Chapter 9
“W here to first?” I asked as we strolled through the front doors of The Tech Interactive.
“Let’s hit the robot exhibit,” Stuart said excitedly, already heading in that direction as Lex and I followed behind. Lex was looking like the indulgent parent of a toddler.
The exhibit was actually pretty interesting. Stuart, who obviously had an aptitude for it, tried explaining to me the mechanisms behind building a robot and why it was such an important feat of engineering. I could appreciate why it was impressive, but the particulars were completely lost on me.
“Dr. Strovinski?” I heard someone say from behind us. I turned to see a young guy, scrawny and bespectacled, standing there, looking wide-eyed at Lex.
“Yes?” Lex replied politely.
“I thought that was you! Tompkins, get over here. It’s him!” he yelled out to another guy hiding behind a column. “You have no idea how thrilled I am to meet you, sir. Your paper on the development of quantitative measurements to distinguish between hypothalamic tanycytes and radial glia literally changed my life!”
“Thanks, man. I appreciate it,” Lex said kindly.
The guy named Tompkins ran over, looking like he spotted Mick Jagger himself.
He extended his hand to Lex and introduced himself. “Hi, I’m Robert Tompkins. It’s an honor, Dr. Strovinski.”
“Lex is fine.”
The two men exchanged looks of barely contained excitement.
“And I’m Nathan Segura.” He and Lex shook hands as well.
“We heard you were at Stanford now. What are you working on?”
I didn’t want to keep eavesdropping on their conversation, so I went to find Stuart, who was arguing with what looked like a ten-year-old about the best way to assemble the robot’s arm.
I walked around the exhibit for a little while longer. They had an entire section dedicated to the use of robots in different movies like Star Wars and The Terminator , and I listened to a short video about the engineering behind it. It may have been interesting if I’d understood a word of it. I circled back to where I started feeling more confused than a cat at a laser show.
I noticed Lex’s fan club was still going strong. They were both chatting excitedly while Lex just smiled and nodded along politely. He noticed me looking at him and gave me eyes that said“help, please.”
I jumped into action, walking over and interrupting the guy named Tompkins telling Lex about his own paper he was writing.
“Sorry to interrupt, guys. I’m Dr. Strovinski’s assistant. We need to get going if we’re going to make that meeting,” I said, putting my hand under his elbow to usher him away.
“Oh yeah, no problem!” Nathan said, buying my assistant act.
“Nice to meet you, fellas,” Lex called over his shoulder as we walked away hurriedly.
“Thank you,” Lex whispered as we left the robot exhibit area.
“Anytime,” I said.
“I like fake assistant better than fake fiancé,” he remarked. “Comes with less pet names.”
He caught me off guard, and I paused to stare at him. “Did you just make a joke, Lex?”
He smiled and shrugged. “Happens every now and then.”
I laughed out loud, coming to a stop in the hallway when we were out of sight of his admirers.
He looked around behind us. “Wait, where’s Stuart?”
“I tried to get him, but he was in the middle of an argument with a preteen about operating a robot.”
“Sounds about right,” he said, shaking his head. “Anything else you want to check out?”
“The space exhibit sounded interesting.”
He pointed down a side hall. “It’s this way.”
I followed him down the hallway, and as we entered the exhibit, I was immediately captivated.
Large projectors were casting rotating images of the night sky above earth, creating a beautiful simulation of the stars and galaxies. I walked around, taking it all in while Lex followed behind quietly. There was a voice coming from the speaker, giving a history of Earth’s creation and different facts about the stars visible in our night sky. It felt humbling to see that we were all just a small, insignificant piece of the puzzle.
I turned to find Lex watching me. I thought he would have looked away quickly, but he continued to stare at me with the lights casting shadows across his face and reflecting in his glasses. His blended parentage gave him such an interesting and beautiful look. His full mouth paired seamlessly with his high cheekbones, and his light brown eyes were so perfectly clear, it was as if you could see all the way to their depths.
“What are you thinking?” he asked softly.
I didn’t want to admit that I’d just been admiring him, so I smiled and said, “Just your typical existential wonderments. How did we get here? What does it all mean?”
He gave me a small smile in return.
“It’s beautiful, don’t you think?” I nodded toward the sky dome.
“Hmmm,” he answered noncommittally, pulling his gaze up toward the lights.
“How do you think we got here?” I asked. “I mean, do you think it’s really all some colossal accident or do you think there’s more to it?”
“Are you asking me if I believe in God?”
“Yeah, I guess I am.”
“That’s hard to answer,” he said, pausing to think about it. “Do I think there’s a guy in a robe with a long beard and a clipboard taking attendance on Sundays? No. But I don’t think we’re here by mistake.” He looked up toward the artificial sky once more. “Once you study any type of science and learn more about our existence as a species, the less it all makes sense. I tend to think of it more as a question we’ll never know the answer to. Kind of like trying to teach a dog calculus. It’s not something we’ll ever be able to understand, and we’re probably not supposed to.”
“That’s oddly comforting,” I told him, still looking up at the stars shimmering above us. “Sometimes when I think about it too much, it scares me. I just want to know that this wasn’t the end for my dad. That there was more for him than the life he had here.”
“What was he like?” he asked.
“That’s the thing... I remember him being so happy and just full of life. He was always laughing. Everyone loved him, and he never met a stranger. It’s hard to reconcile the person I remember with the one who was addicted to drugs. But I know he wasn’t a bad person.”
“Being an addict doesn’t make you a bad person. Addiction is truly an illness of the brain just like any other illness. You can take my word for it,” he said. “It has nothing to do with who we are as people.”
“Thanks, Lex,” I said, my voice cracking a bit. Why was it that every time I talked to him, I was on the verge of tears?
“What about your mom? What’s she like?” he asked, probably sensing how emotional I was getting talking about my dad.
“She’s the absolute best,” I told him, smiling. “She never has a bad word to say about anyone. If someone stole her purse, she’d probably say they needed the money more than she did.”
Talking about her was likely to bring on the waterworks as well.
“Maybe you could meet her one day if you’re not too busy answering fan mail,” I said with a wink. “She’d probably have a million questions about your work and your life and then would badger you about why a handsome guy like you is still single.”
Just picturing Lex sitting at my mom’s dining room table while she pestered him about his love life was enough to make me smile.
“I’d be happy to meet her,” he said. “And if the questioning gets to be too much, I’ll just have my assistant rescue me again.”
I laughed. “If that’s the case, your assistant might start asking for a raise.”
I never got to hear what he was about to say next, because I spotted his fan club walking through the door. “Crap! Hide!” I said, pushing him down by the shoulders and ducking behind the projectors.
“Let’s go this way,” I whispered, crouching down and crab-walking toward the door like we were on a military operation.
We burst into the hallway, laughing together at our narrow escape. The sound of his laughter echoed all around me, and I stopped to listen. It was a deep, rumbling sound that already felt familiar even though he rarely used it.
“Close one.” I wiped fake sweat off my brow. “Does that happen to you often? People giving you the celebrity treatment?”
“Sometimes,” he admitted. “Mostly it’s people just wanting to give a kind word to say they admire my work.”
I looked at him, wishing he was always this way with me, preferring this to his usual guarded demeanor. As he stared back at me, I watched his eyes rove over every inch of my face. I wanted so badly to know what he was thinking. The silence wasn’t overpowering or awkward as it had been in the past. This time it felt like there was subtle contentment moving between us in the stillness of the moment as we stood there taking each other in.
Loud voices carried down the hallway, sounding like they were coming closer.
I cleared my throat. “Should we go find Stuart?”
He gave a slow nod in agreement, his eyes flicking across my face in a way that had my insides squirming. My breathing felt a little tighter as we walked the short distance back to the robot exhibit where we found Stuart still arguing with the young kid.
“You ready to go, buddy?” Lex asked him.
“Not yet. I’m trying to explain to young Billy Pham here why the conductor belongs on this side of the switchboard.”
“Okay, but didn’t you say you wanted to take Hadley to that ice cream shop on Frontage Road?”
That seemed to pique Stuart’s interest. “Blake’s?”
“That’s the one. You know they close at three.”
“Fine,” Stuart said, putting down a robot part and getting up to join us. “This isn’t over, Pham.”
The little boy stuck his tongue out at Stuart as we walked away.
We finally made it to the ice cream shop after listening to Stuart tell us the whole way there why Billy Pham was completely incompetent, and that they probably shouldn’t even let kids in there.
I got my usual cookies and cream and was surprised to see Lex ordering rocky road. I would have thought he was a vanilla guy through and through. I was not at all surprised to see Stuart order the cotton candy flavor. It felt like it suited him since no one over the age of eight probably ever ordered that particular one.
We strolled along the boardwalk, eating our ice creams, and I caught myself reveling in the beautiful weather. California was really doing a number on me.
“So, what did you think of The Tech Interactive, Hadley?” Stuart asked as we walked down an alleyway toward a spot that had great views of the bay.
“It was great,” I said. “Actually, I was thinking everything about today was great. Thank you both for this. I didn’t know how it would be moving to a new city and not knowing anyone, but you guys have really made me feel welcome.”
I inevitably started tearing up.
“Are you crying?” Stuart asked, sounding horrified.
“No,” I said, sniffling.
“The people in New York must be really bad if all it takes is a little ice cream and you start sobbing like a baby.”
I swatted his arm with the back of my hand and turned to look for a garbage can to throw away the rest of the ice cream that I couldn’t finish. I cut across the alley when I spotted one on the corner, only to find a rare gem hiding in plain sight.
I squealed and ran straight toward it.
“Ouch! Eardrums, Hadley,” Stuart told me, covering his ears.
“Sorry, but look!” I pointed at my discovery.
“Are we looking at the same thing?” Stuart asked, perplexed. “It’s a well,” he said, pointing out the obvious. “What’s so great about a well?”
“Acoustics,” I told them, hanging over the side. “Come here.”
I gestured for them both to lean over the side with me. They indulged me, leaning over the edge apprehensively.
I was trying to decide what song I wanted to use to demonstrate the sound when a lightbulb went off.
“Do you believe in life after love?” I sang into the abyss and the effect was perfect. My voice echoed around, bouncing off the walls of the well in an eerily beautiful sort of way.“I can feel something inside me saying I really don’t think you’re strong enough, no.”
“Holy shit!” Stuart exclaimed, laughing. “You can fucking sing!”
I thought Lex might laugh or at least crack a smile at the song I’d chosen, but he didn’t say a word. He continued staring at me with the tiniest part between his lips.
His gaze was piercing.
“Great song choice.” Stuart looked over to Lex. “You know my guy here is a big fan.”
“Keep going,” Lex finally said in a low voice.
“More Cher tunes?” I asked lightheartedly, trying to distract from the intensity of his gaze.
“Anything,” he said.
I leaned over, staring into the well for a few moments, thinking about what I should sing next before looking up into those whiskey-colored eyes. Inspiration hit in the span of a single breath.
I chose“The Scientist”by Coldplay.
I closed my eyes through the beginning, trying to focus on remembering the lyrics.When I was about midway through, I opened them to see Lex’s impenetrable gaze was still trained on me. I felt ensnared by those eyes as they burned brightly with an almost overwhelming intensity. I continued to sing the heartbreaking words, unable to look away. We may as well have been the only two people there as the outside world seemed to fade away.
When I finished the last note, I heard clapping coming from behind us, breaking the spell.
“You drew a crowd, Hadley,” Stuart said, looking over his shoulder. “We should have put a cup out to try and get tips.”
“Yeah, we probably could have made a whole three bucks,” I said, walking toward the bay, trying to shake off the odd feeling I was having. I was always comfortable singing in front of people so I don’t know why this time just felt different.
We spent another hour walking along the bayside, checking out the local shops, and admiring the view. Lex didn’t say much the rest of the afternoon or even look my way, really.
I hated that I noticed.
Luckily, Stuart was great at filling the void in the conversation department. He chatted happily, and I chimed in enough to keep the conversation going. I wondered if that’s how they maintained such a great friendship over the years. Their personalities were so different. Complete opposites really, but it seemed to work for them.
We made it back home in the late evening, and I thanked them again for such a great afternoon.
“Let’s do it again,” Stuart said. “You didn’t even get to see half of what The Tech Interactive has to offer.”
“And whose fault is that?” I accused.
“Billy Pham’s.”
I smirked at him and rolled my eyes, but my attention quickly shifted to a tall, bearded man approaching us. He was dressed in dark jeans and a black Henley, the sleeves pushed up to reveal an array of tattoos on his forearms.
He was smiling with his gaze focused on Lex.
Lex turned to see what I was looking at before his face broke out into a wide grin.
“Merrick?” His tone was full of surprise.
“Strovinski!” he responded, laughing as the two embraced. Did the whole town of Stanford know who Lex was?
“What are you doing here?” Lex asked.
“I’m living in San Francisco now. There was talk of some world-renowned neurobiologist who came to work at Stanford. I knew it could only be one person, so I thought I’d look you up,” he said. “What have you been up to, man?”
“Working.”
He shook his head. “Same old Lex.” That’s when he noticed Stuart and I standing there.
“Introduce me to your friends,” he said with his eyes locked on me.
“This is my roommate and coworker, Stuart Benowitz,” Lex said, and they shook hands.
Lex's eyes then turned to me reluctantly. “And this is Hadley Olivier, a music composition professor here at Stanford and our neighbor.”
“Nice to meet you,” I said politely, shaking his hand. He was even taller than I first thought. At least six-foot-four, with dark brown hair and hazel eyes. He was definitely good looking, and he knew it.
“Merrick Callahan,” he introduced himself. “Lex and I grew up together.”
“Is that so?” I grinned mischievously at Lex. “I bet you have some pretty embarrassing stories then.”
“You bet I do. Maybe we can get together sometime, and I’ll tell you about the time Lex found out it was ‘a blessing in disguise’ and not ‘a blessing in the skies’ in front of the whole fifthgrade class.”
Merrick laughed, and Lex rolled his eyes, smiling.
“You have plans, Merrick?” Lex asked. “Can you stay for dinner?”
“I’d love to... Hadley, will you be joining us?” he asked with that confident smile.
“No, I think you two need some time to catch up. Maybe another time. Thanks again, guys,” I said, waving and walking toward my house.
“Later, Betty,” Stuart called after me.
A flush crept its way up my neck when I made it to the foot of my porch. I dared a glance over my shoulder, instinctively knowing what I’d find. Lex’s steady gaze was following me up the steps of my porch, all the way into my home.