“You don’t need to impress anyone,” he said, gesturing around the lab as if to show we were the only ones there.
My face burned again, and a mixture of shame and righteous anger boiled in my stomach. “So you think I’m trying to impressyou?”
He looked briefly horrified. “No, I just meant…” He exhaled and pinched the bridge of his nose, then looked up, making eye contact with the wall behind me. “I was trying to say, you can dress however you feel comfortable.”
“And I look uncomfortable now?” I asked, still annoyed. Iwasincredibly uncomfortable and would have much preferred to be in one of my oversized cardigans, but I didn’t want to admit that tohim. The thought that even Nathan Manalo could tell how awkward I felt was mortifying.
He was definitely blushing, too. Good.
“I’m sorry if I overstepped. I remember… You dressed more casually in the university lab, and you can do that here, too,” he said in a rush.
“Good to know.” I took another sip of tea and prayed Anvi would show up soon. Her energy was good at dispelling awkwardness.
Anvi and Lisbeth arrived at the same time. As if to prove Nathan’s point, both were wearing jeans, and my embarrassment tripled.
“Today’s the day,” Lisbeth trilled. “I’ve been working on getting a local supply of samples, so hopefully this will be the only time we’re working with frozen donor material.”
“Who’s making the delivery?” Nathan asked, standing to greet them.
“Courier,” Lisbeth said and checked her phone. “They should be here any minute.”
As soon as possible, I escaped the prep lab, got dressed in my PPE, and started the cleanroom preparations. I’d already set the water bath to the correct temperature to thaw the samples, and I made sure the medium was pre-warmed. With my back to the shared wall of the prep lab, I pretended I was alone, that it was just me and the humming equipment. No large, rude Alphasmaking cutting observations about my style choices. I’d let him handle the paperwork.
“Special delivery,” Anvi called, entering the cleanroom. She was carrying a small box that was giving off a fine smoke from the dry ice. Nestled inside was a round, bright blue container I knew carried the precious vials.
We worked quickly, wiping down each of the twenty vials with ethanol before they went into the water bath.
“Have you ever thawed cell material before?” I asked.
“No,” Anvi breathed, as if she was worried speaking too loud might disturb the cells.
“Okay, then watch me closely and I’ll explain the process.”
Anvi and I monitored the vials as they thawed. As soon as possible, we wiped them again with ethanol before I took them to the biosafety cabinet. I settled in front of it and took a breath. I needed to have steady hands.
“We have to remove the DMSO before we can plate them,” I said, then decanted each vial into a sterile tube already filled with pre-warmed medium.
“DMSO?” Anvi asked.
I finished the last sample. “It’s a cryoprotectant. It keeps the cells safe during the freezing process, but it’ll inhibit growth. Wanna help me run the centrifuge?”
Anvi and I spun down each sample to separate the DMSO, then we disinfected the vials yet again to plate the cell pellets in fresh culture medium.
“We have to be extra careful to pipette them gently.” I piped the first sample into its culture plate. “The freezing process makes the cells more vulnerable to damage.”
“Totally,” Anvi said. She hunched down slightly to watch my movements in the biosafety cabinet better.
I got into a rhythm, relishing the repetitive motions. This kind of lab work, the kind where I could completely zone out and just follow muscle memory, was my favorite. I plated the last sample with relish. “And done. Now we transfer them to the incubator.”
I turned to look at Anvi and saw Nathan. He was standing a few feet behind her, watching us with his arms crossed.
His expression was as intense as usual, and I faltered a little under his disapproving gaze before I regathered my confidence. If he didn’t like the way I did something, he could just do it himself next time.
“Uh, can you double check the incubator temp and humidity?” I asked, refocusing on Anvi. I ignored Nathan completely as I carried the sample rack and slid it into the incubator tray. After I ensured each plate’s label was correct and initialed the log, I shut the door.
“That’s it?” Anvi asked.
“For now,” Nathan said before I could respond. “We’ll need to check for attachment in a couple of hours. Anvi, you can work with me on that.”
