"You´re pretending to be her boyfriend?" asks Henry in an incredulous tone.

"How the hell could the whole thing escalate in THAT direction?! I thought that was some quiet little one-sided crush of yours?!" He  folds up his laptop and empties his beer can in one go. I don't answer, but Henry can read my mind.

"Oh man, she wants to keep the other guys off her neck?" he asks suspiciously. "That's really lousy."

"No, it's not like that..." I automatically object while packing up my things. "She wanted to clear it up beforehand, but I stopped her, I..."

"-am a masochist?" Henry finishes my sentence. "-an idiot? -desperate?" he suggests as alternatives and already I feel a little shittier. Why the hell did I agree to this?!

"A tutor, you forgot." I complete his most apt description of my current, desperate condition.

"No. Really?" he asks, with a voice dripping with pity. "Oh man. We need to get a new emergency-crate..."

The worst thing is that even though I know how pathetic I am, I don't even mind being her little lapdog fake boyfriend. On the contrary: in addition to my logically thinking, and currently betrayed reward center, there is another small excited brain area that looks at the many possible, positive outcomes from this situation on a mental cinema screen and shovels popcorn into itself.

Sighing, I admit to myself that I still have feelings for her. Or again. Or... Oh what do I know?! I'm an idiot. A self-destructive, brainless idiot.

"You don't have time now to bathe in self-pity and oxytocin." Reminds me Henry, who analyzed my emotional chaos frighteningly closely. "We have a meeting with our Prof."

***

"I'm going on a trip." Professor Helmboldt explains, as soon as we have settled down in front of his desk.

"A trip?!" Henry asks incredulously. Neither of us has ever noticed that our doctoral supervisor has even taken a vacation.

"I'm attending a science convention in Chicago." He explains matter-of-factly. "Immediately afterwards a molecular biology fair in Japan. My wife got wind of it and wants to come with me." Grumpily, he hits the wooden table with the flat of his hand, which makes us both collapse in shock. "And as if that wasn't enough, she also wants to add a month of world travel on the back of it."

Me and Henry give us alarmed looks. A trip around the world?! Our Professor Helmboldt?!

"um..." Henry does not get to speak, because Professor Helmboldt hits the table again with his fist.

"We haven't been on a trip in five years. If I want to avoid a divorce, I have to take this vacation with my wife!"

Again, none of us says a word. I just nod curtly.

"Then, what are we supposed to work on in your absence?" asks Henry the obvious.

Our doctoral supervisor lets his face fall into his hands with a groan.

"You two take care of this competition so that I can finally keep the management of the institute at bay."

Henry and I give each other an excited look. Finally our chance has come to show what we are made of!

"The competition is in 6 months. When I come back in a month, I want to see at least the finished planning, the cost forecast and the sponsors." He leans back in his office chair. "And the first cycle of implementation. You two should be able to do it."

"But, Dr. Helmboldt, a month is very little time to-" Will Henry contradict, but the old man commands him with a wave of his hand to remain silent.

"A month is a lot of time. You have already done the rest of our workload. That means you can get started right away!"

"But we need helpers." Henry becomes a little more panicked. "We can never do it just the two of us!"

"Well then I suggest you look for a few motivated students as interns!" That was his last word. He gets up and leaves the office.

"A month?!" asks Henry indignantly. "What is this old cracker thinking?! We are not supermen!"

Exhausted, I exhale and shake my head. "We wanted to be part of this competition anyway. Then it's not next year, but this one. Don't care. We have our idea. We just need to work on it a bit!"

"Seriously?! What we came up with drunk when my niece got sick, do you want to present at the competition?!"

Shrugging my shoulders, I look at him. "Unless you have a better idea." I challenge him. For a moment, no one says a word until I get up and resolutely reach for my backpack.

"Where do you want to go?" asks Henry, slightly annoyed.

Shrugging my shoulders, I look down at him. "To find a few Hiwi´s."

"Brainstorming!" Orders Henry, "Tonight in the pub!"

***

"Hey, watch out!" shouts one of the drivers from an open side window as a student hurries across the street to catch his train. Annoyed, I stand with my arms full of paper in front of the main entrance of the university and try to hand out my hastily prepared and improperly printed flyers for our competition group to as many students as possible. Henry has lined up at the Bio-Campus while I approach the main campus. We thought his social and warm nature would make our idea most appealing to the students closest to our work. I really only stand here for the gesture of solidarity. As if someone like ME could actually RECRUIT PEOPLE for something like that!

"Hey, you!" I shout to a guy with huge glasses and demonstratively loud headphones. "Would you like to work with us on a project that we want to present at the Molbi-Tech competition?" 

The guy looks at me once briefly and then continues shaking his head.

Great! This was the tenth candidate since I lined up here an hour ago... Only three hours left until I am supposed to meet Henry in the pub. Until then, I plan to scrape together a few students motivated for an underpaid job. Not that anyone at this institute isn't underpaid.

I quickly tighten up and take a stance as a group of girls spun out of university.

"Hey, you!" I shout motivated and gather all my courage. "Would you like to take part in a molecular biology competition?"

The giggling pack of girls suddenly becomes quiet and I feel several pairs of eyes scanning me appraisingly. The front blonde twists her mouth into a strangely crooked, pitying smile and opens her mouth:

"No, than-,"

"Adrian? Is that you?" Asks a female voice, all too familiar to me lately, which makes me sit up and take notice. I let my gaze wander over the group and discover Valerie, who meanders through to me.

"Valerie!" I greet her happily surprised and wonder if she would find it strange if I hugged her in front of her friends. But the decision is not mine to make. She falls around my neck, as she has done the last three times too, and leaves me speechless for a moment. A soft giggle goes through the group of other girls.

Valerie turns around. "Guys, this is Adrian!"

"The one you talked about?" asks another of her friends, with a green jacket and an otherwise colorful style of clothing like I've never seen before.

"Yes!" Valerie beams.

"Wow, you told them about me?" I mumble uncertainly.

"Constantly!" the colorful friend puts an arm around Valerie's shoulders, whose face has suddenly taken on a slight hint of pink. "How cute is your story that you already knew each other as children?!"
My gaze goes searching to Valerie. Are these the friends who think we're a couple?

"Oh, yes..." I clear my throat. "Very sweet- I mean... um..."

Some of the girls giggle while the blonde in front rolls her eyes.

"What are you doing here?" asks Valerie, presumably to change the subject as quickly as possible.

"Oh, I'm trying to recruit Hiwis." I show her one of my flyers. "We need helpers for our project at the Molbi-Tech competition."

"Oh!" Valerie grabs the note from my hand. "How interesting! I'll definitely be there!"

"Wow, really?" I can't hide my surprise.

"Show me!" Says the colorful friend and a few other girls curiously come a little closer. "Oh, that sounds interesting! Which courses of study are allowed to participate?"

Suddenly, all the eyes of the group are on me.

"Um... Well, actually everyone who is interested. What you can't do yet, we'll teach you. Of course, bio, chemistry or life science courses would be the most preferable, but right now we don't have the privilege of being picky..." I rub my neck nervously.

"Fantastic! I'll be there too!" She finally says. "I'm studying biochemistry in my third semester!" Smiling, she elbows Valerie in the side. "What about you guys?" she asks, turning to the friends behind her.

"Here you have some flyers!" I hand out as many pieces of paper as possible and inform the girls that we will meet with interested people in the pub tonight to discuss everything else.

After we have all chatted for a while, the girls move on to the next course. 

"And? Will you go home with your boyfriend?" Ask the Bunte Freundin. One of the few left with us. "By the way, I'm Helma. Nice to finally meet you!" Helma extends her hand to me and I shake it courageously. This person immediately seems sympathetic. Her colorful clothing style reminds me a little of Alani, our funky lab assistant, whom Henry has a hopeless, one-sided crush on.

"Adrian. Also nice to meet you."

Helma gives me a polite smile and then glances at Valerie. "And?"

"I'm going with you." She answers laughing. "I think Adrian still needs to talk to a few more people." She winks at me. "How many people do you need for the project?"

"Well, yes... it depends on how often people have time." I explain. "The best would be between ten and twenty people in total." Valerie looks at me worriedly.

"Need help recruiting?"

"Oh, no, you have already helped me a lot with this." I point to her and her friends. The girls giggle again.

"Well then! See you tonight!" Helma waves one last time before the girls make their way home.

"Phew!" I look at my watch. Two hours left until the pub meeting.