Fine by me

"I understand. Thank you. Have a nice day."

She tossed her phone on the sofa. The teapot rattled, steam gushed out. This was the final contact on her list. The answer was no. The freeze-dried coffee tasted like mud even after she drowned it with half a milk carton. 

She browsed Bing. All articles old and new lacked the information she discovered. Getting in touch with those PhDs, edDs, DrPH, FuKS was a handful. They all said the same thing: without a controlled environment and the possibility of others to achieve similar results it's not a valid experiment.

Netflix didn't catch her interest. She browsed youtube on the lookout for funny coub videos.

< Why is this Lame guy in all of them? >

She discovered the house was a mess so she cleaned up the place. An hour later her home smelled like fresh linen and roses. She turned on the PS5 and saw Emilia online.

"Hey, what's up?" 

"Natalie! How are you? I haven't heard from you all week."

" I'm fine, I just finished cleaning. Fancy a game?"

Emilia whispered into her headset

" I have to go to the mall. Dad's birthday is coming up."

"What do you want to buy?" Natalie sipped coffee.

"Oh, you know, dad stuff. What did you get Henry?"

" A Fitbit. He's constantly fiddling with it. He shows me his achievements and whatnot. It's kinda sweet actually."

"Cool, I asked daddy what he wished for his birthday and he said a boat. How the heck am I gonna get money for a boat?"

"I'm sure he's joking. He likes fishing doesn't he?"

Emilia laughed out loud

"How do you know dad likes fishing?"

"My dad said he was invited many times. Sometimes it's fishing, other times it's hunting…"

"Yeah, he told me about that. He was wondering why Henry hasn't taken him up on his offer yet."

Natalie finished her last drops of sludge.

"Dad is more of a buy-your-meal-from-the-gas station guy, not the kill-and-eat-it kind."

They giggled. Emilia excused herself and left the chat. 

Natalie played some games for a few hours. She ordered pizza for lunch. The restaurant was in her neighborhood. The owners knew her, she was a regular. Their son handled the deliveries. 

"Just a minute," she yelled, hearing knocking at her door. Through the peephole, Natalie saw the red cap he always wore inside or outside.

"Hi, how you doing?"

"I'm super hungry. You're a lifesaver."

He smiled and leaned on the door. 

"I have CPR training you know… "

"Oh, yeah? Well, I don't have any money. Is there some way I can pay you back, pizza boy?"

"Yes ma'am, I brought extra sausage."

Natalie laughed so hard she almost dropped the pizza. The boy chuckled as well and winked. She kissed him on the cheek and quickly slammed the door.

"Wow, what was that about?"

"Call me, I'm free this Friday."

"Great, this is great. You're great."

She giggled as he ran downstairs. 

With pizza on her plate, Netflix was now enjoyable. The poster for a new show caught her eye and Natalie ended up watching a whole season. Time flew by. Her phone snatched the killing blow and final reveal.

"Hey girl, I'm outside. Will you buzz me in?"

"Emilia? Sure just a second."

Natalie opened the door and helped with the shopping bags.

"Wow, your dad is gonna like this. Look at all these presents."

Emilia placed a hand on Natalie's shoulder.

"They're not all for daddy. This is for you."

Natalie opened the bag. It was a blouse. 

"I love it! It's so cute and blue."

"It matches your eyes. I thought wearing this in front of Kyle would speed things along."

Natalie blushed.

"I think I'm going out with him Friday."

Both girls screamed and hugged each other. The noise resembled a squeaky hinge.

"We should celebrate," Emilia said and revealed a bottle of wine from another bag.

It smelled incredible.

"Cheers! To new beginnings."

"Look at you all hyped and eager to face the world."

"I'm done mopping. If they don't wanna take my paper seriously then let them figure it out themselves."

Natalie sighed and closed her eyes as she drank the glass. Emilia cheered and gave her friend another hug.

"I believe you are right. It's been almost a year now. Why can't people just give you a chance to prove yourself? Make a live demonstration or let you perform at their facilities…"

"It's very expensive and time-consuming, you know this. Lucky for me I have a friend who is a master of the statistical arts. Without your calculations, I would have never known I was right. "

" I ran the numbers over and over… You did it, girl. It's right there in plain sight."

Natalie gestured with her hand.

"I'm done for now, maybe next year. We have one more year and then it's freedom."

"Bye Bye college, hello backpacking."

The girls had fun that evening. They talked about the places where they would travel once the school year was over. They planned on doing the DaVinci Code Tours in Rome. Natalie suggested the music festivals that take place throughout the summer months. She said it would be like camping only with techno beats and glitter. Emilia liked art and paintings so she suggested Paris and Louvre. This was a no-brainer because they would be visiting another Dan Brown book tour.

In the morning hours, they fell asleep. One girl on the couch, another in the armchair. Natalie woke up first and tiptoed around the house. She closed the door to her small kitchen and placed a pot on the stove. She fiddled with her phone while the water boiled. The mail icon popped up. It was a message from one university she had written to about her paper. Natalie didn't open it. She just set her phone aside and poured a cup of coffee with milk. She took a sip then threw it down the drain. She ordered two pumpkin spice lattes and smiled.