All of Ethan’s nerves had relaxed and he forgot about the weird surprise that the teachers had planned for lunch. Ethan thought he had that female researcher in the bag, just because she was working on his experiment. But when he heard how the researchers could have a choice in who they work with, his anxiety came back because he knew that he was not very pleasant to the female research. He hoped and hoped she didn’t know whose lab coat she was wearing, but when he saw her stand up and say that she did, his blood pressure dropped for a second and then raised when he heard that she was wearing his lab coat. Then he was dumbstruck about how she knew it was his, she was like a detective. His hands were beginning to sweat in anticipation of who she was going to say she wanted to work with. He was surprised to hear that she wanted to work with him and couldn’t believe it. Now that it was after lunch, the theorist teacher was asking him if he wanted to become a pair with her and get started early on their work together. But Ethan was so out of it he couldn’t hear anything.

“What were you saying?” Ethan asked the teacher.

“I want to know if you want to pair with the female researcher and get to work together tomorrow?”

“Yes, let’s do that.”

“Okay, I’ll go tell her she can stop working on her tasks and clean up.”

“Okay…”

Carmen was just about to organize the contents of the DNA isolation kit after double reading the instructions when the theorist teacher appeared behind her. 

“Hello, Ethan the theorist you said you wanted to work with agreed to work with you. You will be partners now and so you can stop working on these tasks and clean up. Ethan will meet you outside the room and take you to the laboratory you will be working in, which is attached to his office.”

“Okay, should I leave the binder?”

“Yeah, we’ll check your work, but it doesn’t mean much now that you have a partner.”

“Okay, thank you.”

Carmen packed everything from the DNA isolating kit back up and returned it to the refrigerator, then emptied her nutrient broths, and put the dishes in the dirty dish rack, then she placed her agar plates both the used and unused ones in the biohazard box along with her culture tubes and spun down cells. Then she organized all her papers back into the binder and closed it. She hung up her lab coat, picked up her belongings, and left the room. Ethan was there outside the room waiting for her, but he looked like he was in a daze. 

“Hello, Ethan? My name is Carmen,” Carmen said while offering Ethan her hand to shake.

“Hi, Carmen,” Ethan said taking her hand. Ethan still couldn’t believe it. He froze and didn’t know what to do next.

“Uh, Ethan aren’t you supposed to show me where we work?”

“Oh, yeah sure. Follow me.”

The first thing Carmen noticed was that Ethan didn’t stand up straight when walking. He seemed to slump over. She thought it was because he was self-conscious about his height and maybe how imposing he would be at full height. Despite that, his legs were so long that it took almost two of her strides to match one of his. Ethan took them to the nearest elevator and up to the fifth floor, they were in lab and office room 521. The door was locked but Ethan had a key to it and unlocked it for them and entered the office portion of the room while turning on the lights. Carmen looked around after she stepped in behind Ethan. He walked in and set his things on his desk and motioned for Carmen to follow him in. He showed her to the lab next door, which was connected by a door held open with a doorstop and had another door to the hallway. There was a desk in the lab for Carmen and all of the same instruments that a microbiology lab would have.