An Unlikely Connection: Part 3

Chapter 7: Lab Rat

"Y'all got this," I said. They wished me good luck. Yosefin whispered in my ear, asking me when did I became friendly with them. "Yesterday, I guess," I whispered.

"Mkay." She hawked them like she was trying to check them out. It looked mischievous and scandalous, yet quite adorable. The last time she looked at a woman with caution was after I told her I kissed Kat.

"Ready for the test?" I said and poked her thigh to break her attention. "Do you need any last minute help?"

"I'm good. I know what I'm doing," she said, projecting her voice to Misty and Shannon. "If one of us finishes, wait outside," she said softly to me.

An hour passed. Fortunately, we both finished about a minute from each other. She was the first out of the entire class to finish. I saw her standing near the open lounge in the middle of three hallways, scrolling through her phone. She didn't take her eyes off it even after I said hello. I peeked over her shoulder to get a glance. There were images of various women of different races in matching stylized underwear. The price fluctuated between twenty and fifty dollars. One image was eighty dollars and blurred out.

"Dude, what the hell are you looking at?" I said.

"Have you never seen lingerie before?" She said with a smirk.

"Oh!" I bopped my forehead after realizing it. "Why are you looking at it?"

"Just window shopping," she said and shoved her phone into her little waist purse. "Anyways, do you have any other tests?"

"No. I'm free till work. You?"

"Same," she said and looked down the hall to my right with a big smile on her face. "Hey." Her smile grew and broke into soft laughter. She tilted her head in my direction, followed by her eyes. "I don't wanna sound boring, but wanna chill at my place before we work?"

"How would that sound boring?"

"Because we do it consistently." That was true. It was either her house or my house. We were three months into the new year and we only went out twice. "I rather go out but I'm not in the mood. So, you heading there or not?" I thought about her offer. If I went right away, it would be less than two hours of spending time together. Two hours didn't sound enough for me. I'd rather spend time after work. Since we worked part-time, we could have more time together and repeat what we did before we came to class.

"I'll come after work," I said. "More quality time right?"

"Sounds good!"

Work was unusually hectic. The store I worked in had a spike in sales for a certain company's retro games. People from all over the state and some out of state came to the store to buy them up. My coworker and I had to deal with them thirty minutes after my shift ended. I was pissed. I left my coworkers to handle the mess. Yosefin sat alone at our table, sipping on her drink while messing with her phone. She bought our usual meal ten minutes before I got out.

"Busy, ja?" She said still looking at her phone. "I thought you would never come out."

"Sorry for keeping you waiting," I said. "You didn't have to wait for me."

"It's all good," she said, putting her phone into her pocket. "I didn't want to break tradition again." Her commitment to stay made me smile. "So," she said, stretching the word.

She didn't have to say anything else. I said I would race her to her house while going the speed limit. She drove behind me all the way there. Her mother and father were in the living room watching TV. She paid them no mind. I couldn't ignore them entirely. I said hello and gave them a quick wave. The only acknowledgment I got was from her mother. Her father just looked at me. His stare made me give him a double take.