Too Many Words

53. Tick Tock

Hi everyone, I hope you're all going well!
Long chapter ahead (^^) so sit back and enjoy!
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"And what next?"

"Next we add 125 mils of hydrochloric acid."

Astrid measured out the clear liquid with a pipette, then poured it into the titration flask. The liquid dripped down, drop by drop until all 125ml had fallen to the glass beaker on the bench below. The liquid in the beaker slowly changed colour from a dark emerald green to a light red.

"And what does this result tell us?" Selina Kenner prodded. The senior scientist in the lab division was carefully watching Astrid's actions, making sure she knew what she was doing. Which of course she did.

"Well, we've now added a total 345mls—"

"Which is how many moles of acid?"

Astrid did the calculations in her head, briefly glancing at the periodic table to add the correct molar weights of the elements to the problem. Factoring in the molarity of the solutions.... "166.54 moles of H3O."

"Which means...?"

"Which means the creek water we began with has a pH of 11.8. Too basic for our liking."

"Exactly. Now let's move on to the centrifuge..."

Ms Kenner spent the next two hours showing Astrid the inner workings of the lab, and finding out how adept Astrid was at using the lab equipment and technology. The other staff were very welcoming and friendly, and Astrid knew she had made a good decision to apply for the internship. Nothing like hands-on experience to keep the study exciting, and the time away from a certain little coffee shop and its not-so manageable manager was very welcome in Astrid's books. Besides with these regular hours at the labs, she had more time to hang out with Jonas. Literally.
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"3 minutes 45 seconds."
"How long...did you say....your record was?" Astrid puffed and asked through strained lips.

"8 minutes 10."

"Well," she dropped to the ground and rubbed her arms. "I won't be beating that any time soon."

Jonas just grinned in his usual fashion: one side of his lips twitching up, his bearded cheek creasing slightly. Whenever he did this, Astrid had no idea what was he was thinking. She so badly wanted to know what was racing through that impenetrable mind of his.

For the past half hour, Jonas had been showing Astrid a few training exercises, meant to strengthen the core and tone the arm muscles. This last one had her gripping a horizontal bar as if doing a chin-up, but holding the position with her arms bent at 90 degree angles, and her legs stretched out parallel to the ground. Hanging from the bar was strenuous work. Her abs were screaming for relief, her biceps were shaking, and her thighs were growing oh so heavy before she dropped down to the cushioned floor of the outdoor park equipment.

"Oh you'll never beat my record," Jonas looked over his shoulder from the rowing machine.

"Is that so? And what makes you so sure?"

He shrugged, a barely discernible movement as his broad shoulders were already flexing and stretching as he leaned forward then pulled back on the 'oars' of the machine.

Astrid took a deep breath and looked away. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're challenging me."

"Say what you will," he replied nonchalantly.

"You're on." she stated and grinned to herself, jumping to reach the bar above her head and pulling herself up, extending her legs just as Jonas had instructed.