Blind Kiss(7)

“That’s different. Our culture, our generation, is obsessed with looks. It’s a good sensory experiment. Our hypothesis is that imagination is what drives sexuality; projection fuels intimacy between people. That’s what this experiment is all about. But it’s complicated. Just forget it.”

She was pinning another poster to a bulletin board when a little crowd formed. “We have plenty of guys,” she said to the crowd. “We just need girls. We’ll compensate with forty-dollar gift cards to Java Hut.”

“You told me twenty,” I whispered near her ear.

“Shhh,” she said. “I have to up the ante. This thing is supposed to happen tomorrow. We have a videographer booked and everything. I’ll give you a forty-dollar card too, okay? Just be quiet.” She directed her attention back to the crowd. “This girl is doing it. We just need four more.”

“You are?” a few girls murmured with looks of disgust on their faces.

“For the sake of science,” I said. I also didn’t want to disappoint Ling. “Come on, when you’re all seniors, you’re gonna need volunteers for your projects.”

We got four other girls to agree after a lot of pleading. After the crowd scattered, Ling turned to me with a huge grin on her face. “Thanks for helping me out today, Penny. Once this whole thing is over, I promise I’ll come and watch you dance, okay?”

I smiled. Ling and I were going to be friends.

By that point, the library sounded even less appealing. I needed to dance. I would have to skip ballet the following day to do Ling’s experiment, so even though I’d told my dad and Professor Douglas I’d take it easy, I decided to go to the ballet studio anyway to get in some toe time.

Walking through the CSU parking lot toward my ’94 Honda Accord, the chill in the air was strong. I was moving fast on my numb, bruised feet.

The Honda was my dad’s old car he’d sworn would run for three hundred thousand miles. I pumped the gas as I turned the key over and over but there was nothing. “Dammit.” I hit the steering wheel and looked at the odometer. It only had a hundred and ten thousand miles.

Slouching in my seat, wondering what to do, I was startled by a rap on my window. I looked up to see Lance, a microbiology major who knew my dad.

“You flooded the engine,” he yelled.

I got out of the car. “My dad said I’d get three hundred thousand miles out of this piece of junk.”

“I can give you a ride home,” he offered.

“Um. Can you give me a ride to my dance studio? It’s about two miles away. My dad can pick me up after he gets off work.”

“Yeah, no problem. I totally dig your dad, by the way. His last lecture was amazing.” My dad was a frequent guest lecturer so all the microbio kids knew him.

“Yeah, he’s great.”

I locked up my car and got into Lance’s Toyota Corolla. The inside was pristine and smelled like coconuts. “Penny, have you ever swabbed your steering wheel?”

“Huh? No.” The stench from my dance bag was starting to overpower the coconut scent.

“When I knocked on your window, it looked like you had your mouth on the steering wheel.”

“What’s your point?” I’d only been resting my face on it, but he seemed grossed out. I wasn’t in the mood for his judgment.

“You should swab it and bring it into the lab. You’d be amazed by how much bacteria is on a steering wheel. It’s dirtier than a toilet seat.” I seriously doubted his claim, but whatever, he was the scientist.

“Interesting.” I pointed to the next stoplight. “Make a left up there.”

“So, what are your plans after graduation?” He was driving exactly the speed limit, which either meant he was trying to make the ride last as long as possible or he was an old man.

“I was thinking about opening a studio and teaching dance. How ’bout you? Do you have an internship lined up?”

“Definitely something in pharmaceuticals, but I was actually thinking about going into sales instead of research and development. More money, you know?” He turned toward me and wiggled his eyebrows. Lance was a dead ringer for Tobey Maguire. A lot of girls liked him. He was sweet and charming, confident but not arrogant. He would have been perfect boyfriend material—if I were looking.

“Well, you didn’t need all this schooling for pharma sales.”

He laughed. “It was in the contract. I had to go to college in order to collect a trust fund my grandmother had left me. I’ll be able to buy a house as soon as I graduate. But I’ll still need to work. And as much as your dad inspires me, and as much as I love the lab, I don’t want to do that every day, you know?”

“Yeah, I do know, actually. Oh, you just passed the driveway.”

“Whoops.” He did a very cautious U-turn and pulled into the parking lot.

Slinging my bag over my shoulder, I jumped out and turned to look at Lance through the open door. “Thanks a lot. This was really nice of you.”

He smiled and seemed to hesitate for a moment before continuing. “I know this might seem out of the blue, but do you want to go out sometime?”

“With you?” Oh man, why did I say that?

He huffed. “Yeah, with me.”

“Oh sorry. You just caught me off guard. Yeah, maybe. I just have to get through exams. Maybe during Thanksgiving break or something?”