Machine Man (serial)

When I got back to my bunk room, I found a message taped to the door. Can I see you? Lola.

I peeled the message off and slipped it into a pocket. I had a bad feeling about this. The feeling was I was about to get into trouble over Carl.

A few minutes later, I was knocking on the door to her suite. The door cracked open. Lola smiled up at me. Her yellow sweater said: VISION + DARING + TEAMWORK = BETTER FUTURE. “Hey! What’s the matter? You look upset.”

“Do I?” I needed that helmet. “I’m just… I got your note, and I’m wondering what’s wrong.”

“Why do you think something’s wrong?”

“You said you had to see me about something.”

“No, I didn’t. I just said I wanted to see you.”

“Oh. Oh.” I was so relieved, I laughed a little. “Well, that’s okay.”

Lola shifted from one foot to the other. “I want to see you, that means something must be wrong?”

“No, of course not. But if you want to see me, you can drop by any time.”

“I do drop by,” she said. “I drop by, like, three times a day. You’re always at work. Or sleeping.”

“Really?”

“And I know you’re busy. You’re doing important stuff. But…” Her voice lowered. “I want to see you, Charlie. That’s why I’m here.”

“It is?”

“Trust me. It’s not for the free sweaters.”

“Well… I want to see you.”

“Then come in.” Her hand closed on my shirt. And I grinned, because Lola liked me more than I thought, and that was an intoxicating feeling. That was early-stage romantic love, right there: the delirious discovery of your own worth, through the eyes of another. I should map that, for the helmet.

78.