Erin was hunched over her laptop when Abby turned around in her stool and interrupted her focus.
"Hey, me and Patty are going to go grab lunch from that little sandwich shop down the street. I know Holtzmann will want her usual, but what would you like?"
Erin looked up from her laptop, thought about it for a second, the replied "I'll take a special, hold the tomatoes." Taking her order, Abby and Patty then grabbed their personal belongings and set out.
Not even a minute after they had left Erin couldn't help but notice how lonely she felt. After thinking it over she decided to head upstairs and check out what new and inventive gear Holtzmann was creating. She was no more than a quarter of the way up the stairs when she heard a familiar tune playing ahead of her. As she reached the top of the stairs she was met with the small blonde not-so-gracefully dancing to Blame It On the Boogie by Michael Jackson. Erin stood there watching Holtzmann shake her hips and move her feet to the beat and couldn't help but laugh at how care-free she appeared to be.
Holtzmann twirled around, just barely surprised by Erin's presence that had been unknown just seconds earlier.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. Patty and Abby left to get lunch so I thought I would see what you've been up to."
Holtzmann's eyes light up at Erin's interest in seeing her recent project. "I'm working on a series of land mines," she says as she turns the radio down and walks towards her work space, signaling Erin to follow her. "They'll allow us to contain an abundance of ghosts in case of another major outbreak. They go off when near a high energy source, such as a ghost, releasing a highly focused explosion of polarized protons much stronger than those in our packs. These will allow us to exterminate ghosts on the spot, while still being completely harmless to humans." Holtzmann stands there beaming with her arms crossed, evidently proud of her newest toy (as she liked to call them).
Erin observed the engineer's lab table and noticed how many small and unique metal scraps went into just one land mine. "Wow," she remarked, "there's probably more pieces here than there are genes in DNA."
Holtzman looked at her with those baby blue eyes and said "I wish I was a DNA helicase." Noticing Erin's slight confusion she explained, "so I could unzip your genes," she finished and flashes her signature wink and smile combo, earning a giggle and two blushed cheeks from a clearly flustered Erin.
In the midst of her secretly enjoying the science based pick-up line she noticed that Holtzmann was not only staring at her lips, but was also wearing her gray sweater with MIT spelled across the chest in bold red letters. Amazed that she hadn't noticed sooner she stepped closer to Holtzmann and said "You-you're wearing my sweater," stuttering as she tried to compose herself from earlier. Holtzmann, mildly embarrassed that not only had Erin caught her but that she was stupid enough to forget she had it on, started to take it off and began offering a not so convincing "It gets chilly up here" excuse, only to be shushed by Erin.
"No, no you keep it. It suits you," she softly insisted, offering a small yet warm smile. The two stand there in a comfortable silence simply smiling at one another, both too preoccupied with the other to notice that Patty was at the top of the stairs.
"Did one of Holtzy's explosions cause yall to lose your hearing? Me and Abby called you guys down three times. Lunch is here."
Startled, the pair tried to offer Patty a totally valid reason as to why neither had heard them calling but Patty was already halfway downstairs. They quickly gathered themselves and went to join the others when Erin tripped over her own two feet just before reaching the staircase. Before her body even had the chance to give out from under her Holtzmann had one hand around Erin's waist and the other holding her hand, keeping her from falling and hitting the ground. The two smiled at the sight and feel of their conjoined hands. Erin wondered if Holtzmann noticed how perfect and natural their hands fit, but was reassured she did when she felt Holtzmann smile and squeeze her hand before letting go. Erin couldn't help but sigh at the loss of contact, once again forgetting about their friends and lunch waiting downstairs.
"Hey," Holtzmann piped up,"last one downstairs is a Class 1 ghost!"
Erin ran towards the stairs and bolted down them as fast as her uncoordinated feet would allow her, only to find Holtzmann already at the table grabbing her sandwich. "W-what the hell I was ahead of you," she says puzzled.
"I said last one downstairs, never that you had to actually use the stairs," Holtzmann smirked and nodded towards the fire pole, trying her best to stiffle a laugh.
The two spent their lunch secretly stealing glances, while Abby and Patry smiled knowingly and acted as if they didn't notice a thing.
