When peer pressure pushes Lenny to try out a new dating app, she starts to realize that the past may not always define the future.
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Lenny Harlow wants a lot of things, but a boyfriend isn't...
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"TECHNICALLY, WE CAN SAY THAT the creation of humanity was as a result of a glitch-not that I believe that-but even still, it doesn't help move this forward."
And, that, was Talia's 'not' theory on how our existence came to be. Apparently she believed in creation, the whole thing with the Father of the Son of man, and I did, too, but that didn't hold up in the world of sciencey things in this ever advancing age of technology. And pollution. Better not forget pollution.
"So you mean to tell me that I am here as a result of a glitch in the matri-"
"Shut the hell up and help me figure this out," she whispered ever so harshly at me. I found it oddly endearing. "Even with all of my research, I can't for the life of me understand this concept."
I shrugged. "Maybe we should change our theme. We still have time to work on it." That was an understatement. We had a shit ton of time to work on it. "I was thinking about the wonders of seemingly basic human abilities and thought, hey, that would be really fun to hypothesize about. I kinda shut it down right after I thought about it, because, you know, it's incredibly stupid and will most likely get us the worst grade imaginable."
Talia shuddered, burying her head in her hands. "A failing grade?"
"Something like a W, yeah?"
"I was thinking more of a C." She looked up at me. "What kind of stuff goes through your head? Why would we get a W?!"
I could tell the idea of failing freaked her out as much as the extinction of honey biscuits scared me. "Don't worry about it," I told her, rubbing her shoulder in an attempt to rid her of worry, "we can stick with your implausible idea. Hopefully we get a D."
Talia let out a strangled cry. "Tell me what you have in mind."
While I didn't quite think she'd want to hear my idea, I was really hoping she would. I put a lot of thought into it, and after my meeting with Professor Chantrea, I thought the subject had a lot more ground to base hypotheses on than hers did. The creation theories had long been studied (and theorized). This was a chance to do something perhaps no one else had ever done. And I knew I was giving my ideas way too much credit, but it was my way of hyping myself up.
"Well," I drawled, "you know how these U.S. astronauts go up in space with their fancy rockets under the guise of scientific research? Say that's a valid reason, in this case, what good can we say has come out of this? Like, how does it benefit the rest of Earth's population?"
My questions earned me two blinks. "Wh-wha-what?"
"Do you need me to repeat myself?" I used a lot of hand motions to mime the words. I got the feeling Talia was a bit shaken.
"No." She shook her head. "I just ... How did you ... That doesn't even have anything to do with our course!"
"Of course it does," I fired back. "Sometimes, there are cases involving humans coming in contact with radioactive materials. I personally think that's hogwash, though, but it isn't always. Comets, asteroids, meteors ... they can leave trace amounts of their chemical compositions in the atmosphere, thus invoking odd reactions from those who come in contact. I was thinking, if these so-called astronauts go up in space all the time, how do they not get affected by these things? What do they know? What aren't they telling us?"
