Carlos was taken off-guard, but he merely gave the other a contemplative frown before reaching out to comply. “Uh… alright,” he said.
She
nodded, not sure if she was entirely satisfied with his response. It
was more a worry that he didn’t understand how serious she was. But he
seemed sincere, and that was a conversation they could have later, once
they got to know each other better. He definitely didn’t need to know
that much about her yet. So she wouldn’t push the matter. “Okay. Good…”
she said quietly. “‘Cause, you- You know, it’s… good to communicate and
have boundaries.” She gave him a a soft smile, and took a sip of her
tea, eyes flickering down.Carlos nodded again. “Absolutely,” he said. “If I’m doing something wrong, or whatever, don’t be afraid to tell me. I mean… I’m not going to go out of my way to see what I can get away with, but we all make mistakes and when I make one just let me know.” Because he was sure mistakes were going to happen. He hoped that assured her some at least.
She nodded, and looked back up at him. “Yeah, I will. And I think… I think it’s good to acknowledge ahead of time that things aren’t going to be… perfect. But that it is good to talk about things when things go south.” She gave him a soft smile and let out a sigh. Not a bad sigh, or one of exasperation, but one that indicated a sense of satisfaction. This seemed to be going fairly well already. Things seemed to be headed in a good direction. She was happy.
Carlos smiled at her. “Yeah.”
This was great. She seemed at ease and things seemed to be going alright so far. This was fantastic. God, he hoped he wasn’t going to mess this up.
“So, uh… what’s your family like?” Carlos asked, wanting to keep conversation flowing.
She kept the smile on her face, but the rest of her body tensed slightly. “Let’s, uh…” She let out a breath, and tilted her head slightly, smiling a bit wider to compensate for her slight discomfort. “Let’s maybe wait a bit for this particular conversation,” she suggested, her voice a bit quieter than it had been. “There is, uh… a lot to unpack there. Not all of it… pleasant.”
“Oh,” Carlos said. “Well… honestly, I can understand that.” And he could. But she needed to reach at least a level three before unlocking his true feelings regarding his backstory. “So… maybe just tell me who you’re on speaking terms with?” He figured it’d be easier for her to say something present. “Like… my brother’s a software engineer. And my Dad’s an ex-retired chef. Not an ex-chef – ex-retired chef. He came out of retirement just for some part time work.”
She looked down at her tea and let out a sigh. “There’s, uh… No one left to really be on speaking terms with,” she murmured. “My parents died when I was younger, and I uh… Lost track of my brother shortly after my mom passed…” That, of course, was the short version of it, but she could give him the longer version of it later. Once they were closer. She didn’t feel like discussing such a depressing matter at the moment.
“Oh,” Carlos said softly. “I’m… sorry to hear about that, I really am.” Now he felt like a jerk trying to push the subject a little bit. “Well… how about friends?”
The Perfect Scientist 