Part Two

The day continued on, and so did Liam. He didn’t know why this new found attraction bothered him, they all somewhat did, but this one seemed a bit more serious. Maybe it was the fact that it was middle school, this wasn’t that was easy to forget, this was something in his eighth grade year, something that can carry into high school. That thought tied a knot in his stomach. He didn’t even know if he liked her back. His thoughts would continue until he eventually settled into his next class. Mr. Delapeno’s Chemistry class.

Lab day, a busy yet fun day. This could help him out. Get occupied, do work, push the thoughts out for a bit. Sitting down, he began to read the board and saw what today held for him. Today seemed like a fun lab, they were filing down pennies and burning the zinc out of them. Fire, fire is fun, he thought. Fire is fun, science is fun, fire is hot, Stacey Carmichael is hot, he thought. Liam then began to curse himself for bringing that up, he began to think about her again. Everything from her hair, to her crystal blue pools of her eyes, to her figure. She was attractive, and he thought that. He just couldn’t put his finger on why he was so nervous. He was tongue tied thinking about it. Why? He kept thinking. Why? Why? Why? How does she find me attractive?  I mean, I work out and everything and I run, but why? Does she only find me hot? Does she actually like who I am? Did Thomas set this up? Am I being punked? Why?

Thoughts would cloud his mind until Mr. Delapeno made his way to the front of the class. He ran his fingers through the toupee that fooled no one and set up the first demonstration of the day. He filed a penny and lit his bunsen burner. Liam took a deep breath as the burner lit. He always somewhat enjoyed that smell. That burning smell. The smell of science. The smell of hands on assignments and labs that he loved so dearly. With pen in hand, goggles protecting his eyes. He was ready to begin. Then, Mr. Delapeno said something about groups and partners. Liam’s usual partner, Greg, wasn’t here. With a shrug, Liam continued to start the experiment alone. He preferred to work alone most of the time anyway, felt like he got more done for himself.

As he began to dive into the preliminary papers of his experiment, he felt rushes of air go down his neck. He cringed at the warm bursts of air and looked back to see the rustling hairs of Delapeno’s ugly and unkempt mustache. Delapeno took a step back and leaned in closer to Liam,

“Mr. O’Reilly,” He said in a quiet voice, “I know you prefer to work alone, but we have someone who just recently got a schedule change, so would you mind if they worked with you?”

Liam paused for a minute and sighed, “Well, sure why not?” He replied. Delapeno’s smile grew from under the black caterpillar on his lip and waved over to the new person. Liam returned to the experiment as the new person sat down. He kept writing until he was hit by a wave of sweet smelling perfume. It captivated his senses, as he looked up to see who it was, his heart began to beat a lot slower. There he was, gazing into those same blue eyes that melted him before, then to the same long flowing blonde hair.

He was speechless, rendered useless of any cognitive functions at the moment. The why’s began to flow back, flooding his mind. Why is she here? Why is she my partner? Why did it have to be her? Why this cliche? He gazed back into her eyes as he watched her smile. It radiated everything around him, tying knots in his stomach. He watched again as she seemed to be talking, then he realized, she was calling his name,

“Liam... Liam?”

She knows my name, he thought. She knows my name and she knows who I am.

“Ye... Yeah?” Liam said with a stutter,

“Can you help me out?” She asked,

Liam began to shake as she moved closer to him, standing next to him behind the lab table.

“Uh, shuh... sure. I guess.” Liam said, nervously. He couldn’t help but stutter, he’s never felt like this before, it was strange. He’s dated before and he’s liked girls before, but this felt different, it felt real, she apparently liked him back. He began to stare at her blankly as she tried to talk to him. He shook his head to keep from zoning out again,

“What... what do you need help with?” He said,

“Just the filing, I can’t get it to work.” She said, handing him a penny and the file. He took it in his trembling hand and set the penny on the table as he began to file a slot in the penny,

“You have to use... the sharp edge, y’know, to get it down faster.” He said. She leaned in closer to get a look at what he was doing. He could feel her hair on his arm. He could feel how soft it was. To prevent any mistakes, he moved on.

“Then, uh, we’re just going to hold the penny over the burner. Like this.” He said placing it over the fire with a set of prongs.

Soon, it began to heat up and they could both see something melting out of the coin,

“Hey, there’s something coming out.” She said,

“Yeah, that’s the zinc,” Liam said. She watched as it came closer to the burner. Before it could fall, she grabbed his hand and lifted it up a bit farther,

“It was about to fall, I don’t know what would happen if it fell in the fire.” She said, still holding his hand. Her hands were soft compared to his rough hands, calloused from all the years of baseball. His heart was fluttering, breath speeding up. His goggles began to fog up and he began to sweat. He could feel her squeeze his hand, she giggled,

“You have strong hands,” she said. Soon, Liam panicked at one of the squeeze and dropped the penny and prongs. It fell to the table and landed on the top corner of his paper, people began to look,

“I uh... I got it!” Liam said, watching a hole began to burn in the paper. He picked it up with his bare hands. It was blistering hot. He yelped and threw the penny up in the air, grabbing his hand. Stacey came over and grabbed his arm as he sat on the floor, back against the adjacent lab table. At this point, the entire class was looking, including Mr. Delapeno. She opened his hand to see if there was any cuts,

“Oh my god, are you ok?” She asked, he winced as he hand glided over his.

“Yeah, I think... I think I’ll be...” He said, then, it happened again. Stunned speechless and useless of any function, and it seemed she was too. They were both locked in a gaze. She began to mentally note Liam’s eyes. They were blue, a lot like her’s, but his were lighter and seemed to reflect more. She couldn’t think of anything else to compare them too, they were something she’s never seen. It was silent around them, they felt like they were floating. They were together, and it felt good, speechless or not, they knew exactly what they were both thinking. Liam smiled as Stacey chuckled and moved the hair behind her ear. This was a moment Liam thought he would never experience with Stacey, anyone really. It was true love, and he had to be honest, he liked it. Soon, the world around them came back as Mr. Delapeno stood over them, clearing his throat,

“Alright, lovebirds. Up off the floor and get a new penny. I don’t have time for screwing around in class.” He said, the entire class staring and chuckling at the both of them. Liam blushed as he was helped up. The experiment continued as both of them got back to work, dealing with a different kind of chemistry in class that day.