Page 23 of Beautifully Devoted

“One of his professors has a team working on a robot. I thought that’d be cool to see.”

That would actually be cool, if someone else was the tour guide. But it’s clear my best friend already has some sort of rapport with Aiden, and I don’t need a front row seat to their evolution from acquaintances to fuck buddies or…whatever else comes next. I don’t think I can stomach that.

I know it was my idea for him to give things a shot with Aiden, but I wasn’t planning on witnessing it when I made that suggestion. And yeah, I know I’ve witnessed him with countless women over the years, which makes me a bit of a hypocrite now that the only thing that’s changed is the sex of the person in question, but I can’t shake the foreboding feeling that comes when I think of the two of them together.

That’s not a homophobic thing either—I have zero issue with Cam being attracted to men—I’m just not sure how I feel about him dating one. Not that either of us has actually dated before. Hookups were more our speed, and when we did talk to girls it was mostly about rom coms and who’s dating who and whether we like their dresses. It’s small talk to get to the bedroom and it didn’t mean anything. But talking about football or video games or fucking robots—that’s the shit we talk about. It’s ours. Not his and Aiden's. And if they talk about meaningful shit and it becomes more…

No. I don’t want to go by the damn lab and see those two talk about things that should be reserved for us.

“Maybe some other time. I want to get these videos edited. Did you already send me the clips?”

“Yeah.” Cam follows me into the warm mid-morning air. “Want me to give you a lift home?”

“No, I feel like walking.” Hopefully that will help me cool down, even if it is already pushing seventy-five degrees before noon.

Cameron

Ican’t believe Jagger skipped out on seeing a robot.

Okay, it’s not exactly C-3PO, but it’s still cool. It’s at least four feet tall, with black and silver components, cased with a shiny white carbon fiber frame. Not unlike a stormtrooper in some ways, except the casing only covers the torso, so you can see the rods and gears that make the arms and legs work.

“What can it do?” I ask Aiden as we admire it.

“The goal was to have it walk on uneven surfaces. Earlier versions built by other universities could only handle flat terrain, and since Colorado is the furthest thing from it, the department thought this would be a good place to focus on nailing that part of the design.”

“Can it? Walk on uneven ground, I mean?”

“Yeah.”

“How?”

Aiden flexes his jaw, which I’m pretty sure means he’s stalling to come up with the simplest explanation. “It’s programmed with a series of algorithms that tell the mechanical components how to move when it detects different terrain.”

“That makes sense.”

Aiden cracks a small smile, like he’s relieved he didn’t have to find another way to say that or go into deeper detail. “When it was built, the concept was pretty novel. Now, they’re building robots that can jump or move their arms when they walk like humans do.”

My eyes search out Jagger’s, to dare him to try walking or jumping without moving his arms, only he’s not here. He was never here. Why does that make me feel jittery?

“So, um… This guy was a pretty big deal in his time?” I ask, fishing for something—anything— to say if only to fill the awkward silence that’s settled between us.

“Yeah.”

“Nice.” My gaze travels over the robot once more before taking in the expanse of the white and stainless-steel industrial lab, where at least a dozen workstations are littered with everything from soldering tools to funny little boxes with wires coming out of them. It doesn’t look unkempt, but things aren’t under lock and key, and I sort of expected a robot would be. “They just leave it out in the open?”

“Where else would they put it?” Aiden says.

“I don’t know. A closet or something. Or a display case.”

Aiden gives me a nonchalant shrug. “I guess they figure since you either have to be in here with a professor or have a key, it’s safe.”

“How come you get a key?”

“I’m going to be a TA this year.”

“Oh right. You’re a year ahead of me, like Bennet.” You have to be at least a junior before you can be a TA, although even that’s uncommon, or so I’m told. “Are you gonna teach any classes?”

“I doubt it. I’ll probably just grade papers and host some study sessions.”

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