(Author's Note: If you would wish to listen to Chapter 31 on audio, please click the videos. Thank you!)

   When we reach the large laboratory building, Chris pulls up next to the sidewalk and shuts off the ignition. I step out of the car and shut the door at the same time I hear the other door closed. I turn around and see Chris standing beside his car.

 "Chris, where do you think you are going?" I ask. Geez, does he want to be around me more? He doesn't have to spend every minute of the day with me. How the hell am I going to achieve any of my ambitions if he stalks me?

  "In the lab..." He says cockily. "You are not the only one who needs to do work."

  Oh, good gosh. This is going to be a long day. 

  We approach the double doors and head inside the halls. Once inside I head to the room where all the coats are and grab two white lab coats along with two safety goggles. I move back into the halls and Chris is right in front of the hallway waiting for me. I hand him the coat and a pair of safety goggles. He grins, and that grin gives me a shiver down my spine. I gasp and look away quickly. 

  I put my coat on when we walk to the main hall, I know his hot gaze is on me and I don't dare look his way. I'm blushing profusely. Damnit! When am I going to stop acting shy around him? I wish I could be like those girls who would take charge and speak up for what they want. Not this shy girl who stays quiet in her own little space and reads her books.

  We finally reach the room with bold black numbers saying, "530" printed on the door and I began to open it. The room has desks and benches in the laboratory. It could only be described as a demode. It's like something out of the 1960s. But all of the modern equipment is state of the art. There are stainless steel centrifuges and PCR machines. There is a huge walk-in refrigerator, a double-door autoclave, computers compact all along the corner of the wall, and two enclosed areas with flow-hoods. The feeling is more of being in a high-tech cave, the size of a stadium, with a silver metallic roof above, and a silver metallic floor below. 

  Everything is silent, even the great machines lay silent. Every step we take echoes around us. But when I thought we were the only ones in here I hear the hum of machinery going off, it was like a soft sound of rhythmic rattling through the air. 

  "Sussianna!" Owen shouts through the noise. He turns off the great machine and comes over to me; he's also wearing a white lab coat.

  "There you are! You're late as usual." He clutches my shoulders and pulls me into a hug. 

   I hug him back and I know Chris is close behind me. Even though I can't see him I know he's right next to me, I can smell his scent.  

  With Owen's hands still wrapped around me, he whispers in my ear. "Honey, who's that gorgeous man giving me a dirty look?"

 I struggle out of his arms and turn to see Chris's blue eyes hooded and cold, his mouth in a hard line, eyeing Owen like a hawk. I roll my eyes at his outrageous behavior. He can't be threatened by Owen. Owen is what you call a "happy guy," he's the gayest man that I ever met. 

  "Owen, this is Chris Suave. Chris is my..." What the hell are we? I still don't know if we are a couple, and I don't think we are even in a relationship, so I just say, "My friend." Chris frowns at my choice of words. I figured to introduce them more, so I continue. "Chris, this is Owen, he's my lab partner and friend. He's also gay," I add. Owen wouldn't care, in fact, he clarifies to everyone he meets that he's gay. He has always said, "Being gay, straight, or BI it doesn't matter, love is love." I have to agree with him that love is love as long as the other person loves you, it's all the same when you have a selfless love.

  I look at Owen, who has his mouth wide open and then gulps as he removes his safety goggles slowly down his face. My eyes move to Chris, who's stopped giving him a dirty look, but still looks irritated. 

"It's nice to meet you, Chris." Owen brings Chris into a hug, taking him by surprise. Owen pulls away from Chris, grabs hold of his arms, and checks out his body. "Can I ask you something, Chris?"

  I laugh as I notice Chris's shoulder tense.  

  "Er, sure."

  "Do you go to the gym and work out?" 

  I giggle as I put my hand over my forehead and shake my head at Owen flirting with Chris. That's Owen for you, he doesn't care if you are gay or straight, he's going to flirt with you any way he can. 

  "Actually, I do work out, but in my own gym," Chris informs Owen.

 "Oh, you have your own gym?" He asks surprisingly. I figured he had his own gym; that house seemed to have a great number of rooms.

  "Yes, I do."

  "That's nice... I need to tell my boyfriend to work out more, so he can have a body like yours."

  I take that as my cue to leave and I decide to depart myself away from Chris to manage Owen alone. I catch sight of Chris's eyes as I turn to leave, seeing him narrowing his eyes at me, and I know he's trying to tell me, don't-you-dare-leave me-alone-with-him with those blue eyes of his.

  I cock my head to the PCR machine, so he'll know I'm not going anywhere when smirking at him. He shakes his head and a dark smile plays on his face.

  I roll my eyes and put on my safety goggles while I walk over to the machine and get to work on the experiment of how oil and other hydrocarbons affect miniature organisms called meiofauna. I began to slip on the blue latex gloves over my hands and I start to draw pipettes of fluid from one tiny tube and transfer them to others when Owen comes up to me. 

  "Honey, are you two friends or more than friends? Spill, I need the details. Is he to notch your bedpost." I look up and see his eyebrows raise up and wiggle. 

   I stop what I'm doing and give him a puzzled look. "Notch my bedpost?" I ask.

   "You clueless virgin, if you're still one," he yells and winks at me.

  "Shh... I don't think he heard you or the entire school for that matter," I half-laugh. Chris already knows that I am one, but he doesn't need to know that we're talking about him. 

   "Are you guys friends with benefits?" He nosily asks me.

   "No!" I exclaim. Great, now I'm the one who is screaming.

   Owen laughs. "Hmm... Well, you know, he hasn't stopped staring at you. I don't think he's checking me out, I wish he was, but his eyes are on you."

  "No, he's not." I shake my head as I continue measuring the liquid and moving the small amounts of it to the mini tube.

  "Yes, he is. Would you stop what you're doing and look up?" He says as he grabs the pipette from my hands. The oily fluids spill out of the tube and onto my hand.

  "Owen! Look what you did?" I yell in frustration and show him my black hand.

  "Hush up and look," he says when he turns me around to look at Chris.

  I see Chris by the autoclave and notice he's comparatively transfixed on his experiment. He glances up and catches me staring at him. He quickly looks away and as he's closing the door he slams the huge steel door on his finger. 

   "Ouch!" I hear him curse to himself and I rush to him.

  "Oh, my goodness. Chris, are you okay?" Without thinking I grab his finger and plant a swift kiss on the pad of it. I examine it and stare as it forms a purple shade of blue. 

  "Yeah, I'm fine," he tells me. 

  I gently smooth his finger with mine to soothe him. I observe his finger turning black from my oily hands, and suddenly, I remove my hand.

  "Look, I made a mess of your finger, sorry," I say apologetically.

  "It's okay, Sussianna. I don't mind." 

  I look up from his finger and watch a smirk come across his face.

 "Well, if you're fine, I should go clean my hands," I point my thumb to the back of me and frown at how foolish I am acting. Why did I go to him when I saw him hurt? Then I fucking kiss his finger? What the heck was that about? I'm such a fuck up. I curse at myself for acting that way.

 I turn around and roll my eyes when I notice Owen's arms are crossed. "Just friends... Yeah right," he scoffs.

 "You're the one who needs to hush up," I whisper when I wipe the tip against the edge of the tube to remove the excess liquid before dispensing it.

   As I finish cleaning Owen's mess, I dart to the bathroom leaving the boys to be by themselves. Maybe it wasn't a good idea to leave them alone, knowing Owen he'll probably provoke Chris, but I need to clean my hand, and besides, I need to get away from how I acted in front of Owen. Owen has the biggest mouth and I know he's going to tell everyone he knows what happened between Chris and me. It's going to spread like wildfire, and he knows Camille. I would have another problem to deal with. Great! Why is everyone in my life so nosy?

  Once I'm in the bathroom, I am determined to shut my mind off and wash my hands. I don't think about anything else as to why I'm so witless. But I do know this, I care about Chris and I want to be his, even though he said there are other ways to become his without dating, I feel either way I want him. Nonetheless, the other side of me is on red alert and wants me to stay away from him. I should be handling him with caution; not going after him, and acting like some needy woman. Why can't I stay away?

  I'm a lamb going into the lion's den.

   Hey readers, I want to say thank you so much for reading it means a lot to me. I'm sorry that I haven't updated for about a week and a half, I think. Just been busy with my online classes, but I do hope you enjoyed this chapter, and if you're alright with Sussianna's friend, Owen being "LGBTQ." If not just let me know I can always go back and make changes. Thank you so much for reading, commenting, and voting. Love ya guys! Until next time everyone.