Page 8 of Love and the Laws of Motion
Peter Hockman burst into the office and lumbered noisily over to Anita’s desk, crowding Livie out of the way.“Anita, I need my office assignment.”
Peter had started the PhD program at the same time as Livie, here to work with Dr.Langley on his interstellar medium research.Better Peter than her.She couldn’t imagine a more boring way to earn her PhD.Generally, she did her best to avoid him.Now that they were through the classroom portions of their PhD and onto their dissertation research, hopefully their paths wouldn’t cross much.
Anita’s face was stony as she wordlessly handed Peter’s keys across her desk.
“412?”Peter said as he checked the number on the keys.“That one’s right next to the bathrooms!It’s noisy as hell and it smells.”
Next, Anita handed across a lengthy form.“If there’s a building issue, submit a request to Maintenance.They’ll come check it out.In a semester or two.”
“Come on, Anita.Let me switch with someone.”
Livie curled her hand around her keys.No way was she giving up her office assignment.
Anita shrugged, shuffling files on her desk.“All the offices are already assigned, Peter.”
“But—”
“Hey, Peter, if you’re done, I need my office assignment.”Peter’s massive frame completely blocked Michiko Satsuma, who was standing behind him.When Peter moved to the side, Michiko flashed a sunny smile at Livie.“Hey, Livie.Good summer?”
“Um, yeah, it was fine.”
Michiko was tiny, barely five feet, with a long glossy black ponytail and little wire-rimmed glasses.She’d started her PhD at the same time as Livie and Peter, and had been in nearly all of Livie’s classes for the past two years.Despite crossing paths with her almost daily, Livie knew next to nothing about her.That probably had more to do with Livie than Michiko, though.Waiting on Romano’s regulars was one thing—she’d known most of them her whole life—but casual interactions with people her own age were a different thing altogether.If the subject wasn’t astronomy, her mind went utterly blank.
Peter turned on Michiko.“Hey, Michiko, switch office assignments with me.”
“Not a chance, Hockman,” Michiko scoffed, not the least bit intimidated by Peter’s size.Where did she get all that confidence?When Peter started blustering and taking up too much space, Livie’s instinct was to make herself smaller, while Michiko seemed to double in size.
Leaving them to their standoff, she quietly slipped away to her departmental cubby on the other side of the office.It was stuffed full with beginning-of-the-semester info.Nothing important, since all that came through her school email.This was all flyers for the departmental potluck and sign-up sheets for the grad student softball league.She flipped through it over the recycling bin, dumping as she went.None of it had anything to do with her.
“So, Livie.”She did her best not to lean away as Peter came to lean on the mailboxes next to her.“How was your summer?”
“Fine.”He’d pestered her a lot when they’d first started at Adams, always wanting to get coffee and hang out.She’d always declined, usually because she was busy, but also because Peter Hockman wasn’t interesting.He only ever talked about himself.
“Guess you’re going to be pretty busy this year, huh?”
She didn’t look up from her stack of papers.“We’re all going to be busy.It’s a PhD program.”
“I meant you and Finch.You got the Skylight grant.”
“We did.”
“Lucky you.Funding like that isn’t falling from trees these days.”
“It wasn’t luck and it didn’t fall from a tree.Dr.Finch spent a year putting together the grant proposal.I helped.”That was an understatement.She’d spent countless hours last year helping Janet ready the grant application.
“Sure, sure,” Peter said quickly.“Of course she did.Well, good luck with it.We’ll muddle along with our old computers for another year, I guess.”
“All the departmental equipment is old.”The entire Astronomy building and all the equipment in it was held together with duct tape and optimism.
“But you’re going to get new stuff.”
“Yes, with our grant money.”
Peter floundered for a moment.“I’m just saying, it would be nice to get new equipment, too.”
She turned to face him.“Then you should apply for a grant.”
Peter’s mouth fell open.“Sure, sure,” he said after a moment.“Langley’s got big plans for that.”
