Finished and hungry Carmen finally decided to get Ethan up for dinner and send him on his way so she could sleep. She called his name, and when he didn’t wake up, she sprayed his face with water. That worked like a charm. Ethan opened his eyes, freaked out for a minute before realizing where he was and when he looked at the time he shot up and apologized to Carmen.

            “Hey, I don’t know what happened. I guess I fell asleep … on your bed?” Ethan said with confusion in his voice.

            “Yeah, it’s alright. Anyways, I wanted to order dinner. What do you want to eat, my treat. And feel free to use the restroom or grab something to drink in the kitchen. I finally unpacked everything,” Carmen offered.

            “Sure. You sure aren’t weirded out about finding me like this?”

            Carmen shook her head no, “I’m sure whatever happened there’s a good explanation, but I want food and you probably need food and I just need you off so I can put the sheets on and have a bed to sleep on tonight, so it’s fine really. Just tell me what you want to eat so I can get an order to the ‘bots.”

            “Okay, um, I’ll take some lasagna, asparagus, and iced tea,” Ethan finally replied.

            “Okay, sure,” Carmen said with a sigh, before leaving the bedroom and just barely closing the door. She was exhausted. She was so tired she couldn’t even decide what she wanted to eat so she ordered the lasagna for herself too and a green tea.

            Ethan used the restroom in the bedroom before coming out into the kitchen, where he found Carmen leaning on the center island. She seemed different to him than how she was at work. At work Carmen was attentive and outspoken, giving her opinions and ideas, here in the beginnings of her personal space she was quiet and withdrawn.

            “It looks like your going to have to get some furniture,” Ethan said when he walked up to the island across from Carmen.

            “Yeah, I budgeted my credits to pay for this apartment, not much left for other expensive things like furniture. But I’ll get some soon enough.”

            “Is there water in here?” Ethan asked pointing at the refrigerator.

            “Yeah, help yourself,” Carmen replied with a small smile. “So, this party you have this weekend. Who goes to it?” Carmen asked as casually as possible.

            “It’s thrown by my two friends from school, one’s a theorist, he likes to party a lot and the other is a researcher, he’s a little calmer.”

            “So which one is interested in me?”

            “Wh … What?” Ethan asked almost choking on the water he was sipping at.

            “Didn’t you say one of your friends was interested in me?”

            “Yeah, I did. But I thought you weren’t interested in blind dates?”

            “I’m not. I’m just curious about why they were interested in me and if I’ll get to meet them at the party?” Carmen asked without much emotion, she was trying to tease Ethan, but didn’t have any energy to put effort into it.

            “Uh, yeah. They’ll be at the party.”

            “So, which one is he? The researcher or the theorist?”

            Ethan had to think for a moment about how to answer this question. Luckily, the doorbell rang, and their food had arrived. Carmen went over to the door and picked up the order and pulled out the utensils and dishes she did have and plated the food, placing Ethan’s food in front of him for him to eat and hers in front of her. As soon as Carmen’s food was in front of her, she began to eat without hesitation. The lasagna tasted better than past lasagna’s she’s consumed and she scarfed it down along with her green tea. Ethan on the other hand was eating slowly trying to decide whether he should even answer Carmen’s question or avoid it or stop her from going to the party this weekend altogether. But he knew his friends wanted her there so they could see if she liked him and help him out, so it would be better for her to come.