The lab was empty, devoid of any life except for the tall man in a knee-length pristine white lab coat. Steel surfaces shone in the bright light and the soft whirring of the centrifuge could be heard over the low but continuous sound of the air conditioner.
There was a dropper in his hand, transferring solution from a beaker into a test tube. He was on autopilot. It was Tuesday night, and once again, he had skipped dinner to keep working. He was certain that the next few nights would lead to a discovery.
So why was it so hard… concentrating? Why did every single thought lead back to her…
The phone rang. He didn’t pick up – if it was important, whoever it was would call again. A few minutes passed before it rang again, and this time he did take it.
“Hey,” her sweet voice came across the line, “Are you busy?”
“Yeah, the project is coming to a close – I don’t think I’ll be coming home tonight.”
“Oh… okay, I understand. Call me later tonight, okay? I’ll be waiting.” The disappointment in her voice was just barely hidden.
“If I remember, I will.” He hung up, reading the particular paragraph in the lab journal that was still intriguing him – there was still so much to reread and understand…
At 2 am, his phone buzzed with an incoming text: “Hope you’re doing okay, I’ll talk to you tomorrow after work. Love you, goodnight.”
—
“Hey silly boy, when are you ever coming home?”
He chuckled into the phone, before replying, “I know, I know, I’m silly. I promise I’ll be home at ten at the latest. I pinky swear!”
“With whom exactly?” He could hear the pout, even through the phone as she continued. “I’m just about an hour away, and a pinky promise does need—”
“Listen, I gotta go.” He interrupted, “We’ll talk later.”
“Oh… okay. Bye, I love –” She heard the dial tone. He’d hung up.
—
“Wanna have lunch together?” She asked softly.
“How many times do I have to tell you? I have to finish this or the professor is going to have my head. I already got something to eat with some of the other lab techies.”
“Oh. You can have lunch with those girls, but you won’t even consider stepping out of the lab to have lunch with your girlfriend?” Her voice filled with hurt, anger… frustration.
He heard it and was annoyed. “God, what is wrong with you? I’m busy, I have my own life, and I can’t revolve around you all the time. Stop being so selfish.”
It was silent for a couple seconds.
“When you want to talk like the person I am in love with – sweet, wonderful Alan who cares about me and who I would die for, who I would do anything and everything for – you email me a time and place.” She hung up.
—
“I can’t do this anymore.” Tears would not fall. Her eyes were dry, red, worn out.
“Don’t do this.” He started, his voice a raspy whisper.
“We’re running in circles. I feel like I’m just chasing your tail and you’re just constantly on the run. I’m tired, Alan. So tired.” Her expression said it all.
He was angry. This was all so… wrong! “You don’t think I’m tired? You’re on my case every single day, I have to call at lunch, at dinner, I have to come home, I can’t go out with my co-workers, I can’t do this, that, on and on. And you have the audacity to tell me that you’re tired? What about that one time with him? Remember that day? When you left me all alone to be with that ‘friend’ of yours?”
“Are you done?” She asked, her usually very expressive face showing no emotion.
His fists clenched and unclenched as he tried to calm down.
“I take it that you are. Goodbye.”
And with that, she walked.
—
He shivered and pulled his lab coat tighter around him. It would be getting dark soon. Everyone else was at dinner. He was having second thoughts about going as his stomach started rumbling. He quickly cleaned up the experiment, locked up, and walked out the door.
It was a cold, lonely night. The full moon glared down at the empty street.
hi megelert3,
i happen to have come across your wordpess after some searches for essay topics. (i will not plagerize)
From your stories are very touching and intuitive.
i can tell from reading each post title, that there is this progression to the worst. is there more to this story? like a happy ending?
i will be looking forward to read your next post.
Hi there! Thank you so much for the comment.
Most of my stories are just stand alone pieces that could be extended, and I don’t have plans to continue the story, but I might look into it, like filling in the blanks sort of..
As for the happy ending, this particular piece was actually from an experience of mine, and sometimes things just end
What kind of essay topics are you looking for?
Oh im sorry to hear that. sometimes its better to take a step back, and try to look at the entire picture, because we sometimes focus only one thing and forgetting about the whole. its like staring at one star in the sky, and forgetting about the millions, billions of stars next to that one star. oh shoot im ranting, please forget what i said.
For my essay topic, well, I am actually simply searching for a topic. I do not know if you have done this already, but I am applying to college, and I need an essay topic. So I have been just browsing and asking around for suggestions the past few days
Haha, very sensible ramblings!
And good luck finding your topic – be yourself and things will definitely work out, regardless of what you end up writing about.