19 Last Name

"Did you have to spend a lot of time in the lab?" Troy asked curiously.

Eden let out a single sharp laugh. Boy, had she! "I practically lived there my last two years of college once my lower-level classes were out of the way. At least the professors I was working with were pretty chill.

"One of my friends wasn't so lucky and got stuck with the strictest professor in the entire department. She said she survived solely because the other research assistant her first year had been there a while and taught her how to navigate his nitpickiness."

Dread filled her heart as she wondered if her new boss was going to be like that or if they would be easy to work with like her faculty mentors. How you got along with your supervisor could make or break a job regardless of whether you enjoyed the type of work or not.

Troy had an obvious smile in his voice. "I bet you miss it. It must be exciting for you to go back."

"Exciting and nerve-wracking," Eden confessed. "If my supervisor sucks, there's nothing I can do about it."

"I'm sure you'll be fine! You're a super likable person; your supervisor is going to see how great you are no problem. Did they tell you who it is yet?"

"No. I have to sign a bunch of confidentiality paperwork before I'm given any information about which research team I'm on. I guess people are pretty serious about their medication patents."

"Makes sense, I guess. I don't know anything about the pharmaceutical industry," Troy said. "You'll have to tell me all about it. You know, whatever isn't prohibited by your confidentiality agreements."

Eden laughed. "You make me sound like some sort of spy when you put it like that."

"Are you saying you aren't?"

"I can neither confirm nor deny such allegations."

This was fun. She enjoyed being able to banter with someone other than Aubrey. They had known each other so long that they knew all of the other person's comebacks by now.

Bantering with Troy was fresh and new. Plus it was the first time in years she had been able to talk to a guy like this. Most of her ex-boyfriends hadn't been the bantering types. That may have contributed to why her relationships with them went stale so fast.

Eden needed to be able to joke around with people. It was a crucial part of her personality. Not being able to tease whoever she was hanging out with made socialization pointless because that was the most enjoyable part.

Their breaks ended far too soon. She wasn't ready to say goodbye to Troy yet but work beckoned. She really was becoming too attached to someone she was leaving behind.

Not permanently though. She did have his number. They would still be able to talk like this after she quit, wouldn't they? She wanted to be able to talk and laugh with him more. Their time together hadn't been nearly long enough.

If they hung out away from Freddie's, neither of them would be in uniform. He could see her wearing something cute with her hair down and she could see him period. She really was curious what was under that mascot head.

Did Troy look like a stereotypical musician or was he clean cut? Did he have any tattoos? What color were his eyes? How did his face look when he was smiling or laughing?

Eden wanted to be able to see those things for herself. They were friends; something as simple as knowing what he looked like shouldn't have even been a question at this point. Their situation was definitely unique.

Normally, you saw people's faces the moment you met them. Even meeting someone online usually involved some sort of profile photo that looked at least passingly like them. Filters and camera angles could only do so much.

Her profile picture was a candid shot that Aubrey had taken of her when the wind was blowing just right to make her hair swirl around her face like she was some sort of model as she laughed at something her best friend said. It looked so good that she ended up using it for all of her social media accounts.

The picture may have showed Eden off to her best advantage but it still looked like her. Having access to Troy's social media accounts would be helpful in terms of pictures but she didn't even know his last name. There were probably hundreds of Troys on Facebook so his first name alone wasn't helpful.

That didn't stop her from trying to look the next day though. She typed in 'Troy San Jose' in Facebook's search bar. She found two people whose names were actually Troy San Jose, a guy that lived in Las Vegas, and a company based in San Jose with the name Troy in it.

So she changed her search simply to 'Troy' and found a few people with mutual friends but all of them were either too old or lived in the wrong state. This was pointless. There were way too many results to sort through.

What a bust. Even if she knew his last name, she would have to know what he looked like to find the right guy if it was something relatively common.

Would it be too weird to ask him what his last name was so she could add him on Facebook and Instagram? If they ended up spending time together outside of work, it might be less awkward then.

Eden supposed it didn't matter all that much. The more time you spent with someone, the more you came to know about them naturally. She would know what his last name was eventually and she could add him then.

She was sorely tempted to text him since they both had the day off but she didn't want to be a bother. She could ask him what he did when she saw him tomorrow.