Carmen rolled her eyes at that last comment. But her body was shaking, and she was becoming clammy from the anticipation of what might or might not happen. No longer able to stand still with her condition Carmen slipped out onto the balcony after grabbing a drink from the kitchen. She was surprised to see that there was someone already out there. It was a guy she hadn’t met yet.

            “Oh, sorry. Did you want to be alone out here?”

            “No, it’s fine. I’m just waiting for Kevin to notice I’m gone and come get me. He sure is taking a long time. I haven’t met you before, I’m Ray.”

            “I’m Carmen, Ethan’s partner at T&R.”

            “Ahh, you’re that girl.”

            “Yep, the girl that has a crush on Ethan.”

            “Oh, so you told him?”

            “No, but my brother is doing that now. Oh, I mean Kevin. He’s my brother.”

            “No way, he has a little sister!?”

            “Shocking I know. Like you’ve been waiting out here for him. I’ve been waiting to see him in person for two years.”

            “So, I guess he hasn’t told you about me then.”

            “No, we just finished our falling out.”

            “Kevin and I, are together.”

            “Together? Are you two dating?” Carmen asked intrigued but not surprised.

            “Yeah. We are.”

            “I want to say that’s good for you. But how does someone not tell their significant other that they have a sister.”

            “He’s not very attentive, you know. He kind of just lets me be with him. We just started dating so we don’t know much about each other’s personal lives.”

            “Are you sure he knows that you two are dating?”

            “I told him I liked him and wanted to know if he would consider dating me and he said yes. But honestly, nothing has happened since then.”

            “Kevin’s just a big, big dummy. Next time you can get him alone you need to tell him that he needs to pay more attention to you and get loud if you need to. That’s what I did when I saw him today. I didn’t even know I was going to see him, so when I did and not knowing if this was the last time we would meet, I made sure to tell him what needed to be said and made him promise to be better.”

            “Thanks for the advice. I’m going to go back inside. Good luck with Ethan, our taller dummy! It was nice meeting you, Carmen.”

            “Thank you, Ray.”

            Carmen’s shakes finally stopped. She wasn’t sure if their conversation eased her nerves or if it was the warmth from the setting sun, but she could finally relax a bit. It was weird hearing about her brother’s love life from his partner and not himself, but that was Kevin for you. Carmen found it absurd how Kevin continuously only puts his effort towards work and leaves his personal life hanging. ‘He’ll die alone if he doesn’t get it together,’ Carmen thought while sipping on her drink.

            Fifteen to twenty minutes later the balcony door opened, and Carmen turned in her seat to see Ethan walking out.

            “I guess you talked to Ray because Kevin’s getting yelled at again,” Ethan said with a chuckle.

            “Good, we all need to talk some sense into him,” Carmen replied trying not to look at Ethan while also failing to prevent herself from blushing ear to ear.

            Ethan’s heart was pounding hard enough for him to feel it. Kevin told Ethan it might be better to not talk to Carmen about it today, but Ethan thought it would be worse to leave Carmen in anticipation of things going one way or another.  

            “Uh. Can I join you?” Ethan asked already moving towards a chair to pull up next to Carmen.

            “Yeah. So, you know. Kevin told you.”

            “Yes, in a way, I guess, I’ve known for about a week. But that didn’t matter to me until last night. Because I didn’t know I liked you till then.”

            “Could you tell me why you like me?” Carmen asked seeking some proof for Ethan’s statement. She was trying to avoid making eye contact with Ethan, whose brown eyes were seeking her own hazel eyes.

            “Everything seems to be okay around you, all my anxieties relating to work disappeared after meeting you, but for some reason, if you aren’t happy, they come back.”

            “I noticed you were overly cautious around me and that your work slowed when I became upset at you for ignoring me,” Carmen replied with an example confirming what Ethan was saying.

            “Yeah, my anxieties come from past researchers, so after finally finding one that saw eye to eye with me, I was afraid to lose you. But I tried to avoid socializing at work so that people disliked me because I chose to be that way. It was my stupid way of controlling how I was viewed in school and at work. If anyone I worked with in the past saw me at these gatherings, they would think I was a different person.”

            “I’m sorry for being overly mean to you. I couldn’t confront you and despite that, I’m glad we worked through it.”

            “It was good feedback, so it’s okay. So, could I ask you why you like me?”

            “You are the first theorist who has treated me well. Since meeting you I’ve learned so many theories and techniques and it’s all because you’re a considerate person.”

            “Thanks. Do you want to hang out tomorrow?”

            “Yeah. I’d love to do that.”

            “Would you like to come over to my place? We could watch a movie and have dinner.”

            “Sure. That sounds great,” Carmen said with a smile. “We can go back inside if you want.”

            “Okay, I’ll give you the rundown on everyone here,” Ethan replied.