"He's got infinite possibilities
I can see them now
It's the unbroken chains of his past by which he's bound
He's got infinite possibilities
I can feel them now
If he chooses well, then nothing can tear him down

Peace of mind
Is not easy for him to find
And he's walkin' a thinner line
In a place where another man is keeping his time
Though he's young
He's not like everyone
He sees what he's become
And he'd rather be standing in the sun…"

Amel Larrieux – "Infinite Possibilities"

Erik ended up staying longer than he thought he would. He even enjoyed himself. Maria and Valentina stuck with him and he found that he had a lot more in common with them than he first suspected. Any trepidation he had with Maria being on his team disappeared. She was sharp as a tack. And thoughtful. Her detail-oriented personality let him know that she was there to put in work. He was glad he hung out with her. Curtis showed up and Erik was happy not to be the only Black guy present.

Valentina, on the other hand, was something else. She was determined to be in the final ten Stark chose at the end of the three months. Erik believed she would be. While Maria was detail-oriented, Valentina leaned toward the big picture. She had a visionary mind. She discussed problems with the current state of biometrics and they fell in line with Erik's concerns on the use of it in marginalized communities. They spent the rest of the evening drinking more beer and sharing their interview stories.

Erik kept his eye on Giselle, but she didn't talk to him very much. She was on a mission to network. He didn't see her drink anything while she was there. She did stick around Roland and he noticed several times that her arm candy kept touching her hand or the small of her back when they moved around the pool together. So that's what was up with her. Erik tried to figure out what he lacked to get her attention. His age? His color? His coarse edge? Maybe he came off too stand-offish. He had enough alcohol in his system to smooth his rough edges, or at least he felt that way. He was laughing a lot and going out of his way to meet new people now. Each time he tried to get next to her, she was off to the next group of interns and he finally gave up.

Things were going well until Wesley decided to pick at Erik again. Someone had brought a cooler filled with artisanal beers, and Erik was reaching for a cider ale when Wesley and two other male interns surrounded him.

Erik popped open his ale and took a sip trying to figure out where things were headed.

"Guess you'll be lunching with Stark a lot more?" Wesley asked.

"Nah," Erik said, still sizing up the situation.

"We heard you complained to Stark and got some good people kicked out."

"You heard wrong," Erik said, feeling his jawline tighten.

"No, we heard right. One of the people whose life you ruined is a good friend of mine. Not cool."

"I ain't do shit," Erik said stepping closer to Wesley.

"One phone call to my Dad and this is the end of the road for you homie."

Wesley's two buddies snickered.

Erik rolled his neck. It was always some stupid white boy who insisted on testing Erik when all he wanted to do was work his thing in peace. It was like that during high school, Annapolis, and now at Stark Industries. As his Grandpop always said, ofays stayed irritating Black folks for no reason. Just cause. Erik studied Wesley and his pals. Were they bored? Jealous? Pissed that their friends had faced consequences for the first time? Consequences dealt out by a powerful white man they thought was on their side? Erik's father was always the diplomat in their family, but he had too much of his Mama in him to go that route tonight. Wesley moved in closer and Erik saw the man's finger come up to shove him in his chest. Before that pissy white finger touched him, Erik cold-cocked Wesley in the face with his right fist and the crowd watched him fall back into the pool. Out cold.

"He's knocked out!"

The scream came from Wesley's friend and Erik laughed at him because his voice sounded so shrill and cartoonish. The other friend jumped into the pool to save Wesley from drowning. Erik sipped his ale and walked over to the jacuzzi.

There was a frenzy of people scrambling to help Wesley, and Erik watched the man's lax body revive once he was dragged out of the deep end of the pool. He looked punch drunk and confused as to how he came to be in the water.

Valentina gave out a husky drunken laugh next to Erik in the jacuzzi while Maria watched the drama with a hand over her mouth. He watched Giselle shake her head at Wesley and when her eyes met Erik's for one of the rare times she looked at him all night, she threw up her hands as if to say "What the fuck?"

He waved for her to come to the jacuzzi, but she followed Roland out of the pool area as he helped assist Wesley to his apartment.

"What a prick," Valentina said. She tipped her bottle of beer to clink with Erik's New England pale ale.

"You think he's okay?" Maria asked.

"Fuck him," Erik said. He wasn't sure, but he felt like he had slurred his words. He had a good buzz but didn't think he was that drunk.

"You hit him so hard," she said.

"Knocked him out of his flip flops," Curtis said jumping into the jacuzzi and handing Erik a fresh ale. They all started laughing when they saw Wesley's flip flops lying by the side of the pool. No one bothered to pick them up for him.

"You sent that fool flying!" Curtis yelped.

"They stay testing," Erik said.

"Betcha he won't do that again," Curtis said.

They sat in the jacuzzi until one by one and in groups of twos and threes people departed. The shindig ended. In the final count, Erik and Maria were the only ones left. It was past ten.

"Despite Wesley, today was a good day," Maria said. She sat up out of the jacuzzi to cool down. Her ink-black hair was slicked back and it gave her face a sophisticated look. She really was cute. Sexy cute. Good girl possible freak-nasty cute. The ale was really making him wavy now. Maria went from annoying to a mini snack in four hours. He must've been really feeling his buzz. Bone deep at that point.

"You feel more confident?" he asked.

"Yes, I am. Valentina is hella cool—"

"Please, don't try to talk like me—"

"Okay, Pa—"

"That's not how that works. Just stop."

She kicked water at him and he grabbed her foot and pushed her back. She laughed and pulled her foot away.

"I think we have a good team," she said. She drank from her bottle of beer.

"I agree."

"You think there will be blowback from Wesley?"

"Nah. We've all been drinking. Letting out steam. He'll get over it."

"I'm surprised Giselle didn't hang out with us."

"She's all up in Roland's ass."

"He is gorgeous—"

"Every tall blonde ain't gorgeous—"

"I beg to differ."

"Keep begging then."

She kicked water at him again.

"You want to get punched too?" he teased.

"You would hit a girl?"

"Whatchu think?"

"Yeah, you would."

"I mean if she had it coming…I mean really had it coming—"

"Are you serious?"

He rolled his eyes. She looked over his shoulder.

"Wesley's flip flops are still there!" she said.

They both belly-laughed until they had cramps in their stomachs. It took a few moments in their drunken stupor to stop having giggle fits over a pair of orphaned plastic sandals.

"I saw that dude Holden talking to you. Looks like you two were hitting it off."

Maria's face grew bashful.

"Uh oh, a love connection," Erik said grinning at her.

"I don't know…maybe…"

"He likes you, right?"

"Yeah. I like him too. He's smart and funny and he loves Attack on Titan just as much as I do…"

Her voice faded and she took another drink from her beer.

"So…w'sup?" he asked. His skin felt too hot and he lifted up to sit on the top step of the jacuzzi.

Her eyes dropped down and she put her beer bottle down.
"Maria?"

"Don't laugh okay?"

"Laugh at what?"

"I don't want you giving me weird looks—"

He kicked water her way.

"Spit it out, girl. Before I fall asleep."

The water made him drowsy. He was ready to head back to the apartment.

"This is the beer talking because I am very drunk right now, but I'm twenty-one and I'm still a virgin. I haven't even kissed a guy. Ever."

Erik stared at her for a long while. Maria closed her eyes and waited for him to say something. When he didn't, she opened her eyes back up and stared at him.

"Well?" she said, her voice shy.

"Well, what?"

"Go ahead and make fun of me. I can see it in your eyes."

"I don't know what you think you see in my eyes, but I'm not going to make fun of you. You're a virgin. Never kissed a guy…so what?"

"C'mon dude—"

"C'mon what?"

"No guy wants to be with someone who doesn't know what they're doing. That's not sexy—"

"Actually, it kinda is. There are still dudes who want to be the first to hit it…and quit it—"

Maria rolled her eyes and folded her hands across her chest, her breath huffy, and her face looking disappointed in his answer.

"I'm playing, girl. Ain't nothing wrong with not having experience. If y'all like each other, that's all that matters."

"He was holding my hand when we were sitting over by the pool chairs, and he leaned over to kiss me and I froze up. I started drinking my beer and the moment was lost. My first kiss and I blew it because I was so nervous to do it. And that was just a kiss."

"It ain't like you have to jump in bed with dude. Take your time. You got yourself all worked up for nothing."

"Easy for you to say. You have experience."

"How you know that? I could be a virgin and unkissed too. You don't know—"

"With those lips and that body?"

He laughed.

"See!" she said.

He laughed harder and her face fell.

"Okay…okay…I'm sorry for laughing at you. You just look so crestfallen and I promise you it's not that serious."

He slipped down into the jacuzzi and waded over to her. Her face was still twisted up in a hard grimace. He stood in front of her and pushed her thighs open, pulling her hips closer to the edge of the jacuzzi. Her eyes widened and he saw her chest quicken with extra deep breaths as she gazed up at his face.

"It's simple," he said cradling the back of her neck, "just put your lips on him like this."

He pressed his full lips into her soft mouth and let it linger a moment. He felt her trembling and when he released her, her eyes were still closed.

"See? There you have it. Your very first kiss," he said.

His eyes caught movement in his periphery.

Shit.

"Giselle!" he called out watching the one person he wanted to spend time with walk away from him with quick steps out of the pool gate.

He turned to look back at Maria.

"Erik, I don't feel—"

A stream of vomit flew from Maria's mouth onto his chest and into the jacuzzi.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

"Giselle! I need help!" he called out.