The Show Must Go On

Chapter Thirty-One: Somebody Else

Chapter Thirty-One Soundtrack: Somebody Else by The 1975

As Doctor Tomas Garcia teaches us about orchids, I stare at my shoes. They're scuffed. Mei elbows me, hard, each time a picture of his travels flashes onto the screen, as though the living, breathing man isn't right in front of us. Behind us, the couple continues loudly kissing.

'Wow, look at that orchid!' Mei loudly whispers. Tomas stutters, then continues. I want to die. I want to kill Mei and then I want to die.

'Well,' Tomas finally says, after I've spent centuries sitting under a squeaky fan eroding into mortified dust. 'That's how we got everything back home.'

I briefly consider applauding and then realise how stupid that is. I sit on my hands instead.

'If you have any questions, I'll be around for the next few hours,' he says with a dazzling smile. As he shuffles some papers and switches off the PowerPoint, I drag Mei out of the presentation room.

'He's around for your questions!' she tells me before the door swings shut behind us. 'He looked right at you.'

'There were literally five people in the room and two of them were tonguing each other. My odds were pretty good.'

'He likes you, Ellie.'

'He's terrified of you, Mei, which is not the same thing at all. "Look at that orchid"? Really?'

She pulls me closer. 'Ellie, I am going to ask you one question now, and I want you to tell me the truth.'

I groan.

'Ellie.'

'Fine.'

'Do you want to fuck Nas? Yes or no?'

I choke on this. Why does everything always come back to this infuriating man? And what does she mean, phrasing the question like that? As if my feelings are anything like that simple.

'What, yes or no, like those are the only options?'

She doesn't relent. 'Yes or no?'

I groan again. Louder. 'Like... not no.'

She laughs but immediately claps her hands over her mouth. 'Sorry. Not helpful. But I knew it! But not right now.' She smirks. 'Gabriel owes me a tenner.'

'Not yes though!'

She ignores this completely. 'Are you planning to fuck Nas?'

'...No.'

'Then you need to get with the hot scientist.'

'That makes no sense.'

'It makes perfect sense. You're horny for Nas but you won't go near him, so you're slowly going crazy. You have to let off some steam. This man knows about flowers. He can show you a good time. It's obvious.'

'Nothing has ever been less obvious than—'

'Shhh!' Her loud shushing only attracts Tomas' attention as he leaves the room. His dark eyes take us in, huddled beneath a tree, whispering like children. He smiles broadly and then, conspicuously, walks a few steps away.

'Don't you want to get over your obsession with Nas?' Mei whispers.

It is this question that finally tips me over the edge. Because she's right. I am obsessed with him. Hate, lust, some deadly cocktail of the two... Something is keeping me awake at night, stopping me from working, creeping silently into every thought I have. Nas is stuck in my head. And it will end in heartbreak because Nas doesn't want me, even when he shoots me those soft sideways looks.