Carmen sighed with nothing to do. By this time she’d be conversing with her parents about work or trying to pry any info, they happened to have heard from her brother from them. There was no sitting still when your mind and body were highly active day today, so she hopped up off the bed, picked out an outfit, and took a shower. With plenty of time for herself, Carmen took a much longer shower than her usually quick in and out showers. She allowed the stress from the move and her interactions with Ethan to be massaged out by the force of the water hitting her skin on her face, chest, and back. The steam heightened her ability to smell her lavender-scented hair and skin products, which she had purposely chosen since starting her job, to relax and calm her mind.

            After what felt like forever, Carmen emerged rejuvenated and was ready to tackle anything thrown her way. She dressed in a red graphic t-shirt and capris jeans then pulled out her casual sneakers from her closet and moved them to the front door of the apartment. Carmen returned to her bedroom and collected her phone and purse to prepare for going out, but quickly realized she didn’t have anywhere to go. She checked her phone again while leaning over her kitchen counter and this time she did see a notification. It was a text from Ethan that only had the information about the party in it. There was only a location and time, a straightforward text that was typical of Ethan.

            The address Ethan gave her seemed familiar, but when she searched for directions on her phone, she knew she had never been there before. Bus routes didn’t stop near the apartment complexes in that area. Now Carmen was trying to figure out how to get to the party. Her only option was Ethan, but she was slightly uncomfortable about asking him for the favor. She wanted to go to the party. Carmen had just barely begun formulating a text to ask Ethan for a ride before Ethan sent another succinct text offering her a ride. ‘Yes!’ Carmen thought before realizing she should wait a few minutes before accepting his offer with her reply, as she didn’t want to sound desperate.

            Ethan had just woken up when he sent Carmen the text with info about the party and the offer to drive her over. He was not a morning person, but even waking up early regularly allows you to wake up a few hours before noon on weekends without alarms. Today, Ethan acknowledged how he woke up later than usual. He wasn’t angry about it at all. Instead, he was curious why Carmen was the person bringing him out of his shell. Suddenly, he wanted to know more about her, but before he got too far ahead of himself, he realized he needed to clear up the fake guy interested in her and also ask her out. ‘Oh, but she likes someone. If that person isn’t me what’ll I do?’ Ethan wondered. He had never dated and also never worried about another person’s feelings till now. The only thing that mattered right now to him was whether Carmen liked him or not. That was what Ethan decided to focus on going into the party tonight. Of course, he was nervous about the whole thing.

            When the time finally came to pick her up, Ethan was surprised to see she wasn’t wearing a hoodie. For the first time in his life, he found a person so attractive that he forgot what he was doing for a second and tried to drive his car while it was in park.

            “Are you okay?” Carmen asked with a little excitement in her voice.

            “Yeah, uh. I’m just not used to you not wearing a hoodie, you’re kind of like a different person.”

            “Haha, that happens all the time. I mean you always wear dress casual, but I wouldn’t do that in the lab, so anytime I go out in normal or even nice clothes it’s like I’m a different person.”

            “I understand. Sometimes I get scared walking into the lab worried my clothes could get bleached or something.”

            “I worry about your clothes getting bleached, too,” Carmen said trying to hold her laughter from the image forming in her head. “So, is this get-together at your friend’s house?”

            “Yeah, he’s a theorist I went to school with.”

            “Is this the same guy that’s interested in meeting me?”

            “Yeah, same guy.”

            “Actually, about that could you perhaps tell him that I’m not interested.”

            “Sure.”

            “Thanks. How many people come to these get-togethers?”

            “It should only be ten people this time. There are five of us that are friends from school that happened to have kept in touch when we graduated, and our partners will be there.”

            “That’s cool. Do you guys talk about what you research or keep it all secret?”

            “We all work in different fields, so you can talk about what we are working on if you want to.”

            “That’s good. I’m glad I thought to ask.”

            “Yeah. Well, we are just about here.”

            “These are nice apartments. How much older is this theorist?”

            “He’s only a year older than me.”

            “Wow, he must be good at what he does then to be able to live here.”

            “He’s a smart guy,” Ethan said while putting the car in park.