It’d been a few hours, Islington’s apartment was only a few minute walk from campus, but the tightness in my chest and the idea of having to go to his apartment were so strange. It was a little overwhelming. I went back to my house, contemplated changing my clothes, but in the end decided to just go as I was. Walking over to give me time to clear my head.
Maybe I should just text him and cancel.
The wind blew past my ears, cooling me down. I was already here, it wasn’t like I was forced to come here. Islington had asked me if I was ok with it. Who was I kidding, there was no way I could say no to Islington.
The trip was shorter than I thought, and since I was early I waited for a little. Avery emailed me before I left campus, saying she’d meet me at the lobby.
It was a nice apartment, and only a few stories high, with nice garden beds guiding you towards the entrance, maybe too cold for the flowers to bloom, but warm enough for the leaves to give some color.
I sat on the edge of the garden bed, the cold stone sending a quick chill up my spine. This didn’t make any sense. Did I even need to go to his apartment? Why couldn’t they just meet at the coffee shop or the library? I guess Avery and Islington were close, they’d known each other for a long time, and maybe Avery was comfortable with that, but they barely knew me. We went to high school together, but that was years ago. I was so excited, but I couldn’t be sure it wasn’t anxiety.
“Devin?”
My eyes shot up reflexively, seeing a girl peak her head out from the entrance.
I stood, “Aver- oh, I guess should I call you miss Himura now?”
“Ugh, come on, that makes me feel so old,”
Avery let me into the building, coming down to the lobby and meeting me.
“I’m so sorry, Devin,” Avery said upon meeting me, “I would have booked the lab for a later time but I figured if all goes well we’ll probably be seeing each other a lot anyway,”
“Right”
We stepped into the elevator, and I watched as Avery pressed the button. Fifth floor, unit three; that’s what Islington had said when he gave me the address. He’d typed it into my phone, along with his number. I had to get it together, something that Blake said rang in my head.
“Those two students that died”
He’s right, no one knew about what happened. It was covered up by the board. By one of the trustees. What was his name again, something with an M maybe? There were rumors he was in a scandal with one of the students, but no one had actually seen him, then next thing you know someone goes missing, a few months later another, then Islington takes a year off.
With a familiar *ding* the elevator stopped.
Avery put a hand on my shoulder, “are you ok?”
“I’m fine, I think... my ears popped or something.” I scratched the back of my neck.
503. Almost right across the elevator was Islington’s door. It was open, unlocked.
The walls were painted white, with one, in particular, a deep green, A blue velvet couch pushed against it, different pillows of various colors sitting atop it. There was an armchair with a bright yellow pillow, standing right in front of a tall row of wall-to-ceiling windows, and plants hanging from the ceiling. In fact, the whole unit was filled with plants and books. There was a small t.v, with shelves on either side stacked to the brim in books, and where there weren’t books there were plants. The floor was pretty bare, with a simple rug under the couch and coffee table, books and notebooks sitting under and around it, a small flower pot on top of the table... There were even plants in the kitchen, although those seemed more like herbs, one plant, in particular, I recognized as lavender, the others just flower together in a canopy of green.
Islington stepped out from one of the doors, wiping his hands on his pants, his sleeves rolled up slightly to reveal his thin wrists. He was wearing the same thing as earlier but surrounded by all this green he looked...
He smiled, “You made it. Sorry, I couldn’t come down to meet you,”
“D-don’t- it’s no problem.” I swallowed, suddenly finding myself unable to look away from him, “You have a nice... living… area…”
Islington looked around, as if unsure what I was talking about
“Thank you,” He finally said.
“Should we get started?” Avery said.
-
We sat around the coffee, table, Islington, and Avery on the couch, and me sitting on the floor. Avery insisted there was room, but it felt strange, same with the armchair. Something telling me to be distant. Islington was being a good host, offering food and drinks, in the end, each of us sat in front of a glass of water.
Avery had brought out a few different documents, and placed them out on the table, going over the project rather loosely; nothing specific, nothing explaining scheduling, and nothing about what the overall objective was. The only thing she went over in depth was that the university put forward a large budget into Dr. Foss’s project
I’d never met Dr. Foss, he’d been teaching at the university for years, but nowadays he mainly worked on personal projects, especially after those two students went missing. After that, no one saw him on canvas, or if at all hardly ever. Biomedical engineering; supposedly one of the hardest programs at Scarlet and the most difficult to get into. Avery and those two students were in that branch of STEM, Islington too until recently. Avery went over some basic rules, even had the two of us sign nondisclosure agreements.
“That should be everything, did you have any questions?” Avery smiled, closing her binder.
I spared a glance towards Islington. I can’t just say that he’s the reason I joined, or how much we’ll be working together. This is a lab that’s how it works.
I wanted Avery to clarify if anything “So… we’re doing…”
“Xenotransplantation,” she beamed, “basically making viable human bones and tissue from other animals.”
I nodded “I thought Foss worked with robots,”
Avery laughed, “That’s a part of what he does, but I did have a question for you, Devin,”
I gave her a quizzical look.
“Why did you choose this lab?,” Avery inquired, “Aren’t you a Kins major?”
Because Islington took it I thought, but evidently, I couldn’t tell her that.
“I’m just… A fan of Dr. Foss’s work,” I said.
There was a short pause, before Avery smiled, “It is interesting I think,”
I felt guilty a little now. The tightness in my chest growing and leaving me hesitant. It wasn’t entirely a lie, I had read up on Dr. Foss's work, his previous paper on genetics got me thinking about STEM as a whole. It was in fact a huge motivator to go here. Besides the obvious motivator.
“-So it shouldn’t be more than 400 a week,” Avery ended.
I blinked, “we’re getting paid?”
Avery and Islington glanced at each other before looking back at me.
“Sorry, I just assumed that interns didn’t…” I bit my lip.
Avery brushed her hair behind her ear and stood up, “usually not, but it’s only the three of us, and with this internship, it usually leads to a career with Dr. Foss,”
“Right,” I said, suddenly feeling sheepish, “I forgot about that part,”
Avery squinted, only for a brief moment before brushing off my comments, and smiling.
“So, the first meeting is in two weeks,” Avery shrugged on her bag, “I’ll send you two an email in the next few days with a more cohesive schedule as well as more expectations and papers to go over.”
I raised my hand, “and we’ll be meeting Dr. Foss?”
Avery nodded, “of course! Now I have somewhere to be… thanks again Izzy,”
Islington smiled, “No problem,”
We’re leaving already? I didn’t have anything to do, but Islington barely spoke the entire meeting. I was at his house and all I did was drink water and sit on the floor.
“Um…” I coughed, “Can I use your… restroom?”
The two of them looked at me again, before Islington pointed over to the bathroom, to which I took a swig of the last of my water and rushed over.
I closed the door behind me and pressed my back against it. A huge sigh escaped me. I brought my hands over to my face. I’m so dumb. I don’t have to use the bathroom. He probably thinks I’m an idiot.
I reached over and flushed the toilet, resulting in what probably seemed like the quickest pee in history. The bathroom was nice, not as many plants, but still, an orchid sat on the sink. I ran my thumb across the petal. He had so many plants, when did he get them. I wondered if there were maybe plants in his bedroom. A fern, or monstera, any of the other plants I don’t know the names of.
There was a knock at the door.
“Are you ok?” it was Islington.
I turned on the tap and ran my hands under quickly, before rushing out.
I closed the door behind me, “I’m fine, thanks!”
Islington actually was just slightly taller than me… maybe an inch or two. But he was standing incredibly close to me. A quick beat of heat rushed my cheeks, thankfully he took a step back.
He cleared his throat, “I hope it wasn’t too inconvenient to come over here?”
I shook my hand, “are you kidding? I lo-we’re gonna see each other a lot in the lab so…”
Islington nodded, “that’s true…”
I swallowed, I didn’t want to leave without knowing when we’d see each other so once again I opened my big fat mouth.
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