"I'll be right back," I excused myself to go to the bathroom, then stopped by the bar afterwards for another soda.

Tonight actually hadn't been that bad of an evening. Tucker's edge dulled with each beer he downed, so there was something to be said for that. He still gave me a hard time about how I'd fixed his formulas. He couldn't argue against them being wrong though.

I stood awkwardly at the bar, behind some extremely loud guys who pointlessly yelled at the soccer, I'm sorry football, game on the television over the bar.

"Excuse me," a male voice greeted me.

My spine stiffened as a hand gently rested on my back. I turned quickly and was face-to-face with the guy who'd played the guitar on stage for the last forty-five minutes. His guitar was nowhere in sight and he looked a bit sweatier than the average sweaty guy who was here.

"Oh, sorry." I moved aside with the thought that I blocked his way.

He laughed heartily. "My bad, I thought you were waiting for someone to buy you a drink."

I glanced at him, then shook my head. "I'm not waiting for anyone."

"Well, what do ya want?"

"Oh, I-I c-couldn't-" I stammered, then took a slow breath. "I'm fine."

"Then why are you standing at the bar, by yourself?" I didn't have an answer for that, so he pushed his way through the group ahead of us, then pulled me up to the bar next to him.

"Okay," I relented. "Just a soda."

"Soda?" His blonde eyebrows raised as he rested his elbows on the bar edge. "You realize you're in a pub, right love?"

"I'm not a big drinker," I admitted. "Don't tell all these terribly drunk people that though."

"I don't think they're noticing." He leaned over and ordered a soda for me, then handed it over. "One soda."

"Thank you..." My voice trailed off when I realized we hadn't been properly introduced.

"Noah." He held out one of his hands.

"Maggie." His palm was also a bit sweaty but I gave him the benefit of the doubt since his music had avoided further uncomfortable conversations and questioning from my coworkers.

He had dark blonde hair swept up away from his face but extremely piercing blue eyes. He had a small cleft in his chin, which was covered with what looked like sixty-seven hairs of stubble.

I stared at his eyes for a moment. They were Tyndall blue, with tiny striations of brown and black around the iris pigment epithelium. Most girls probably swooned instantly over them but my first instinctive thought was how I recognized them as a genetic defect. More specifically, somewhere in him, either the eighty-sixth intron of his HERC2 gene or his oculocutaneous albinism II gene on chromosome 15 was most likely mutated. His dark blonde hair and smattering of freckles across his fair-skinned cheeks verified this. I wondered if he knew that, and couldn't help but smile.

"What?" he asked.

"What what?" I replied.

"What are you thinking? You're smiling, Maggie. Like you have an inside joke."

Oh no, he noticed. What if he thinks I'm weird? Or is my smile weird? How can I be weird for smiling?

"Sorry."

His smile widened as if I amused him. "You're sorry for smiling? That's a new one. Don't be."

He hasn't heard my question yet.

The thought caused my smile to widen a little. "Can I ask you a strange question?"

"Sure, anything love." I was fascinating with the ease at which he carried himself. He had a very calming demeanor, as if he didn't notice we bumped shoulder to shoulder with strangers.

I felt a bit of a twinge of envy, before my mouth blurted out, "Do you have trouble seeing at night while driving?"

As he chuckled, his eyes shifting a shade darker and showed a sense of amusement. "Now how could you possibly know that?"

My index finger pointed at one of my eyes. "Your eyes. They're, umm... a genetic defect."

"Genetic defect?" His eyebrows shot up. "I have honestly never been told that before. Yes I do, actually. Especially driving, the opposite direction headlights practically blind me. And now I know why. So thank you, love."

"Sorry." My mind clicked.

I've insulted him. At least I didn't share that he also has a higher chance of getting cancer. I should get some consolation for not sharing that.

"Don't be sorry." He flashed me a smile that spread warmly across his face. My twinge of envy came back since he had the most warming smile. Somehow his presence helped me relax, despite whoever's elbow poked into my upper back every few seconds.

"You're American," he stated the obvious. I nodded.

"Are you here on holiday?" I shook my head. "School?" Nodded.

"Not very talkative I see." He smiled, finished off his beer, ordered another one, then turned around and leaned the back of his elbows into the bar. "What are you studying?"

"Infectious diseases."

He looked at me thoughtfully, as if he didn't actually believe me, but his eyes brightened with interest. "Really? That's bloody fascinating. What can you tell me about infectious diseases?"

"Don't eat the peanuts." My eyes averted down towards the bowl on the bar next to the beer the bartender slid over to Noah.

I wasn't actually kidding, but apparently that was very funny because he burst into loud laughter. If his smiles intrigued me then his laugh was on another level. His shoulders bounced with life as he lifted his head up to the ceiling and the laughs easily tumbled out. The sound washed over me and increased the strange, calming sensation I felt inside.

"I like you Maggie." He tipped his beer to my soda glass. "To genetic defects and infectious diseases. Cheers."

"Thanks for the soda." I lifted my glass up, then turned and headed back to the table. Amy and Adam had gotten a lot physically closer to each, as in they were now making out. As my eyes averted downwards, I set my soda down on the table, grabbed my backpack, and uttered a good-bye. I wasn't even sure if they'd heard me as I left.

The cold air outside was refreshing. I walked the few blocks back to the bus stop, then decided it was better to just grab a taxi. Despite a murmur of a radio station in the taxi, I was happy to finally be in some silence.

"Hi Maggie," Amy stopped by my cubicle the next morning. Her eyes looked tired and her coffee cup larger than normal.

"Hi." I looked up from my computer.

"So... " She ran her fingers through her black hair and smiled. "Genetic defect and infectious diseases?"

"You heard about that." I stared at her.

"That's a new one. Whatever works I s'pose, you certainly made an impression. Noah stopped by our table after you'd left. So, here." She handed me a four-inch square white paper napkin.

"Why do I want a Rugby Pub napkin?"

"Because it has his phone number on it."

I turned it over, glanced at the numbers, then looked up at her blankly. "Why do I want his number?"

She stared at me incredulously, as if the answer was completely obvious, then relented, "Okay, I asked him for it. You should call him."

"Do you know him personally?" I set the napkin down on my desk.

"A little. He's a great musician. He's nice, about your age. I think he goes to your uni. Figured you could use a friend in the city.. Despite his obvious genetic defect, which I think are quite charming."

I frowned. "So... you don't know him."

"Well, why don't you get to know him then let me know." She meant the comment casually, but I heard a small hint of a condescending undertone. I looked at her blankly, unsure of how to respond, so I didn't.

"Did you run my COVID-19 test samples through?" I nodded. "And?"

"Nothing worked." She immediately frowned and internally replayed the scenarios in her mind.

"I'm sorry." I hadn't apologized to imply that I'd done something wrong. She'd calibrated her sequencing parameters wrong. It wasn't her fault, she was the microbiologist on the team. But since we couldn't get past the RNA resequencing stage, she didn't have much to do other than watch COVID-19 in the petri dishes.

"Story of our life the past month... maybe I messed up the parameters."

"I think I know what the problem is, but I'd like to look into it more."

"We need more samples." She sighed. "But Adam told me that there are lot of cases outside China now. We'll be getting the Tokyo ones shortly. So feel free to express your creativity here, we're struggling against this one."

"I'll try my best."