Morning Slump
841 Words
Several minutes later with a cup of steaming black coffee and a cinnamon bun waiting patiently to be devoured, Jessica put her rumpled notes in order.
A little damp, she was relieved to see that her net book was working so that she could print out the pages for Kelly to make copies for the rest of her team.
The caffeine woke her up with each sip as she skimmed the pages of her notes, making sure one last time every line and equation was correct. There could be no room for error.
Reading the first couple of pages, she beamed from ear to ear, feeling proud of what she had accomplished.
“How does it look? Everything okay?” Kelly asked her as she plopped herself down in the chair across from her.
The young scientist gave her the assistant not only the hard copy but a copy she had on a purple thumb drive.
“It’s fine. I just need the revisions from the hard drive printed out and the original notes put away in the vault if you please.”
Kelly took the small pile of notes from her and begins to leaf through the various computer print out of equations, graphs and the chemical formulas. She couldn’t even pretend to know how someone came up with something like this from scratch, but it impressed her nonetheless.
“I can’t believe this is it. How long did it take you to do all of this?”
Jessica arched an eyebrow, trying to remember around the time she came up with the experiment.
“Over a year. I started it last year. That last gas price crisis hit everyone hard.”
Kelly smirked. “Sure did. The oil to heat my house is insane. Yours has got to be too. Bet as a new home owner, that took you for a loop. ”
Jessica nodded while finally taking a bite out of her bun. “Yes. Among other things. But, I’m managing. Man, you should have told me that owning a house was going to be so damn expensive.”
Kelly giggled. She couldn’t agree more with her friend.
“But it’s worth it. You can do whatever you want, however you want and at anytime. Oh hell, I even walk around the house naked! “
Jessica let out a huge belly laugh. She could see her friend doing just that. She took another bite of her bun, she replied.
“I can you see doing just that.”
“My house why not. Chad been there yet?”
Jessica rolled her eyes at the thought of her boyfriend. She blamed him in part for the early morning craziness that ensued.
“Yeah, he came over last night for dinner and with those baby blues and blonde hair, I couldn’t say no to him staying the night.”
Kelly replied. “It’s the dimples.”
Finishing up the last drops of coffee Jessica asked “The Dimples?”
“And the tight ass. Your eyes get that glint of hunger in them.”
“Huh?”
Kelly continued to laugh. “They do. And when he leans over and whispers to you in that honeyed Texas drawl, you give in.”
Jessica looked surprised to hear her friend talk about her this way. “I don’t!”
“Oh Jessie, you do. I can’t say that I blame you. Chad’s a great looking guy. If I were you, I would have broken in that great big poster bed you got a few weeks back.”
Jessica’s face grew hot. She couldn’t help but to be a little uncomfortable at hearing Kelly talk like this. She decided to look down at her desk. Kelly continued.
“I would have. All that space, those huge cathedral ceilings and that bedroom of yours. Man, that bedroom is divine. I would never come out of it. Much less walk after being with someone like Chad.”
Jessica laughed. “Kelly!”
“Well it’s true honey. The way you came whirling in here meant to me that you must have been up for a good portion of the night doing things in that bed that would spin your morning out of control because you didn’t have time to turn on an alarm clock.”
Jessica eyes widened.
“I knew it! Been there, done that.” Kelly said with a wink. She got up and began to walk out of the office.
“I’m going to go ahead and make these copies for you. How many of them do you need?”
Jessica snorted. “Ten.”
“I’ll get these to you and get these originals in the vault.”
“Thank you.”
“Glad to make you laugh.” Kelly said.
Since the worst part was over, she decided to check a few things online before setting things up at the lab.
Her personal e-mail was full of headings that contained. ‘Jess, I’m so sorry to hear the news’...
- Writer
