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“I’m so glad you’re here. We lost one of our older students last semester and weren’t sure if we’d get another. Physics tends to be a smaller community. Are you a physics major?”
“Oh, no. I’m a bio major with hope of doing physical therapy.”
“Well, goodness. What brings you here?”
I answered with a laugh. “Desperation?”
She made her way back around the desk and sat, chuckling at my response. “Either way, I’m happy to have another lady around here.”
I sat when she gestured to the seats closest to her desk and waited as she pulled up her computer.
“Let’s see. You’ll be assisting Mr. Erikson. He runs the labs, so you’ll help prepare and clean the supplies. And Dr. Pierce.”
My heart both dropped and beat a little harder at hearing his name. But I tried to ignore it, not wanting to embarrass myself by stuttering or blushing or something equally as dumb.
“The other teachers tend to have student workers that they have worked with for a while. Hudson, the student who left, had helped Dr. Pierce the most, so you’ll be filling his shoes. But no worries, Dr. Pierce is a very kind man.”
“Did I hear my name?” a male voice called from the short hallway. And then, there he was. Tall and so broad his shoulders seemed close to touching each wall. He looked at Donna with a charming warm smile. One that you’d give your grandma.
“Sure did,” Donna said. “I was telling our new student aide how nice you are since she’ll be helping you and Mr. Erikson this semester.”
She gestured toward me, and I offered the best smile I could muster, knowing it looked just as forced as it felt.
Deep breaths. Don’t blush. Do not blush!
His eyes swung to mine and he froze. Only for a moment, almost an unnoticeable moment, before he moved again and greeted me.
“Yes. Ms. Derringer. We met yesterday in class.” His smile was polite and distant, although I was certain he’d had more of a reaction than he was currently showing. “What brings you to work in the physics department?”
A part of me wanted to joke about desperation again, but I answered as truthfully as I could. “Just trying to pick up more hours to help with tuition.”
“Good. A hard worker.” He nodded his head and then turned back to Donna. “I have a meeting in ten minutes, but then I’ll be back. Is there any way you could copy these for me for tomorrow?”
“Of course, Dr. Pierce. I’ll make sure Oaklyn has them to you by this afternoon.”
He didn’t look my way again as he said thank you and disappeared behind the door with his name beside it.
“Well, let me take you down to Mr. Erikson. He’s in the lab equipment room. I’m sure he can get you situated and show you the ropes. When we’re done down there, I’ll show you how to work the copier.”
I followed Donna out of the office and down the hallway three doors before entering the equipment room. It was full of glass beakers and flasks, and machines I’d never seen before, nor had a clue what they did. Mr. Erikson was an easygoing guy, if not a little quiet and nerdy. He had thick glasses, a soft voice, and he stuttered over words sometimes. But I couldn’t complain. I preferred silence to a Chatty Cathy.
Mr. Erikson explained the rules and then left me with a sheet of paper to use to inventory the materials. Seventies rock music played softly in the background, and my time working seemed to fly by. Before I knew it, we’d inventoried the whole room and three hours had passed. Only a couple more, and I’d be able to head out for a night not filled with performances.
Waving goodbye to Mr. Erikson, I collected my backpack and headed down the hallway to make Dr. Pierce’s copies.
With a warm stack of papers in my hand, I knocked on Dr. Pierce’s door.
“Come in,” he said, his deep voice reaching through the door.
“I have those papers you asked for.”
He looked up from his work and stared at me through thick-rimmed glasses. “Oh. Yes. Thank you. If you just want to set them there, please.”
I placed the papers on the corner of his desk and stepped back, watching him shift them to line up with the edge of the desk.
“Nice glasses.”
“Thank you. I hate them. I’m twenty-nine and already need readers. Makes me look like an old man,” he said with a deprecating laugh.
“Hardly,” I chuckled. The word slipped from my lips without thinking it through. Swallowing hard, I looked down, unable to see his reaction. “Anyways, did you need anything else? I’m here for about another hour.”
His eyes flicked around the room like he was searching for tasks that may need to be done. “Actually, yes. I have those boxes of papers stacked over there. They’re already marked, but I need them alphabetized and filed away.”
