This is the fourth part in a series, so if you have not already done so, you might want to read Part I, Part II, and Part III before continuing.
I couldn’t believe my luck when I found Owen eating by himself Monday morning. I jumped at the chance to get some one-on-one time with him. And by “jump” I mean casually made my way over to his table, hesitating just long enough as I approached to give him time to see me and move his bag from the chair next to him onto the floor. So, we were officially past the need to verbally ask to sit at the same table. Excellent.
“Hey, where’s Bianca?” I said as I slid in next to him.
“Biology.”
“Oh, I didn’t realize that was today.”
“Yeah, she spent the whole week cramming. Thanks for helping her study, by the way. She really appreciated it.”
“Really?” I managed to inject the perfect amount of doubt into my voice. Just enough to be noticeable, but not overkill.
“Yeah, she said it was super helpful. Why do you sound surprised?”
“Oh, it’s probably nothing. I just got the feeling from her that she didn’t think she needed my help.”
“Really? Because she told me you really helped her understand mitosis.”
I tilted my head with just enough of an eyeroll that said, If she says so. Inwardly, I was thinking about how hard it had been to get her to understand a simple four-step process for cell duplication, but Owen would never know that.
“What’s that look supposed to mean?”
“Nothing. It just seems like Bianca is one person around you and another person entirely when you’re gone. It’s like she has this split personality or something. One day she’s asking for my help, the next she’s treating me like an idiot because I made a bad joke about mitosis.”
“What was the joke?”
“She said we should go for a coffee break and I said, ‘Let’s make like a cell and split’.”
“That is bad,” Owen said, but he was smiling as he said it.
“I know, but she didn’t have to be mean about it.” I actually managed to whip up some fake tears. Not enough to wet the cheeks. Just enough to make my eyes look a little misty.
“What did she say?”
“She said no one says ‘split’ anymore. Which is true, but you still get the gist of the joke. And she said it in this really rude tone. Like I was such an idiot for saying ‘split’.”
“Maybe she didn’t the joke right away and she just didn’t want to look stupid.”
Seriously? He was defending her? This was going to be harder than I thought. For now, it was best to play along.
“Maybe,” I said. “But she still didn’t have to be mean about it.”
To be continued…