Ok, maybe one more…
Raj hadn't realized how much grading English professors do. Her 4/4 load shocked him; it seemed like she was always grading. When he had a paper accepted at a conference in San Francisco, he insisted that she come with him. She needed the break, and he wanted to impress her with his presentation. He'd never been the primary presenter for a paper before, and he was excited and nervous about it. Rosalind agreed to go, but she wanted to bring her grading. Raj wanted her to have a weekend without grading; they worked out a deal. She brought her translation project instead; he had to accept that compromise.
The first evening, they were both happy she'd brought her work. Raj had to meet with his research team; they were at three different universities, and this was the first chance they'd had to meet in person. Rosalind spread her papers out on the desk and lost herself in the pleasant puzzle translation provided. They agreed to meet up later at the wine and cheese reception; Rosalind set the alarm on her phone so that she wouldn't forget to stop working.
Raj was late to the reception; when he arrived with his coauthors, Rosalind was already there. He couldn't help but notice her right away; she was wearing a black cocktail dress and the earrings his mother had sent her. They were 24-carat, and they were so long that they almost reached her shoulders. Between the glittering jewelry, the flattering neckline on the dress, and her upswept hair, his eyes were drawn immediately to her beautiful face, and he couldn't help but imagine that every other man at the reception was looking the same way. Indeed, when he saw her, Rosalind was smiling at a man who was handing her a wineglass. Raj held back with his research team, watching Rosalind from across the room.
Rosalind was sitting against the wall; there were three or four men gathered at her table, and they were all laughing and talking. The man who had handed her the wineglass seemed to be dominating the conversation; Rosalind kept looking at him as she talked and gestured. Raj had never seen her drink; she looked over the rim of her glass at the men, sipping as she listened to them. Every now and then, she would glance around the room, or at the empty seat next to her. Then she would say something to the man sitting next to her.
"She's pretty," someone said next to him. "Maybe you should go talk to her."
Raj realized he'd been staring. He turned to the speaker – Kim, the only woman on his research team – and said, "No, I don't think I will." He heard Rosalind's laugh behind him. "How about a drink?"
The next time Raj turned around, Rosalind's table was empty; he ordered more drinks for himself and Kim, who was becoming increasingly friendly. They carried their last round up to her room; they were both giggly and grabby, and they fell on each other on the couch in her room. Kim was trying to pull off his sweater vest when his cellphone beeped. "I have to get that," he said, worried.
"What, someone checking up on you?" Kim teased. Raj looked at the phone and sighed. It wasn't Rosalind. "Not exactly."
It was Howard:
How's the conference? Good times with Rosalind?
She wasn't checking up on him. She was probably busy with wineglass man. Still, Raj ran his hands though his hair and sighed. "So, Kim, remember that pretty girl I was looking at earlier? Any chance you know the man she was talking to?"
Kim nodded. "Sure, that's Dr. Ferrera from Manoa."
"The guy who's making the keynote speech?" Raj had been looking forward to hearing the speech, and had hoped to meet the speaker.
Kim nodded. "Umm-hmm. He's pretty good. I did some work at Manoa last summer."
"He seems awfully flirty." Raj was holding a grudge.
"Friendly, maybe, but he never goes past a glass of wine. And believe me, I tried. Some men are like that." Kim was getting bored.
"Like what?"
"Faithful. He's so very very married. But I'm not, and you're not, so why are we talking so much?" Kim reached for Raj, who didn't respond.
"I… I have to go. She trusted me, and I didn't trust her." Raj stood up and straightened his shirt and vest.
"Why? What's wrong? I thought we were having fun," Kim was disappointed.
Raj furrowed his brow. "I … shouldn't be here. I'm sorry, but I've got to go. I... Oh, what have I done?"
Kim was befuddled, "OK. I don't know what you've done, and I'm clearly missing something here. I guess I'll see you in the morning at the presentation, then?"
Raj was already out the door, smoothing down his hair and muttering to himself. When he made it back to the room he shared with Rosalind, he found the closet door ajar, and his presentation suit hanging, neatly pressed. The bed was still made. Rosalind was curled up in the chair by the window, asleep; his mother's earrings were on the side table. Raj leaned against the door and sighed, then he went to the closet and pulled out the spare blanket and covered her with it. She grabbed at the blanket in her sleep. He sighed again, and crouched down beside her.
"Rosalind." He reached out to touch her. "Rosalind?"
She sat up and looked around the room, confused until she saw him. "Raj? Are you OK? What happened to you? I waited. I met that guy from Manoa you wanted to talk to, and I tried to keep him chatting until you came, but you never came." She was still sleepy. "What time is it, anyway?"
"It's late, Rosalind. Come to bed." Raj stood up and held out his hand to her. She took his hand, stood, and squinted at her watch. "Did I fall asleep waiting for you? Where have you been?"
"I was… I was with some of the members of my research team." It wasn't exactly a lie.
"Oh. Are you all ready for your presentation? I steamed your suit." Rosalind smiled a sleepy little smile.
"Yes, I'm ready. You'd better…" Raj gestured toward the bathroom. "Ladies first."
Rosalind came out in her pajamas. "One glass of wine and I'm so sleepy. G'night, Raj, my love." She rolled into bed, leaving him sitting on the edge, thinking.
The next morning was awkward. Rosalind was full of encouragement, excited to see his presentation. She straightened his collar and tightened his tie. "You'll be great. Will I get to meet your research team?" She asked. He was reluctant, imagining over and over the scene when he introduced Rosalind to Kim. He couldn't figure out how that would end well.
Still, he didn't say anything. How could he? His session was at 10:00; after breakfast, they found the meeting room. Rosalind found a seat near the back, and Raj joined the other panelists. He was fumbling with the connection between his laptop and the projector when Kim arrived, so he didn't see her approaching Rosalind until it was too late to say anything.
"You're here with Dr. Koothrapalli, aren't you?" Kim asked.
Rosalind smiled and stood up. "Are you part of his research team?" The two women shook hands, and Raj cowered behind the podium.
"I'm looking forward to the presentation," Rosalind added.
Kim raised an eyebrow. "Oh, are you an astrophysicist, too?" Raj flinched.
"No, just a lowly English professor. But I enjoy hearing people speak about their specialties, no matter what they are."
"Really. Why? I would think you would find it incredibly boring to listen to long lectures you didn't understand."
Rosalind was undeterred. "Well, I may or may not be able to follow every detail, but that's immaterial. When Raj talked about his research, he just lights up all over. Love does that to a person."
"Love, you say?" Kim was arch. Raj was confused; he peered over the podium, afraid to interfere.
"Sure. He loves astrophysics. Don't you? I know I can go on for entirely too long about Machado de Assis. Isn't that part of why we became academics?" Rosalind said this as though it were the most reasonable thing in the world, but Kim was dismissive.
"Love? Nobody becomes a scientist out of love."
"Then why do it?"
"Well, because it's interesting, and because I'm good at it, and because it makes me happy…. dear god, I became a scientist out of love, you're right. Damnit."
Raj decided that this was the time to appear. "I see that you two have met. Rosalind, this is Dr. Kim Lowery, from the University of Colorado, Ft. Collins. Dr. Lowery, this is Dr. Rosalind Wald, of the English department at Pasadena City College, and my fiancée."
"Your what?" Raj had said it; he had to deal with the outcome.
"Rosalind is my fiancée."
"Well, then… congratulations to you both, I guess. I think I'll go over… here." Kim went to join the rest of the research team at the head table.
"She's a little odd," Rosalind whispered to Raj.
"Oh, you know. Scientists are like that." Raj didn't want to explain.
Rosalind squeezed his hand for luck, and he returned to the podium. The presentation went well; he kept his eyes on Rosalind and her encouraging smile the whole time. Dr. Ferrera slipped in at the last minute and sat beside her; she smiled at him, whispering and pointing at Raj. During the question and answer period, Dr. Ferrera asked several helpful questions, the kind of questions that made a presenter look good in front of the audience, and Raj came up to shake his hand afterwards.
"I'm sorry I missed you last night. Rosalind here was telling me about your work, and I was hoping we could talk." Dr. Ferrera was friendly.
Rosalind smiled shyly. "I'm sure I botched it entirely."
Dr. Ferrera shook his head. "No, no. You told it without numbers, but you explained the basic ideas pretty well." He turned to Raj. "She's smart. Keep this one. Bring her with you when you come out to Manoa. I think we can get you some time on the telescope next summer."
Rosalind ducked her head, shyly, and Raj took her hand.
"Well, I've got to get ready for my talk," Dr. Ferrera said. "Maybe we can get together later?"
Raj and Rosalind nodded. As Dr. Ferrera walked away, Rosalind turned to Raj and said, "I suppose you need to spend more time with your research group?" She glanced over his shoulder at Kim: Raj half-turned to glance at his colleagues, who were still gathered at the front of the room. "Nah. Let me just grab my computer, and we can go." Rosalind waited by the door, and he grabbed her elbow and steered her out of the conference room. "We need to talk."
Rosalind looked alarmed. "Talk?"
They found some chairs in a corner, and sat down. Raj pulled his chair closer to hers and leaned in to tell her what had happened the evening before, how he'd been jealous of her with Dr. Ferrara, how he'd gone to Kim's room, how he'd been racked with guilt ever since. Rosalind was surprised and confused and disappointed and a little relieved; she'd suspected, after all. Eventually, Rosalind sighed. "You'd better go to the luncheon. You don't want to miss the keynote. I'll grab a sandwich and go upstairs with Machado."
"But, Rosalind…" Raj was worried. Maybe he shouldn't have said anything.
"It's OK, Raj. Go to your meeting. I'll be waiting for you when you're done." Rosalind patted his knee.
The lunch itself was dull, but Dr. Ferrara's keynote speech was actually interesting, and Raj was caught up in the conversation around the table afterwards. Eventually, reluctantly, he made his way back to the room, where he found Rosalind sitting at the desk; books and papers were spread around, and her head was in her arms. She'd fallen asleep waiting for him, again; he wondered how late she'd stayed up the night before. He crossed the room to her and knelt down beside her, gently rubbing her back. "Rosalind?"
"Raj? Oh. I'm sorry. I must have…"
"It's OK, Rosalind."
She looked down at him, kneeling next to her. "Stand up, at least." He took her hands as he did, and she stood, too. She leaned against him. "Did you really think I would…?"
Raj sighed. "I saw you, and you were so… luminous… and I thought any man would want you." She smiled sadly at that. "And you were smiling and laughing and talking."
"Raj, that's what people do. They smile and laugh and talk."
"Yes, but when you do it, it's so… desirable."
"So desirable that, instead of talking to me, you go to some other woman's room with her?"
Raj sighed. "I thought that you and Dr. Ferrera… So I figured, all right then, two can play this game."
"Raj? I'm not playing any game here. You find me desirable, you tell me about it. Usually that turns out pretty well."
Raj nodded. He was still disappointed with himself. Rosalind kissed him gently. "I've got an errand to run. You go back to your conference. I'll see you this evening."
"You'll be here?" Raj was still worried that he'd undone everything.
"I'll be here." Rosalind promised.
After a long day of conference meetings, Raj returned to the room. He was surprised when Rosalind greeted him. She was wearing a miniskirt and strappy high heels, and was showing rather more cleavage than usual. Her hair was down and teased out; Raj's jaw dropped. "C'mon." Rosalind said. "I'm taking you out."
"Out?" Raj couldn't believe what he was hearing and seeing.
"Call it an experiment. I want to see what happens when you drink."
"Is this some kind of test?" Raj was suspicious.
Rosalind repeated herself, "Call it an experiment."
Raj could see that he had no choice. "Alright, lead on."
She took him to a noisy bar, full of young people in tight clothes. She inspected the place through the front window. "Oh, yeah. Annoying as hell. This'll do." She smiled at Raj and tilted her head toward the door. "C'mon."
Rosalind led him to the bar, where she got the bartender's attention. "Caparinha for me, and…" she glanced at Raj, who spoke for himself, "Beer's fine. Something dark." Rosalind slid some money across the bar as the bartender slid the drinks toward them.
Raj turned to Rosalind. "So, what's your plan?"
Rosalind held up her glass for a toast, then sipped her drink and grimaced. "Can't get any decent cachasa up here. OK, Raj. Part of your problem last night was unfounded jealousy. You've only ever had one reason to speak to a woman, and you can't imagine a woman and a man having a conversation that doesn't lead to that. You're going to have to take my word for it that it is entirely possible for a man and a woman to have a conversation that doesn't lead to sex. But another part was alcohol. I was thinking, and I realized that we've never had a drink together." Raj nodded. "More to the point, I've never seen what you're like when you drink. I want to find out."
Raj gestured with his bottle. "I only ever drink in order to talk to women. I don't have to do that anymore, thanks to you."
"And yet, last night." Rosalind gestured with her glass.
Raj nodded. He didn't entirely understand it himself. "I didn't know you drank either."
"I don't, much. I won't drink alone, and I won't drink if I'm the only person doing so, and I don't drink much when I do. You know me, cautious in the extreme." Rosalind nodded.
Raj nodded too, and took another pull from his bottle. "So what are you going to do here?"
"I'm going to have a few drinks; you're going to have a few drinks. We're going to see what happens."
What happened was that Rosalind, flipping her hair and blushing from the drink, attracted a lot of attention. She laughed at a stockbroker who wanted to buy her a drink. She started an argument with a Giants fan, and that worried Raj; he knew how she felt about the Giants. Raj watched, but lost track of her when a flock of women approached him, suggesting that he buy them drinks. He tried talking with a cheerful blonde, whose vocabulary was too small to be impressed by anything he said. After a few moments, Raj found the whole thing boring, and it was at that moment that Rosalind approached him. She was flirty and loud, and grabbed Raj by the arm and pulled him out to the dance floor. Raj was surprised, but he went along, relieved to be rescued from the blonde, and relieved to have Rosalind back. The dance floor was crowded, and they had to dance close. "Well?" Rosalind asked. Raj was speechless. He wanted to flirt back. He wanted to tell her that the blonde had been dull and couldn't carry on a conversation. He wanted to tell her that she was incredibly sexy and he wanted to go home with her, but his tongue was tied. He couldn't say a thing. Alcohol usually made him more chatty, but with Rosalind, he couldn't get a word out. Rosalind kissed him, and it wasn't her usual sweet kiss; it was more aggressive and, well, more naughty than usual. Raj held on and kissed her back; she raised her eyebrows at him, and he nodded back. She grabbed his hand, and they headed out the door.
Hours later, in the hotel room, after the alcohol began to wear off, he regained the ability to speak. "What's going on, Rosalind? Usually, I drink in order to talk to women. Tonight, I could talk to every woman but you. And you…" He gestured vaguely. "I'm not complaining, but … wow."
Rosalind nodded. "Usually, I like my inhibitions. But this wasn't all bad. One drink makes me mellow, two make me argumentative. Now I know what happens after three drinks." She was walking around the room, picking up the clothes and pillows and blankets they had flung in all directions. "So, what have we learned?"
"That you should drink more than I should." Raj grinned. He liked the sexy, aggressive Rosalind.
Rosalind shook her head, then nodded a little. "Maybe. I don't drink with men I don't trust."
Raj nodded at that. "OK. If I'm jealous, I talk to you. Then, I buy you a drink."
Rosalind laughed, then dropped the pile of clothes in a heap on the floor and crawled across the bed toward him.