March 15th, 1988 — Cambridge, MA
9:13 AM, EST

Nearly a month had gone by since the rose had arrived at Shelby's doorstep, and none of the girls knew who it was from. They'd long dismissed it from their minds, knowing that many girls at MIT, due to the small number of them, got unwanted attention like that on Valentine's Day.

Things were weird, though. Tony and Robbo weren't talking, and hadn't been for weeks. It was slowly tearing Shelby apart: her best friend and boyfriend, who had been friends longer than she'd known either, had ceased communication despite the fact that they lived together.

Each time that she'd be with one, she'd run into the other. Rob was incredibly understanding, though, as he knew Shelby and Tony were good friends and were working on their senior design project together. Tony, on the other hand, tensed up any time Shelby mentioned Robbo's name.

The worst thing was that she had no clue as to why they were feuding, and neither would let any information slip as to why.

Between that and her school work, the only things that kept her sane anymore were her alone time with Robbo, her girls' nights with Lisa and Donna, and the fact that her time with NASA was coming closer and closer.

"What are you going to write about?" Tony questioned, bringing Shelby out of her daze.

"Oh, I don't know." They were sitting in their Creative Writing class, and they'd been assigned to write a short story about something or someone that was important to them. "Space, maybe."

"Space?" Tony chuckled. "Elaborate, please?"

"Well, like ... I don't know. Maybe a story about a young girl that dreamed of being an astronaut when all her adult peers wanted her to do was play with Barbie dolls." She suggested. "That's important to me."

"That sounds a tad autobiographical." He teased.

"Maybe it is." She replied. "What about you then, Stark?"

"Haven't decided." He told her.

"Well, what's important to you?" She asked, twirling her pen in her fingers.

"Oh, you know, the three B's." He said with a smirk.

Shelby crossed her arms over her chest with a grin and repeated what he had said to her. "Elaborate, please?"

"The three B's. Booze, Burgers, and Black Sabbath." He stated.

Shelby rolled her eyes. "That sounds like an ode to joy right there." She said sarcastically.

"Hey, don't be a smart ass because your short story is going to be deeper than mine. Dr. Goulding never said it had to be serious." He pointed out.

Shelby laughed. "Well, who would ever expect anything serious out of you, anyways?"

"Well, whatever." Tony rolled his eyes before changing the subject. "Are we still on to work on Mary after classes today?"

"Absolutely." Shelby replied. They were getting very close to finishing their project, and both she and Tony were ecstatic. "I'm going to dinner with Robbo tonight, though, so I can't be too late."

Tony sighed. "Right." He said in a clipped voice. "Robert."

The redhead frowned. "Okay, that's it." She hissed in a low voice, trying to not draw attention from their other classmates. "Neither one of you will tell me what the hell is going on, but I think I have a right to know!"

The boy frowned at her and played nervously with the pencil that was resting on top of his notebook. "Well, yes, I suppose you do have a right to know." He stated.

She nodded, satisfied. "Okay, so go on, tell me."

"The thing is," Tony began, "While you most definitely have a right to know ... I can't tell you. This something between Rob and I."

Her brows furrowed together and she glared at him. "I can't believe you. You don't trust me, or what?"

Tony shook his head. "No, not that. Shelby, I trust you more than I trust most anyone else. I just ... I can't tell you this, okay?"

"Okay." She muttered. Neither boy would budge on the subject, so Shelby figured it must have been something deeply personal that was causing the rift between the two. She guessed it would be best if she left herself out of it.

Little did Shelby know, she was the exact thing that was causing the conflict between Robbo and Tony.

March 15th, 1988 — Cambridge, MA
5:43 PM, EST

While Tony always believed that Shelby was especially wonderful, he always felt most in love with her when she was working on a project. Most specifically, their project together: Mary.

They often casually dropped the name "Mary" in public when discussing their project. To the normal person, they would think that pair was discussing a child, or a cat, maybe, but the rocket robot that sat in front of them in their lab space on campus was far from either of those things.

"I think we're almost done." Shelby said in a quiet voice as she ran a hand over the rocket.

Tony nodded in agreement. It was a bittersweet moment. Something they had worked on all year was finally coming to a close. Hell, they'd be done with college entirely in a few months, and who knew if he'd even see any of his friends again.

"It's crazy to think how much everything is going to change come May." He stated.

The redhead nodded. "Yeah, it's unbelievable. I'm pumped to go down to Florida, but ... everything is going to change. I'm not going to have Donna or Lisa, or you and Robbo ..." She frowned and looked down at the table. "I'll be alone."

Tony frowned. "It's going to be so different. College is the first time I really ever felt like myself, you know? Rob and Rhodey and Hank ... I made a second family with them here."

Shelby turned to look at him with a sheepish grin. "You know, I've gone all year without knowing your other roommates' names." She laughed.

"What?" Tony looked at her in surprise. "You mean ... between Robbo and me, you never learned their names?"

She giggled and shook her head. "No! I think you all just assumed I knew them, and then I just knew you guys too long that it would be weird to bring it up!"

"What the hell, Girl Genius?" He laughed and hooted loudly. "I mean, I know we don't hang out with them as much, but ... wow."

Besides Robbo and Shelby, Rhodey was Tony's best friend. Tony and Robbo had lived across the hall from Hank and Rhodey freshman year, and that's how they'd all met. He couldn't imagine his college years without the three boys.

That thought brought a pang to Tony's chest. He needed to make up with Robbo before the two of them would go their separate ways forever.

There was a knock on the door, snapping Tony and Shelby out of their reminiscent funk. Shelby flipped her safety glasses up on top of her beautiful red hair and went over to open it, revealing Robbo on the other side.

Tony looked away before he had to witness their "nice to see you" kiss and threw a sheet over Mary, knowing that both he and Shelby had kept their senior design project a secret from everyone.

"Hey." She smiled at him. "We're just finishing up for today. Let me help Tony get things cleaned up." She said, turning back towards the Stark boy.

Tony glanced over at Robbo, nodding at him as they locked eyes. It was the most interaction the two had had in a good month. He offered a smile and then looked to Shelby. "You guys go ahead. I'll get things put away and locked up."

Shelby raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure?"

He nodded. "Yeah, go on. Have fun, kids. Don't stay up too late."

She grinned and reached over, squeezing his arm. "Thanks, Stark." She grabbed her backpack and coat, then walked out with Robbo. "See you tomorrow, Tony."

"See ya, Shelbster."