Thread: It was just one... (Bevatoria and skittish_butterfly)

The party was already forgotten by the time Elizabeth realized the batch she was working on was already ruined by the little delay waiting for Grant to leave her alone. She fumed for a moment and thought about calling her dad to ask again if she could have him fired, but decided the time she would waste on the call wasn't worth the likely result -- once again her dad would quote University policy and equal employment blah blah blah, and meanwhile important work would remain undone! She shook her head and tossed her materials in the incinerator. It took two hours to get back to the step where he'd interrupted her, and by that time the lab was thankfully silent. Intense concentration drove her for two more hours until she found a mismatch in two adjacent strands of the substrate's genetic material. Her stomach hurt. Not the usual ache of another wasted run. No, despite the failure, she was upbeat, because she knew how to fix it. All she needed was another 4 hours for one more run. Diagnosing her discomfort Elizabeth realized she was hungry. It was dark outside already and she pushed her glasses back up her nose to focus at the clock on the far wall. 830pm already. She could afford five minute for a bite and then if she worked straight through... Her hand came up empty reaching for the remains of the soggy sandwich. Oh right, finished hours ago. Since she wasn't a guinea pig or a virus there was nothing in the lab for her to eat. The trip back to her room would cost another 10 minutes both ways, but it couldn't be helped. Elizabeth walked briskly to the building and took the stairs two at a time, so she wouldn't have to endure to many of those Professor Ragamuffin and Grumpy Geeklet taunts from the boys on the second floor. Neanderthals had died out, eventually, and so would these stupid boys. She slammed the door in her room, only slightly winded, and went straight to the fridge. The sight of it made her frown. Empty. She'd forgotten to shop and there was only a week old half eaten yogurt that smelled funny and a jar of fruit fly larvae she had ordered in bulk for the next week. Frustrated that a trip to the grocery store now would cost almost an hour and probably end her hopes to reach another milestone this night, she flopped on the couch with the yogurt and tried a small bite before tossing it in the garbage. She did need to eat something, and started scrounging for change for the vending machine when she suddenly remembered the cause of all her troubles Grant and his stupid party! If he hadn't interrupted, she would have finished already, most likely. But her problem-solving instincts kicked in the stupid party! There was always food at parties. Maybe not healthy or nutritious, but it would be enough to get her back to the lab in 45 minutes, so long as she could extract herself from any tedious conversations and avoid any alcohol-spiked drinks anyone tried to trick her into drinking. Why did boys think that was so funny? After that first time, she'd never been fooled by that trick again, but they still kept trying it, which was yet another reason she tried to avoid parties. She got up and checked herself in the mirror. The scruffy jeans and early-fall overcoat with patterned sweater she'd pulled from the drawer that morning would be warm enough for the fall evening walk. She looked at her hair though. It was in her usual pony-tail. That was how she'd worn it when Herb had met her and asked her out. Matthew too. Not good. She didn't have time tonight to fend off losers, so she undid the pony tail, put on a wool cap and pulled most of her famous Jenkins mane up into the cap, leaving just a few stragglers hanging loose from under the cap. Perfect. The party wasn't far, but she was starving by the time she arrived. Grant was right there when she walked in, almost like he was waiting for her, which nearly made her lose her appetite without even having to eat. She tried to avoid him, turning in fake conversation to a boy near the door who annoyingly tried to actually talk to her. And it didn't help. There was Grant, right at her shoulder. Hello Grant. Uhm. Nice party. The basic niceties. Is there anything to eat?