The Silicon Valley Connection

24 | faith - week 3: the dark side of the moon

Spray paint fumes seep into my disposable mask, and I step outside to take my third break this afternoon from the toxins.

"Faith."

I look up from my book. "Aidan." There are massive dark circles under his eyes. Did he spend all last night coding?

He rolls his eyes and takes a spot to my right on the cement bench. "So, I'm having difficulty with this section of the code that programs the intake. I don't know if it's just my eyes playing tricks on me, but I can't seem to find the error."

I take the laptop from him, and in all but five minutes, I spot the line of code preventing him from compiling the program.

"Here it is. Now don't get mad at me, but you're missing a semicolon here," pointing to line 57.

"No way." He takes his laptop back, scrutinizing the line in question.

Following him to the practice field, he compiles the program and connects the computer to the Xbox controller via USB. I hit the switch on the circuit breaker, powering up the nearly finished robot while Aidan clicked on the green "Enable" button to connect the computer to the roboRio.

He holds down the Y button on the controller; after I preload a keycard in front of the conveyor belt, the rubber, pastel yellow bands take in the game piece with ease and hit the limit switch. The claws automatically clamp around the card, securing it in place.

"Well, I feel stupid," Aidan mutters, disabling the wireless connection and unplugging the computer from the driver's station.

I pat him on the back. "Don't beat yourself up about it. Pesky semicolons get the best of all of us sometimes, especially for those who stay up way too late powering through, line after line."

"But I was on a roll," he whines.

"Until today."

"Didn't even bother to sugarcoat it, did you?" His tongue makes a clicking noise. "I'm never asking you for help again," saturating his words with sarcasm.

I shrug. "Too bad you can't handle the facts."

"Hold the computer for me."

"Why--"

Before I can react, he scoops me up, and I'm in his arms, bridal style. "Let's go help Marc and Hunter finish painting and assembling the flywheel superstructure before you can get any other witty remarks."

Sore loser.

Faith: 6, Aidan: 10

—————

The victorious chanting and applause drown out the increasing pounding of my heartbeat in my ears when I spot Aidan's father and Reid after I come up to the pool's surface and pull off my swim goggles. At least they don't seem to know each other, nor do they recognize me due to my wild curls covering my face. They're just two people who happened to get seats side-by-side...in the second row.

Of course, I happened to be in the lane closest to the bleachers for this meet.

Breathe Faith. In... Out... In... Out...

This isn't working.

Wait a minute. Why is Reid here? This is a closed meet for students, faculty, and family/friends only, but then it hits me.

He told the student athletic assistant that we were dating.

I search frantically for Riley, but he appears to be nowhere in sight. Just when I'm about to bolt out of the natatorium, I find him casually leaning against the archway next to Aidan, whose crisp dress shirt tucked under a crewneck and slim grey slacks very much hug his muscles in all the right places.