Socially Distanced

Chapter 7

"Would everyone please open their laptops and find the document titled 'topics?'" asked Professor Williams. Brett and I did as she said and simultaneously logged in.

"Here you'll find some of the common topics that students have used in the past. They're in alphabetical order. Your first speech will be about a worldwide dilemma. Some of the topics listed range from endangered animals to global warming. Of course, you don't have to use any of the suggested topics, but I find that these are the easiest to write about, so I recommend choosing one from this list. Since this is your first speech, I would like everyone to work with a partner, as I stated earlier. This will allow you to share the workload for this first assignment. If nobody has questions, you may begin working. Today I would just like you to pick your topic and maybe start looking for some reputable sources. Good luck!" With that, she walked away from the podium and sat down at her desk.

"We have a problem. My laptop just died," said Brett.

Worried that he might ask to share my laptop, I complained. "Oh come on, Brett. It's the first week and you're already coming to class unprepared?" There was no way I was going to let him contaminate my laptop

"It's no big deal," he started. "I'll just use my phone to look at these topics."

"I guess that'll work," I replied, relieved. I scanned the document, only reaching the 'D' category before I found a topic that I was interested in. "Disappearing bees! That should be an easy one to talk about. Bees do so much for the planet. We'll be able to find a lot of good writing material!"

"Ew, I hate bees," said Brett. "Besides, you haven't even looked at the rest of the topics, so why don't you buzz off and consider the rest of the options?" he joked.

"Do you know how much food we would lose without bees? They're responsible for so much. Humans would be in trouble if the bee population completely disappeared," I said.

Brett considered that for a moment. "You had me at 'food,'" he laughed. "Let's write about disappearing bees."

"I knew you'd come around," I said. "Let's look for sources now. What's your email? We can send each other our links and decide on which ones we're going to use."

"Whoa, you barely even know me and you're already asking for personal information like my email address? Brett put his hand on his chest. "I'm flattered," he joked.

"In your dreams, but if you help me work on these sources, maybe I'll think about it," I retorted with a smirk. Good lord, was I flirting? I stopped myself from getting off track and got back to focusing on the task at hand. "Just find tell me your email address, Brett."

"Sure thing Professor Mabel," he replied.

I rolled my eyes at him. "You don't call professors by their first names, genius."

"Well I don't know your last name," he smirked. "What is it?"

"Not so fast," I replied with a smile. "First tell me your last name." Oh no, I'm definitely flirting now.

"No can do. I asked your first."

"Fair enough. It's Weeks."

Brett pondered that for a moment. "Professor Weeks. That has a nice ring to it, don't you think?"

I chucked. "Oh, so now I'm a professor, huh?"

"You act like one. Look at you, all serious with your disappearing bees speech."

I blushed and looked down at my laptop screen. "Whatever. Just find those sources. We're wasting time."

We spent the remaining class time looking up information regarding disappearing bees, but we still didn't have enough sources. Well, I had enough sources. I had already emailed them to Brett. He needed to find more, and I wasn't going to do his share of work for him. I gave him my email address. "You can send me the rest of the sources tonight. I'll go through them and let you know which ones are the best."

"Hold on, let me write that down," said Brett. He talked out loud as he typed something on his phone. "Finish disappearing bees research for Professor Weeks."

"Oh, shut up," I laughed and packed up my belongings. "See you in chemistry tomorrow." I probably shouldn't have said that, I thought. Now he thinks I'm counting on seeing him. I shook my head. You overthink too much Mabel.

I could barely focus on psychology that day. I needed to stop thinking about Brett so much. This was ridiculous. I had only known him for a few days.

I drove home and made a quick snack before spending some time scrolling through my phone. After awhile, I decided that I should probably do something productive. I got my laptop out and logged into my email, expecting it to be empty. I was surprised to see that Brett had indeed finished collecting his sources. They were all sitting in an email with the subject line titled "Here." I chuckled and rolled my eyes, opening the email.

Hey. Here are the rest of the sources for the disappearing bees thingy.

-Brett

This was going to be an entertaining semester. I got to work narrowing down the sources, hoping that Brett had done the same with the sources that I had sent to him. We can start putting our speech together on Friday, I thought. I refreshed my email again, hoping to somehow see another one from Brett. What am I doing? I shook my head and tossed my laptop aside.

I made dinner and got ready for bed. As I drifted off, my mind wandered to Brett again. I looked forward to seeing him again tomorrow.