Temporary [H.S. || A.U.]

Chapter 2

Her laugh, infectious and enough to make a dimpled smile take over my features. I find that on my lucky days, I end up in line behind her at the cafeteria on days that we both seem to decide to stay in the building rather than going out to find something to eat. I get to hear her laugh while she talks to the person working the food stand she is ordering from. And those few seconds are enough to make my day better.

I shake my head from my distracting thoughts as I walk over to my desk.

I log onto my computer and check my email, confirming the meeting I have today before lunch. I then open up the folder to my recent project. I usually find myself scrolling through news articles for a few minuets before I hop straight into my work. But I don't have time for that today. I want to make sure this presentation is perfect and ready to go.

I slide the window that I opened with my email over to the far left monitor as I open my presentation on the far right monitor and position my code debugger on my middle monitor.

Some may think that having three computer monitors is excessive. But I find that it is very helpful when you're a software engineer, like myself. It gives you a lot more room to work and then you don't have to constantly be flipping between windows. It helps with my efficiency.

Once my computer is all set up, ready to work diligently until the time of the meeting rolls around, I slide on my glasses before I walk over to my lab bench.

I turn on my soldering iron, to give it time to heat up, before I toss on my black lab coat and heat protective gloves. When I was fresh out of MIT, I thought the need for safety gear like this was kind of annoying. But after nearly setting a few of my shirts on fire, while I was wearing them, and getting a few burns on my arms from being careless with a soldering iron, I pulled my head out of my ass. Now my lab coat and gloves are very important to me, and my shirts.

I decide to start off with finishing up the handy work I have left to do on my project before I move on to debugging the code.

With my revelation, I grab the solder iron out of its holder with my one hand and wet the tip of it on the damp sponge in preparation. I then take my other hand to pull some of the tin solder from its reel.

I'm meticulous with my actions, not wanting to burn the hardware as I place the iron where I need to and move the tin to make contact, watching as the metal melts quickly.

Hours fly by as I put all my focus on my work.

I cheer to myself as my code works perfectly each time.

I hope Grayson is impressed with my work.

I seem to get lost in perfecting my presentation and preparing my speech. But I am quickly snapped back into the reality of time when I hear my alarm go off, indicating that it is time for my meeting.

I quickly save my presentation and gather my things before I start to walk out the door of my office. I halt my movements when I realize that I'm still wearing my lab coat.