A New Kind of Science / Holtzbert

Lonely

"Hey." Erin stood in the doorway to Jillian's lab with the self-promised piece of cake in her hand for Holtzy.

The blonde almost fell over on her stool, as she hadn't noticed the woman enter. Trying to act like everything was fine and dandy, she said, "Wazzuppp?" Her hands simultaneously found themselves moving to rest behind her head and she leaned back.

"I, uh...I saved you a piece. Even though you didn't want any, I just...I thought you should have some." Erin awkwardly walked over to stand at the table across from Jillian, who slowly put her arms down as the woman set the plate on the surface in front of her. She waited for Holtzmann to reach for the fork or at least push the plate away, but she did nothing. "Um, what have you been doing up here all day?" No answer. "Are you planning on staying here all night again?" Holtzmann shrugged one shoulder. It was silent for an uncomfortable amount of time. Erin looked around the room, feeling strange about any type of eye contact at the moment and Jillian looked down at the cake. Gilbert took in a deep breath as if she were about to say something, but she stopped herself. Then, spoke anyways. "Are you...okay? You seem-" She moved her hands in front of her as if trying to come up with the best word.

Grinning, Jillian replied with a small lie. "I'm tired."

"Ohhhhh...Makes sense." The taller of the two slowly nodded. 

"So, uh...what are you still doin' here?" Holtzmann asked. 

"I don't know." Gilbert continued to move her eyes around the room. She continued to avoid eye contact with the blonde before suddenly, flopping down into a stool across from the woman opposite her. She sighed. "I guess I didn't want to feel alone in that apartment!" She confessed with her eyes closed. "Holtzmann, I'm so lonely." Erin whined before opening her eyes again and finally braving the eye contact with the blonde, who had at some point taken her yellow goggles off. Gilbert secretly thought to herself how surprised she was that Holtzy was actually listening and seemed a bit interested. "Ugh! Why is it so hard to find a man?" 

"I don't know." Jillian answered as she picked at her own finger nails. "Probably not looking in the right place." 

"I don't know. I've looked everywhere. I've tried online dating. I've gone out with coworkers who, by the way, ended up being worse than the strangers I met on the internet. I don't know. Maybe I'm not meant for a relationship. I have tried and tried with Kevin, but he's either uninterested or just too stupid to notice that I've been flirting." She scoffed, crossing her arms in front of her chest." It's probably me. It's me, isn't it?" It was silent for a moment and she looked down at the cake in between the two, feeling her stomach slightly growl. She opened her mouth to continue with what she was saying, but she lost her train of thought when she saw Holtzmann's hand reach up and slowly push the plate toward her, offering it to her. She just stared down at it, not wanting to take the last piece from the birthday girl who hadn't even had a piece yet.

"Go on." Jillian gestured toward the dessert with her hand before leaning her elbow on the table and resting her chin in that hand. 

"No. No. That's for you. I saved it specifically for the birthday girl. You eat it." Erin declined.

"Oh, don't worry about me. You want it. Go for it." She tried not to get lost in Gilbert's sad eyes, but she couldn't bring herself to look away either. 

"I couldn't. I'd feel too guilty-"

"If I took a bite first, would you just shut up and have the darn cake?"

Erin couldn't help but think how adorable her friend was and she let herself smile while she looked down at the fork on the paper plate. "Uh, sure. Yeah. Okay." She awkwardly nodded. "Thanks, Holtzy."