45. The chapter where Christian ruins the experiment

Christian

I put a hand in the pocket of my lab coat, as I checked my lab notebook for calculations on the experiment we were going to perform. I looked around, spotting Camille standing alone at a bench in the far corner of the lab, making me want to join her. Not that I was attracted to her in any way, but it bothered me to see how she was always alone and always seemed to become the butt of other girls' jokes.

" Are you excited for the holiday? " Harry's voice snapped me out of my contemplation, grabbing my notebook to check that his own calculations were correct.

It was already Tuesday of Thanksgiving week, and Rose and I would be traveling before nightfall, so I couldn't deny that I was excited for it.

" I am, I can't wait to get back to Florida, I got a flight for tomorrow," Taylor commented, making me snort internally.

" I'm taking a bus to Pittsburgh in the morning," Harry added.

" I have a long drive to Missoula, let's leave later today.” I shrugged, separating the material needed for the experiment.

" Are you really going to go through with this madness? " Harry stared at me while I sorted through all the glassware needed for the titrations we would be doing next.

" Yes, of course. My parents are looking forward to this," I tried not to show any reaction as I checked my burette, making sure that it was clean and without any leaks from the valve.

" What Madness? " Taylor wondered as he prepared her own experiment.

" I'm going to introduce Rose to my parents at Thanksgiving," I explained.

Taylor put aside what he was doing, turning to me with a surprised expression on his face, which had even lost some of its color. Everyone knew that since that damn movie session the two of them had been together a few times, just as I had tried to enjoy my time with Ellen, Rose's friend that I had met that night, and thanks to this, my skin was already well healed. But I must admit that I was already starting to miss her nails.

" What? " he stammered, "Are you two together?”

" Man, she stuck her tongue down your throat in front of me. Of course we're not together," I sneered, stepping out for a moment to the analytical balance room, to weigh the three masses of Potassium Biphthalate in the conical flask that I would perform each titration, and already diluting them in 30 mL of distilled water and adding three drops of phenolphthalein as a reaction indicator.

I returned to the bench ready to start the first titration, setting the burette with my titrant, and then completing it with the sodium hydroxide solution that would be used. I was ready to begin the first triplicate, but Taylor seemed unable to put the previous subject aside, asking for further explanation of why I would take Rose to meet my family.

" It was a crazy thing that the two of them made up on Halloween, Rose answered a call from his parents and accidentally implied that the two of them were dating, so he decided to stick to the story and take her home with him," Harry summarized as I began to tithe. His cell phone started vibrating, interrupting what he was saying, but he just picked it up and rejected the call, putting it back in his coat pocket.

" And her parents accepted? I mean, my mother would never accept me going anywhere else for Thanksgiving or Christmas.”

I smiled as I remembered those two. I confess that if I could, I would go to Thanksgiving with them too, just to see what Sky and Liam would get involved in.

" Ahh yes, Liam and Sky are going to her parents' house as surrogate children," I explained.

" I hate it. Why does Van Derr Waal have to be involved in everything that concerns Skyller? " Harry complained, again rejecting a call on his cell phone.

" Dangerous path, Thompson," I warned, turning off the burette slowly to adjust the flow of falling drops while shaking the erlenmeyer flask with my other hand.

" She is my girlfriend. I even introduced her to my parents by video call last week. I was hoping it would make her feel more comfortable to accompany me," he admitted.

I shot him a sideways glance, feeling sorry for him at that thought. If only he knew.

" She may be your girlfriend, but before that, she's Van Derr Waal's girl. If you try to make her choose, you'll be in trouble," I returned.

" I don't understand this, Rose has assured me that there is nothing romantic between her and Van Derr Waal, and yet she doesn't refuse the title of Van Derr Waal's girl," Taylor remarked.

" First of all, you shouldn't even delude yourself and ask Rose this kind of question. If she's with you, it's because she wants to be with you. But make no mistake, she's not dating and it's not going to become exclusive between you," I warned him. "Secondly, it has nothing to do with romance and everything to do with loyalty, Liam does everything to protect both of them, you saw that Anderson Cutter was removed from the first team after what he did to Rose. And they do everything for him. “

I focused on the turning point of the experiment, recognizing pink that still disappeared before thirty seconds had passed. After adding another half drop, I reached the perfect shade of light pink, which remained for over thirty seconds, indicating the end of the first titration, allowing me to turn to the two for good.

" And it's not just him, if you try to get them to choose between you and Theo, the result will be the same," I shrugged, writing down the volume found in my lab notebook.

" Or you," Taylor added, making me smile.

" Exactly, I won't hesitate to hit anyone in the head for them, and they won't hesitate to spend Thanksgiving away from home so that my parents don't think I'm embarrassing them.” I shrugged, completing the burette again with the titrant and setting the meniscus, now I just need to repeat this two more times and I'll be out.

Harry however didn't seem so convinced by this, he again rejected a call, then hung up his cell phone before turning to me.

" This whole loyalty thing is nice in theory, but she accepted to meet my parents, that means that everything is getting serious and she can't prefer another guy, even more one who is obviously crazy about her.

" Things don't work that way in our environment, Thompson. Rose will meet my parents and yet she ended up in his bed I don't know how many times " I pointed to the red headed guy at the end of the bench with my head, while I started the second triplicate. "who calls you so much?”

" No one important," he dismissed, "and our situation is different, Davis. We are in a real relationship, you and Rose never take anything seriously.”

Yes, I knew the situation was different, but I also knew that if he insisted on that thought, the relationship wouldn't last that long.

" He who tells a friend is a friend," I shrugged.

We went back to work in silence, and for a few moments I felt Harry's gaze on me, but I ignored it, focusing only on the experiment, wanting to finish soon so that I could finally get ready and hit the road, because I knew I had a long way to go.

I was close to the turning point of the last titration, setting each drop of strong base through the valve of the burette, waiting for that perfect pink color obtained in the two previous titrations to remain, when a small knock on the glass window next to my bench caught my attention, causing me to look toward the exit of the lab.

The door was open for ventilation, allowing me to find Rose standing there. My gaze quickly went to her body which was covered by a tight set of leather pants and jacket and a pair of long boots with thin heels. She waved at me, bringing a small smile to my lips.

" I don't want to interrupt your contemplative moment, but you've blown up the solution," Harry called my attention, causing me to turn to the empty burette, and the erlenmeyer flask containing a dark pink solution, quite different from what it should be. I closed the valve on the burette, cursing low for that distraction, now I would have to start over!

" I don't judge you for missing the turning point," Taylor quipped, making notes in her notebook, and my response to the comment was a cross look.

While I was preparing a new solution to start the last titration again, Taylor and Harry finished their experiments, and began to clean up their part of the bench. By the time I returned, they were all finished, and finished putting away the clean glassware. The two said goodbye before heading for the exit, where Rose was still waiting.

" Hey, Rose. Davis is going to redo the last experiment, it's going to take a while, what do you say we grab a cup of coffee? " I heard Taylor invite her, making my blood boil.

Didn't he realize that she wasn't there to see him?

" I'm sorry, Ashford. I'm waiting for Chris today," she returned.

" Next time then," he shrugged before walking away.

I shot him a quick glance, winking at her before resuming the titration, working nimbly but carefully so as not to risk making another mistake.