In the Shadows

Chapter 31

(Author's Note: If you would wish to listen to Chapter 31 on audio, please click the videos. Thank you!)

   When we reach the large laboratory building, Chris pulls up next to the sidewalk and shuts off the ignition. I step out of the car and shut the door at the same time I hear the other door closed. I turn around and see Chris standing beside his car.

 "Chris, where do you think you are going?" I ask. Geez, does he want to be around me more? He doesn't have to spend every minute of the day with me. How the hell am I going to achieve any of my ambitions if he stalks me?

  "In the lab..." He says cockily. "You are not the only one who needs to do work."

  Oh, good gosh. This is going to be a long day. 

  We approach the double doors and head inside the halls. Once inside I head to the room where all the coats are and grab two white lab coats along with two safety goggles. I move back into the halls and Chris is right in front of the hallway waiting for me. I hand him the coat and a pair of safety goggles. He grins, and that grin gives me a shiver down my spine. I gasp and look away quickly. 

  I put my coat on when we walk to the main hall, I know his hot gaze is on me and I don't dare look his way. I'm blushing profusely. Damnit! When am I going to stop acting shy around him? I wish I could be like those girls who would take charge and speak up for what they want. Not this shy girl who stays quiet in her own little space and reads her books.

  We finally reach the room with bold black numbers saying, "530" printed on the door and I began to open it. The room has desks and benches in the laboratory. It could only be described as a demode. It's like something out of the 1960s. But all of the modern equipment is state of the art. There are stainless steel centrifuges and PCR machines. There is a huge walk-in refrigerator, a double-door autoclave, computers compact all along the corner of the wall, and two enclosed areas with flow-hoods. The feeling is more of being in a high-tech cave, the size of a stadium, with a silver metallic roof above, and a silver metallic floor below. 

  Everything is silent, even the great machines lay silent. Every step we take echoes around us. But when I thought we were the only ones in here I hear the hum of machinery going off, it was like a soft sound of rhythmic rattling through the air. 

  "Sussianna!" Owen shouts through the noise. He turns off the great machine and comes over to me; he's also wearing a white lab coat.

  "There you are! You're late as usual." He clutches my shoulders and pulls me into a hug. 

   I hug him back and I know Chris is close behind me. Even though I can't see him I know he's right next to me, I can smell his scent.  

  With Owen's hands still wrapped around me, he whispers in my ear. "Honey, who's that gorgeous man giving me a dirty look?"

 I struggle out of his arms and turn to see Chris's blue eyes hooded and cold, his mouth in a hard line, eyeing Owen like a hawk. I roll my eyes at his outrageous behavior. He can't be threatened by Owen. Owen is what you call a "happy guy," he's the gayest man that I ever met. 

  "Owen, this is Chris Suave. Chris is my..." What the hell are we? I still don't know if we are a couple, and I don't think we are even in a relationship, so I just say, "My friend." Chris frowns at my choice of words. I figured to introduce them more, so I continue. "Chris, this is Owen, he's my lab partner and friend. He's also gay," I add. Owen wouldn't care, in fact, he clarifies to everyone he meets that he's gay. He has always said, "Being gay, straight, or BI it doesn't matter, love is love." I have to agree with him that love is love as long as the other person loves you, it's all the same when you have a selfless love.