How was your first night in your new city?

Pretty boring. Headed straight to the hotel the team is putting me up in for the next couple weeks until I find a place to live. But at least they had room service.

So you had a burger and fries before crashing is what you're saying?

How'd you know? 😜

We both know airplane food is shit. Plus, I figured you'd want some comfort food.

You're right on both accounts, but I've got to get going. Meeting with Royals management at eight.

Good luck! And talk to you later.

***

Well, first day as a Royal wasn't so bad. The guys seem chill and were quick to give me some pointers on how to acclimate to the city. Plus, my new coach is meeting with me 1-on-1 before practice tomorrow to go over the team's power play.

That's great!

Yeah, hopefully it'll be a good fit for me.

Are you just back in your hotel then?

Yup. A few guys brought me out to a local pizza place for dinner, but now I'm just watching Toronto whoop Florida's ass.

I'd believe it 😂

But hey, what about you? How's this mountain of work you said you had coming along? Find a way for life to survive on Mars yet? 👀

Haha, I wish. But it's... slow going. Basically, I may have found a way to combine two areas of focus in my department to reach the next level of research in the field, but I have to have concrete proof that it's viable to be able to include it in my defense.

Damn, and all I do every day is skate around with a stick and a puck.

You know you do a lot more than that.

I do, but it's definitely not as important. I'm going to leave you to your work while I try to get used to this time zone.

Good luck with that, considering you're traveling to St. Louis in two days.

Thanks for reminding me 🙃

***

Great game tonight!

Thanks (even though I know you saw me finding my footing in the first two periods)

Nobody expected you to be perfect your first night in a Royals jersey, but you got things under control and got an assist in the third – I'd call that a win 😊

So you actually watched?

Told you I would.

***

Should I lease a condo or find an apartment to rent?

Renting a house a no-go for you then?

Too much space for just me.

Then I'd probably say condo (assuming you're not worried about the price). They're usually nicer... right?

You wanna see the four choices I'm deciding between?

Sure, send them over.

***

Did you hear about the blizzard that happened here last night?

Considering the Knights' flight back home was delayed after their game in Montreal, I certainly did. Nyberg was bitching about it.

He was right to bitch! It's impossible for me to get to campus today so I'm stuck without my lab results until tomorrow, if the city even gets the snow cleared by then. It's still coming down pretty bad.

So now wouldn't be the best time to talk about how weird it feels to be living in a city where the temperature's above 80 in March?

YOU THINK?

***

My truck finally got here 🙌🏾 No more driving around in this stupid little rental.

A little piece of Boston with you out in California.

***

How's the research coming along?

You know it's nearly eleven here, right?

Ahh, sorry, I sometimes forget time zones are a thing. I usually just rely on the time on my phone to be correct with all the traveling I do.

No worries – just wanted to point it out. I actually just finished things up for the night and I made some real progress.

Any chance you want to regale me with this progress over the phone. I may be just a bit bored.

I could... but no promises I stay awake long enough to get through it all.

***

1 MISSED CALL

Sorry, I was in the lab when you called earlier. Was it important?

Nothing urgent. Just wanted to check if you're free to grab lunch on Friday. The team plane lands at midnight the night before, and Coach knows I have to wrap things up with Nyberg and the apartment in the morning, so I'm only expected to be at the arena for pre-game skate at 3.

I'm free on Friday, but any chance we can meet near the university? My car's been on the fritz again lately.

Can do! Anywhere particular you have in mind?

Whatever's good with you is good with me 😊

***

I squinted at the screen, lifting my glasses as I leaned in—as if that would magically solve the problem with my spreadsheet that I couldn't seem to find. Some of my results from the tests I'd run over the past three weeks were coming out similar to how I'd hoped, while two runs had damaged the cells to a point that the proteins had become denatured and were unable to perform the function they'd been built to.

The data I was studying tonight, however, had come from the experiment I let sit overnight before recording the results bright and early this morning. There had to be something wrong with my calculations though, because at first glance, the experiment had appeared successful. The proteins looked strong, the cells had held up, and I'd gotten sufficient data showing the cells ability to metabolize under the conditions I'd set. The only problem was the graph that'd come up once I'd pulled the metabolic data over. Instead of its usual shape—spiking early before decreasing over several hours—there was a second spike.

Which just didn't make sense.

Until I realized the problem wasn't with the data, but the spreadsheet itself. For some reason, the formula I had used to calculate the oxygen concentration in the cells hadn't been copied over correctly for ten of the values, causing an anomaly with my graph.

A silly mistake. One of several I'd made lately, though I'd luckily caught them all before they'd affected anything significantly. Whether they were due to the lack of sleep—because who had time to sleep when they had such a tight deadline—or the extra caffeine, however, was anybody's guess.

Though it wasn't outside of the realm of possibility for my attention to be wavering because of the countless hours I spent working—more or less from the moment I woke up every morning until I went to bed. If I ate, I typically ate in front of a screen. If I took a break, I had my phone in my hand to jot down notes or theories that could help with my next round of tests. And even when I tried to wind down and get ready for bed, my mind was always working. The cogs never completely shutting off.

Which, in retrospect, I knew wasn't healthy. After all, the same kind of work ethic had caused a similar, yet much worse, tailspin back when I'd started my PhD. But this was different. I only had two weeks—three at max—to wrap up my testing and results before I had to get to work on the new version of my final report and presentation.

This craziness had a deadline.

One that I was well too aware of.

However, I was snapped out of my internal worry when I heard three raps on my apartment door.

Furrowing my brows as I glanced toward the doorway, I waited a few seconds to see if whoever it was would knock again. And they did.

Confused, because I knew I hadn't buzzed anyone in, I stood up and walked over to the door. Peering into the peephole, I saw Esme and Harper's familiar faces looking back at me. It'd been over two weeks since I'd seen them face to face—the last time being the morning of the trade deadline when we'd met up for our weekly Monday morning catch ups. The last two Mondays, however, I'd skipped, choosing instead to start early in the lab.

In fact, now that I thought about it, I'd skipped out on a lot of things outside of work.

For good reason, in my opinion, but I'd still done it.

Opening the door, I shot them both a look of curiosity. "Hey," I said, waving them in. "What are you guys doing here?"

They eyed one another as I closed the door behind them. "Well, we just wanted to check in on you," Esme said, a carefulness to her words. "We know you've been really busy these last couple weeks, and—" She glanced in the direction of my desk, which was, of course, a tornado of a mess. "—we wanted to make sure you weren't over doing it."

"Yeah, I'm fine," I was quick to respond.

Harper quirked a brow. "You sure?"

"I mean... mostly," I said meekly before sighing and running my fingers through my hair. "It's just, a lot is going on right now with work." I walked over to my couch and sank onto it. "Even though my defense got pushed back to accommodate my latest hypothesis, I'm more or less trying to cram a semester's worth of experiments into a few weeks while still prepping lessons and help sessions for the students I'm teaching."

Moving to sit next to me, Harper wrapped her arms around my shoulders. "But it's all going to pay off in the end."

"And we know your plate is full, don't worry. We're not asking you to abandon your work," Esme said, walking over to my desk and eyeing all the notes. "We know this is important to you and it's crunch time, we just want to make sure you're taking care of yourself."

I sank into Harper's hug and lifted the corners of my mouth. "And I appreciate it."

"So, we thought we'd suggest a break," Harper said. I craned my neck to look at her incredulously, but before I could speak, she continued. "Not a long one. Just an hour or so. Long enough for the three of us to catch up and then we'll get out of your hair for the night."

"Besides, it's eight 'o'clock on a Thursday, Lia, and I bet you haven't taken a break other than to eat since you got up this morning." Esme stared me down. "If you even ate."

"I did. Three times plus snacks," I said with reassurance. "Though I may have worked while I ate."

"See," Harper said. "You need a short break. One where you're not focused on work."

"Fine," I grumbled, giving in.

"Don't sound so excited," Esme chirped sarcastically, causing me to laugh.

"Sorry, you know I didn't mean it like that."

Honestly, I probably did need this break. With the way I'd more or less been avoiding everything in my life outside of work lately, I could use the hour to recharge. To hopefully get my mind in a better place.

And when my cell buzzed moments later, I asked Esme to grab it from my desk as she came to join Harper and I on the couch. Which may have been a mistake, seeing as she not-so-subtly glanced at the screen before handing it over.

"I'm sorry... why is Derrick texting you?"

"Didn't you two split when he left for Los Angeles?" Harper asked, her interest as keen as Esme's as I snatched the phone away.

"Clearly not," Esme mused, "considering he wanted to know if the Italian diner by the university was a good place to meet tomorrow."

Harper's expression filled with amusement. "Oh really?"

"It's not that big of a deal," I said, glancing down at the screen to confirm that the text from Derrick had really said that. And it did, somehow prompting a blush to rise on my cheeks. "He's flying in tonight for the game tomorrow and wanted to meet up for lunch."

"And you said yes?"

"Why wouldn't I? I mean, we were friends with benefits, and just because the benefits are gone, that doesn't mean the two of us have to go back to being strangers."

"So you're saying you guys still talk?" Harper asked.

"We text," I admitted. "And there may have been a phone call here or there."

"Well at least we know that not all your time has gone into your work over the past two weeks," Esme said slyly, nudging my side playfully. "But couldn't you have picked a guy that, I don't know, still lives in the city to be your distraction."

I shook my head. "He's not a distraction. It's not like that. But speaking of guys in the city, did I tell you Miles tried to ask me out to drinks the Friday after the trade deadline? Just the two of us."

Both of their eyes widened. "As a date?"

"Not explicitly, but I figured that's what he meant. It was like he knew Derrick was out of the picture, so he tried to jump at his chance."

"And you said no?"

"Of course I said no. I'm not interested in Miles, and if he was angling for a date, I wasn't about to lead him on."

The two of them stared at me with disbelief, clearly not having prepared for all the things they'd missed with me sinking into deep work mode the last few weeks.

"Wow, you've really left us out of the loop when it comes to your love life drama."

"Trust me, right now, I wish I was out of the loop. All I really want right now is to get through my final round of experiments and get this defense finished."

"But you're still meeting up with Derrick tomorrow?" Harper asked, and I confirmed with a shy nod. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

Biting the inside of my cheek, I sank back into the couch cushions helplessly. "We'll have to wait and see."

a/n: ooh, so they're still talking ;) what do you guys think will happen when they meet up?

remember to vote and leave your thoughts below!