Chapter Four "Say Isn't So" Two Weeks Later (Mid March 1983)

(Song Suggestion: "Say Isn't So" by Hall and Oates)

Janine Melnitz

My attraction to Dr. Spengler only seemed to heighten the more I worked with him, and a couple of nights previously, I tested the waters with him. I approached him as he worked on a ghost trap in the lab with some small talk and softly put my hand on his shoulder. Regrettably, Dr. Spengler's reaction was to turn around to peer at me through his glasses like I was an alien touching him. Immediately, I withdrew my hand from his shoulder, feeling chagrined, and fled the room using some excuse about work for Dr. Venkman. Even though it was an unsuccessful test, I didn't let that bother me.

Today I forgot Dr. Spengler had left his PKE meter on my desk earlier. He was too preoccupied with solving some problem or creating a design for a new invention to capture ghosts to realize it. Obliviously, Dr. Spengler walked into an exclusive concert that I was giving at my desk when he came to retrieve it. At the same time, I sang a Hall and Oates song loudly. I was in between the filing cabinets and the door to the boys' offices, standing with a pen in my hand as a microphone with my eyes closed, singing,

"I want you even more so, baby, say it isn't so?"

All of a sudden, I felt someone's eyes on me. Humiliated, I opened my eyes, hoping it wasn't Dr. V. because he loved to tease me. My cheeks felt hot and beet red.

There was none other than Dr. Spengler in front of my desk, watching me sing impassionedly with a raised eyebrow and a quizzical look.

" How long was he standing there?" I wondered to myself.

Coolly, I walked to my desk to hand him his PKE meter while maintaining eye contact with him.

"Here is your PKE meter, Dr. Spengler, " I informed him, making sure my hands brushed his lightly as I gave him his meter back. I discovered a slight tingle in my body when our hands touched, and Dr. Spengler, I think, felt the same sensation when our hands met because he quickly moved his hand away. Our eyes met mine for a few seconds before he glanced away, embarrassed.

Undeterred, I gave Dr. Spengler a dazzling grin and flirted with him by saying," I normally only sing when I'm alone."

As a result, his long face turned a dark shade of pink. An awkward moment of silence passed by, then Dr. Spengler stated, " I'm sorry... Uhm... to interrupt you, Ms.Melnitz."

"It was a joke, Dr.Spen," I responded playfully, peering up at him from underneath my lashes, hoping that I looked appealing to him.

"Oh," the physicist replied with a blank expression, and he turned away to go back upstairs to the lab.

"Didn't he know when someone was joking with him? " I asked myself, standing there dumbfounded.

"Spengler doesn't understand humor sometimes, J," Ray responded, coming from behind me as he watched the interaction with a boyish chuckle.

During my interview, he and I became fast friends, and "J" was his nickname for me. Even though Ray was only a year or two older than me, I felt like he was an older brother.

Mental note, Dr. Spengler doesn't respond to humor or flirting.

Egon Spengler

Ms. Melnitz, our new secretary, astonished me because she wished to have conversations with me. Usually, I walked by her desk to go to my office or downstairs to the containment unit, and she started a discussion. Once, Ms. Melnitz came into my office and stood in the doorway until I stopped working on a problem because I felt her eyes on me. When I asked her politely what she needed, all she required was a simple signature. I grew irate with our secretary's attempts to make small talk with me because it wasted time, and we were already short on it. There were things to prepare if we were going to successfully catch ghosts.

One afternoon I bemoaned this concern to my business partners as we were in the lab working while I was trying to create a working ghost trap. Ray was fiddling with the non working equipment with a screwdriver.

"Poor Spengs, a good-looking woman from Brooklyn wants him to talk to her," Peter replied, whining annoyedly, making fun of me.

Ray lightly chuckled but replied, "Janine's easy enough to talk to, Spengler."

Meanwhile, I worked on my project and didn't reply because I didn't think there was anything else to say.

"Hey Spengs, Janine has 'the hots' for you," Peter mischievously informed, tapping the table with his right hand to capture my attention.

Inattentively, I peered up at my close friend when he remove my notepad from me to force me to speak about Ms. Melnitz.

"Huh?" I asked, and Peter repeated his statement.

"Oh yeah, badly, Spengler," Ray eagerly agreed with a wide grin, peering up from his work.

"The 'hots'?"

"Janine is attracted to you," he explained.

"Why?"

"That's what I have been wondering," Peter joked, "what does she find attractive about you? You work too much, you are too serious, you don't have much fun, and you don't like to smile."

I rolled my eyes at him and so stated, drily, "I am aware of my shortcomings, Venkman."

"You have good qualities too, Spengs. Come on. I was joking," he replied, reassuring me.

"You never noticed that she flirts with you?" Ray exclaimed, baffled. He shook his head back and forth in disbelief..

"No."

"This is flirting, Iggy," Venkman said, standing up from his chair. Peter stood next to me, put his right hand on my arm and used an exaggerated woman's Brooklyn accent, "Good morning Dr. Spengler." He then batted his eyelashes at me and put his hand on my shoulder.

Glancing up only for Peter's performance of Ms. Menitz, I requested my yellow note pad back from him by outstretching my hand.

"That, my naive friend, is flirting. Janine also smiles brightly and will often simper at things you say. She touches you on your arm or shoulder at times. Finally, Brooklyn also asks questions about topics outside of work sometimes," my old friend explained, giving me a wink then handing me my notepad back.

"Was Ms. Melnitz flirting with me earlier when she gave me the meter back, and our hands touched," I wondered inwardly, "And why did I receive a shock when our hands touched?"

"You should ask her out," Ray suggested innocently, " I'm positive she will say yes."

"What in the world do you think we would talk about," I inquired, becoming irked but not exactly sure of the reason.

"Janine has practically a degree in computer systems-you could talk about that or BASIC," Peter reminded me as I began working furiously on the problem from before, and I found that it wasn't going well.

"Yeah, you both like computers," Ray chimed in, and I realized that my two friends were not going to let this go easily.

"Are you still sore that Janine knew BASIC when you thought she didn't," our leader teased, glancing at the youngest Ghostbuster with a smile.

"I said it was improbable that Ms.Melnitz knew BASIC because it is pretty new, and there aren't many women in the computer field," I countered.

"That means yes," Peter remarked, scrutinizing me, "she beat you on that one, Spengs."

Sighing loudly, I stayed focused on solving the problem at hand as they pestered me about Ms. Melnitz. I hoped by disregarding them, they would quit, but this wasn't the case.

"It's been a long time since you dated Spengs. I want to assist you," Venkman explained, "that's all."

When I became emotional, whether it was anger or another feeling, I had taught myself to repeat different scientific theories to calm down.

"Newton's first law of motion: An object at rest stays at rest, and an object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force," I repeated to myself.

Then I questioned my friend incredulously, "By insisting that I date a woman I don't want to date?

The Ghostbusters exchanged a bemused look at my reaction.

"Why was this bothering me," I inquired inwardly but I didn't have any solutions.

"Janine has a good sense of humor and is quite attractive. She's not dumb either," Ray added, closing his book for a while.

" Newton's second law of motion: The acceleration of an object as produced by a net force is directly proportional to the magnitude of the net force, in the same direction as the net force, and inversely proportional to the mass of the object," I thought to myself, taking a deep breath before stating out loud,

"Ms. Melnitz isn't that astute if she's wasting her time on me and acting...foolishly as you said."

"Janine almost has earned a degree in computer systems," Peter reminded me.

"Then why does she act that way?" I questioned, seriously, scratching out the equation that I had written down on my legal pad as I became more agitated with the conversation.

"A scientific theory is a well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world, based on a body of facts that have been repeatedly confirmed through observation and experiment," I mumbled to myself, oblivious to Venkman's examination of me.

"Janine's flirting with you, Egon," Peter groaned, in protest, "surely, someone has flirted with you before?"

Again, I disregarded my close friend, but they persisted in pushing my buttons. Finally, I snapped irritatedly, "Why don't you go out with her, then?"

"Spengler, be quiet," Ray cautioned, viewing someone in the doorway, making a "hush" noise by placing his index finger at his lips.

"Enough, I don't want to hear about Ms. Melnitz," I said, standing up abruptly, causing the chair legs to squeak as they scraped the floor. Quickly, I walked to the lab's doorway, leaving my yellow notepad in there, and I bumped into something. I wasn't paying attention to where I was headed.

"Excuse me, please," a woman's voice softly pierced the air when I ran into something, and when I looked up stood the very woman with whom we were talking. My face registered shock as I gazed down at her, but Ms. Melnitz's pale face changed to deep red. Immediately, I felt ashamed when I saw her blue eyes appear to be forlorn, and my face felt like I had a sunburn from sitting in the sun too long.

"Oh, Uh, Ms. Melnitz," I grumbled, "I didn't see you there."

She gave me a polite smile and moved to the side to let me pass. I stormed out of the doorway and went up to the roof to calm down like I always do when I can't solve a problem or if I need a break. Peter liked to push my buttons, and I had let him do it about something insignificant, too.

Janine Melnitz

Accidentally, I overheard part of the Ghostbusters' conversation. Dr. Spengler gruffly said that he didn't want to hear about me and that I acted silly around him. He looked immensely indignant for a highly profound man, and then my crush loudly exited the room rapidly, almost knocking me over.

I'm not even sure Dr. Spengler knew that he wounded my feelings. Even though there was an injured look in my eyes, he genuinely seemed taken aback by my presence. However, he mumbled an apology for running into me. Displeased, I slid to my left, feeling hurt.

Putting a fake smile on for Drs. Venkman and Stantz, I walked to where they were sitting as if nothing had happened.

"Your phone messages, Dr. V," I stated, handing him a piece of paper, and then I spun around on my heels.

"Janine, I'm not sure what you heard a second ago, but it wasn't as bad as it sounded," Dr.Stantz admitted.

"I'm not sure which you are referring to, Ray," I said, flashing them a dazzling smile and ignoring their glances.

I know they saw that I looked distressed, although I attempted to hide it with a big smile. Dr. Stantz was the only Ghostbuster I felt comfortable calling by his first name, and earlier, he confirmed it was fine. Rapidly, I strode out of the lab without speaking, hoping to return to my desk without running into Dr. Spengler.

Unfortunately, I heard enough of the conversation to know that Dr. Spengler was not interested in dating me. That made me feel stupid and sad, too.

From what I knew about him, I liked him. I appreciated his dedication to his work in that he invented new devices and was very good-looking. Something about Dr. Egon Spengler made me want to know more about him. Ergo, it was now clear that he did not have any curiosity about me outside of my job performance. As I walked down the stairs swiftly, I felt tears coming to my eye and sniffled a little. I also inhaled and exhaled a few times deeply. Tears didn't fall from my eyes only because I wouldn't let them even though my pride was injured. Next, I plastered a fake pleasant expression on my face and returned to my desk.

Dr. Peter Venkman

"Now, you have to apologize to her," I told my long-time friend and business partner on the roof as he sat on the edge of the building. Iggy was throwing pebbles off of it to relieve the tension he was feeling. It was a warm Spring afternoon in Manhattan, with the sun hiding in and out of the clouds throughout the day. Spengs took off his coat and rolled up his sleeves even.

"Why?" Egon asked, genuinely mystified by my statement.

"Janine heard you say that you didn't want to hear about her anymore, and she also probably heard that you said she was dumb. Both statements imply that you don't like her and you are her boss. Your comments wounded her Iggy," I explained earnestly, meeting his brown eyes with my own.

"I don't know her well enough to like or dislike her, Venkman," he admitted, feeling a little regretful.

"Yes. Janine is attracted to YOU, so you must be mindful of her feelings," I reasoned with him.

Although I realized this pep talk might be fruitless, I persisted, "unless you just want to be an asshole who says hurtful things to her."

"Peter, I don't intentionally hurt people. I struggle with my interactions with people," Egon mumbled, looking ahead of him, throwing another stone, "there's a reason why I choose science over people."

"I know that Iggy, but she doesn't."

Egon questioned me about why I was pushing for him to date her, and I repeated my earlier explanation that it had been a long time since he dated. I also mentioned that I thought Janine would be a good match, but he disregarded that comment.

"If you hadn't pushed me so hard about dating, I wouldn't have said what I did," Iggy remarked drily.

A few minutes later, Spengler, defeated,asked, "what do I say to apologize to her?"

I could tell he didn't comprehend why his comments hurt her, but Egon knew he needed to apologize. So, I let our brainiac chew on his apology for a while without help because he needed to think of this independently.

"I'm sorry that you overheard my comments at your expense. Peter thinks it is funny to push me when he knows I'm annoyed," he grumbled.

"That would work. You have to say it a little nicer, though," I said encouragingly, "come on, Spengs, go apologize."

I noticed Spengler appeared nervous because he was wiping his palms on his pants. As he approached her desk, I watched from a far. Janine was on a phone call, and she gave him a half-smile afterward.

"Ms. Melnitz, I'm sorry that you overheard my comments at...your expense. Peter thinks it's... funny to push my buttons when... I am irritated...admittedly, I'm not very good...with other people... I hope you accept my apology, please," he stumbled through his statement, red-faced and ill at ease.

Surprised, Janine assured him there was nothing for him to apologize for with a small grin, but it looked forced to anyone who knew her. Brooklyn was visibly hurt still but she pretended to be ok for his benefit.

After Egon returned to his office, I observed Janine put her head down on her desk after his office door shut firmly behind him. He may have apologized and thought everything was resolved, but it wasn't for her.

Janine Melnitz

Dear Diary,

I feel humiliated for two reasons- first, I attempted to flirt with Dr. Spengler a couple of days ago by putting my hand on his arm, and he gave me a look like I was out of my damn mind for doing so. Second, I accidentally overheard part of a conversation today where he was very adamant about not hearing about me anymore. I did not hear the context of the conversation, honestly, but it felt pretty negative. Dr. Spengler almost ran into me after I overheard him at the doorway. Then he gave me an awkward apology for his comment, which I had to accept because he was my boss.

As a result, I feel disheartened about my crush on him. It maimed my feelings when I overheard him mention that I acted silly and was wasting my time on him. Reflecting on my actions now, maybe I was laying it on too thick with the flirting, but I have a crush on him. Dr. Spengler wasn't like other men with his two Ph.ds, his extreme dedication to his work, and the fact that he didn't like women to flirt with him (or at least in a silly way). I decided to stop flirting with him since he now thought I was dumb for the time being. Somehow I would work to get Dr. Spengler's attention without acting frivolously.