His thoughts drifted inevitably back to the previous day, and he shoved them aside. He knew what Doctor Summers would say about that, but there was no point in confronting his feelings about Sarah when she was gone, probably headed back to New York soon, and engaged to another man. That chapter of his life was closed, and he had to move on.
He looked at the clock again as he played with the leftover bits of sausage and syrup on his plate. He almost wished he had dragged himself out of bed that morning and made it to Biology, if only to have something to focus his thoughts on besides that big, shiny diamond ring. But once it was half an hour away from the start of his second class, he deposited his dishes in the dish bins and headed that way, deciding he had waited long enough to not be unreasonably early.
He was right about the timing. He wasn’t even the first person to arrive, though most of the seats were still empty. His breath stopped for a moment when he realized that he might have to explain to Callie why he wasn’t in Biology that morning, but luck was finally on his side, as Biology had apparently run late that day. She showed up a minute after class began, giving Doctor Bell a sheepish grin as she pulled the door silently closed behind her and tiptoed to her seat.
He could feel her eyeing him throughout the class, and he sighed, trying to come up with a believable excuse for his absence that morning that wouldn’t beg a lot of questions. Sure enough, when the professor dismissed the class, she turned toward him as she put away her things.
“You missed a fun class today,” she began, looking up at him with questioning eyes.
“Oh?” he asked, hoping that would be enough.
“Yeah,” she responded, and for a moment he thought that would be the end of it. “Where were you?”
He suppressed a sigh. “I just wasn’t feeling great this morning, so I decided to sleep in,” he answered quickly, having determined during Doctor Bell’s lecture that that would be the simplest fib.
“Oh.” Her forehead creased in concern. “Well, are we still on for today?”
Jacob stared at her blankly for a moment.
“The project?” she reminded him. “We were supposed to do our observations today, remember?”
“Right,” Jacob recalled, huffing out a breath and rubbing a hand over his sleepy eyes.
Callie’s face fell, and she shrugged. “It’s okay. We can do it another time.”
“No, no,” he quickly objected, grasping onto anything that would keep him from having to spend the rest of the day in his room, alone with his thoughts. “I’m good. Everything’s good,” he gave her a smile that even he almost believed.
She grinned back happily. “Great! So, should we start with the grocery store or the mall?”
“Okay, so I thought we could separate the results into five categories,” Callie prattled on, quickly squaring off a page of her notebook into five sections. “Number one being a group of both men and women where the guy opens the door, number two being a group of both men and women where the woman opens the door, and then we could record the groups of only women and only men, and see if they open the door for their friends. And then maybe a fifth group, where nobody opens the door for anybody else.”
Jacob took a sip of his mocha. They had decided to go to the mall first, after a quick stop at the local drive-up coffee shop. Callie had weaved around the parking lot for a few minutes, waiting for a spot close to the front doors to open up. When one finally did, she snagged it quickly and they settled in for their observations.
In natural Callie-style, she already had everything planned, which was a quality that used to irritate Jacob in his high school project partners. Nobody likes to be paired up with a total dud, but Jacob wasn’t passive enough to enjoy a partner who took control of everything, either. However, after recent events, he was happy enough to sit back and let her do the mental work while he observed shoppers comings and goings, reporting each aloud to Callie as she ticked off tally marks in the appropriate boxes.
After a while of their routine, Callie frowned at her notebook.
“I don’t know if we’re doing this right,” she shook her head. “Is it too broad? Maybe we should only be looking at couples? Like, if there’s one guy and one girl, who will open the door for who? That might be easier than this jumbled mess,” she grimaced, flipping through the pages that now held seven different categories of boxes, two more having been added once it became clear there were more variables than she had originally anticipated.
“Yeah, that sounds good,” Jacob replied, sipping his drink. It’s what he had planned to say, regardless of whatever her suggestion was going to be, but he actually did think it was a better plan. “And maybe a third box, if neither of them opens the door,” he added.
“Well, one of them has to open the door…,” Callie trailed off as she flipped past the used pages and started on a fresh, blank sheet.
“Well, yeah, obviously,” he rolled his eyes. “I mean if they just open the door and walk through, without holding it open for the other person.”
“Oh. Right,” she replied, her cheeks growing pink at the obvious clarification. She sighed. “This is more complicated than I thought it would be. I hate research.”
Jacob chuckled. “It’ll be fine. It’s mostly just for practice, I’m sure. To make sure we understand the process.”
“Yeah, I guess,” Callie muttered, unsatisfied with his attempt at encouragement.
He appraised her rigid shoulders as she squinted at the door, trying to make out the genders of the people walking through. She put another tally on the men’s side of the page and tapped her pen impatiently against her notepad.
“Maybe we should take a break,” he suggested. “Take five and then head to the grocery store.”
She protested at first, but apparently there was a shoe sale going on in one of the mall boutiques. Callie requested they stop in to check out the selection of nursing shoes available.
“There are so many rules about what kind of shoes you have to wear,” she explained, sifting through the boxes on the shelves. “I just want to be prepared for when my volunteer application is accepted.”
“Can I help at all?” Jacob absently paced the aisle while she pulled out some maybes.
“Hey, Callie,” a man’s soft voice spoke from behind them, and they both turned around.
There was a slight, young man lifting his hand in a timid wave. He wore a high-buttoned shirt and a wide smile, holding a pair of white shoes in his other hand and shifting nervously on his feet.
“Tyler, hey!” Callie greeted with a matching grin.
Tyler blushed at her knowing his name, and briefly looked at his feet, pushing up the thick-framed glasses that slid down his nose from the movement. “I see you’re taking advantage of the sale, too,” he lifted up the shoes in his hand.
“Totally,” Callie replied, picking up a pair from one of the boxes she had laid out on the bench to double-check the size. “You know how expensive these nursing shoes can be.”
“Yeah, for sure,” Tyler nodded, glancing back and forth between her and Jacob. “Um… I’m Tyler Bennet,” he announced, extending a slightly sweaty hand to Jacob.