Love Letters To Nobody - 3. Chapter 3

The clunk of plastic and metal hummed across the wooden lab bench. The beakers and conical flasks trembled, threatening to topple their contents. Eyes zeroed in on the source of the unnerving sound as I picked up my phone and muted it.

Hi

I barely caught a glance of the message before the screen blacked over. I stowed the treacherous device into my pocket before going back to the task at hand. I decided that there would only be one experiment allowed to occupy my thoughts in that moment.

The colours of the room assaulted me as I lifted the scratched and age-tinted goggles and placed them on the shelf. I shrugged off the white coat, well-worn and spotted with remnants of experiments that would unlikely ever wash off.

I withdrew my cell phone to check the time. Scrolling through my schedule, the blinking blue light reminded me of my lingering notification. I drew up the text page and stared at the mistake I made in the loneliest hours of the morning.

Hey.

Hi

I berated my weak alter ego who clearly lacked self-restraint as I deliberated the words that would absolve me of this situation. When I looked at the screen again, another line appeared.

Wanna get coffee? I’ll be at the same place from 3 to 5pm. Just swing by whenever.

My fingers hovered over the keyboard as I digested the words. I chewed on them very slowly in my mind, tumbling over them, but the single thought that occupied my mental capacity was,

Oh god, he’s a smiley kind of guy.