Chapter 5: Chemistry 2

"That was so much fun!" I jumped excitedly, removing my helmet. 

Roman smirked, leaning his hips on the parked vehicle. "I'm glad you had fun. I'll be happy to drive you to your work later."

"That would be lovely, thank you." I ran a hand through my hair, removing strands that made its way to my face. Roman had the same problem, though his hair is much shorter than mine. Looking at me through silver hair, the male bit his lip and blushed as he once again caught me staring at him. 

Damn it. 

"We should go inside and do some chemistry." 

That brought a laugh out of him.

"If you like. It'll be a good bonding activity."

Oh my god.

I gave his shoulder a light punch for that pun before leading the way to the library. We rented a study room, which are about the same size as my apartment's bathroom. There's only one table and two chairs, as well as one big whiteboard and one marker. Roman laid out all his notes, homework paper, book, and scientific calculator on the table while I took out my pencil. 

"See, this is your first mistake." I picked up his black pen. "Always use pencil when you're doing anything math related."

"But chemistry is science. Not math." 

"Second mistake. Math is the father. Physics is the mother. Chemistry is their baby." He looked puzzled at my statement, and I'm slightly disappointed. Orion laughed at it when he first heard me say it. Even Miko cracked a smile when I told her about it. "Stoichiometry is math, obviously."

I picked up his paper and copied a problem on the whiteboard. 

"First of all, do you know how to convert units? Like, meters to centimeters, meters to miles, kilograms to grams?" He nodded his head. "Good. That's the key. Lots of conversions. Do you know how to find out a formula's total mass units? Formula weight?" He nodded again. "Perfect. How about balancing chemical equations?" 

He shook his head. 

"My brain just shuts down every time there's 12 oxygen on the product and 15 on the reactant."

"Easy. Let me show you the trick..." 

***

"Remember. Convert everything to mols if the unit is not already on mols. Grams to mols, then mols to atoms. You will use Avogadro's number for that. You will need that number for atoms, particles, and molecules. You need formula weight for grams, and litters, it's 22.4 liters per one mol." I pointed to the table I've created for him to always refer to. 

While I did one homework problem in his paper, I felt Roman's gaze on me. Actually, he's been doing that a lot. Every time I look at him, he looks away and blushes. I tried not to comment or think about it, seeing as he's still shy around me. He is slowly losing up though. He's starting to make jokes and sharing random thoughts and comments. 

"Can we take a break? I'm going to cry if I hear the word 'mol' one more time." 

"You just said it, so you should be crying by now." 

He shot me a glare before running a hand through his hair. His expression reminded me of Loki earlier. Stupid weird cute cat. Why are Orion's cats always so strange? I guess, like father like kids. 

Grinning to myself while erasing the word, I looked over my shoulder to see Roman spacing out. His eyes are glued on the table, and he looks as if he's about to cry. His nostrils are flaring and his shoulders are slightly shaking, while his fists are clenched. I reluctantly walked towards him and put a hand on his shoulder. 

Within a second, he grabbed my hand and pulled me down so that our faces are on the same level. I gasped at his strong grip. 

"Roman. Let go." 

He released me immediately and stood up, backing away. "I'm sorry." He shook his head, frowning. "I'm so sorry! I was just - my mind was somewhere else. I'm so sorry."

Pursing my lips, I rubbed my wrist with my other hand, noticing a red ring forming around it. "It's fine. It's almost eleven. I gotta go to class." I picked up my backpack and left the room with my heart racing and head spinning. 

***

"Do you think werewolves are real?" 

My chemistry lab partner, Efren, asked as we wait for our solution to heat up. I raised a brow and grinned, making him frown. "Don't laugh. It's a serious thing right now. People are saying they saw a werewolf in Monzon. That's not far from here! I saw the picture on Twitter. It looks like the one from Harry Potter."

"I'd love to meet Professor Lupin." 

"Astoria!" 

I stirred the clear solution with the stirring rod. "I don't think they're real. Even if they are, I don't think they'll be anything like in the movies and TV shows. You really think humans can turn into cute dogs?" 

Efren shrugged. "You never know. The world is a mysterious place. We're still discovering animals. There are still undiscovered lands and areas. The ocean is like 95 percent unexplored. Mermaids could be real." 

"Fair point." He smiled. "But come on dude. Werewolves? Do you believe in vampires too? And witches? Oh, elves! Legolas kind of elves!" 

"Oh, I definitely do." He says seriously. "I don't fuck with those shit. You never know when anyone of them can be around you."

Smirking, I picked up the stirring rod and waved it to his face. "I could be a witch, Efren. Avada Kedavra." 

"Rivera! Stop doing that!" My professor called from the front of the room.

I set down the object and smiled sheepishly. "Sorry." 

***

After class, I met Roman where he parked his motorcycle. We agreed to meet up here after our classes since it ends at the same time, and he promised to drop me off at Virgo. He seemed surprised to see me when I arrived. 

"I didn't think you'd come after earlier. I'm sorry again."

I waved my hand dismissively. I've been thinking about it during class, and I did see that he was genuinely apologetic so I let it go Roman seems like a really nice guy. I think he was just thinking about something and it made him defensive. It happens. "It's okay." I then stole his helmet and smiled at the motorcycle. "I'm ready for this baby." 

Roman smiled and bowed, motioning for me to get on. As he did, I noticed another tattoo at the back of his neck. It's similar to the one by his forearm, symbols in a different language. Brushing it aside, I got on the motorcycle and put my hands on the handles. 

"Do you know how to drive this?" I turned to the silver haired boy, who had an eyebrow raised at me with his arms crossed. "I'm starting to think this isn't your first time in a motorcycle." 

"My sister owns one."

"Ah. Explains why you weren't scared for your life earlier." 

"Yep. Your plan for me to cling onto you totally failed." 

He laughed. "You got me." He then nodded at the vehicle. "How about you drive us to your work?" 

My mouth dropped slightly. "Really? You'll trust me with your life? I didn't say I'm a good driver." 

Shrugging, he went behind me and put hands on my waist. "Guess we'll find out, won't we?" 

I turned on its engine and smiled at its roar. I waited for him to put on his helmet after putting mine, and then we bolted out of there like a rocket ship going out of space. His grip on my waist tightened as I went faster, enjoying the wind hitting my skin. The rush of adrenaline lasted for a while as I took the longer way to work. 

We passed through cars and hundreds of trees, and arrived at Virgo Laboratory's building soon enough. I stopped in front of it and removed my helmet before getting off. Roman removed his helmet and studied the tall building, letting out a whistle. 

"So this is Virgo." 

"Yep." I handed him the helmet. "Thanks for the ride." 

"I'll be happy to give you one anytime." That sounded awfully sexual in my head. "I can pick you up after work too if you want."

I shook my head. "No no no, it's fine. I'll see you tomorrow in class. Don't forget what I taught you, Mols." 

Roman frowned and shoved his helmet back on his head. He gave me a salute before he drove away, making me snicker. Taking out my work ID from my backpack, I smiled at the security guard and scanned the white card at the small scanner by the door. It only opens to people who work inside because the building contains classified information and project, as well as many important things. There's a lot of objects, chemicals, drugs, and devices that are hard to come by and they have to be secured. 

***

Orion has a matching scratch at his other jawline. 

"Looks like your new son doesn't like you very much." Before going to the office, I stopped by the locker room and changed my shorts into spare black pants that I keep in my locker. No shorts are allowed in the labs, just like any laboratory, for safety reasons. If a drop of a dangerous chemical lands on my thigh, I could lose my leg. Better to be safe than sorry. 

"He's like Hulk today." The curly haired boy sighed, resting his face in his hand. "Usually, he's like, Taz, being a cute Tasmanian Devil, manageable but this morning he's so grumpy. I gave him extra milk. I gave him so much food that Hermione got upset with me because she wasn't getting that much. I gave him a nice bed, a whole yarn and a new toy, but it didn't lift up his mood." 

"Must be the bacon." 

"The what?"

"Nothing." I grinned at him. "You know Loki's a little shit. Where did you get him?" 

Orion murmured something under his breath. 

"What was that?"

He looked at me, face pink. "I found him digging through the trash cans behind my mom's restaurant." 

My heart hurts. "Aw, no." Poor baby must have been living by himself for who knows how long. What about the intense weathers? The heat waves? The storms? "He's still a little shit but aw, poor Loki. I'm glad you took him and give him a home, even if he doesn't want it. I'm sure he appreciates it deep down." 

"I hope so." He sighs. "Anyway, look at this!" He held up his 'Evil Radar' device. "I really think it works. I went to prison and - "

"Damn. What'd you do? Steal someone's cat?" 

Orion's mouth dropped before scoffing at me. "Fuck you. I was there for science. Well, technology, but same thing. Anyway," He glared at me. "The machine beeped like crazy. You know why? It's full of criminals in there!" 

"Orion." I huffed. "Machines cannot detect people's personality. Your Asshole radar is a fail." 

"No. It doesn't check personality. It checks auras and energy." 

"How?" 

He then smiled widely. "I thought you'd never ask." He ran in front of my desk and held up his box full of wires. "Okay so I'm assuming you're familiar with the electromagnetic spectrum and the different kinds of lights and energy, plus the colors and all that." I nodded. "I've been talking to the dudes in the second floor and they said that if the auras are really strong, like really really strong, it can give off energy, like actual light energy. So let's say it finds a very angry person, this will go off. That person will have strong red aura, and if it's strong enough, it'll give off energy, and this machine can detect that special type of energy and it will beep. It's more like a red aura radar." 

"Alright. Pretty good. However, it beeped yesterday when you pointed it at me."

Orion set the box to my desk. "Exactly. Why was it beeping?" He looked at me suspiciously. "What are you hiding, Astoria?"

I pursed my lips and scooted away from him. "Uh... Well... I... I fed your cat bacon." 

He gasped loudly. "You did not!" 

"Actually you're right. I gave him bread, but - "

"Oh my god! You monster!" 

"What the fuck do you feed your cats?" 

"Fish!"

"Well, Loki likes bacon. He stole bacon from me. Two!!" I held up two fingers in front of his face. 

At that moment, Miko walked in the room. Her brown eyes flickered back and forth me and Orion, then she let out a long sigh and walked back out.