Hearts Under Ice - CS Patra Page 0,15
bed, grabbed her things, and went downstairs. Her parents were already up and drinking their morning coffee.
“Morning, O.” Her mother greeted her, holding the coffee pot. “Want some?”
“No, I should probably cut back on that.” Olivia shook her head. “I want to have very little for breakfast.”
Her father noticed what she was wearing. “Are you sure you can wear that work?”
“Oh, yeah. In fact, my boss encourages it. He said that the dress code is casual and most people tend to get their nice outfits messy if they’re in the lab,” she explained. “I picked something that wasn’t too shoddy, but casual enough.”
“Wait, you’re working in the lab?” Her mother pushed a plate of toast in front of her. “I thought you said that this was office work.”
“It is. I’m not going to be doing any experiments, Mom. I may just have to walk in and out of it. That’s all.” She explained. “Donnie made me promise not to touch anything.”
“Donnie? You’re already on a first name basis with your boss?” her father asked.
“He insisted I call him that.” She took a bite of toast and tried to ignore their looks. “Calm down, you guys. He’s just my boss. It’s a pretty casual environment. He’s really young, but has a lot of great ideas.”
“Oh, we’re not trying to imply anything!” her mother insisted. “It’s just that this wasn’t the job we thought you had been given. It sounded so simple when you applied for it.”
“Well, it turns we were all wrong. There’s a lot more to it.” Olivia said, ending the conversation by grabbing her purse. “I better get going. I’ll see you guys tonight.”
They said goodbye to her as she left for the day. She knew they were both thinking about her and how invested she was getting into this. It was true that she wasn’t expecting to work in a lab or with a boss like Donnie. She figured that they would cross paths once in a while, but that was it. She had worked only one day, and already he wanted her to call him by his nickname. He didn’t make her uncomfortable, but she felt like he was telling her too much. She wasn’t ready to hear about time travel or unimaginable scientific achievements quite yet. She just wanted to do her work.
A part of her did feel sorry for him. Right before bed, she had read up on his personal life. Donnie’s parents had passed away when he was still a toddler, so he was raised by his uncle. They didn’t have a whole lot while he was growing up, so he had to work hard to get into college. It was difficult, since he was a child genius, yet they could not afford for him to go to fancy preparatory schools. His uncle had saved up the money to send him to MIT, and that, combined with several scholarships, were what got him through his undergraduate and graduate studies. He had his PhD and was working professionally well before most kids his age were out of college. Due to always studying or working, it appeared that he never had time to settle down with anyone. She had also seen some posts where people were making fun of him for being a loner and a nerd. On every online forum regarding Donnie, people overwhelmingly pushed him down. They saw him as a smart guy, but not worthy to be their friend. He was too socially awkward. The more she read about him, the sorrier she felt. She could see why he’d turned to her with his ideas. He had no one else in his life or business that would listen to him.
Once at work, she went to her office and decided to finish eating breakfast. There were more papers to file, as well as a note from Donnie. He had such neat, perfect handwriting. She smoothed it out and began to read.
Olivia,
I’m going to be late today. I was supposed to give you more details about your job, but I’ve spent all night working on my invention. I told Pam to leave you this note and some work. The computer guy should be there around ten, so you will hopefully be up and running then. I should be in by noon. If you have any questions, you can ask Pam or Harvey, who is in the office next to mine. I’ve told him that you’re new and are still learning the ropes. He won’t give