There's a spider vibing in my room right now and I'm telling them all my plans for this story and I think he's about to leave soon lol :/
~Rob's perspective~
I am making circles with a whisk on my neck.
"At least you put them lower than last time."
"You're welcome. Why are you doing that?"
"Apparently this helps..."
"Where did you learn this?"
"Tiktok. I was surprised by how much you could learn from it."
"Who would have thought? Well, I need to hurry home to change and get to the chamber, see you there?"
He kisses me and butterflies are fluttering through my stomach, again.
"If we really want to start rumors we could go together."
"Yeah, and show your hickeys while you're at it."
"Could work."
He smiles and leans in again. His lips brush against mine before quickly moving to my neck. I push him away but it's too late: a red spot is formed on my skin.
"Have fun whisking that away!"
"Asshole!"
The door closes and I frantically start whisking. I definitely need to wear a turtleneck...
~Jesse's perspective~
He is already sitting in his spot as I walk into the Chamber. Surprisingly I'm still on time, early even. There aren't a lot of people in yet, so I calmly walk to my seat.
"I'm surprised the whisk actually worked." I say close to his ear before turning to my seat and putting down my briefcase. I turn around again and smile. He's turned red and trying to look angry or annoyed. He's so cute when he tries that.
"The turtleneck also hides a lot."
I take in his outfit.
"Looking good, but maybe it's because it looks like my style."
He rolls his eyes, I can't help but smile. I lay out my notes and sit down. This could be very interesting.
~
"So Mr. Klaver does not think it's unnatural."
Sometimes religion can be so annoying-
"Could Mr. van der Staaij please elaborate on what he calls 'unnatural'."
"We are trying to become God and taking control over starting life."
"So keeping animals and forcing animals to give birth is not taking control, according to Mr. van der Staaij?"
"That was our God-given right."
"I would appreciate it if my creation could enjoy my other creations without harming them."
Is this rude to say? At this point, I don't even care. There are so many points of concern you could have, and he's concerned about it being 'unnatural'. As if anything mankind does is 'natural'.
"They were created to be food."
"Then why does it take so much effort to get food out of them?"
"God works in strange ways."
"I'm sorry Mr. van der Staaij, but you already went way over time and this discussion is not going to solve anything. Mrs. van der Plas of BBB."
Seriously, how is she still walking? I look at Rob, he gives a small thumbs up. I calmly take a sip of water. I already know what she is going to ask.
"Yes, thank you. Could Mr. Klaver please explain how this could be... beneficial for farmers?"
"I'm glad you asked. First of all, right now all of the cultured meat comes from cows. Anybody who does not keep cows will still keep their job for the time being. Second of all, we'll need milk and other types of products. Getting rid of meat production will give us more space to find more ethical and more sustainable ways to get these products. Third of all, if we don't make sure to create jobs in this new industry, we'll probably lose them in the old one. You see, cultured meat might become cheaper than meat from animals, meaning it will compete with the farmer's income. I'm trying to protect the farmers against new developments."
"Thank you."
She walks back to her seat. Vera announces the end of this meeting, we will continue it tomorrow.
I walk back to my seat where Rob is waiting.
"You did well."
"Thank you. I'm surprised Thierry didn't come forward."
"He's probably gonna go home and translate some terms in Latin to confuse people."
"I expected him to talk about how I'm forcing a choice, taking away people's freedom."
"What would your response be?"
"You know what also takes away your freedom of choice? Being dead because we either didn't even try to stop climate change and now we're under water or because we used so much water that we now don't have enough water to drink."
"Another amazing response from Jesse Klaver."
"Thank you. Oh well, I'll see if I come up with something else tomorrow."
We're standing by our bikes. I look around to check if there's nobody around.
"Are you coming to my house tonight? I'll show you what 'spaghetti bolognese' actually is..."
"Okay, but you can't give me more hickeys!"
"I'll give them on places where people won't see."
I smile at him and bike away. He's so adorable when he turns red.
~Rob's perspective~
"You guys could not have been more subtle about it." I wanted to get my bike and get home, but Sigrid is standing behind me.
"What do you mean?"
"I thought you guys didn't want to tell anybody?"
"We didn't?"
"Then why did you guys keep looking at each other, getting each other coffee, and touching each other when you gave the other his coffee."
"Oh that... so don't get mad, I know I'm not apart of GroenLinks, but uh, we're trying to see what the reactions would be and if anything goes wrong we'll cover it up with Jesse's plan."
"You guys are idiots."
"Hey, if you need any plan to press through right now..."
She rolls her eyes.
"Okay, just make sure you aren't being used. I don't want you missing for a couple of weeks."
I feel a lump in my throat. Why did she also say that? Being used. Am I being used? Will he just dump me after his plan gets enough attention?
"I'll make sure of it."
"Okay, see you tomorrow. Oh, and I think a normal shirt will cover up those hickeys just fine."
"Wha- how did you-"
"Make it less obvious next time. A turtleneck, seriously?"
Update: I put the spider outside, but I think they're dead :(