-Chinese Proverb
-Chinese Proverb
The knocking at the door jolted Mira out of her fierce concentration. “Come in,” she called, slipping off her reading glasses.
The bedroom door creaked open, revealing a bashful Justin, stepping in uncertainly. “Hey Justin. What’s up?” asked Mira cheerfully, laying her pen down on her textbook.
Justin shrugged nonchalantly. “Nothing much. JC was coming by to see Leanna, so I thought, what the hell and met him here.” Mira let out a laugh.
“’What the hell’, huh? Is that supposed to make me feel special or something?” she smiled. Justin shrugged.
“Not that particularly,” he shrugged.
“What then?” she responded playfully.
“Hmm… I don’t know if I should tell you,” said Justin, placing his finger on his chin in mock thoughtfulness.
“Oh come on now pop star… you’ve got me curious,” grinned Mira, bouncing her leg.
“Go out with me,” he said suddenly, his nervousness clearly visible. Mira stared at Justin blankly for a moment in sheer surprise of his asking.
“Me?” she finally managed, pointing at herself. “Are you sure you mean me?” Justin cracked a smile.
“There’s no one else in here, is there?” he smirked, regaining his sense of cocky confidence. Mira arched an eyebrow.
“Well then, Justin. Since there’s no one else in here, I guess I’ll have to, won’t I?” she smirked. Justin grinned even brighter.
“Oh, the sacrifices I make,” he moaned dramatically.
“You? What about me?” she giggled.
“Leanna! It’s not here!” cried JC, bringing his head out of the cold climate of the refrigerator.
“It’s got to be there,” said Leanna, walking down the stairs, drying her hair with a towel. “Mira said she left the soda on the top shelf.”
“She probably lied,” muttered JC. Leanna rolled her eyes.
“In your eyes everything is Mira’s fault,” she pointed out.
“Because it always is,” muttered JC.
“What is?” asked Mira, entering the room, Justin close on her heels.
“Nothing,” said Leanna quickly, anxious to avoid another argument between the two.
“You lied about where you left the soda,” said JC, interrupting Leanna. Leanna grabbed her forehead in frustration and let out a sigh.
“Oh did I?” said Mira innocently. She sauntered through the kitchen and slid in front of JC, the refrigerator behind her, pressing her body close to his. His eyes widened unexpectedly. Mira smiled smugly and reached behind her, grabbing the soda out of the fridge. She held it up, smiling sweetly, and pushed it into his chest. “There you go.” With that, she turned around and walked back to Justin.
“I’ll see you tomorrow night Justin,” she smiled, leaning over and hugging him. JC stood by, watching suspiciously. Leanna stood leaning against the kitchen counter, her eyes wide with surprise. “Bye,” she said softly, kissing him on the cheek. With that, she turned and jogged back up the stairs. Justin watched her form disappear completely before he turned around.
JC and Leanna stared at Justin expectantly. “Huh?” managed JC finally. “What does she mean ‘I’ll see you tomorrow night’?”
A contented grin spread over Justin’s face. “We have a date tomorrow night,” he said, smiling stupidly at the pair. JC’s eyes widened even further in surprise. Leanna let out a giggle.
“A date?” she asked. Justin nodded. “Oh,” said Leanna, clasping her hands together excitedly. “How cute!”
“How are you going stand her for an entire night?” managed JC. Justin looked at JC skeptically.
“You’re the one who can’t stand her, C. I’m the one who can’t get enough of her,” he said, grinning excitedly.
Mira sighed and leaned backwards into the door, pushing it open. She entered the office and dumped the pile of books and papers on the large mahogany desk. She threw herself with a loud sigh into her chair. She ran her hands through her hair and looked up at the clock. It was just past one in the afternoon. Mira rubbed her eyes sleepily.
She still had a class in half an hour. It was her last remaining class for that day. Considering it was a Friday, this last class would close out her week. That night, she had her date with Justin. That was to be interesting, to say the least. She had never expected Justin to actually ask her out. She knew Justin was a flirt. She had no idea Justin was actually interested in her. She shrugged. ‘We’ll see’ she decided.
She looked down at the pile of papers in front of her. She scanned over her lab notes and the results of the experiments she’d been conducting all morning. She furrowed her brow in confusion. Her initial lab results had indicated that there were trace elements of substances that were known to cause cancer in laboratory rats. How these elements could get past the pharmaceutical company, she didn’t know. All she knew was this drug was in no way suitable for human use. She had just returned from her meeting with Dr. Cohen where she discussed her findings. He, of course, was just as confused as she was, but trusted her judgement.
Mira drummed her fingers on the desk, looking around the small office that was now hers. Since Dr. Cohen had taken her on as his assistant, one of the perks of the job was that she now had her own office in the basement of the science building. Granted, now that she would be a regular in the building, that would more than likely mean more research opportunities, but there was nothing wrong with that.
Mira’s ears perked up as she heard the sounds of footsteps in the hallway. She looked up towards the doorway. Seeing as how her office was in the basement, she rarely heard any movement on the ground floor. Considering the sounds of footsteps did nothing but get louder, it called her attention. Perhaps Mira had a visitor.
But the footsteps abruptly stopped just before they sounded as though they would pass her door. Mira arched an eyebrow and gazed at the door curiously. She spotted the outline of the part of someone’s face peer around the corner, then abruptly disappear. “Can I help you?” called Mira out into the hallway. “Please come in.” But, there was no answer, so Mira stood up and stepped to the door, peering out into the hallways. They were now abandoned. Any sign of anyone being there had completely disappeared, leaving Mira both curious and highly confused.
But she didn’t have much time to think it over, as the alarm on her cell phone began beeping, giving her a reminder that she should head off to class. Before Mira could analyze her strange “visitor” any longer, she grabbed her book bag off the ground and stepped out the door, making extra sure to lock her office.
“Dinner was wonderful Justin, thank you,” said Mira, smiling softly as she turned away from the door to face Justin.
“So being in my presence all evening wasn’t that much of a source of torture for you?” he asked, grinning slyly, stepping up onto the porch step. Mira placed her finger on her chin in thought.
“Hmm… I’ll have to think about that one for a while, but my initial thoughts are that it was bearable.” Justin arched an eyebrow flirtatiously.
“Just ’bearable’, huh?” he said, leaning forward and softly placing his lips over hers. Mira’s eyes fluttered closed as she responded to the gentle pressure of his lips against hers. Justin pulled away, leaving a smiling Mira. She arched an eyebrow playfully.
“Just bearable,” she said decidedly.
“Well I’m just going to have to keep at it until I change your mind, now aren’t I?” he said, leaning forward and kissing her once again, this time moving his arms to wrap around her waist as he pulled her towards him.
“So tomorrow then?” asked Leanna, tugging on the sleeves of her sweater.
“Tomorrow what?” asked JC absent-mindedly as he searched his pockets for his keys.
“Tomorrow’s that softball game? At Justin’s?” said Leanna, looking up at JC expectantly. “Come on Josh, don’t tell me you forgot!” she said in response to his blank stare. “You and Justin have been planning it for weeks. Joey, Lance, and Chris flew in especially for this.”
“Oh yeah,” he said, pulling his keys out of his jacket pocket triumphantly. Leanna giggled and rolled her eyes.
“You’re picking me up at 11:00, since I assume you forgot,” she laughed, reaching up and giving him a light kiss on the lips.
“See you tomorrow,” he smiled, turning around and reaching for the door.
JC’s jaw dropped. Leanna let out a gasp, covering her mouth with her hand, fighting the urge to laugh. Justin and Mira pulled apart abruptly. Justin smiled lazily, while Mira fought the blood rushing to her cheeks.
JC’s gaze shot back and forth between the two of them. Without a word, he sped past in between them, heading to his car. Justin ignored his friend’s reaction, smiling at Leanna. Leanna leaned against the doorframe, arching an eyebrow curiously. Mira looked down at the driveway where JC got into his car and without a moment’s hesitation started the engine and sped away.
