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response.
    “Of course,” she replied. Her gentle answer warmed his heart.
    “Why have you put distance between us? I thought we were becoming good friends. Did I offend you?” Roy held his breath. After her previous soft answer, he wished he’d not limited himself to one question but made it a dozen questions, anything to stretch this encounter longer.
    “You’ve not offended me, Roy. You’re a true gentleman.” After that compliment, Roy forgot about the bad luck in the lab earlier. Her answer, tempered with a smile, seemed to contain an underlying sadness.
    “You don’t want to tell me, do you?”
    “No. I know you have feelings for me, Roy. I didn’t miss that reference to beauty in obvious places and all the other signs from you.” She made direct eye contact, her face displaying a pleasant smile of gratitude.
    “Yeah. I’ve not been subtle on that. It remains for me to put it into words, though.”
    “Don’t,” she said, with urgency, putting her forefinger lightly on his lips for a second. The contact thrilled him. She dropped her hand and continued.
    “Why couldn’t you seek a relationship with Greta? She’s beautiful, smart, a radiant personality, and she likes you a lot. Remember how she came to your rescue when I put you down about grades?” Roy wondered why she was trying to force him into Greta’s arms.
    “I like Greta a lot, but you’ve got my interest. That isn’t going to change. Say, you look tired. I had to ask that question, and let you know my feelings,” Roy said, tapping her lightly on the back of her hand. She didn’t want him to say those wonderful “I love you” words, so he’d let it go. He started to get up, but she spoke again, this time emphatically.
    “You don’t want to get mixed up with me,” she said, her face drawn, her look one of defeat as she attempted to discourage him.
    “I want to, and I am,” Roy replied, seeing her give an “I knew it” sigh.
    Heather looked at him, a great sadness spreading across her face. He could see tears forming, not quite ready to break into rivulets down her cheeks yet. She looked away, seeming to fight what she didn’t want to say.
    “Heather, I’m making you so uncomfortable. I don’t want you talking about anything that upsets you.” Roy squeezed her hand.
    “But you persist in, well, chasing me,” she said, stifling a sob. She looked down at his hand clasping hers and gently touched it with her other hand.
    “I’ll back off, just so you’re not upset.” Roy inwardly gritted his teeth at that difficult promise.
    “You’d do that?” Heather’s sobs gave way to a wide-eyed shock.
    “Yes, I would,” Roy answered. He could tell she relaxed at that, leaving something unsaid. “It’s getting late. I think we’ve both had a rough day. May I say being with you has softened my rotten day in the lab?”
    “You’re too kind, Roy.”
    “Still friends?” Roy held his breath.
    “Of course,” she answered. Her smile warmed his heart.
    ****
    Roy spoke briefly with Heather and Greta after each p-chem lecture. The semester drew to a close, and Dr. Hunter gave a big test on the next-to-last day of the semester. Roy scored an A but lagged behind Heather and Greta, as usual. Exhilaration overwhelmed him when Dr. Hunter rewarded him with an A for the semester. It mattered not to the professor that Roy’s semester average had bobbed in the low-B range. He graded on improvement, impressed with Roy’s last several marks on tests and quizzes. Of course Roy’s lab work outstripped everyone else’s in the 125-strong class.
    It pained Roy that he wouldn’t be seeing Heather for three months, not until college took up again in September. As he conversed with her on their last day, after a short class in p-chem, she surprised him. Greta had already excused herself to go and pack.
    “How about a shake over at Sal’s before we go our separate ways?” Heather shifted her books, grinning.
    “Sure. We can talk about our