Page 33 of Bro Smooth
“It’s nice that Ronnie called you to make sure you’re okay,” says Sebastian. “She’s a good friend.”
“Mm-hmm.” I pop two slices of bread into the toaster and pour some chips onto my plate. I still don’t hear any chewing or even any movement behind me. “Really, guys, it’s fine, you can eat. I’ll be there in a minute.”
As soon as the toast pops up, I hurriedly assemble my sandwich and carry my plate over to the table. This time Elliot is sitting in the folding chair. Felix was there for breakfast, so I’m sure it’s yet another rotation they’re going to track somehow.
All eyes are on me as I pick up a chip and take a bite. That was obviously the signal because as soon as I start to chew, the guys all immediately pick up their own sandwiches.
We spend a few minutes just eating, and I watch in fascination as Elliot takes a bite of his sandwich, sets it down, makes sure there is a perfect empty line between his sandwich and his chips, selects and eats a chip, and then picks up his sandwich again. He does this in rotation, chip, sandwich, chip, sandwich. I’m so curious what his criteria is for the order in which he eats his chips, because he’s considering the pile before selecting one each time, but it would probably be rude to ask him.
“Did you see that Fredrik is working on the Collatz Conjecture?” asks Elliot. “He’s posted about it on the message boards.”
“He’s never going to solve it,” scoffs Felix. “He doesn’t fully understand the parity cycles.”
“The bigger reason is that the math hasn’t caught up to that equation. We don’t have the math to prove it, and he’s not going to be the one to push it. He’s not creative enough,” Lukas agrees.
“I didn’t say he was going to prove it. I said he’s working on it,” Elliot clarifies. “Besides, it’ll be a cuber who solves it, and he couldn’t solve his way out of Schrödinger’s box.”
The group chuckles at this, so I guess it’s a funny joke. But the entire conversation has gone right over my head. I have no idea what a Collatz Conjecture or parity cycle is, and while I have heard of Schrödinger’s box, all I know is that it has something to do with a dead cat, and I’m not sure how that connects to cubing.
I knew they were smart, but this is beyond what I can even fathom. I’d been thinking I could have them help me with my math homework, but my gen ed math class would look like child’s play to them. If they find out I’m in such a basic math class, they’ll probably think I’m stupid. I’m not, it’s just that my brain is wired for words, not numbers, and I don’t see the graphs and equations in my head the way they probably can.
While I’ve been thinking about this, they appear to have run out of things to say about Frederik and his inevitably doomed attempt to solve whatever the Collatz Conjecture is. The conversation fades as they all return to eating, and I notice that their hands are empty except for their sandwiches.
“Where are your cubes? Wouldn’t this be a perfect time to get in more practice?”
Elliot shakes his head. “No cubes at meals.”
“It’s a newer rule,” adds Sebastian.
“I’m telling you, it was an accident.” Felix glares at them all.
Elliot shudders, his expression haunted. “The intent has no weight on the outcome.”
I lean forward, grinning. “This sounds like a story.”
“Someone,” Lukas says, giving Felix the side-eye, “sabotaged us for all upcoming group challenges involving the cubes.”
“It was not sabotage!” Felix insists. “It was an accident. I was looking for my own cube, but you’d all left yours lying around instead of putting them away.”
“We all leave our cubes out, even you, so you can’t push back on that,” argues Sebastian.
“But what happened, exactly?” Watching them get heated is kind of entertaining, but I’m not getting any information. I’m a reporter, I live for the details.
They had told me last night at the café that before joining the cubing community, they all felt a sense of loneliness, a lack of belonging when it came to their peers, because most of theirclassmates just didn’t have the same interests or, let’s face it, the same smarts as they did. Seeing how they joke and bicker together, I’m struck by how comfortable they are with one another. Almost more like brothers than roommates. I’m taking mental notes for my article on their camaraderie, how they interact with one another in different scenarios, because it could work really well to juxtapose these types of interactions with their previous feelings of being outsiders.
In his irritation, Felix is gripping his sandwich so hard his fingers are leaving deep impressions in the bread, and mustard is beginning to leak out from the crust. “Iaccidentallygot syrup on their cubes. Which made the gears stick the barest amount.”
“Speedcubing is all about the microsecond. You could have given yourself an advantage, since yours was the only cube that wasn’t affected,” Lukas points out.
“Exactly,” agrees Sebastian. “It’s unfair.”
“And syrup is really difficult to clean out of gears.” Elliot shudders again. “It was so sticky. Just awful. All that lost practice time too.”
“I did say I was sorry.” Felix whips off his glasses and begins to aggressively polish them with the bottom edge of his T-shirt.
“And we accepted that,” Sebastian reminds him. “And then put a rule in place to ensure it doesn’t happen again.”
“I didn’t say it was a bad rule,” grumbles Felix, sliding his glasses back on. “I just don’t like that you guys think I would sabotage you. You know I wouldn’t.”
