Elective Affinities [Complete]

My Valentine

Thursday evening

Jay nervously paced up and down the footpath, waiting for Nya to arrive for their date.

Is this now our first or our second date? He had to keep his mind occupied by thinking about this and other very important questions, even if only to prevent himself from freaking out. And he had been doing it for the biggest part of the last three hours, since he had left work earlier this evening.

Luckily, he had not been too much affected by his upcoming date during the day. Sure, the blue-eyed young man was a high-strung and very emotional person and therefore got easily distracted. But whenever he was working on one of his inventions, he would get lost in his project and give it his undivided attention.

Even as a young boy, Jay had always loved inventing – although, as his friends would constantly remind him, his earlier attempts had usually not been very successful – and Cyrus Borg, the famous inventor and founder of Borg Industries, had been one of his childhood idols.

So, when he finished university about half a year ago, Jay was very excited about the opportunity to join Borg Industries and he very much enjoyed his position in the R&D department. Just two weeks ago, he had been assigned to work on one of Borg's latest ideas – and, according to the rumours in the company, one of the senior inventor's favourite projects – which had given him a huge boost of confidence in his own skills and his status within the team.

But right now, he just had other things - or rather another person - on his mind.

The 23-year old checked his watch for the umpteenth time since arriving at the restaurant about fifteen minutes ago. It was 7:50, so Nya still had ten minutes to arrive in time for their dinner reservation.

He was hoping she would be early though. Not only because he was excited to see her, but Jay really needed someone to speak to. The talkative young man had really missed his flatmate and their usual conversation this evening. Despite their rather different personalities and work schedules, he and Zane had become good friends over the past few months of being flatmates.

Usually, when the inventor/engineer got back to their shared apartment from his work at Borg Industries, the chef would still be at home and they would spend some time together, before Zane had to leave for his own work at the restaurant.

But today, when Jay had returned home, Zane had already left to meet his girlfriend for their own little Valentine's date. As he and Pixal both had to work tonight, they had arranged to spend the afternoon together. Zane wanted to meet Pixal after her last class today, to go for a walk in a park nearby, followed by hot chocolate in one of the small cafés in the area.

Despite his own nervousness, Jay couldn't help but feel truly happy and smile, when he thought about the new couple.

Tuesday night

Jay woke up with a start, when the door to their flat creaked and someone, his flatmate, entered the apartment. Jay sleepily checked the time on the tv, it was 1:30am. Great, he had fallen asleep on the sofa while watching tv – and while waiting for Zane to return from his shift at the restaurant.

Zane must have noticed the voices coming from the tv, for he came into the living room and looked at Jay in surprise. "Good evening, Jay. I am astonished to find you still awake at this time. Do you not have to get up early tomorrow morning?"

"Well, I wanted to wait for you, because... I wanted to find out how your night went, but... I fell asleep on the sofa I guess. That means I wasn't actually awake..." Jay grinned at his friend. "So, how was it?" He asked curiously.