Page 170 of The Charlie Method

That’s a mess I’m not ready for.

A few nights later, I’m back at the town house, sitting cross-legged on the couch, laptop open in front of me and a mess of textbooks and scribbled notes spread out on the coffee table as I sketch out the latest iteration of my heart monitor design.

I prefer working at their place. In fact, it’s become a habit now, packing an overnight bag and driving to Hastings, where there’s no Agatha monitoring the halls making sure everyone is wearing Delta Pi–approved pj’s or isn’t typing too loudly on their keyboards. Here, I can be as quiet or as loud as I choose. I can stay up all night if I want without worrying about anyone derisively commenting about the dark circles under my eyes the next day. Because dark eye circles are a common occurrence in STEM. Engineering comes with a lot of late nights, caffeine, and occasional breakdowns over complex algorithms.

I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world, though. STEM might be challenging, but it’s also stimulating. Rewarding.Fun. Maybe not everyone’s idea of fun, but definitely mine.

Will sits on the other end of the couch, his gaze glued to the Bruins game on the TV. Every few minutes, he either curses angrily or exclaims, “Fuck yeah!”

Beckett went out tonight with one of their teammates, someone called the Kansas Kid, who I only recently realized was a human man. For the longest time, I thought they were talking about a western movie.

I groan when my phone buzzes on the table, fighting the urge to march into the hall bathroom and flush the damn thing down the toilet. Harrison’s been blowing up my phone this past week, and although I feel like shit admitting it, I enjoyed it when he was in California. He ended up staying out there after Christmas for another six weeks, crashing at his friend’s place and building a website for the friend’s tech start-up. He’d been too busy to text or call me more than a handful of times, and I can’t deny it felt nice to have some breathing room.

Whenever I talk to Harrison, it feels so damnheavy. He triggers this relentless need to atone for the great childhood, the full life, I was fortunate to be given. My sister is adding to that guilt too. She stopped badgering me to tell our parents about Harrison, which is somehow even worse than being nagged about it. A part of me needed her to keep pushing. Without that pressure, I’m even less inclined to share the truth with Mom and Dad.

“Holy shit. You should’ve come out tonight, Larsen. Nazzy almost started a bar fight with an active-duty Navy SEAL.”

I glance up as Beckett strolls into the living room, a bearded, golden vision in faded jeans and a white hoodie that brings out his tan. His eyes are bright but not glazed, which tells me he’s tipsy rather than wasted.

“Dude, that kid’s mouth is gonna get him killed one day,” Will says without taking his gaze off the hockey game.

Beckett settles next to me, leaning in to smack a kiss on my cheek. “How’s the blood project going?”

“It’s my capstone project,” I correct with a grin. “And it’s a bloodpressuredevice.”

“Right. Explain this to me again?” He peeks over my shoulder at the laptop screen. “I’m trying to get my nerd fix for the night.”

Will snorts.

But because I happen tobea nerd, I can’t pass up the opportunity to nerd out when given the chance.

“Okay.So,” I tell Beckett, excited to talk about my capstone. “Imagine a device that can measure your heart rate and blood pressure without the need for those annoying cuffs. It’s totally noninvasive. You know, no squeezing or anything.”

“But squeezing is fun.” He winks at me.

“Yeah, for you, perv.” I snicker. “But normal people don’t like those cuffs squeezing their arms, especially if they need to check their blood pressure multiple times a day.”

“True,” he agrees. He glances back at the laptop. “So you’re saying that gadget there can take someone’s blood pressure? How?”

“Dude,” Will warns from the chaise. “You have no idea the can of nerd worms you just opened.”

I beam at Beckett. “How, you ask? Let me tell you!”

“Larsen,” he groans. “Save me.”

“Nah.”

“So basically,” I explain, “it involves a combination of photoplethysmography and oscillometry. PPG is a technique that uses light to measure changes in blood volume, and oscillometry is used to estimate blood pressure based on arterial pulsations.”

He sighs. “I don’t think that was English.”

“Sure it was.”

“Can we just say you’re creating a device that makes those old-fashioned cuffs look like dinosaur tech? I don’t need to see behind the curtain.”

“Fine, but only if you promise to help me test the prototype. Both of you. You guys are going to be my human guinea pigs.”

Will looks over with a lewd smile. “You can do anything you want to my body.”

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