All I Want for Christmas is a Ph.D.

November 30th

Thanksgiving came and went, yet Erik and DeeDee stayed in touch as much as possible. DeeDee was focused on wrapping up the semester and preparing for a new life outside of the classroom. While Erik was completely emerged in the current expansion project and meeting end of the year deadlines.

It was always a great time whenever they could find the time to talk with one another. Erik continued to relentlessly flirt with a not-so-innocent DeeDee who gave just as good as she got.

The more Erik got to know about her, the more he was certain of his growing feelings towards her. He only hoped that she reciprocated them and on the same level.

He decided to take Monday off since he had been working over the weekend and wanted to make himself available to talk to DeeDee. It had been about two days since they spoke and he missed her, which felt normal to him these days.

Prince Erik: Good morning Miss DeeDee.

DeeDee 💜: Good afternoon Mr. Erik.

Prince Erik: I wanted to know if you might have time to talk this evening.

DeeDee 💜: Yes, I do since I am not working tonight. Just call me when you are available.

Prince Erik: Great. I'll talk to you later. Have a wonderful day.

DeeDee 💜: I look forward to it. Thank you, and same to you.

DeeDee smiled as she put her phone away and adjusted herself on the stool. She was in one of Dr. O's Organic Chemistry classes, helping out with the day's lab. She waved bye as the students walked past her and left their lab reports on the back counter. Without fail, Brandon stopped in front of her, dangling his paper.

"So, when are you gonna let me take you out Miss DeeDee?"

DeeDee cringed and tried to keep the pleasant smile on her face. She had gotten so used to Erik calling her that, and hearing someone else address her by that name gave her pause. She grabbed paper and put it on the growing pile.

"We've been over this, Brandon. I'm not interested."

"Why not? Look at me." He splayed his hands out, presenting himself to her. "I am a great catch."

DeeDee rubbed her temples. She hated coming to this class for this reason. Brandon was the little brother of one of the students in her doctoral cohort. They all started their journey together and unfortunately, she gained his attention after a late night study group session.

"I'm not doing this today. Thank you for turning in your lab report."

"You know I'm not gonna stop until you say yes, right?"

"I wish you would stop because I hate to break it to you, but you will be waiting indefinitely. It's not happening."

"Why not? We all know you aren't dating anyone."

"Excuse me? How is that any of your business?" DeeDee whisper-yelled to him; she grabbed her backpack and headed to the front of the room. "Dr. O. I'll see you later. I need to go."

Brandon rushed out after her. "Hey, Hey. Wait a second, I didn't mean to offend you or anything, DeeDee."

"Brandon, please leave me alone."

"DeeDee -"

A phone started to ring.

She reached for her cell from her back pocket. Grateful for the interruption, she immediately answered, "Hello."

"Hello Miss DeeDee."

"Erik," She swooned. "What a pleasant surprise."

"You knew I was gonna call."

"Yeah, but not this early. Can you hold for just a moment?" DeeDee barely covered the phone when she turned her attention back to Brandon, "We are done here."

"But Miss DeeDee -"

"Please do not call me that." She snapped at him.

"My bad. Look DeeDee, maybe we got off on the wrong foot here."

"No, we did not. You just won't accept no for an answer, and that's very disrespectful to me."

Brandon opened his mouth to speak when Dr. O walked by and looked between the two of them.

"Everything good here?" No one said anything or moved. Dr. O sighed, "Brandon, what did I tell you about hitting on my GAs? No one comes to my class anymore because of you."

Brandon stared at the ground while DeeDee stood with her phone in her hand.

"I gotta go. You two have a good day."

"Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow for our weekly, DeeDee." Dr. O glanced at Brandon, "Follow me to my office, we need to talk. NOW."

DeeDee ran-walked down the hall and out onto the patio of the lab building.

"Erik?" She spoke into the phone, "You still there?"

"I am. Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm good. Sorry, you had to hear that."

"You have nothing to apologize for. I'm definitely glad I called when I did. Sounds like you needed the distraction."

"I did, I do. Thank you," she rambled.

"Hey, why don't you find a place to sit and we can just chill until you are ready to go."

"I'm outside of the Engineering building now."

"Do they still have those benches in the corner near the wall?"

"They do. That's actually my favorite place to chill when I am here."

"Then let's go have a seat."

DeeDee walked over to the bench and put her backpack on the wall. She sat against her backpack and pulled her legs up and crossed them.

"You settled?"

"Yeah."

"I want to share something with you. And then whenever you are ready to talk, just let me know."

"Ok."

"So, remember the program I was telling you about, where we would be working with grad students from nearby schools?"

"Yeah, your mentorship program for students in advanced science classes."

"That's the one. We received notice today that 3 local universities accepted the offers to work with us."

"Erik, that's great news! I am so happy for you and the Center." DeeDee yelled into the phone and then pulled away. "Oh, I'm so sorry."

"No, no it's ok. Your excitement matched mine when I first heard the news." Erik told her. "It was a great way to start my day. I mean, outside of knowing that I would talk to you."

"Awwww, you are just saying that." DeeDee said and bit her lip, but the smile came through anyway.

"Why don't you believe me when I say that?"

"It's not that I don't believe you. I am just not used to hearing that."

"Uh huh. This coming from the woman who has students chasing after her."

"First of all, Brandon, is a whole entire mess." DeeDee rolled her eyes and laughed, "And he doesn't count."

"Okay, if you say so." He paused. "But, is it ok for me to still call you Miss DeeDee?"

"Shut up! You are the reason, I don't want to hear him call me that anymore."

"Is that so?"

"Yes, it is." DeeDee jumped up from the bench, "Care to keep me company, while I head home?"

"Do you really have to ask?"

"I didn't want to impose, Mr. Erik."

"Trust me. You will never have that problem, Miss DeeDee."