Page 81 of Seeds of Love
Alex shifts beside me, her shoulder brushing mine. It’s brief, but fuck me if it doesn’t feel like grabbing onto a life raft in a shitstorm of anxiety.
“And that concludes our proposal for the Jefferson Mine rehabilitation project,” Alex announces, her voice strong and clear. Last year, she’d have been shaking like a chihuahua in an earthquake, but now? She’s owning it. I’m so fucking proud of her I could burst.
“We’ll be happy to take any questions,” she adds, flashing a smile.
The silence stretches on. I resist the weird urge to start tap dancing or some shit, instead scanning the room. Professor Bam’s face is as unreadable as ancient hieroglyphs. Our classmates look like a mix of confused puppies and envious assholes. Ha!
Just as the silence threatens to become more awkward, Professor Bam leans forward. “That was quite impressive, Ms. Ford, Mr. Donovan. Your healing timeline concept is particularly intriguing.”
Her words break the spell. Suddenly, hands are shooting up all around the room. Alex and I exchange a quick glance, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. We did it. We actually fucking did it.
For the next twenty minutes, we’re in the hot seat, fielding questions from all directions. It’s like being on a game show, if game shows were about land rehabilitation and plant puns.
We elaborate on our phased approach to land rehabilitation, our innovative use of native plants, and of course, our pride and joy: the wetland ‘kidney’ for natural water filtration.
“And how do you propose to fund such an ambitious project?” Some smartass in the back asks. It sounds sort of like Eric, which makes it hard not to answer “How about you shut the fuck up?”
But instead, I launch into our funding spiel, pulling numbers out of the corners of my brain. As I’m talking, I catch Professor Bam actually smiling.
Holy shit. She really likes it.
And Alex? She’s looking at me with a small smile playing on her lips.
When we finally wrap up, the room’s buzzing like a beehive on crack. Our classmates are swarming us, probably hoping our genius is contagious, or some shit.
“Excellent work, you two,” Professor Bam says, actually sounding human for once. “You’ve set a high bar for the rest of the class.” Translation: the rest of you losers better step up your game.
As she leaves, Alex turns to me, her eyes shining. “We did it,” she says softly, as if she can hardly believe it herself.
“We did,” I agree, fighting the urge to pull her into a hug. “Dream team, right?”
She laughs, and I swear to God, it’s better than any drug. “More like barely functioning on caffeine and desperation team.”
“Same thing.” I shrug, grinning. “Well done out there, you were pretty badass.”
She looks at her feet. “Thanks, Freddie.”
As we start to pack up our materials, the door bursts open. Tara bounds in, grinning like a maniac. “There they are! You guys crushed it, seriously. I am so happy presentation day is over.”
Tara and Ryan Chen presented earlier. Their ideas were good, but I zoned out for most of it. It’s not my fault—Alex was next to me, shaking her leg up and down, distracting me.
“Come on, we’re all heading to Moe’s to celebrate. First round’s on me,” Tara proclaims. “I already texted Troy, and he said the boys will meet us there.”
I glance at Alex, feeling like I’m back in high school, asking my crush to prom. Are we cool enough to hang out like this, orare we still in the “I might murder you in your sleep” phase? But she’s already nodding.
“God, yes,” she says. “I need a burger the size of my head and approximately all the fries in Colorado. We deserve it after crushing that presentation.”
The knot in my chest loosens. She’s right—we did crush it. Even the postgrads were taking notes, and not the “how not to present” kind. Now we just need to nail the poster session for that last 30%, and we’re golden.
“Let’s go then, dorks,” I announce. “We can start planning our poster shit tomorrow.”
An hour later, we’re crammed into a booth at Moe’s. The table’s a warzone of fries, burgers big enough to feed a small country, and enough beer to drown a fish.
I can’t stop watching Alex. She’s talking a mile a minute, waving her hands around like she’s trying to land a plane. There’s a light in her eyes I haven’t seen since… well, since before I fucked everything up. She catches me staring and says, “What? Do I have ketchup on my face or something?” I just smile and shake my head, turning back to Ethan, who’s telling a story that probably ends with him naked and ashamed. Again.
I raise my glass,the triumph of our presentation still buzzing through me. “To our success,” I say, clinking my glass against Alex’s.
The guys had cleared out with surprising efficiency, leaving us alone in my room. The soft glow of the bedside lamp casts shadows across Alex’s face as she sits on the edge of my bed, legs tucked under her. She looks both completely at ease and utterly out of place, and I can’t tear my eyes away from her.
