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Great

It doesn’t help that I’ at a poster of his lab’s work I noticed these in the hallways earlier as I was looking for this place They’re essentially advertiseraduate students

I’ve seen badly Photoshopped versions representing various groups as X-Men or the Avengers Here, soenetically enhanced dinosaur that wreaked havoc on a fictional theroup from the picture as velociraptors

“Apt,” I mutter

Strangely, though, this reminder of fictionala little upset, take deep breaths and think good thoughts

I’m Maria Lopez I take deep breaths and think about the end of the world

Literally These basement chemistry laboratories are an apocalyptic filmmaker’s wet dream I am not far from the room where plutoniu to happen in some scientist’s experiment, it could be close by Behind that fire door, soical device that will spell the end of civilization as we know it

So far, despite humanity’s best efforts, civilization has persisted

I know all about apocalypses that don’t happen The apocalypse is nothing s that happen to you instead of someone else The apocalypse has been fiction for me, and fiction it will remain

Life goes on I can handle one dinner with an asshole I’ve dealt orse

Almost there, Gabe texts Sorry!

It’s okay, I answer I didn’t expect you to be on time

He textsout

Gabe and I have lived in different cities since I elve and my parents kicked me out of the house Even back then, he used to pick me up from school twenty or thirty minutes after class let out In the years since, he’s been late for Skype calls and the occasional dinner when our paths intersect It’s not just me; this is a perpetual habit He was late for his own PhD coe alone with Gabe’s hood and gave the crowd a shrug

I didn’t think things would be any different now that we’re living a ether, I can spot him fifteen minutes

The fire door to h He has y brown, because he also forgets to get haircuts for months on end His jaw is a little more square, and he’s about an inch shorter than I a him and say…

“Hello, little brother” He’s three years older than I aiveso small”

Biology is a bitch, and so are younger sisters I give hiie

“Gah” He pulls away “It’s not fair”

That was ue out at him

“I need to invent tie self in the face” He turns to the door and presses the bell “You’re going to really like Jay He’s a good guy”

I grimace at his back

It’s not the first tiuy” friends, and it won’t be the last There are a lot of reasons for guys to be a dick to me, and I’ve experienced them all

We wait

Professor Thalang opens the door again Now that I know he’s Jay, and e is a little easier to discern He’s probably a few years older than I a alphabet soup of his CV Damn He has been busy with his life

His eyes land on rabs Gabe by the shoulders, slapping him on the back

“Look at you,” Jay says “You survived Switzerland Al”

Gabe laughs “Dude Don’t giveuntil you reatest”

My lip curls slightly at this exchange

Yeah, that little crack is about par for the “good guy” course, in my experience My brother spent the last two years in Switzerland He had a postdoctoral position at CERN He worked with sohtest scientists in the world at the world’s most powerful supercollider He published two papers about elementary particles But all of that is equivalent to alot engaged to a lovely, smart computational scientist Surely a fate worse than death

I —I’rins “How have you been, man?”

“Oh, you know Busy on that revision for JACR still”

I don’t remember what journal that acrony, the two of them will descend into science Which I don’t mind, but I want Jay to squirm

“Gabe” I touch my brother’s arm

That’s when Professor Thalang notices me He literally didn’t seeaway from my brother “Hey”

Gabe doesn’t notice the look on his face “Right Jay, I forgot toto dinner with us Her name’s Maria”

I look Jay in the eye and decide to annoy hi the word into a question

He grimaces “Oh”

Oh indeed

“Shit” He looks into , and the effect of his thick eyebrows is that he looks fierce…and not at all apologetic

“Maria,” Gabe says, not noticing the ratcheting tension, “this is Jay He was a postdoc at Harvard when I was there He does work on—”

“I read his lab posters in the hall after he shut the door in my face,” I say sweetly “I knohat he does”

Gabe frowns Even he can’t avoid noticing this anvil of a clue indicating that all is not well

Jay doesn’t quite roll his eyes “You read my poster,” he says with a hint of disbelief “You knohat I do Sure” His accent becomes just a little more pronounced, almost pretentiously British

That emphasis on sure, the way he looks at me… He doesn’t believe I could understand He thinks I’m stupid

Like I said It’s not the first time someone’s ood thing is, if he’s not going to even pretend to be nice, I don’t have to, either

“I understand everything,” I say, turning to Gabe “Did you know Jay’s working on a top secret project for the Department of Defense? He uses invisible radiation to turn himself into an asshole”

Gabe looks atso”

“Don’t worry, little brother” I pat Gabe’s shoulder “His terrible transformation only happens around women You’re safe”

2

JAY

There’s soer sister that makes me feel incredibly restless No, it’s not the fact that I’ve already pissed her off It’s not even the fact that she implied I was a sexist After two ferad students, six female coauthors, and countless friends, my record speaks for itself So to send me into a crisis of self-doubt

I try to putme as alk to the restaurant

One: Maria Lopez doesn’t talk to me