A New Kind of Science / Holtzbert

No Use Crying Over Spilled Coffee

The scalding, creamy liquid of Erin's Latte Macchiato slid down her throat with ease and she ignored the warm temperature as she knew she needed a large gulp of it to try and keep her tired eyes open. After taking the cup away from her lips, she looked down at it with a slight grin as she favored the taste. Clearing her throat, she began to feel the pain on her now burnt tongue, but she brushed it off, about to take another sip. "Hey Abby, that shirt looks really good on you." The deep, Australian accent caused Dr. Gilbert to gasp just enough while swallowing her drink to send her into a small choking fit. All eyes turned to the particle physicist and she tried to stop her coughing. 

"Uh, thank you, Kevin. Erin, are you alright?" Abby focused on her best friend, hoping she could avoid looking at the only man in the room for the time-being after his compliment. Her high school acquaintance nodded while her eyes watered and a few more coughs escaped her throat as she tried to force out words, but failed. 

"Do you need a drink?" Kevin wondered from his desk.

Shaking her head no, Erin was able to force out one last violent hack before pushing out a smile and giving them a thumbs up. She cleared her pained throat and was finally able to hoarsely speak. "I'm good. I'm good." She cleared her throat once more.

"You sure?" Yates watched her move the coffee cup as if getting ready to place it back on the table in front of her.

With one more insecure nod, Gilbert turned her gaze to Kevin, feeling her own cheeks grow red for he and Abby. In her moment of watching Beckman watch Yates, she was unaware of the position of the cup in her suddenly shaky hand. It was too low to surpass the edge of the desk and the bottom of it collided with the table, knocking the hot drink out of her hand. Both Patty and Abby stood upon the event and exclaimed quite dramatically before asking the brunette if she was okay. Kevin soon stood as well and headed to the bathroom for paper towels. 

Abigail joined her friend at her desk and she helped her step around the mess on the floor. "Are you okay? That must've been scorching hot." Abby asked, still holding Erin's hand by the desk.

"Yeah." Gilbert responded with a disappointed tone, looking down at her ruined gray skirt. "I'm just glad it landed on the floor and not all over my papers." She nervously laughed before looking over her shoulder to see Kevin returning with a roll of toilet paper instead of paper towels. She let her head fall to the side, baffled at the receptionist. 

"You sure you didn't get burned?" Abby frantically asked when she took the roll from Kevin and bent over, beginning to clean up the large puddle on the floor. 

"Yeah." Sighing with a slight eye roll, Erin bit her cheek before speaking again. "If it isn't slime it's coffee, right?" She began to shake her skirt to try and cool off her honestly burning thighs.

"Wait a minute." Abby spoke, picking up the empty cup and setting it back on Erin's desk. "I thought you didn't like Starbuck's because they were in competition with Dunkin' Donuts?" She continued to try and soak up the drink.

"Yeah, well...I guess I'd try something new for once." Gilbert admitted, feeling the burns on her legs slowly getting better. "Clearly, I'm not allowed to try new things." She said with hostility, more to herself than to anyone else.

Patty had gone to the bathroom for real paper towels before returning to help clean up the floor. She patted Gilbert on the back when she approached the mess. "You go on upstairs and change into somethin' else. We've got this."

"You sure?" The tired scholar asked with a hint of apologetic guilt in her tone.

"Yeah, yeah. We're good." Yates nodded while wiping the floor. 

At first, Erin stared down at them, tempted to forget about her clothes for now and just help out as well, but eventually, she obeyed Patricia and headed for the staircase. Abigail had grown annoyed with the thin toilet paper and she picked up the wad of highly absorbent tissue, soaked with macchiato, before setting it down beside her. She sat up on her knees and took the paper towel roll from Patty who had finally looked away from Erin and began to help out as well. Yates bent back over to wipe up some of the spill but she stopped, noticing her face was inches from Kevin's. Tolan watched them look into each other's eyes for a moment before awkwardly giggling or clearing their throats and returning their focus back to cleaning up the mess.

Exhaustion was really beginning to catch up to the particle physicist, especially after walking all the way up to the second floor. When she reached her locker, she yawned, wishing she hadn't had such a hard time sleeping after the date. When she left Holtzmann alone on the sidewalk, her grin had become permanent the whole cab ride home. Upon entering her apartment, she was greeted by Abby's eight-legged 'friend,' whom had made its way to the bottom of the wall in the hallway near her bedroom. Normally, she would've hugged herself and, with strong fear, had run passed it and into her bedroom, possibly to never come out again. But, something had given her confidence after the night she'd had and she took it upon herself to crush the little guy with one of her beige heels. Though she was never as terrified of the little pests as Abby was, she certainly never went close enough to one to be able to kill it. 

After confidently walking into her bedroom prior to that, she chuckled at herself thinking, 'there's a first time for everything' and remembering that her newfound relationship with Holtzmann  was another example of that true and popular aphorism. All she could think about for the rest of the night was wanting to kiss the inventor again. She lay awake, smiling up at the ceiling and wondering how today would go. 

It was not going as she planned already and she yawned again, finally opening her locker. Looking down at herself, she noticed a small splash of latte had also ended up on her business jacket. Softly groaning, she reached for the buttons on the long sleeved top. 

Only being able to unbutton the first two, Gilbert jumped when she heard Holtz from behind her. "You alright?" The kooky, petite woman asked.

Immediately catching her breath, Erin turned around to face Holtzy and she frustratedly gestured to her outfit. "I spilled my coffee." Jill looked down at the stained clothes with no change of expression and Erin continued to communicate her emotions. "Which really ticks me off, because I needed the caffeine to stay awake today." She let her left hand move to hold her forehead and closed her eyes, missing her bed at the moment.

It was silent as Jillian watched her attempt to keep it together. The taller of the two began to rub her eyes with her thumb and pointer finger and it took all of Holtzy's might not to take her hand down and start kissing her then and there. "Hey, Erin...Erin." 

Gilbert bitterly let her hand fall and she looked to Holtz with a bit of irritation. "What?" 

"Um..." The blonde cleared her throat, looking into the open locker passed Erin, then back up to the other scientist. "Change your clothes, then come to my lab."

"What?" She harshly asked.

"Just...trust me, alright?" She quickly looked to the stairs, hoping no one could hear. "I'll tell you after you change." That was the only explanation Erin received from the smaller woman and she turned, heading back into her lab area. 

Still uncomfortably wet, covered in, now oddly cool, coffee, Dr. Gilbert forced herself not to cry as the blonde walked away. She knew she was being cruel to her today and normally, she would've blamed it on the lack of sleep or spilling of the coffee, but she knew better and she was well aware of the real reason for her hostility toward Holtzmann. 

Feeling the climbing lump in her throat, she took a deep breath and turned to grab a new pair of clothes from her locker.