Alchemy and Algebra

Chapter 16

Between her schoolwork, working on her thesis, plus Charlie's twice-a-week extended store hours, Kennedy hadn't seen Charlie for the better part of a week. She sat at the desk in her bedroom, trying to decide which data analysis technique would work best with the information she'd gathered from her four tarot card readers. She was having trouble focusing on the problem. She kept feeling the urge to turn in her chair, look at the bed behind her and let herself get lost in her memories of the time she'd spent between the sheets with Charlie.

Her thesis, which had seemed all-consuming only a few weeks ago, no longer effortlessly captured her attention. Something about it was feeling off, like she was heading in the wrong direction, but she couldn't tell if the problem was with the data, the analysis, or her.

If Kennedy's thesis wasn't accepted by the panel from the statistics department, she wouldn't graduate. Though she had several months left to write the enormous paper, it wasn't like some pop-quiz she could recover from if she failed; she couldn't afford to get her thesis wrong. She couldn't have picked a worse time to get twitterpated over a cute boy.

She'd had a cup of peppermint tea the other day and had gotten turned on at the first sip. The cool taste of peppermint in her mouth was now firmly linked to memories of fooling around with Charlie. She'd had to go out and buy children's bubble-gum flavored toothpaste to avoid showing up to her morning classes all hot and bothered.

Pushing away from her desk with a small sound of frustration, Kennedy turned and flopped face-first on her bed. The sheets no longer smelled like Charlie, but she'd waited to change them until two days past when she normally would just to preserve that bit of him in her bedroom. They had a date for the following night, but it seemed like a lifetime since she'd seen him, and another lifetime until she'd see him again.

Kennedy's head was spinning. Fact, figures and formulas spun with kisses, caresses and cuddles. Her left brain and right brain fought for dominance. Neither side seemed to be winning, but the struggle was exhausting her. Kennedy's stomach growled, adding to the chaos within and reminding her that she hadn't left her desk in hours.

She returned to her room a few minutes later with an apple and plate of cheese and crackers. She had just put her snack into a spot cleared in its honor when her phone chirped. She sat up and retrieved her phone. She'd gotten was an uncharacteristically enthusiastic text from her friend, Stacy, who was also in Kennedy's statistics PhD program.

"Do you have plans for Sat night?!?"

"Yes. Why?"

"Cancel them!"

"For what?"

"Mandelbrot is coming to town!!!!!!"

"THE Mandelbrot is coming here?!?"

"He's in town for some kind of meeting, and he's agreed to give a speech, one night only!"

Kennedy squealed like a teenaged girl who'd just found Justin Bieber on her front steps.

"I'M COMING. TELL ME WHERE AND WHEN."

Kennedy drummed her heels against the side of her bed as she waited for Stacy's reply. A rapid knock sounded at Kennedy's door.

"Kennedy, are you alright? Is there a spider?"

She opened her door to find Chandra standing in the hallway wielding a rolled-up magazine and a paper coffee cup.

"There was a spider in the sink a year ago. Let it go, already, Chandra."

"I thought I heard you scream."

"Did I? Well, I did get some good news." A broad grin spread across Kennedy's face. "Mandelbrot is coming to town to speak this weekend!"

"Who, now?"

"Ugh. Language majors."

Chandra gave her a playful swat on the shoulder. "He must be one of *your* people."

Kennedy rolled her eyes. "Benoit Mandelbrot. He revolutionized the mathematics of natural systems in the seventies."

Her roommate looked at her blankly.

"He invented the word 'fractal'?"

Chandra's face lit up. "Oh, the pretty poster on your wall! He drew that?"

She patted Chandra on the shoulder. "Close enough."

Kennedy spun on her heel and went digging through her bookshelf. "Oh, I wonder if he'd sign my copy of "Form, Chance and Dimension"? "

"So no spiders, then?" Chandra called from the hallway.

"Nope, just me geeking out."

***

Two hours later, Kennedy was still happily flipping through her Mandelbrot book when her phone chimed again.

"Thinking of you, pretty lady. Can't wait for tomorrow," read Charlie's text.

Crud. In her excitement over the lecture, she'd forgotten that she'd made plans with Charlie. The two halves of Kennedy's brain, which had declared a cease-fire when she'd gotten Stacy's texts, screamed their war cries and ran towards each other again. Brain or body? Math god or sex god? No problem in any of Kennedy's textbooks had ever been this difficult.

Just when she felt like her head would explode, she came up with a possible solution. She picked up her phone and called Charlie's number.

"Hey, sugar," Charlie said when he picked up the phone.

"Sugar? I'm not that much of a sweets person, actually."

"No? Were you just eating my cookies to be polite the day we met?"

"I don't mind them, especially when I'm hungry. But usually, I prefer my carbs like I like my men."

"Hot? Decorated? With blue frosting?"

"I meant complex," Kennedy laughed. "You know, like brown rice, or steel-cut oats? Hot and decorated I get, but blue frosting?"

"Right, you haven't seen it yet. I'll save that for later. How are you doing?"

Kennedy leaned way back in her desk chair, letting her ponytail dangle behind her. "So excited. That's actually why I called you."

"I can be there in twenty minutes."

Kennedy laughed again. "That's not what I meant, dirty boy. I wanted to talk to you about tomorrow. Would you be up for a change in plans?"

"Does it involve getting you naked earlier?"

"Not if I want to avoid getting arrested. There's this world-famous mathematician coming to town and he's giving a lecture tomorrow night at six. He's retired and he hardly ever speaks in public anymore, so this could be my only chance to hear him talk about his work. Would you be up for coming with me to that?"

Kennedy held her breath as she waited for Charlie to reply. Sitting quietly with a bunch of math aficionados as they listened to their king was a far cry from their original plan of dinner out followed by a DVD at Kennedy's place.

"Can we do dinner after?" Charlie replied.

"Of course. That would be great, actually. Thank you."

"Anything that's got you 'so excited,' I wouldn't miss for the world. Seriously, this sounds like a once-in-a-lifetime thing for you, and it's something you're into, so I'd like to see it, too. Especially if you'll come to one of my things next weekend."

Why had she been so nervous? Charlie was awesome. Of course he would say yes.

"What's your thing?" she asked.

"I'll tell you about it next time you come to my place."

"Alright, Mr. Mysterious. You've piqued my curiosity."

They settled the details and, after a little more shameless flirting, ended the call. Kennedy was pleased with how she'd solved her weekend's mind/body problem. She'd found a way to have her cake and eat it, too. But what in the world had Charlie been talking about when he'd said 'blue frosting'?