Chapter Two

“Hey, pop.” Grant called as he walked into Dr. Richards’s classroom. “Hey, son. Why the glum look?” “Oh, it’s this assignment you give out every year. It’s playing havoc with my love life.” Grant looked up at his father, wondering if he could get true compassion or if he would instead get psychoanalysis. “What’s wrong?” Dr. Richards looked at his son knowingly. Grant sat his books on the corner of the desk, and then looked at his father curiously. “Come on, Grant. You know you can talk to me.” Dr. Richards looked at his only child expectantly. “If you don’t tell me what the problem is, how can I help to fix it?” Grant looked away, shoved his hands into the back pockets of his jeans and shuffled his feet nervously. “Grant?” he prodded gently. “Are you going to act like a dad or a Psychology professor?” “I’ll try my best to act like a dad,” Dr. Richards responded, grinning at his son. He lifted one hip onto the corner of his desk as he noticed Grant’s obvious nervousness. “But also remember, I AM a Psychology professor, so that may slip in a bit, too.” “I know. It’s just that right now, I need a dad’s advice, not psychoanalysis.” Grant looked around the room, trying to decide where to go from here. “You see, there’s this girl.” “There’s always a girl.” Dr. Richards answered quickly. “What is it about this girl that has to do with the assignment I give every year?” “Well, she’s in your class. And I want to ask her out, but I don’t think she likes me very much.” The crestfallen look on Grant’s face told his father more than his words ever could. “Why would you think she doesn’t like you?” Dr. Richards questioned. “Dad,” Grant sighed quietly. “I need a father’s input, not Psychoanalysis, remember?” “Sorry, son.” Dr. Richards smiled briefly. “Force of habit. But it is a logical question, even for a dad.” “I guess.” Grant conceded thoughtfully. He stared off into space, carefully choosing his next words. “I guess the reason I don’t think she likes me is because the last time I saw her, we argued about this damned assignment. She wasn’t too happy with me, I can tell you that for sure.” “Explain, please.” Dr. Richards urged. “Well, I told her I thought her idea for the assignment was insane.” Grant admitted hesitantly. “Oh, Grant, you didn’t.” Dr Richards looked at his son in shock. “I can’t believe you’d be so insensitive.” “I didn’t think of it as being insensitive, dad.” Grant defended his actions heatedly. “I thought it was a crazy idea and I told her so. I wasn’t going to sugar coat it, or say it was a great idea! That would have been dishonest.” “True, but you could have used a little more tact.” “I wasn’t thinking along the lines of tact. Hell, I could barely think at all. She’s got me so wound up I don’t know which way is up anymore.” “So, what is her idea for the assignment? It’s not one of the girls doing the Boyfriend Application, is it?” Grant looked up at his father without speaking. He looked at his father as if he should already know the answer to that question, which of course, he did, simply by Grant’s silence. “Oh, dear, Grant. You really are in a pickle aren’t you?” “Yeah, tell me about it.” Grant walked over to the chair behind his father’s desk and flopped down, sighing heavily as he laid his head against the back of the chair. “What am I supposed to do? I really like this girl, but I don’t think she’d agree to a date without making me fill out that stupid application.” Grant sat up and looked at his father incredulously. “Do you know what one of the questions is? She told me about it today. It’s ‘Can you describe a tesseract or the importance of the number 42?’ Can you believe that? She doesn’t even know what it means! Yet, she expects guys to be able to answer it.” “Do you know the answer?” his father queried. “Well, yeah, but I don’t think that’s the point.” “And what is the point?” “That not many people would know the answer. I told her I thought it was discriminatory.” Grant leaned back against the chair again and stared up at the ceiling. “And how did she react to that?” “She blew up at me, of course. Hell, if I’d been in her shoes, I would have blown up at me, too.” Grant rolled his head to one side to look up at his father. “What should I do?” “It sounds to me like the only thing you can do is apologize to her. Not necessarily for criticizing her assignment but for doing it so callously. Then, maybe, you can ask her out without feeling like you have to be in on the research.” Grant looked back up to the ceiling as he allowed his father’s advice to sink in. For some reason, ever since meeting her in the quad earlier in the week, he couldn’t seem to think of anything else besides her. His schoolwork was suffering and he didn’t even know her name. “Dad?” Grant prompted after several minutes. “Yes?” “What’s her name?” “Which one?” “What do you mean which one? The girl on the boyfriend assignment, of course. The one I’ve been talking about for the last half hour at least.” Dr Richards looked down at his son, smiling. “You never did tell me which one you’re interested in. There are two girls working on it together.” “The blonde, dad. The red head is a little too crazy for me.” Dr. Richards let out a breath of relief. “I was hoping you’d say that. Sophie is a bit much for you to handle. It would take a special man to put up with her.” “So the other one?” Grant prompted. “Her name is Olivia Carlson. She goes by Liv, though.” “Thanks, dad.” Grant stood and gathered his books off the corner of his father’s desk. “Liv Carlson, huh?” “Yes. She’s quite beautiful and seems to be fairly intelligent. She doesn’t seem to have a lot of confidence in herself, though.” Dr. Richards muttered thoughtfully. “No, she doesn’t. She was rather afraid of this assignment. I met her in the quad on Monday right after your class and she said she was worried about what kind of trouble Sophie was going to get her into.” Grant smiled briefly at the memory. “I guess she had good reason to be worried.” “Yes, I do, too.” Dr. Richards moved around behind his desk and occupied the chair his son had just recently vacated. “And now, she has your condemnation to cope with as well.” “Thanks for reminding me.” Grant sighed deeply as he considered what to do next. “Well, at least I know where one of her classes is, so I can find her to apologize.” Grant turned toward the door slowly, then called over his shoulder. “Thanks for the help, dad. I’ll do what I can to fix it.” “No problem, son. I hope everything works out OK.” “Me, too,” Grant muttered to himself as he left the room. “Me, too.”