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CHAPTER 03, listen before i go.
▬▬▬▬ "Sorry about last night," Dr. Mariano Rodriguez said, as if that made everything better.
Dr. Anna Riverdale scowled at him as she entered the elevator that would take them down to the viral lab where they both worked. He was standing there waiting in the car, holding a cup of coffee in his hand, just as she was. They both took their coffee with cream and Sweet 'N Low-not Equal or sugar— which was something she once found endearing.
Next to him stood their lab tech, Dwayne Carlson, who was holding a plate containing food for the rabbits they were experimenting on.
Mariano—or "Mo," as she called him whenever she wanted to annoy him, like, say, right now—had that mischievous smile on his face.
It was the most adorable sight in all creation when they first started working together. Now, after three straight broken dates, it mostly made her want to punch him. Repeatedly.
Dwayne, on the other hand, was just smiling like a normal person. Once, Anna had asked Dwayne why he was smiling all the time in the lab, and he said, 'Cause I usually gotta pay goodmoney for theater like what you two give me for free every day'
Anna was glad that somebody was getting entertainment out of it. Mariano was a brilliant biologist, a damn good-looking man, and fabulous in bed. He also had the emotional maturity of a particularly troubled nine-year-old, only with less couth.
Their first date wasn't really a date as such. He came to her apartment, they ripped each others- clothes off, and had several hours of the best sex Anna had had since that amazing fling during finals week at Johns Hopkins. Their second date, which actually involved non-work-related conversation and being out in public, was a disaster.
Every attempt at a third date had met with failure, as Mariano had managed to not show up for some lame reason or other. She was getting tired of it.
Last night had been the most recent attempt at that third date. She was left waiting at the train station half the night before she finally gave up and went back to her apartment.
As she entered the elevator, she said, "Whatever." She faced the front of the car, her back to him.
"I'm really sorry, Anna, I just fell asleep. You know how long we’ve been working on the T-virus, and I haven't been getting enough sleep, and—"
