Crave by Piper Lawson

Author:Piper Lawson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Piper Lawson

12

Olivia

Liv: I’m home.

* * *

Unknown: Send me a photo.

* * *

I finish brushing my teeth, then open my mouth and take a picture of the inside and hit send.

* * *

Unknown: What the fuck is that?

* * *

Liv: I thought you meant to check that my throat wasn’t irreparably damaged.

* * *

Unknown: For that, you’ll text me every night this week.

* * *

I grin.

Madison, Royce, and I meet up in the design lab on Monday. Adam bailed citing basketball practice, but I’m relieved after Fall Ball.

“Have you seen the other projects that won in past years?” I hold out my phone. “They’re really advanced.”

“Right now ours is no better than an arm moving up and down,” Madison gripes from her spot on one of the stools.

“At least it’s not shattering chips anymore,” Royce points out from across the lab bench.

“We have less than a month to get this working to qualify our prototype. An arm is fine,” I continue, “but there are lots of double- or triple-jointed robots out there already.” After getting through Sawyer’s pile of research papers and our conversation the other night, I started reading more broadly. “What if we built something with better articulation? Something inspired by nature?”

Madison sits silent, her gaze fixed on the lab counter.

Royce leans over and snaps his fingers in front of her. “Hey. You there?”

She shifts back on her stool. “What’re you thinking…a tail?”

I lean in. “With more joints and more range of motion, it could perform more complex tasks.”

I’m getting swept up in the possibilities. I get what Sawyer was talking about at Fall Ball: the high that comes from creating a masterpiece that moves and responds and solves problems of its own.

“We’d need more budget for materials, and extra lab time but I can text—I mean email—Professor Redmond.”

Madison groans loudly and Royce looks between us.

“I’m gonna give you five.” He grabs his phone and heads for the door.

“Royce!” Madison shouts. “What the hell?”

He flashes a peace sign over his shoulder, then disappears.

Madison and I are alone.

“When the video from Velvet was posted, I thought you were in the right place at the right time to see it,” I say at last. “But I’m not sure that’s true.” Her reaction wasn’t so much surprised delight, but satisfaction. “You’re the one who posted it.”

She slaps her notebook loudly on the tabletop. “I’m not admitting to anything.”

She did it. I know she did.

I pace the room before turning back. “Why do you hate me?”

Madison flips both palms in the air. “I don’t hate you!” I wait her out. “You don’t even want to be here. For the first two years, you were like an extension of your boyfriend. Yet professors always notice you. Last year with Lancaster, I asked to be his research assistant. He said he wasn’t taking anyone on, but you were around him all the time. And it’s even worse with Redmond.”

Guilt edges into my righteousness. But there’s no reason for it to—it’s not like Sawyer gives me special treatment.

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