Title: Good Enough
Chapter 2
"Hey Greggo."
Greg glances up at me from whatever he's doing. "Hey Nick!" he says, cheerfully.
"Busy?" I ask. Greg's usually up to his eyeballs in work.
Grinning, he holds up a folded piece of notebook paper. "Perfecting my origami skills."
"Greg," I laugh. "That's not gonna help you get out in the field."
"You never know." He leans forward, so close I can feel his breath on my face. "Have you brought me some goodies?"
Trying my best to ignore the flush that's starting to spread across my cheeks, I hold up two bags. "This one is a sample from the kid we're working on. And this is a soda bottle we found at the scene. We need you to test it for DNA and contaminants. How soon can you get it done?"
"Always rushing," Greg says, shaking his head. "But for you," he points. "I'll start right now."
I swear, sometimes I think the guy is flirting with me. I should stop kidding myself.
"Nick?"
"Yeah, Greg?"
"If I'm going to dazzle you with my magic, you have to give me the evidence."
I look at my hands, both still clutching the evidence bags. "Sorry, man. Spaced out on you."
Frowning, Greg asks, "Want to talk about it?"
"No," I say, a little too quickly, as I turn and walk out of the lab. "I'll catch you later."
The last person in the world I want to talk to about my problems is Greg, considering Greg is Problem #1 on my list of troubles.
Greg and I are close friends, the closest. We hung out a lot until a couple months ago. At that point, I realized I felt something other than friendship for Greg. I mean, I knew I was attracted to him. I've known that for a while, and it's not like I've never been attracted to another guy before. That's been happening to me for years. Attracted I can handle. I always do. But these feelings… They're so intense. And to be honest, they're freaking me out.
I can't imagine Greg feeling the same way about me. But even if, but some fantastic stretch of the imagination, he did, I couldn't act on it. Both my parents would have strokes. And then there are my co-workers and associates to think about. I can just imagine telling somebody like Jim Brass that I'm trading Valentines with another guy, and co-worker, no less.
Tugging my bottom lip, I chance a look over my shoulder. Greg is leaning against the counter, still staring at me. He doesn't have a clue what's going on. He probably thinks I'm mad at him or something. I feel like a jerk for hurting him, but I just couldn't bear to see the look on his face if he ever realizes what's going on inside my head.
After grabbing some lunch from the deli, I walk into the lounge and plunk myself down at the table. "Hey, Sara," I say wearily. Reaching into the bag, I pull out a sandwich.
Sara looks up at me from her newspaper, and then tosses the paper onto the table. "Hey, Nick," she says, peering at my lunch. "Tuna salad?"
I nod. "Yeah. And coleslaw and two chocolate chip cookies. Want some?"
"I'll take a cookie."
Sliding a cookie over to Sara, I say, "So what's up with the kid?"
"Well, his next door neighbor says he had a visitor right after Mom and Dad left."
"Yeah? So what, the visitor forced Kincaid to swallow a bottle of sleeping pills?"
She shrugs. "You're assuming that's what killed him." Crossing her arms, Sara gazes intently at me. She looks like she's about to scold me for something. "So," she says. "You were late."
I take a drink of cola. "Sara, I've been over this with Grissom."
"Was it really an accident?"
My life is an accident, I think.
"Yeah, Sara," I say, letting out a breath. "I ran into an accident on the highway, and the batteries in my cell were dead, so I couldn't call." Of course, I was late to a scene last week, too. I didn't have a good excuse for that one, and Sara knows it.
"Calm down," she says, her voice a little softer. "I was just asking."
I rub my eyes. "Sorry," I say. "I'm a little sleep-deprived right now."
I don't know what's been wrong with me lately. I can't seem to snap out of this…whatever it is. I can't blame it all on the situation with Greg. Even though Greg is Problem # 1, he's followed by a whole laundry list of stuff. If I don't get a handle on my personal life pretty soon, I'm going to wind up in Grissom's office explaining my lack of responsible behavior.
"Well," Sara says. "Just be careful. We're both up for promotions. You don't want to wind up on Grissom's list."
I shrug. "Probably already on it. I can't seem to do much of anything right as far as Grissom is concerned."
She narrows her eyes. "Just keep cool around him."
"Like you?" I half-smile. Sara has her own issues with Grissom.
She gazes at me. "Do as I say. Not as I do."