Shoot Your Shot

IX: Sunlight (Dina)

"Dude, not the blue vial, the other one."

"This one?" Jesse asked unhelpfully as Dina shook her head.

"The green one, the vinegar." Dina said as Jesse 'ohed' and grabbed the glass vial beaker, gingerly handing it to Dina as she took it, swiveling on her chair to pour it into the larger beaker.

She tipped it carefully, and the reaction to the liquid was immediate. The liquid surged up, the bubbles nearly eclipsing the glass's capacity as it hissed. Jesse and Dina took notice, and Jesse wrote down the reaction and how long it took to settle down.

"Good call." Jesse said with a smile as Dina adjusted her clear goggles. They never sat right on her face, always tilting one way or the other, no matter how tight she made them.

"Thanks. Now, let's clean and wrap this lab up," Dina said as she grabbed the beaker, dumping its settled contents down the drain. She followed the vinegar mixture with some water and practically ripped off her goggles, Jesse chuckling at this.

"Have your goggles offended you somehow?" Jesse asked as Dina huffed, rubbing the imprinted skin the goggles left behind around her face.

"Yes. They're garbage. I think I'd rather dissolve an eyeball than wear them again."

"That's dramatic, I like you having both eyes."

Dina grabbed her pencil and pulled the stapled packet towards her, paying no mind to Jesse's comment as she flipped it to the after experiment page, skimming it before swiveling on her chair to face Jesse more so the two could better collaborate.

"For question four, how high did you record the mixture bubbled up inside the beaker?"

"About two liters higher than it's neutral state." Jesse responded as Dina jotted it down, crudely drawing a mini diagram of the before and after the vinegar was added. Art had never been her forte and no matter how many times she practiced to attempted she could do no better than a stick figure. Thankfully, as this was a chemistry class she didn't have to pretend to be an artist.

"Nice drawing." Jesse said as Dina shoved him halfheartedly.

"Shut up, it doesn't have to look perfect." Dina said as she registered Jesse's hand land on her lower back. Dina almost didn't perceive it as she looked back up at Jesse with a confused expression as he retracted it.

"Sorry sorry." He said, his ears getting red as Dina brushed it off in favor of finishing the assignment before the class ended. She would mention his impromptu move later.

"You're still coming to the party later right?" Jesse asked after a couple minutes, Dina wrapping up her homework and closing the packet, nodding.

"Hell yeah, should be fun. Hopefully some people don't get as plastered as last year." Dina said with a indicative look, Jesse throwing up his hands.

"I can't help that the Pink Whitney spoke to me Dina."

"See to it that it doesn't. I don't want to lug your ass home like last year."

"I'll be more sober, I have some big event planned."

"Oh yeah?" Dina asked intrigued as Jesse giddily nodded.

"You'll have to wait and see like everyone else though." He said as Dina jeered quietly making him laugh as their instructor came around to collect their lab assignments, giving them a dirty look for talking, to which Dina turned red in embarrassment and looked back down at the table, failing to witness the longing look in her direction.

—

"So, should I start taking bets on how many times Owen is going to text this month?" Mel asked, stabbing her salad with her fork as Dina barked a laugh.