Thanks everyone for your comments. I just have to say. Don't worry, I love writing and will continue to do so, but if at any point I feel like I'm close to burning out, I'll let you know and maybe take a break or something (if the time comes).
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Later that day, after going to the movies with Gabe and taking him out for burgers, I dropped him off at his house before driving to the university, where Diane was working on her research.
Even though it was summer, there were still people working at the university, along with a few exchange students who had decided to spend their summer in the dorms.
Following the path I already knew perfectly by that point, I arrived at a large office filled with green chalkboards covered in mathematical formulas, with several desks cluttered with scattered papers without the slightest care, the sight was striking.
Inside, Diane was standing in front of four men, easily five or six times her age, I had already been introduced to them, but beyond a polite greeting, we hadn't spent much time together.
Diane was seriously explaining some equation, occasionally working on one of the boards writing numbers and letters that surely made sense to the five people in the room, but to me could just as well have been in another language. The doctors in front of her, all with their arms crossed, simply nodded every few seconds, occasionally adding something or asking a question.
Watching everything from a window outside the room, I stayed silent, relieved to see Diane seemed happy to continue doing math, even though her face didn't fully show it, I could see it.
Easily a couple of minutes later, Diane's eyes accidentally wandered to the window through which I was watching everything, smiling, I waved at her, making her stop and smile back. Checking a clock in the room, Diane dusted off her hands from the remaining chalk, and even though I couldn't hear what she said, she was obviously reminding the doctors in front of her of the time.
Slowly, surely due to the older age of the mathematicians, the four stood up, shaking Diane's hand one by one, walking toward the exit discussing what they had covered that day.
As they exited the room, one of the mathematicians smiled kindly at me. "Ah young PJ, an extraordinary mind that one, make sure she rests and eats properly," he said, patting my arm before continuing to discuss 'resolution methods' with the rest of the mathematicians.
"I'm on it" I said to the man's back, amused watching how they argued more and more heatedly among themselves, even starting a verbal confrontation with some rather harsh insults.
Tearing my attention away from how funny it was to hear sixty- to seventy-year-old men insult each other while walking two steps every thirty seconds. "Hey" Diane said, smiling softly.
"Extraordinary mind" I said, tilting my head as a greeting, making her chuckle. "Another fun day of discussing impossible math?" I asked, pulling her into a gentle hug, fortunately we were in an area with barely any foot traffic.
"I wouldn't say fun" murmured Diane, pressing her forehead against my chest, "more like... stimulating" she added with some doubt, lifting her head from my chest.
"Wow" I said, pretending to be surprised, "had I known earlier that math 'stimulated' you that much, I would've studied that instead of medicine" I joked, raising my eyebrows.
It was a bad joke, I knew that well myself, but one bad joke a day couldn't be that... well, bad.
Giving a tiny smile while pressing her lips together, Diane clearly noticed my terrible attempt at a dirty joke. "Actually..." she murmured in a whisper, raising her hands behind my neck, gently pulling to bring me down.
Happy with where things were going, I immediately let her pull me by the neck, reaching her height in no time. Ready for the kiss, I closed my eyes, waiting for a couple of seconds without receiving anything.
About to open my eyes, I felt Diane's breath next to my ear. "You don't need math for that" she whispered slowly.
I immediately felt a full shock through my nervous system, making my legs weaken. I wasn't expecting that response from Diane at all.
Straightening up, thinking about protein cycles to calm down, after all, we were in the middle of a hallway at a university where there were still people. "Okay, let's go to your dorm" I said, taking Diane's hand and gently pulling her behind me.
Following another path, which by that point I knew like the back of my hand, we arrived in a couple of minutes at Diane's dorm, a relatively spacious room with a single bed and a desk like the previous one, full of papers with mathematical formulas and notes.
Closing the door behind us, we wasted no time getting to the slightly uncomfortable dorm bed.
Some time later, with Diane resting naked on my chest, slightly sweaty, and even so still with cold hands and feet. "So, do you think she's mad at you?" she asked, squirming slightly under my finger that was tracing her back in small, slow strokes.
After... what had happened, Diane and I started talking about our day, since I had accompanied my family to the airport for Meredith, I had new things to tell her.
"I know she's mad" I replied, sighing softly, after all if there was something I had learned from House it was to observe people. "What I'm not really sure of is why."
Adjusting her body so she could face me. "As I recall Meredith is an important person to you and Teddy, maybe we can figure it out so you can apologize" Diane said, oddly with some excitement shining in her eyes.
Chuckling amused. "Sure" I replied, "but how are you so sure I have to apologize?" I asked, raising an eyebrow, I didn't remember doing anything wrong.
"Maybe you think there's nothing to apologize for and that's part of the problem, but most of the time someone isn't upset without a reason" Diane replied calmly.
Surprised by Diane's sudden deep relationship insight, I stayed silent, letting her continue.
"I read that most men have significant problems recognizing complex social emotions, in fact it's documented that more than half of men in heterosexual relationships mistake silence during a discussion for neutrality instead of anger, making them practically blind to subtle anger."
I stayed completely silent, staring at her surprised. Since our date at the French restaurant, where she had dropped a bunch of data she had read from strange studies, I'd been wondering, where had she read all that?
"In another article it was found that just under eighty percent of avoidable conflicts in early heterosexual relationships arise because the man doesn't correctly identify the moment when an apology is expected" Diane continued, raising her eyebrows. "Fascinating."
"Yes, quite fascinating" I said, nodding slowly.
Settling back onto my body, Diane placed her hands under her chin, looking directly into my eyes. "So I'd like to try a regression method, let's think back to when you were in Boston, I remember you told me about Dr. Grey and her apparent disinterest in her daughter."
During one of our many conversations, I must have told Diane about my second trip to Boston, over Christmas and New Year's.
In fact, now that I thought about it, there were quite a few similarities between Dr. Grey's relationship with Meredith and Diane's with her own mother.
I wondered if Diane saw it too.
Gently brushing a strand of hair from Diane's face. "Yeah well, Meredith stayed with us at the hotel one of those days, invited to a sleepover with Teddy" I said, after a moment remembering the situation. "After that day, she stayed a couple more, her mom had a major surgery scheduled" I added, raising my eyebrows disappointed.
Frowning, as if she were taking notes. "During those days was the atmosphere good?" she asked me seriously.
"Yes" I replied confidently, "Teddy and she would joke with me when we explored Boston, like sisters" I added.
"I see" Diane murmured, nodding slightly, I could feel her chin pressing through her hand on my chest, it didn't hurt at all. "And what about when you got back from Boston?" Diane asked a moment later.
I stayed silent, realization hitting me square in the face, finally a moment later I sighed embarrassed.
"What?" Diane asked, curious.
"I know where I messed up" I replied, clenching my jaw, making Diane's eyebrows rise. "When we got back from Boston, the following days only Teddy was the one I talked to the most" I said slowly, "Teddy and she talked and I only said hi occasionally, with small conversations."
Diane, hearing my words, stayed silent for a moment, apparently processing. "I understand" she finally said a couple of seconds later. "You're afraid Meredith thinks you were ignoring her on purpose."
Surprised by Diane's sudden jump to that conclusion. "Well no, more like I forgot about her" I said, tilting my head slightly.
"Oh," murmured Diane slightly disappointed, "I read it was a pretty common technique to make someone think about you constantly," she said, raising her eyebrows.
What.
Nodding gently, concerned. "Where did you read all this?" I asked her.
Maintaining eye contact, without the slightest hint of embarrassment. "Cosmopolitan," Diane replied immediately.
"Wait, wait, Cosmopolitan?" I asked, incredulous, "you read Cosmopolitan?"
"Yes," Diane replied seriously, "Mandela has a vast collection at her disposal, she lent me the editions from the past five years a while ago," she added carelessly.
I laughed, amused. I couldn't help it, the idea that both House and Mandela shared a strange fascination with a young women's opinion magazine was extremely funny to me.
Sighing softly. "Was that where you read all these relationship articles?" I asked, interested.
"Well of course, it seemed like a statistically rich source of behavioral observations to me," Diane responded obviously, "also, the sex columns are absurdly detailed, completely full of interesting ideas."
"Yeah, I imagine they are," I said amused, "Diane, my love, you know Cosmopolitan is an opinion magazine, right?"
Remaining silent for a second, looking me straight in the eyes. "Does that mean it's false?" she asked worried.
"Not necessarily," I said, smiling gently, "at least not completely, but I'd really doubt the truth of the statistics, if there even are any."
I had really never read any of the magazine's articles, at least not entirely. Thanks to House and the hospital nurses, I had more or less seen the titles of the 'articles', and they were probably interesting as entertainment, but as informative articles... I think there were better options.
Avoiding my gaze, resting her forehead on her hands. "I'm embarrassed," Diane murmured.
Amused. "Don't be," I said immediately, "after all, you helped me understand that I was wrong and that in one way or another I hurt someone important to me," I added, gently lifting Diane's face.
Pursing her lips in a small pout. "I guess you're right," she murmured.
"Besides, I heard Cosmopolitan's sex column was absurdly detailed," I added softly.
"Oh, you have no idea," Diane said. "In the February edition, they had a complete guide to having sex in the shower... divided into ten sections. Ten."
Standing up without any effort, carrying Diane in front of me. "Really?" I asked, raising my eyebrows as I walked slowly toward the bathroom inside the dorm.
Smiling, clearly noticing what I was doing. "Oh yeah, it talked in detail about water temperature, safety, and even the use of non-irritating soaps," she replied, holding on to my neck.
Regretting not having a 'non-irritating soap'. "Interesting," I said, entering the bathroom, closing the door behind me a second later.
Well, maybe next time.
Back at home, that same night after going to the gym, as I had imagined, Baja and Bianca were also staying over, making the dining table completely full.
The noise of the four teenagers even during dinner drowned out any other attempt at conversation, mostly from Gabe, Bob, and me, since Mom did everything she could to be involved in my sister's and her friends' conversation.
"Meredith, can we talk?" I asked, stopping the girl before she entered, again, with the rest of the teenagers into Teddy's room.
Hesitating for a second before nodding, Meredith closed Teddy's room door and walked toward me.
In the middle of the living room, completely alone, Gabe and Bob were in the garage working out, probably waiting for me. Meredith looked at me with interest. "I realized I acted like a jerk to you," I said a second later, surprising the girl.
"What?" she asked, confused.
"I didn't call you all this time," I admitted with a bit of shame. "You're like a little sister to me, and even if I received all the important news from Teddy, I should have called you at least once. But I didn't, and I'm sorry," I continued seriously.
Mouth open, in shock, Meredith looked at me in complete silence for a couple of seconds, then laughed suddenly. "What?" she repeated.
"You're mad with me because we didn't talk much," I said, confused.
Was it possible that I had been completely wrong?
Was there another reason?
"Well yes, we could've talked more, but that has nothing to do with it," Meredith said, shaking her head playfully, "after all, I also had your home phone number."
"That wasn't it?" I asked, surprised, genuinely interested in knowing the reason.
Smiling softly, Meredith shook her head. "It doesn't matter now," she murmured, with a bit of defeat in her voice.
"No, it does matter to me," I said, incredulous, "if it bothers you and it's something I can fix, I want to at least hear it," I added.
Avoiding my gaze, looking at her feet. "Unfortunately, I don't think you can fix it, at least not now," she declared almost whispering. "By the way, Mom said you did something extraordinary again?" she asked, smiling.
Despite the obvious attempt to change the subject, I could see some pain in her eyes. Was it possible that the pressure from her mother was making her feel bad again?
"Is everything okay with your mom?" I asked, with a meaning that both of us understood.
Meredith raised her face, holding my gaze for a moment before smiling faintly, her eyes a little red, seemingly trying to hold back tears.
"Yes... I know I'm extraordinary," she replied with a small laugh, clearly remembering our conversation several months ago in Boston, the first time we met.
"You really are, I know it too," I declared with confidence, smiling.
Relaxing her feelings, which I wasn't sure I should ask about, Meredith nodded slightly. "So, what did you do?" she asked, interested. "I didn't quite understand Mom when she explained it to me, something about the heart?"
"I wrote a paper, which is a research article," I replied, "basically it's a manual for doctors to learn how to prescribe a specific medication to avoid heart problems," I added, summarizing as best I could.
Looking slightly impressed, Meredith nodded. "Sounds hard."
"Oh, I got a lot of help from my girlfriend Diane, she's amazing, you're going to meet her tomorrow," I said, smiling easily.
Thinking that our conversation was clearly going well, that she had clearly forgiven me, I didn't know how to react when I saw the pained expression on her face when she heard my words.
Oh.
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Author Thoughts:
As always, I'm not American, not a doctor, not a fighter, not Magnus Carlsen, not Michael Phelps, not Arsene Lupin, not McLovin, not Elliot, not Capone.
Another chapter has passed, so new thanks are in order. I would like to especially thank:
11332223
RandomPasserby96
Victor_Venegas
I think that's all. As always, if you find any errors, please let me know, and I'll correct them immediately.
Thank you for reading! :D
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