2. Clair #2
Clair stepped inside, expecting the lab to look exactly like it had the day before.
Instead, to her surprise, exactly half of the lab had been cleared, as per Commander Sylvan’s instructions.
The right side of the room was bare and clean—a long rectangular lab table and several shelves were empty for her use.
But before Clair could open her mouth to thank him courteously for making room for her, something else caught her eye.
Running directly down the middle of the white tile lab floor was a thick black piece of tape.
It divided the room exactly in half, Clair saw.
And when she followed it with her eyes, she saw there was a white board placed at the very end of the lab.
On the board, written in heavy black letters, were three rules.
Stay on your side of the lab—ALWAYS.
No talking when I am working.
Do NOT touch any of my equipment.
Clair stared in growing irritation at the rules and then glared at her new lab-mate.
“Are you serious with these?” she demanded. “You’re really going to be this petty?”
Kaelus frowned at her.
“I do not know what you mean by ‘petty.’ This is simply my way of making sure my lab continues to run in an orderly fashion.”
Clair took a deep breath, intending to tell him off…
but then she paused and thought. What good would it do to start a fight with the guy she had to share a lab with on her first day of work at her new job?
Of course, she could get Commander Sylvan involved, but that made it look like she couldn’t fight her own battles and also made her a problem immediately.
If Kaelus had groped her or started spewing sexist remarks, that would have been different.
But he was just being rude and boorish—that she could handle on her own.
So she decided to take a different tactic with him.
“Okay, sweetie-pie—your lab, your rules,” she said breezily and stepped right past him.
“Excuse me? What did you call me?” Kaelus demanded, following her into the lab. He stayed exclusively on his side of the line, Clair noticed.
“What? Sweetie-pie?” She looked up at him with wide, innocent eyes. “Oh, that’s just a term of affection, big fella. Don’t you worry about it.”
“I do worry about it. I dislike being called names that are not my own,” he growled.
“Sorry about that, big guy,” Clair said. Giving him her sweetest smile, she added, “I can’t help noticing what a good job you did cleaning up my half of the lab. Did you do that all yourself?”
“Of course I did.” Kaelus seemed to be squarely on the back foot by now. “Who else would I get to clean my lab?”
Clair was somewhat surprised—no human man she knew would have cleaned up on their own if they could get someone else to do it for them. But she wasn’t about to tell her grumpy new lab-partner that.
“Well, that was a real big-boy thing to do,” she remarked, smiling brightly at him. “And I really appreciate you being so sweet and welcoming me in like this.”
“But…I have not welcomed you at all!” Kaelus exclaimed.
“Sure you did! Moving all your equipment to make room for me and making sure everything was clean and shiny—I can’t think of a better welcome than that, sugar-booger.”
Though she normally tried to suppress it to sound more professional, Clair really let her Southern accent out as she smiled sweetly up at him.
“Sugar-what?” he demanded, but she was already unpacking the large satchel she’d brought with her, laying out her files of research, a fresh coffee cup, and several small succulents in terra-cotta pots in haphazard fashion all over the clean white lab table.
Kaelus stared at her scattered possessions in horror.
“Is this how you work? With everything everywhere?” he demanded.
“I have my system. Don’t you worry your sweet little head about it, honey,” she told him. “Now let me see—where’s the best place for my coffee station? What about there?”
She pointed to a clear section of the counter right beside the sink at the back of the room. Only half of the area she was intending to claim was on her side of the room, but she wasn’t going to let that stop her.
“That area is designated for hygiene!” Kaelus sounded affronted.
“A coffee maker isn’t unhygienic,” Clair told him. “So that should work just fine. And let me see—where can I put my mini-fridge?”
“Why do you need a cold-unit?” he asked warily.
“Why, to store plant samples in, of course,” she told him.
“Oh and coffee creamer. I just can’t stand people who only take their coffee black.
I mean, what’s the point of making yourself miserable?
I like that saying—‘you want a little coffee with your cream?’ Because that’s how I take my coffee—plenty of cream and plenty of sugar. ”
She kept up a running commentary as she moved her equipment into the lab and Kaelus watched her with a look of growing confusion and alarm as she took over her half of the room—and some of his half too.
“You cannot put that there—it’s on my half of the room!” he protested, when she placed a centrifuge on an area of unused countertop.
“Well then, you can use it too, if you want, honey-bun.” Clair gave him her sweetest smile. “I don’t mind sharing.”
He didn’t seem to know what to say to that and said little else until she was all moved in and had brewed her first cup of coffee.
As the brown liquid ran into her cup, his nostrils wrinkled, and he frowned.
“What is that strange aroma?”
“Haven’t you ever smelled coffee before?” Clair raised her eyebrows at him.
“No.” He frowned. “It is a human drink and I generally try to have nothing to do with humans.”
“Bless your heart—that would be an offensive statement if I was easily offended,” Clair told him. “Good thing for you, I’ve got thick skin.”
His golden eyes raked over her and his frown deepened.
“Your skin does not appear any thicker than any other human I’ve ever seen,” he pointed out.
“Oh, it’s just a saying. Like ‘I’m rubber and you’re glue. Whatever you say bounces off me and sticks to you.’ Or, ‘Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me,’” Clair told him.
He shook his head, looking even more confused.
“I do not understand.”
“Don’t worry, darlin’—I don’t expect you to,” Clair told him. “Now how about I make you your very own cup of coffee and we can get down to work?”
He shook his head.
“I do not wish to drink your human drink.”
“I’ll make you a cup anyway because that’s the friendly thing to do and I’m nothing if not friendly.”
Clair winked at him and set about making him a steaming cup. She added sugar and creamer and then crossed to his side of the lab to hold it right under his nose.
Kaelus inhaled deeply. For a moment, a look of interest crossed his face…then he frowned and shook his head.
“No, I do not want it.”
Clair lifted her eyebrows.
“So you’re not even going to try it? Are you naturally rude or do you really have to work at it?”
He frowned.
“I am not being ‘rude!’ Fine—I will taste it just this once.”
“Good.” Clair handed him the cup and he took a careful sip of the steaming liquid.
His eyebrows lifted in apparent surprise.
“Oh—it’s bitter and sweet at the same time!”
“Yup, that’s coffee for you.” Clair winked at him and crossed back to her own side of the lab. “You’re welcome, sugar,” she told him. “Now maybe we can get down to work.”