Abby was in her room, she was drinking a cup of coffee and reading Chicken Noodle Soup for the Soul. All of a sudden Erin stormed in crying.

"Oh my god, Erin what's wrong?" She set down the book and put an arm around her shoulder.

"Holtzmann." She managed to say as she wiped the tears with the back of her hand. Abby felt a little uncomfortable.

"What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean, you know how much I like her." Erin bluntly spoke.

"Yeah, look...I'm sorry Erin, sometimes things don't work out..."

"Now she's out hooking up with that Alice girl." Erin covered her face. Abby didn't know what to do but hug her and let her cry.

Holtzmann drove as quick as she could to go and pick up Alice. They made plans to go get burgers that morning.

Alice was sitting on a bench outside the college. When Holtzmann pulled up she perked up and quickly gathered her things. The second she got in the car she could tell something was wrong and her heart skipped a beat.

"Are you ok?"

"I'll explain over lunch."

Alice and Holtzmann sat opposite each other in a corner booth of the burger place. They had both been sitting in silence for a good 5-10 minutes. Holtzmann was quickly drinking down her milkshake and chewing on the straw.

"You can tell me." Alice finally spoke, breaking the silence.

"Erin and I hooked up a couple months ago when we were both drunk and now she's really bitter about you and me." She quickly spoke, going back to chewing her straw the second she was done talking. Alice let it sit for a second and thought about what she had said.

"So you guys weren't..."

"It was a casual thing." Holtzmann cut her off and assured her looking into her eyes. "Look, Alice, when I said that I'd never done this before I meant the whole nice, innocent thing. I've only had sex with people, I've never developed a string of romance with them. I don't want you to judge that."

"Holtzmann I'm not. I've never done anything with another person." Alice lied. There was one boy she had been with. But she wasn't about to tell Holtzmann about it. "I just...I don't want to feel nervous about this...what kind of relationship is this."

"It's different." Holtzmann reached her hand out to take Alice's. "I'm so new to this level of commitment but I'm ready to be exclusive to you."

Alice smiled and took the scientists hand.

"I'd like that a lot." She gave it a gentle squeeze.

"I may mess up a lot. Or maybe I won't be sure what to do, but I'm ready to grow with you...physics has always left me in a state of disarray because I'm very scared of the meaning of life and the notion of us having a purpose because that purpose has never come as clear to me as science has but since I've met you it's felt like I have a better idea of what it all means." Holtzmann turned bright red. She knew she had just word vomited all over the conversation. The only thing that reassured her was how Alice's eyes lit up when she confessed her feelings.