Accidental Always

Chapter 4

A few months later, and Ashley was enjoying her time at SFIT. She loved her classes, her lab.

Her lab, was amazing.

She had two tables and a desk, each set up with to to three holoscreens, various mechanical pieces parts, pages of chemical formulas scattered around her desk, and random sheets of metal organized in some cardboard boxes Ashley had stacked in the corner. Okay, so, somewhat of an organized chaos.

But she loved it anyways. Currently, Ashley was working developing a durable and breathable, stress, heat, and water resistant fabric. Combined with plasmic technology she built herself, Ashley hoped to mimic the strength and flexibility of spiders silk, as well as being a nearly indestructible material.

Occasionally, when Ashley would be stuck on a problem with get main project, she also had a sort of....side project she would work on.

Her second project was a biochemical formula, which Ashley hoped would help the body to regenerate new, healthy cells in place of damaged ones. Sometimes she could be working on her projects through the day and long into the night.

Thank goodness for caffeinated beverages, Ashley thought to herself as she walked back to her lab one day.

On one arm she cradled her laptop, examining some encryptions she was running, while in the other hand she had open a book on Advanced Studies of Neuro and Biochemistry. Under her arm, she had a bottle of Dr.Pepper, and a bag of sour gummy bears.

(Yup, she's talented)

Yes, Ashley may have been talented, but at that moment, she wasn't watching where she was going.

"Whoa!"

"Oof!"

Ashley fell forward, dropping everything she wad carrying. She landed on something soft, all her breath rushing out of her. Gasping for air, she pulled a piece of white vinyl off her head.

Her face got real hot, real fast, when she saw not what she had landed on, but whom.

It was a guy with familiar looking chocolate brown eyes, and mussy black hair. And.... Ashley happened to be laying on his chest, his face barely three inches from her own. His face looked kinda red too.

It makes him look cuter, a voice in her head piped up.

Shut up.

"I am so sorry," she apologized, trying to preserve whatever dignity she had left as she climbed off of him. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm okay."

She helped the guy to his knees, trying to place why he looked so familiar to her.

"You never said you were a robotics student!" He said, answering her unspoken question.

That's when Ashley remembered. "Oh! Now I remember! You're the person I asked for directions to the park!"

"Am I that forgettable?" The guy mock gasped, placing a hand on his chest.

"Yup." She answered, not skipping a beat. They looked at either for a few moments before bursting into laughter. The tingle of some unspoken feeling rushed through her.

"Here, let me help you pick up your stuff ---"

Ashley began rapidly replacing the scattered parts and pieces of vinyl back in the boxes. They guy bent over, starting to help.

"So, I never caught your name, when we met you know, before," the guy introduced himself, "but my name's Tadashi."

"I'm Ashley," she stood, holding her stuff under one arm, lifting one of Tadashi's boxes in the other. "And hey, I'm sorry I crashed into you. I need to watch more where I'm going."

"Nah, I probably should've been carrying so much."

The two of them had walked over to his door, where Tadashi punched in the key code to his lab. He pushed against the door, holding it open for her, as Ashley walked in, placing the box carefully on the table.

As she walked in, she saw the metal exoskeleton of what resembled a crude prototype of a robot.

"Hm, what's this you're working on?" She examined the thin bot, interested.

Tadashi set his box down, then proceeded to explain his plans for building a robotic healthcare companion to assist doctors and nurses. It would be a learning type robot, the first of its kind in the medical field.

"Wow," Ashley breathed."That's.... that's just amazing." Then she got an idea. " hey, and I'm finishing a certification course for medical technician, so when you get down to do the coding, let me know. I'd love to help."

"Oh, sure. Definitely. Thank you." Tadashi looked almost speechless. "But---wait a second. I thought you said this is your first year," he said, brows furrowed.

"Oh. Um, well....my high school had a couple extracurricular college courses, and a few of them were sponsored by SFIT. The school just sort of...let me pick up where I left off, I guess."

Ashley unconsciously bit her lip. She didn't very often tell people that. In fact, she had never told anyone that. She hoped Tadashi would think she was just some nerdy genius girl.

"Wow, that's---that's really cool. Reminds me of my brother Hiro."

Ashley blinked. "Um, thanks. Oh, and I believe this is yours?" She held out a SFIT baseball cap. She'd almost forgotten she was holding it.

"Yeah, thanks," Tadashi adjusted the hat on his head, grinning.

"You're welcome." They smiled at each other, lost in thought.

"Well, um, I should probably---"

"Yeah, I have to get this----"

Ashley bit her lip again, this time trying not to laugh. "I uh.....guess I'll be seeing you around, then."

Going back to her lab, Tadashi watched Ashley left, unconscious of the dopy smile on his face.

Hello my dear readers!

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