Cosima was fuming.
Leekie? Aldous Leekie? Her parents were going to make her attend a party with Aldous Leekie and not let her insult him? She hated him with a burning passion – and they knew that! What was worse is that they hated him too, and here they were, sucking up to him and going to parties like they were friends or something? Just because her mother happened to work for the same company that funded Leekie didn't mean that she should have to go to parties with him!
Except it did. Cosima sighed and paused to look around. She was at least a few miles away from where Scott lived and was dead tired, but she didn't want to call him and have him pick her up. Besides, the fresh air would be good for her, right?
Wrong. By the time she had reached Scott's neighbourhood she was just about ready to drop dead. Her legs were burning and the aspirin that Delphine had started to wear off, meaning that her headache was coming back. To top all of that off, her arm had started to break out into a full-blown rash – andshe was cold. She was really, really cold. She was seriously rethinking not grabbing a sweater or something before leaving the house.
At any rate, it was too late to go back now. Scott would be expecting her any minute and he'd kill her if she were any later than she already was. By the time she reached his house and approached his door, she was thankful not to have to knock. Scott pulled the door open, a disapproving frown on his face.
"Cos."
"Shit, dude, I'm so sorry-"
He rolled his eyes. "Just get in here already."
Cosima frowned. Scott wasn't usually this moody, was he? "Scott, what happened?"
He waved his hands like it was nothing.
"Dude, what's wrong?"
"Nothing, nothing happened."
Cosima turned her head to the side. "Bullshit."
"No, no, it's just..."
"What?"
Scott stared down at his hands. "I just… well, uh…." He scratched at his head. "I'm moving. So now I don't get to finish the school year here."
"Wait, really?"
Scott nodded.
"Dude, that sucks! Why are you moving?"
He shrugged. "My parents are getting a divorce."
"Wait - what?" Cosima was a little shocked. Scott's parents always seemed so good for each other.
"Yeah," Scott replied, still looking down.
"Why?"
Scott took a deep breath.
"I mean," Cosima edited, "if you wanna tell me. Don't do anything you aren't comfortable with."
"Nah, nah, that's okay. Uhm, my dad. He cheated. Some blonde at the 7-11." Scott was still staring down at his shoes, hands now in his pockets.
"Dude," Cosima said, moving toward him to put a hand on his shoulder, "that sucks. I'm sorry."
"Yeah. It kinda does. Anyway, uh, my dad gets the house, so my mom and I have to move out."
Cosima stared down at her shoes. She wasn't good at the whole 'comforting people' thing. She cleared her throat. "Do you, uh, want to get started on the science project?"
Scott cleared his throat too. Cosima thought she saw him wipe away a tear too, but she didn't say anything.
"Yeah, yeah, that sounds good. Shall we?"
"Dork," Cosima said, trying to lighten the mood. Scott grinned down at her, and proceeded to run up the stairs. Cosima followed, though less eagerly.
He turned around once he reached the top of the stairs, looking down at Cosima, still stuck on the second step. "Come on, Cos. Are you even trying?"
Cosima groaned and pulled herself up to the third step using the railing. "No."
Scott sighed. "Cooooos, come on."
"I'm coming, I'm coming."
"Should I just set up the experiment?"
Cosima sighed. "No." She was hoping to put off the project as long as possible, but seeing as she would have to do it anyway, why bother procrastinating? Usually, she would love to do science, but now she'd much rather be talking about Delphine.
Delphine.
Cosima idly wondered what she was doing at the moment. Probably just sitting around being cute. Or maybe doing college work, or talking to the friends she'd rented a house with, or feeding her cat? It struck Cosima that she didn't know much about Delphine.
No shit Sherlock, you've only known her since this morning. How could you know anything about her?
Cosima internally punched herself. Sometimes she really hated being logical. She didn't want to be logical and do research and experiments and science – she wanted to talk to Delphine. Was it too early to call?
"Cosima, are you coming? Or do I have to start without you?"
"Yeah, yeah I'm coming." Cosima abandoned her thoughts about calling Delphine and raced up the stairs into Scott's bedroom.
Well, it wasn't really his bedroom. He got one room in the house, and this was it, but he didn't really use it to sleep in. Scott had a little hallway off to the side that led to his bathroom with hooks and such that he was supposed to use purely as a closet, but he'd paid his dad to take out the floor and put in memory foam like from a mattress so he could sleep in the hallway. His actual room was designated for something far more important that sleeping and leisure – science.
Scott loved science about as much as Cosima did.
Cosima hopped up onto his desk and looked across the room to where Scott was inspecting something under his microscope.
"Scott?"
"Hmm?"
"Do you believe in love at first sight?"
"What?" He looked up from his microscope.
"Or, you know, soulmates?"
Scott looked confused. "What?"
Cosima sighed. "Two people meant for each other and only each other forever and ever?"
"Like true love?"
"Yeah. Yeah, like true love."
"Well, love is just chemicals in the brain, Cos. You know that. And I don't know, love can be kind of fleeting-"
"No, but love that lasts forever. Like if you were to keep making that chemical to keep a person in love forever."
"Well that's highly impractical. You know that overdoses of 'love' can cause insanity, hallucinations-"
Cosima sighed again. "No, dude, like two people just knowing that they were meant to be with each other from the second they met."
Scott shrugged. "I guess it's possible. Highly unlikely, though."
Cosima shook her head. "I guess I knew better than to ask you. I mean, you're aro, it's not as if you would give me too much advice."
Scott nodded, eye still against his microscope lens. "True. You gonna help me or what?"
"Do I have to? Why can't you just do it all?"
Scott looked up from the microscope. "What do I get in return if I do?"
"How 'bout you get to have sex?"
"…."
"With yourself."
Cosima smiled the cheeky grin that Scott was all too used to. He smiled back at her, not too sure how to respond.
"Cool," he replied eventually.
Cosima shook her head. "Dork."
"Scoooott," Cosima whined.
Scott looked up from his microscope to stare at Cosima. "What?"
"I'm bored." She collapsed back onto the table she was sitting on, lying down.
Scott returned to his microscope. "You could always help, you know."
"Yeah, but that takes effort. I'm bored." Cosima scratched at her arm. "I don't want to work on a boring project on- what's it about?"
"Cells. Mitosis and stuff."
"Yeah, that. If I'm gonna be doing science, I'd rather do it on my own time. It's not like I hate science – just science class. You know?"
Scott still didn't look up from the microscope. "You're preaching to the choir, Cos. Now are you gonna do any work or not?"
She sighed. "No, not really. Can I take it home and work on it later?"
Scott was quiet for a moment. "Yeah, sure. Makes no difference to me. Just make sure you have it done, okay? It's due next Monday."
"Yeah, I got it. What do I have to do?"
"Well see you just-" He paused to get papers from in his desk. "Find this-" Fumbling. "And then you-" More fumbling.
"You know what, I think I'll just email you later about it, 'kay?"
Scott looked a little relieved at this. This way he wouldn't have to destroy the 'order' on his desk and find the papers about the project. "O-okay. Cool. See you later?"
"Yup. I'm gonna go now."
Scott smirked at her. "Delphine?"
Blushing, Cosima tried to defend herself. "No! What? Nooooo, Scott, I've just met her; I mean I just – yeah." She gave up trying to hide it. "Delphine."
"Thought so," he replied, nodding. "Have fun then, or whatever."
Cosima rushed out of his room, staring down at her shoes and trying to hide her embarrassingly red face from sight.
She raced out of his front door to his yard. All she had to do was find out which house Delphine lived in – which might prove to be harder than she originally thought.
Dammit, all these houses look the same!
Cosima walked over to the house next to Scott's, standing on her tiptoes so she could see in the window. There was a cat sitting on the ledge, but it was an orange tabby cat and not a black and white one like Delphine's. How was she ever going to find out which house was hers?
Guess the only option is start knocking on doors.
She knew that Delphine lived in the approximate area, her house was similar to Scott's, and that she lived on this street, considering that Scott knew who she was. Cosima considered going back inside to ask Scott where he'd seen her, but she decided that seemed too pathetic.
Cosima sighed again, walking away from the house with the orange tabby cat and towards Scott's other next-door-neighbour's house. Carefully bringing her fist up to the door, she rapped on the wood. She stood there for a few moments before an old woman holding a baby opened the door.
"Why, hello dear. Can I help you?" The woman looked like she'd never done a bad thing in her life. Cosima smiled. She reminded her a little of her grandmother. Before she had gotten sick, of course.
"No, no, I'm sorry, wrong house."
"Oh, that's alright sweetie. Do you want anything? My daughter and her husband are visiting, so I have cookies and lemonade out. I could bring you some if you want-"
"No, no, that's okay. Thank you though."
"Okay then, angel. If you need any help you come here, alright?"
"Sure thing ma'am," Cosima replied, trying to be polite.
The woman smiled at her, and Cosima felt a pang in her chest. This woman was quite possibly the first person to be nice to her in – she couldn't remember how long. Sure, Scott was polite; they paired up on projects and he let her crash on his couch every week, but they weren't really friends. It was convenient for them to be friendly, but they weren't friends. Cosima didn't really have friends.
Except, maybe, Delphine. Delphine had been nice to her with no ulterior motive. There was nothing Delphine wanted from her, nothing that she had to give her in return.
Cosima turned to shuffle off of this woman's doorstep and proceed to the next house. She brought her hand up to knock and –
"Cosima?"
