Emeros X

Day 1.3

When the elevator doors opened, all that was in front of her was the dining hall. The entire floor was small, round tables everywhere. Each wall had vending machines, soda fountains or buffet style counters filled with food. Above each counter, there was a sign that said what exactly was being served there, whether it was oriental food or salad. Erin searched around for the plates and silverware and made her way to each of the counters, unable to figure out what she wanted to eat. 

“Too overwhelming for you?” someone said behind her.

Erin turned, seeing Richard holding a tray behind her.

“I uh, there’s a lot of options to choose from.”

“I’ll give you a little tip, Erin. This is a buffet. You can eat however much you want. Here, let me show you.”

Richard picks up a tong and starts stacking eggrolls on one side of his plate, uses the same tong for a few dumplings, and again, the same tong for a pile of lo mein.

“This is just the first course, too,” he smiles, handing Erin the tongs and watching as she takes small amounts of different things until her plate is full.

“Good. Now let’s find a table before this food gets cold.”

They both walk towards a table by the window and sit down. Erin realizes she didn’t get anything to drink, but Richard insists on getting her whatever drink she wanted.

“I have to get up and go there anyway too,” he reasoned.

Erin poked at her food until Richard came back, placing a large cup of soda in front of her.

“Why did you get such a big cup?” she asked. She’d have to use both hands just to pick it up.

“Well, you see, each size cup is a different color over there. You said your favorite color was purple. It just so happens that that cup was purple. Therefore, you are destined to have that cup.”

“On account of it being my favorite color?”

“Yes, exactly.”

Erin shook her head, pulling the cup closer to her and taking a sip.

“It tastes better in a purple cup, doesn’t it?” he asked.

“I don’t even know if I can drink this much.”

“Who cares? They don’t charge you for the soda anyway. You could always take it home if you wanted too.”

Richard continued, pointing everything else out that they could do free of charge. He claimed that they could theoretically get the giant drinking cups and fill them with food to take home if they wanted to, because taxes paid for the food and they only throw it away after each day anyhow. Within an hour, Erin was clutching her sides laughing while Richard was trying to sneak burritos into an empty cup. He had already succeeded in getting an entire cup filled with noodles.

The rest of the day was spent back upstairs. Erin and Richard ate the burritos for dinner, Richard praising himself the entire time for his genius.

“I just enjoy pushing the rules a bit, especially for food,” he laughed, throwing the empty cup into the trash can.

“Maybe we should go back downstairs so they think we haven’t eaten dinner yet. You could get another cup of food for tomorrow.”

“That, Erin, is an absolutely excellent idea. Due to the fact that I have no way to sneak two giant cups out of the building however, I’m going to have to pass.”

Erin realized it was already a quarter till eight by then. They both walked down to the lobby together, waiting outside for their rides.

“So tomorrow then?” Richard asked as Erin got into her mom’s SUV.

“Yea. Tomorrow,” Erin answered, waving at him through the window as her mom started to drive.

“What’s his name?” Erin’s mom asked.

“Richard. Richard Beecher,” Erin answered, checking her phone for any messages. She was surprised she didn’t so much as check it more than once all day.

“Beecher? Hank Beecher’s son?”

Hank Beecher was the CEO of the local manufacturer of Emeros X. He inherited the business from his father, who built the corporation with his father and brother. They lived on the other side of town in a house the size of a mansion. It wasn’t a surprise that their son would have been first in line to have his test analyzed. Erin must’ve just been lucky to be matched with him.

“I suppose so, yea. I hadn’t thought about it.”

“Well, I know that you’ve been matched with him and all dear, but that still doesn’t mean that that boy’s parents are going to be particularly kind to you,” her mom commented as she pulled into the driveway.