Chapter 2 - Oil and Water
896 Words
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By the time Ariana shows up at the library after school, Eli’s already there. Of course he is.
He’s got a whole corner table to himself, laptop open, notebooks perfectly lined up like he’s about to perform surgery.
She strolls over, latte in hand. “You’re early,” she says, sliding into the chair across from him.
“You’re late,” he replies without looking up.
Ariana narrows her eyes. “Wow. Great start.”
He finally glances up, pushing his glasses higher on his nose. “I said we’d meet at three. It’s three-fifteen.”
“Yeah, I was getting coffee,” she says. “And lip gloss emergency. You don’t rush that.”
Eli stares blankly. “Noted.”
For a few seconds, the only sound is the quiet hum of the air conditioner. Ariana drums her nails against the table. “So, what’s our project gonna be? Something simple, right? Like plants and sunlight or whatever?”
Eli actually laughs — softly, but it still counts. “You really think I’d do something that basic?”
She raises an eyebrow. “Basic works. It gets an A.”
“I don’t do ‘basic,’” he says, typing something on his laptop. “I was thinking something like measuring the effect of emotional stimuli on heart rate.”
She blinks. “The what now?”
“Basically,” he explains, “we test how people’s heartbeats change depending on what they see or hear. Music, pictures, maybe even videos.”
Her interest sparks a little. “So… science meets feelings?”
“Exactly,” he says.
She tilts her head, pretending to think. “Hmm. That actually sounds kinda cool. But can we make it less—” she waves a hand “—nerdy?”
Eli looks offended. “It’s science.”
“Yeah, but it can be cute science,” she says, grinning. “Like… ‘Project Heart.’ Boom. I just named it.”
He blinks again, then nods slowly. “Not bad.”
“Not bad?” she repeats. “That’s a great name.”
“Fine. It’s good,” he admits.
She smirks. “Told you. I bring the sparkle.”
He types the name into the document. “And I bring the logic.”
“Guess that makes us unstoppable.”
“Or incompatible,” he mutters.
“What was that?”
“Nothing.”
---
They spend the next twenty minutes planning the experiment. Or rather, Eli plans while Ariana scrolls through her phone, pretending to take notes.
When he asks, “Can you handle the data recording?” she nods distractedly.
Then he adds, “Without using emojis?”
She looks up. “Excuse me, emojis make everything better.”
“This is a science report, not your i********: caption.”
She gasps dramatically. “Wow. Shade from a scientist.”
Eli sighs, but there’s the tiniest smile tugging at his mouth. “Do you ever take anything seriously?”
“Sure,” she says. “Fashion. Skincare. Maybe my GPA—on a good day.”
“Figures.”
Ariana leans forward. “And what do you take seriously? Everything? You probably organize your socks by category.”
He blinks. “Color and thickness, actually.”
She stares. “You’re joking.”
“I’m not.”
There’s a pause. Then she bursts out laughing, loud enough for the librarian to shush her. “Oh my gosh, you actually do that!”
He just shrugs. “It’s efficient.”
Ariana’s laughter fades into a grin. “You’re impossible.”
“And you’re distracting,” Eli replies, still typing.
She stops smiling for a second. “You think I’m distracting?”
He hesitates. “In a… loud way.”
Her lips curve back up. “Good to know I leave an impression.”
---
By the time they wrap up, Ariana’s drained her coffee and Eli’s filled two pages with notes.
“Okay,” he says, packing up. “We’ll meet again tomorrow. Maybe try being on time?”
“Maybe try being less bossy,” she fires back.
He gives her a look that’s half annoyed, half amused. “You’re not used to people saying no to you, are you?”
She blinks, thrown off. “Excuse me?”
“You act like everything should go your way,” he says simply. “You’re smart, but you hide it behind this… act.”
That hits harder than she expects.
For a moment, she doesn’t know what to say.
“I don’t hide anything,” she says finally, standing up. “And you don’t know me.”
He nods once. “Not yet.”
Her heart skips — just slightly — and she hates that it does.
---
On her way out, she looks back at him.
He’s still sitting there, typing notes with that calm focus, hair falling into his eyes.
Ariana tells herself she’s just curious about the project. That’s all.
But when she gets home and opens her phone, her first message is to him.
> Ariana: Sooo maybe the experiment idea isn’t totally lame.
Eli: Coming from you, that’s high praise.
Ariana: Don’t get used to it.
She smiles at the screen before tossing her phone onto her bed.
She’s not sure what’s more confusing — science experiments, or Eli Turner.
---
- Writer
