Chapter 22

It's been a couple of weeks since Halley broke up with William. He called her a few days after that fateful day to make up with her but Halley insisted about her decision, telling him that they needed to focus on themselves and how sorry she was for being jealous and hurting him. William was hurt but had no choice but to accept Halley's decision. He wanted to be angry at her but he chose to just let it go and focus on his work.

He was going out to get some dinner when he ran into Erin in the hall.

"Hey Will! We haven't heard from you since that day. How are you doing?" asked Erin.

"Not so good I guess." he said.

"I thought you were gonna give Halley a call or something?" Erin said.

"I did but she's not changing her mind. We're really broken up." William said.

"Oh I'm so sorry Will. I kinda feel responsible." said Erin.

"Don't be. We didn't doing anything wrong except for being drunk and that you know…" he said.

Erin touched his arm. "Hey I told you, that was nothing. We were both drunk and feeling a little crazy when we kissed." she said.

"I guess you're right Erin." said William.

Erin gave her a smile. "It's alright Will. Just keep in mind, Kim and I are here for you." she said.

"Thanks Erin. You're a really good friend." he said. "Listen uh, I'm going out to get something to eat. I'll see you around okay?" he added.

Erin nodded. "No problem Will. Just tell me if you need anything alright?" she said.

"Thanks." said William as he went to the elevator while Erin went into her apartment.

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For the next couple of weeks, William decided to focus himself on his work even though he can't stop thinking of Halley and what could she be doing that very moment. He was in his small office with his thesis adviser working on some calculation for his dissertation.

"William, are you alright?" said Prof. Hensley.

"I'm sorry sir, I guess I'm a little out of it for the past couple of weeks." he said.

"It's not my business what happens in your personal life but I heard that you broke up with your girlfriend back in California. Is this true?" asked his professor.

"Yeah. I was hanging out with these two girls in my apartment, my neighbors actually, when she happen to call me on Skype. She got jealous and accused me of taking their side when I told her that we were not doing anything wrong." said William. "We were just playing a video game on my X-Box." he added.

"She must have thought that you were cheating on her huh?" his professor said.

"Uh huh." William said.

"Well I hope you could straighten it up with her." said Prof. Hensley.

"Thank you sir." William said.

"No problem William. Now what do you say we go back to this bad boy right here?" Prof. Hensley said while pointing at the chalk board.

William nodded as he turned his attention back to the board. "What do you think is it that we're doing wrong?" he asked his adviser.

"I don't know. I mean we've tried everything. We even re-arranged the terms in this equation right here but it still doesn't balance out." said Prof. Hensley.

"Maybe we're doing everything wrong?" said William.

"I don't know." said his professor. "Maybe we better take a break. Aren't you supposed to visit your grandma today?" he asked.

"You're right professor." William said.

"Okay. Say hello to her from me." said professor Hensley, giving his shoulder a light tap. "Don't worry, I'm sure we can figure this one out." he added.

"Thank you sir." William said as he took his backpack and left his office.

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After a couple of hours, William was at Beverly's house, having tea with her and Nancy.

"So, if you don't mind me asking, are you and Halley doing alright now?" asked Beverly.

William sighed. "Let me guess, Sarah told you?" he said.

"She did. I'm sorry if you two broke up." said Beverly.

"Oh my god William, I'm so sorry." Nancy added.

"It's alright I guess. It's my fault anyways." he said. "I should have told her about Erin and Kim instead of Halley finding out about them from Sarah and mom." he added.

"Didn't you explain to her that she had nothing to worry about?" Nancy said.

"I did but then we fought when she accused me of taking their side." he said. "She then said that she needed a break so she could figure this out on her own." said William.

"I'm sorry dear." Beverly said, touching William's hand. "I'm sure you and Halley can figure this out." she said, reassuring her grandson.

"Thanks grandma. I guess you're tired of hearing things like this huh?" he said, giving Beverly a weak smile.

Beverly laughed a little. "Are you kidding me? One of the worst things of being old and sick is I don't get to talk to people and analyze their brains anymore!" she said making William laugh. "All I have is Nancy here but she's too kind for me to play with her." she added as Nancy laughed too.

"I told you to give it a try!" said Nancy.

"Uh believe me Ms. Nancy, you don't want my grandma inside your head. Unless you want to turn out like my dad." said William making the two ladies laugh.

"William, I'm not that person anymore." said Beverly. "Ever since you and your sister was born, you kinda made me realize that I need my family as much as my family needed me. I guess I just forgot what it feels to have a grandchild look up to you, thinking that you're the coolest grandma out there." Beverly added.

"Well at least you got to play with Sarah's head when she was here!" said William making the two women laugh.

"Yeah, that was fun." said Beverly. "Your sister has too much of your mother in her. She's over-confident, always thinking that she could outsmart people around her and even using your father's love to get her way, sometimes exploiting that love way too much, knowing that she's daddy's little princess." she said.

"Yeah, dad may be a genius but when it comes to Sarah, she just exploits dad's love for her way too much." said William making them laugh again.

"Well, Leonard doesn't seem to mind does he?" Nancy asked.

"No. My dad would sometimes yell at her if she does something crazy but when my sister gives him her puppy dog eyes, then my dad just gives in, his defenses in shambles." William added.

"Looks like your dad has his hands full with your mom and sister in California huh?" said Nancy.

"Too bad I'm not there to see it." said William making them laugh out loud.

They continued sharing stories for the rest of the afternoon with William telling them about his work at the university including some of his colleagues and advisers. Beverly insisted that her grandson stayed for dinner as he helped Nancy prepare in the kitchen. He was glad to have spent some time in his grandma's house as it distracted him from thinking about Halley. Weirdly enough, whenever he thought about Halley, somehow he thought about Erin too, especially that drunken kiss they shared after he almost died fixing that sound system. He tried to push the thought of Halley and Erin out of his mind and just focus on his work, hoping that he can figure out why the math doesn't seem to work.

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For the next couple of months, William focused on his work, reading up on recent physics and math journals in order to find out how to tackle the calculations that him and his adviser have been having a hard time solving. One day, he came into the office showing his professor a paper he'd been reading for the past week that might help them overcome their problem. He handed the paper to his professor who was typing on his computer.

"What's this?" asked professor Hensley.

"I've been studying that for a week now. I think it will help us solve our equation." said William while putting his back pack on the side.

Professor Hensley stopped typing and leafed through the paper, adjusting his glasses while studying it's contents. "Hmm, I think you're right Will. Let me guess, you've already done the math right?" he said looking at him.

William smiled at him and nodded.

"Okay, show me!" said the professor.

William turned to the whiteboard, erasing everything on it and began writing the equations that they were trying to solve while the professor looked on, hoping that he is right. Professor Hensley looked at the paper in his hand from time to time, checking if the solution William writing on the board is correct. After almost fifteen minutes, William stopped writing, capping off the board marker and taking a step back, looking at his work. Professor Hensley walked up and stood beside William while looking at the board, scanning the terms line per line.

After almost five minutes of silence, William's professor spoke.

"I think you got it William." said professor Hensley.

"You think so?" asked William.

"I'm trying to find something wrong with it but I can't seem to find it." professor Hensley said.

"Maybe we should sleep on this first and come back to it after a couple of days, maybe something will come up." said William.

"You're right, but if this is what I think it is, you're dissertation is pretty much done!" said professor Hensley, tapping William on his shoulder.

"Thank you sir. I never could have done this without your help." William said.

"Come on William, we both know that this is all on you." professor Hensley said. "I just gave you some advise." he said shaking William's hand.

"Thank you sir. I'm gonna type this up on my computer tonight." said William as he heard his ringtone. He reached for his phone in his pocket and saw Nancy's number on the screen. "Excuse me." he said walking to take the call by the window while professor Hensley sat back on his chair, looking at his computer.

Wi: "Hello Ms. Nancy?"

N: "William!" she yelled as she started to cry.

Wi: "Hey, hey, hey, why are you crying Ms. Nancy?"

N: "William, your grandmother!" she said while continuing to cry.

William froze as soon as he heard Nancy's last words. He didn't know how to react and just stared blankly out of the window as his phone slipped through his fingers, landing on the floor.