MOAB

Chapter 19: Galene @ 1.2x nhs

Chapter 19: Galene @ 1.2x nhs

“Yup, it’s good,” Greg said, speed reading some digests.

Galene had written an app that would activate only when he was inside this room, and that would underline the text he was focusing on. The line showed up only in his AR, not shared.

“It needs some getting used to,” Greg appraised, shifting his reading to a printed page.

His eyes darted across the page in a zig-zag pattern.

How could he handle input like that? She had a headache from thinking too hard for an hour. She couldn’t imagine straining her mind all day.

He kept reading the screen, the digests scrolling like a reverse waterfall.

“Need a cookie?” he asked her.

“A little pick-me-up would be nice.” She massaged her temples.

“What, energy drinks?”

“Yeah.”

“Nah, I don’t like those. Make yourself a coffee, feel free to use the kitchen,” he said while still reading.

“I would have guessed a guy like you would be chugging down energy drinks all day.” She got to the kitchen, looking around.

“You’re projecting your hacker culture onto me. Nope, I prefer natural supplements and things like that.”

“I’m not a hacker,” she said innocently, while making coffee. Everything was neatly grouped in close proximity, she noticed. You could make it without taking a step. Everything had a position annotated in AR, it had a name of mise en place. Galene looked it up and saw it was a French chef’s technique about leaving everything in the same place to maximise efficiency. She also noticed the inordinate amount of supplements and pill bottles. Blergh! Galene couldn’t imagine herself taking supplements every day.

She munched on a ginseng tablet. It felt nice at first, popping in her mouth, but the aftertaste was weird, alkaline.

“Sure you aren’t. That’s why at 22 you’re working for the biggest tech company in the world,” he said from the other room.

“I’m just fixing computers at the basement,” she shrugged.

“That was yesterday. Today you’re optimising an analyst’s tools at the penthouse.”

She froze. Oh yeah. He was right. Galene took a selfie to mark the moment.

“You did not just do that,” Greg rolled his eyes.

She ignored him. “I’m ignoring you.” As soon as he looked away, she stuck her tongue out. “How do you like your coffee?”

“Black, like my soul.”

“So metal!”

“That’s me. A complete rebel,” he deadpanned.

Galene glanced at him. He was seriously using the time it took for her to make coffee to cram in more data. He never ignored her when they talked, she had his full attention, but as soon as he had a minute or two to spare he’d just overclock and pour data into his brain.

Weird.

But she liked it.

She sat down close to him and gave him his coffee. She knew not to interrupt him, and sure enough, as soon as he was done with his paragraph he turned his attention back to her. Gal felt it like a physical thing, a beamlight of focus that turned with his gaze. She could almost sense it brushing her skin.

“What’s this? No coffee plate, no tray? Is this how I served you the other day?” he complained but his eyes were smiling.

She squinted hard back at him and sipped coffee loudly.

“So, why is such a charming and brilliant creature like you still down at the basement?”

Her mood soured. She knew he meant well, but it was a bitter topic for her.

“Oh, sorry. We don’t have to talk about it if you don’t-”

She brushed her hair to cover her face. “It’s okay. I haven’t gotten my degree yet. I still have my thesis to finish, plus a couple of final subjects. I should have been done with it by now. It’s been over a year since I got back from Patra.”

“Why did you come back early?” he asked softly.

She took a deep breath. “Basically, my parents couldn’t support me staying away any more. I had to get a job, and tech jobs are crap in the country, so I decided to come back to Athens. My father is bedridden, my mother needed help, I’m the only daughter, so…” She trailed off.

“Understandable. And apart from lab work, you can come and go.”

“Yeah… About that. I haven’t been back to uni since last year. I emailed my professor a couple of times, but that’s it. It’s been so hard, maintaining a job, doing chores, it takes up my entire day! I go home and I never have the time to do anything, or I’m wasted from work, angry from the commute, tired from walking this f*****g skyscraper up and down all day, cramped from kneeling under desks, ready to burst from keeping my cool all day with these jerks…”

He nodded. He seemed to understand.

The dam had burst. She had been keeping it all inside and now she was spraying the poor guy with her silly problems. She couldn’t stop. “And I wanted to do so much stuff after getting back!” She felt a tear in her eye. “I wanted to finish my thesis, get a better paying job, I wanna learn Spanish, I want to finally read f*****g Asimov with his f*****g stack of books, I wanna have time to clean my house, feed my cat, cook a nice meal.”

He smiled softly, listening.

“I wanna f*****g get a garden like the one on your balcony!” she blurted, crying.

He didn’t say anything. He stood up and walked outside. She had her back turned and just wiped her tears, trying to compose herself. What was she doing? One date and one unofficial coffee date and she was crying like a needy girl? No wonder men didn’t stick around.

He brought a small flower pot. It was a cactus, with a hint of a flower bud on top. He got on his knees in front of her and held her hands inside his own. He gave her the flower pot.

“What?” she sniffed, wiping her face with her sleeve.

“Start small,” he said softly. “A forest is but a collection of single trees, a garden is but a collection of single flowers. This is for the beginning of your garden.”

“I’m probably gonna kill that too.”

“It’s impossible,” he said casually. “It’s been genetically modified to grow even on Mars. Did you think I’d ever let you go near my roses?”

She laughed.

He laughed too and touched her cheek.

She leaned forward and kissed him on the lips.

“Ouch!” he exclaimed, falling back on his butt.

The cactus had scratched his chest. “Oh gods, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry!” she said and rubbed the spines away.

“It’s okay.”

“I’m so, so-”

“It’s okay,” he said louder. “I’m fine. Did you know, that experiences that are accompanied with pain form more intense memories?”

She frowned. “What does that have to do-”

“It means, that I will always remember our first kiss vividly,” he said and kissed her again.

This time, she melted away.