BAM! I was the confused but proud neurology major. I completed only two years of the course, but the instructors and the rest of the faculty said that I learned pretty much everything that there was to learn when I was doing other majors.”

“So…you’re saying you don’t like your job?” I tried to summarize. I had kind of zoned out from her very first words.

“No! Never!” she exclaimed enthusiastically. “I love my job at LoboTech! Who could ever dislike the amazing things they make? You’ve heard of them right?” Another moment when I wasn’t sure if she was serious. LoboTech made everything from computers to toothbrushes so everyone had heard of them by now.

“Yes, I have,” I reply simply to play it safe.

“Speaking of which,” Edgarton announced, shocking us both. We’d forgotten he was even there. “Would you be kind enough to give us a tour? I’m afraid that I get lost fairly quickly, and I am most uncertain about my companion.”

“Companion. Does that mean you two are dating?” she asked suspiciously. My scowl returned in a flash.

“No!” I protested immediately. “We are not dating! I am so sick of everyone thinking that! We don’t like each other like that.” Her face brightened instantly.

“Oh, really? That’s too bad, I guess,” she lied. It was all too easy to tell that she meant none of the words she was speaking. “I could be your tour guide. Today is pretty lax anyway. I have to get you cleared by the admin office, though. They don’t like random strangers coming in because sometimes they’re only there to steal inventions. It happened once. Oh, no, I don’t mean you guys are those types of people! I only meant to say that it’s happened several times before. I’m sure you two are model citizens and would never steal anything from anybody.”

“It’s alright, I wasn’t even thinking that,” I assured her. She breathed a sigh of relief.

“Okay. The thing is, though, I need to get some sort of approval from the administration. They’re really in charge of the whole operation, and if I let you two in without clearance I might be out of a job pretty soon.”

“What marvelous circumstances,” Edgarton smiled warmly. “I happen to be carrying a signed letter from the admin head. He electronically mailed it to me last night. I think it should be authorization enough.” Kelsey’s eyes widened.

“Whoa! That’s great!” she told us. “Oh, we’re going to have so much fun!”