Valerie raises her eyebrows. "And what would that be?"

"Bioinformatics." I clarify.

Valerie thinks for a moment. "Bioinformatics?"

"Exactly." I explain. "Computer science is the most important thing, every scientist should be able to do! What good are all other skills if you have to do them all individually, slowly and laboriously? Research can only be carried out efficiently and, above all, in a single human lifetime of time, if automation techniques are applied. And I think that was neglected in my studies."

Valerie smiles.

"What is it?" I ask nervously.

"Nothing. I just think your area of expertise suits you." She murmurs softly.

A warm feeling spreads through me, but this is overshadowed by Aaron and Yara returning to our seats.

It is twenty-three o'clock. The movie is over and the credits are rolling. I enjoy the last few minutes before the ceiling lights are turned back on and take a look at Valerie. She looks up at me in a good mood and grabs the last chip from the bag of chips that the two of us have emptied. Further to the left, I catch Aaron with a strange expression. It takes me a moment to realize what's so strange about it. It looks like his head is bright red. Frowning, I give him a -what's wrong?- look before I understand: Yara has actually fallen asleep. With her head on Aaron's shoulder.

Wow. I start sneering.

Aaron gives me a stern look.

Valerie notices our change of gaze and giggles as well. But then she gently nudges Yara in the side to wake her up. Yara stretches and yawns before realizing what situation she is in. Aaron actually has the decency not to grin, but to look in another direction with a flushed red head when Yara, completely confused, distances herself from him.

"Oh God, sorry, I just dozed off!" She apologizes angrily.

"No worries, you slept five minutes at most!" Valerie reassures her friend. I don't know if that's true, but it seems to calm Yara down.

Aaron finally dares to give her a friendly smile.

Wow. Meet her twice and she's already falling asleep on him?! That's how fast it can happen if people are not afraid of physical contact? I can't understand at all.

I'm probably just too old-fashioned... Or a sociopath...

The ceiling lights are getting bright and I take the opportunity to make my next announcement.

"So, the Sentina bar has a two-for-one-special today! Who's up for cocktails?"

The girls nod enthusiastically and Aaron gives me a grateful look. Maybe he's not such a person after all, when I think about it. It is only thanks to him that we are here today. Maybe I should thank him for coming along and give him a cocktail for free?

"Well, I need Sex on the Beach now!" Aaron blurts out and I immediately regret my last thought. The girls look at him in a strange way. That stupid idiot. Frustrated, I sigh and shake my head.

Without a word, we leave the cinema and leave the university via the back exit.

Behind the university stretches a long, huge park the size of three football fields, adjacent to some houses and student bars.

Our destination, the Sentina Bar, is one of the cheapest student pubs in the city, where most of the student-events take place. All semesters from all departments meet here to drink.

We are lucky and catch a small, free table where we order our cocktails.

"Wow, that’s a strong one!" Valerie's eyes widen, when she tries her drink.

"You wanted that, didn't you?" asks Aaron.

"Well... not necessarily..." stammers Valerie.

Yara laughs. "You gave him the wrong signal." She points at the bartender. "He winked at you. If you smile back at him, it means you want your cocktail strong!"

Valerie looks at her friend in dismay. "How am I supposed to know?"

Everyone at the table has to laugh.

"You girls are lucky!" says Aaron. "We guys never get such strong cocktails if we don't order them. And that costs extra!"

Yara playfully elbows him in the side, causing him to pretend that she had fatally hit him. I watch his little spectacle a little irritated when my mobile phone rings again. What's going on today?

Annoyed, I look up where the problem lies.

Ah, Meinolf is done with the PCR. Shit. I would have thought that he would take longer for this. Did I miscalculate?

"Whats up?" asks Valerie worriedly. "You look stressed all of a sudden."

"Um, I..." I take a quick look around the table.

"I have to go to the lab again..." Aaron and Yara, who have just laughed at one of his jokes, fall silent and look over at me. Aaron wide-eyed, shakes his head vigorously.

"Now?" asks Valerie, slightly disappointed. "At half past twelve at night?"

Aaron is still shaking his head vigorously.

"Um... It's just across the street." I look to Valerie for help. "It won't take long." Valerie and Yara give each other a girls' look before Valerie turns back to me.

"Can I come along? I've always wanted to see your lab!"

Surprised, Aaron's shaking head pauses for a second, before nodding even more vigorously. The picture is so funny that I have to laugh involuntarily.

"Yes, of course. Gladly." I give Aaron a stern look. Hopefully he won't scare Yara away while we're gone. I can only spend time with Valerie as long as we keep the red-haired friend happy too.

"See you soon." Valerie grabs her cocktail mug and we leave the bar.

Just across the street, a large building rises into the night sky. I pull my key card out of the phone case and hold it in front of the sensor at the entrance.

A buzzing sound echoes in the hallway, as the door is opened. I keep it open for Valerie before we enter and the motion detectors turn on the lights.

"Are we even allowed ro be here at this time of night?" asks Valerie, looking around cautiously.

"Sure." I assure her and wave her to me in the elevator, which has just opened.

"As long as the research funds are converted into manpower and results, they don't care who comes in here at what time." I explain with a smile.

On the fourth floor, we leave the elevator and step in front of my lab at the end of the hallway.

"I unlock it, you catch." I say to Valerie, who looks at me confused.

"The Cat." I explain with a shrug and open the door before she can ask any more questions.

The door opens a crack wide and immediately a ball of black fur hisses out of it and squeezes past us. Valerie lets out a sharp scream and staggers backwards. I quickly hold her by the arm so she doesn't fall over.

"Everything okay?" I ask. Valerie nods sheepishly and picks herself up again as I look around for the ball of fur.

Watson walked to the other end of the corridor and settled there.

"Sorry, that's my Cat, Watson. He always wants to run away." Laughing, I pull a small laser pointer out of my back pocket and use the bright red light point to attract Watson's attention. Immediately the little tiger pounces on the point and lets me lead him back to the laboratory.

Valerie observes with fascination the spectacle we offer her. For a moment I wonder if she thinks I'm weird, but when I remember why we came here, I quickly turn on the light and look after my last project.

"Wow." Valerie looks around the lab while I take my tubes out of the PCR device and place them in the centrifuge. "There's so much stuff here...," she says in amazement.

I take a quick look around and realize how untidy my lab is.

Shit.

"Oh, um... Yes, I didn't expect guests." I apologize and start the centrifuge. I quickly clear a few things from the sofa so she can sit down.

"No, I mean so many devices and..." she lets a glance wander over our robot, "cable" she adds.

"Oh, yes..." I agree with her. "Stuff like that accumulates over time."

"What exactly are you doing here?" she asks curiously and leans over our laboratory robot.

"Oh, we only do basic research. Of course, this is faster automatically, which is why we installed Meinolf." I proudly knock on our electronic helper.

"His name is Meinolf?" asks Valerie, amused.

"Yes. Why not?"

Laughing, Valerie lets herself fall on the couch. “And why do you need a thermal cycler in basic chemical research?" she asks with a strange undertone.

Smiling, I sit down next to her.

"So you've actually already learned something during your studies." I realize.

"I know what PCR is." She admits with a laugh. "But that's about it. What are you centrifuging?"

"These are the purified DNA samples from Watson's saliva." My gaze wanders to Watson, who curiously sniffs Valerie's shoe.

"Watson?" asks Valerie. "Like Watson and Crick? Who published the molecular structure of DNA?"

Laughing, I shake my head. "You're the first to hit the nail on the head!" I knew it! She's not like other girls! She has always understood me, as she does now! "Watson is honored that you didn't confuse his name origin with Sherlock Holmes' right-hand man. For this, unlike all other people, he will be forever faithful and grateful to you!"

 I grab the cat and hand it to Valerie, because I know: She loves cats! Enthusiastically, she pets the little furball, but Watson resists and quickly jumps down from her lap.

"He doesn't seem so faithful to me yet." She says laughing.

"That is yet to come." I assure her and conjure up a pack of cat treats from my bag. Suddenly, the cat can be very amiable.

"Why are you examining his saliva?" she asks curiously. "Do you think he's sick?" Worried, she strokes the animal's head.

"No, I have a different theory." I explain.

"I want to prove which phages he grows in his saliva. For the antimicrobial effect."

"Phages? You mean bacteria-attacking viruses?" Valerie looks surprised.

"Yes. I think he drinks dirty flower water because he needs bacteria to grow the phages in his mouth before spreading them on his fur while cleaning." Let me explain succinctly. "It's a small experiment to test Meinolf before we start our project for the Molbi-Tech competition. So I know more quickly which work steps I still need to improve in order to build a CMg pipeline.

Valerie nods her head in confusion. "Okay? A ... What exactly did you say?"

I laugh. "You're gonna learning things like that soon. It's not so important in the third semester."