Where Evil Grows

The Internship (part 2)

The next day of the internship went way smoother than before. When Stone had appeared at Ivo's door, Ivo couldn't help but take in his appearence. He couldn't help it, it's what he always felt the need to scrutinize whoever wanted to come inside. You see, it was one of the many idiosyncrasies that Ivo was composed of. He would have loved to not feel the need to do these things, but whatever reason he was unable to quit and he saw no point to stopping them now.

Perhaps this was a good thing, this quirk of his Ivothought to himself as he peered down from the second storey window of his lab to survey Stone. To any potential passersbys he vaguely resembled a gargoyle from atop of the Notre Dame, almost as if he was simply awaiting a chance to fly down with his talons bearing and attack but here he was instead, in human form, scratching his hands tentatively through his black leather gloves. Yes, this was a good thing, Ivo reaffirmed to himself.

If you asked me, the author, to describe the difference between Stone outside Ivo's lab and a small, defenseless puppy stuck inside a plastic bag at the side of a busy road, I would be physically unable to distinguish between the two. Stone and this hypothetical puppy looked so identical, it was quite frightening.

 Stone was swaying on his feet as he kept trying to peek through the peep-hole of the door. On his back was a backpack that looked like it was practically bursting at its seams which Ivo thought looked visually pathetic and unprofessional but he admired how prepared he was even if it did seem a tad excessive.In Stone's hands were two coffee cups and this made him seem like a twelve year old boy scout who's a little too eager to earn his badges.

Finally, after what seemed like a small eternity, Ivo went and welcomed Stone inside. 

"Hey there! I hope you don't mind but I brought some lattes so that we can be energized since we're going to be working hard!" Stone said, extending one of the coffee cups out to Ivo. Ivo took the cup and examined it , rotating it like a miniture carousel in his hand. 

"What..is in this?" Ivo enquired, raising an eyebrow to Stone, who blushed ever so slightly.

"It's a...latte?" Stone responded nervously. He wasn't exactly sure how to respond to the doctor, maybe it was because of the piercing gaze of Ivo or maybe it was the simple fact that Stone thought the doctor was really charming in his black suit and slicked back hair. Whatever it was, it certainly left Stone completely and utterly speechless around him.

"I know that!" Ivo retorted "But what else? There isn't any sodium hypochlorite or anything of that sort mixed into it? No  hallucinogens? No methamphetamines?All that stuff?"

"As far as I know there's only expresso and steamed austrian goat milk in that cup, sir"

"Austrian..what now?"

"Steamed austrian goat milk, sir. It's like milk just with more goats"

"You couldn't have gotten regular milk? "

"Well sir, you see-" 

"Don't tell me, you're allergic? You're allergic to milk, of all things?" Ivo chuckled slightly.

"No! It's not that I'm allergic or anything, I just prefer to make it that way and I guess I just wrongfully assumed you wouldn't be a fucking coward over a bit of milk"

"Alright, alright, alright! Calm down, I suppose it's not too big of a deal about what milk you chose to add to this latte" Ivo replied, finally taking a sip out of the cup.

"You said you made this, latte?" he asked Stone.

"I did indeed" 

"It is quite good, you make a decent cup of  coffee for an intern"

With that Ivo turned around and went back inside motioning for Stone to follow him. Stone was relieved that Ivo wasn't looking at him because he had gotten quite flustered. He felt as if there was a thousand butterflies fluttering around inside his stomach and he didn't really know what else to do other than follow Ivo inside. 

He had spoken with Mabel after his prior encounter with the doctor. She seemed to agree with him that there was something alluring about him however she did say not to try and spark anything between the two, especially given the circumstances. Mabel was pretty insistantant that perhaps he should wait until the internship was over or at least mostly over before suggesting anything that was more than platonic happen between the two.

"Besides" Mabel had said, laying down on one of the library's many bean bags "this dude might not even be gay. He could be totally, completely, one-hundred percent heterosexual and I don't wanna see you go through heart-break by asking him out"

While he didn't want to admit it, Mabel was right. What were the odds of this guy reciprocating his feelings? Probably small. Not even small, he had a teeny-tiny microscopic chance of that happening so his best option was probably to repress his feelings and hope they go away.

"...and that concludes the general tour of my lab. I trust you will remember to follow safety procedures especially around my equipment. I am NOT getting into another lawsuit just because somebody thinks taking shots of hydrochloric acid is fun and cool"

Ivo's words snapped Stone into reality. 

"Uhh...what?" Stone said.

"I don't believe this, you weren't listening to a single thing I said!"

"No, that's..that's not t-true, sir! I was totally listening to that highly important thing you were saying!"

"Is that so? Then what did I just say?"

"You said..well um.. you said some words sir!"

"Listen, I don't tolerate that way of speaking to me and I would appreciate it if you paid attention to what I tell you in this lab because otherwise both of us will go through some unnecessary hassel, did you hear what I said that time?"

"I did sir, yes" 

"That is good to know"

"Would it be too much of incovienience to ask you to go over what you said earlier? Like all the rules and the tour and all that good stuff?" Stone asked cautiously.

"Since it's you, fine, I will. But you better listen to me this time because if you die, it's going to be a bit of an annoyance disposing of your body"

Stone gave a startled look which made Ivo chortle a bit.

"It's a joke, don't worry. Anyway, listen up because I won't repeat myself again."