Chapter 4:

The Scientific Competition

 

"Valerie?" I look at her for a moment. She's still wearing one of my T-shirts and one of the sweatpants I lent her last night. Oh my god. Too much bare skin! I try desperately not to stare at her legs, but to look her in the eye like a gentleman. Again, my face turns red. "What are you doing here so early in the morning? Didn't you want to sleep in?" I ask hoarsely.

She shakes her head. "When I've been drinking alcohol, I always wake up earlier than usual." She smiles sheepishly. "Do you have something to drink?"

"Sure! Let me just put on some clothes." I nod to her and disappear briefly into my room. After a quick glance at Aaron, who has remained dutifully lying in the stable lateral position, I return to the hallway. Valerie has now freshened up in the bathroom.

"Let's go down and have breakfast." I suggest. "The two liquor-corpses first have to sleep off their hangover."

But in the kitchen of a fraternity, things are different from normal households. As soon as we enter the room, I grab Valerie's arm just in time before she slips in a large puddle of beer. Nothing surprises me here anymore. The floor is sticky, the walls stained from the many escapades at parties and two- to three drunken students still hang around here even at seven o'clock in the morning. Last night the others seem to have had thrown another feast. Typical for semester break.

Justus, one of my frat-mates, is standing at the stove and seems to be preparing something in a pan. Two others are bent low over a chessboard on the dining table. On closer inspection, however, I notice that they are not concentrating on their chess game, but have fallen asleep while sitting down. Valerie tries in vain to suppress a grin.

"Yes, yes... That's what it looks like in the morning." I explain with a shrug. "Not the most welcoming place, but I practically live in the lab anyway."

Justus, pan in hand, turns to us and presents his dish.

"Well, sweeties! Do you fancy Kaiserschmarn?"

Valerie and I give each other a questioning look.

"Kaiserschmarn?" she asks to make sure she hasn't misheard. Justus approaches her uninhibited and swings his arm around her shoulder.

"Yes, my darling! Breakfast is ready!" He sings and winks at her. Valerie doesn't know what to answer.

"Are you stoned?" I ask suspiciously and withdraw her from his arm. Justus raises his hand defensively.

"Oh, please! I am far beyond this stage! I had a vision!" He shrugs and conspiratorially presses the pan into my hand before taking two plates and cutlery out of the cupboard, which he hands to Valerie. "Go to the garden for a picnic. I need my peace and quiet in here. I need to work on a new theory!"

He pushes us to the balcony door and then returns to his workplace. Valerie dutifully steps out into the garden and places the plates on one of the tables outside.

I poke my head in the door again. "What theory?" I ask curiously.

"Mathematics is calling me!" explains Aaron. "People like you can't understand this!" Then he gets back to work at the stove.

"Um... Okay?" I think for a moment. "Would you like to have breakfast with us?"

Justus angrily bangs his fist on the kitchen counter. "You just don't understand!" he exclaims angrily. "I don't have time for BREAKFAST!" He emphasizes the last word like a dirty word. "Cooking is mathematics! EVERYTHING IS MATHEMATICS!" With these words, he throws the spatula into the sink and disappears from the kitchen. I only hear a door slamming loudly, which promptly startles the two chess-snoring sleepyheads to waking.

Before I get into need of explanation, I decide not to keep Valerie waiting any longer.

"Don't eat that." I advise her. "The guy is completely wasted. Who knows what he put in there." I put two soft drink cans on the table and sit down next to her. "If you're hungry, we can order something or go out to eat somewhere.

"To be honest, I'm very hungry." She admits with a smile.

***

 

We leave Yara and Aaron two sticky notes on the door, explaining to them that we are looking for food before we borrow two old ladies' bikes from the frat-house and head for the next restaurant.

                                                                                            ***

A few sobering students sit at the small tables in Dana's Greenhouse, a small hipster restaurant, where there is a lot of vegan and vegetarian food. It was the closest restaurant we could find.

"Yara will surely sleep another two hours." Valerie told me, when we ordered a huge breakfast for two at our table. I don't know what Aaron will do, but I honestly don't care. The guy is old enough to take care of himself.

At the memory of how he falls into the pond, completely drunk, I start laughing again.

"What's so funny?" asks Valerie.

"Aaron fell into the pond." I explain with a laugh. Valerie grins and spreads a bun with some vegan jam or something. I don't know any of this stuff but I decide to try my luck with a white-green speckled, creamy spread. Shit... I wish there were scrambled eggs with bacon...

"I bet that happens here more often." She grins.

"You have no idea." I take a bite of the white stuff and grimace.

Valerie looks at me with amusement. "So bad?"

I nod and choke the stuff down reluctantly. Who the hell came up with a spread with broccoli?!

"Shit I thought this was leek!" I put the bread back on the plate and push it away from me in disgust. Valerie laughs a melodic laugh. A laugh that has been familiar to me since our childhood and whose melody I have missed for an incredibly long time. Only now do I realize how much.

I watch her contentedly when suddenly a guy gets up from another table and comes over to us.

"Valerie?" he asks curiously, looking at her in a strange way.

Valerie's laughter freezes and she slowly turns around. The strange guy puts a hand on the back of her chair and smiles at her. "I thought that this laugh sounded familiar to me!"

"Hi." Valerie says with a smile, but her smile is different than usual. Somehow Insecure. Even after all these years, I can still tell her genuine smile from her polite smile.

"What are you doing here?" The guy asks, not giving me a glance. In my opinion, he looks like a typical Fuckboy. Probably trendy clothes (I don't have a clue on things like that) and an ego that you urgently need to send to a weight loss boot camp. Interested, I lean back in my chair with my coffee in my hand and watch the spectacle.

"Um..." Valerie looks over at me briefly and then back at him. "I'm eating with my boyfriend."

"Your boyfriend?" The guy raises an eyebrow and gives me a judging look. But I´m not able to answer. I am about to cough my soul out of my body because I choked on my coffee.

"Everything alright?" asks Valerie worriedly.

I continue to nod and cough. The guy takes a step back and shakes his head in disgust. I quickly grab a napkin. God, that's embarrassing. Couldn't she have warned me?!

"Are you okay, old man?" the guy presses out.

Oh! Suddenly, he decides to acknowledge my presence?

"So..." He points his finger back and forth between the two of us in disbelief. "You two are together?"

I've just pulled myself together again and hold the napkin over my mouth when Valerie looks at me looking for help. "Yep." I say hoarse and nod.