Revival
One morning the following week, Patty asked Erin to come along with her to check out Revival, a small shop that specialized in furniture restoration. Patty had seen some antique furniture and wanted Erin’s opinion on it. They considered taking the Ecto-2 there, since no one seemed to complain about them parking it wherever they wanted, but neither of them felt comfortable driving it and Holtzmann was nowhere to be found. Patty tried to avoid the subway whenever possible, so they took the bus instead.
“Where has Holtzmann been, anyway?” Erin asked Patty as they paid their fare and found a place to stand near the back.
“Who knows. That girl’s been kind of elusive this week.”
“We were supposed to work on the dark matter detector but she’s been hard to nail down. Huh.” Erin thought it was a little unusual that Holtzmann hadn’t asked her to do any research or gather parts for their little project. Dumpster diving was one of her favorite outings.
“Hmm. Hey, I noticed you aren’t avoiding Kevin any more. What’s going on there?” Patty asked.
“I did the grown up thing and confronted him about it. Holtzmann told me to put on my big girl panties, so I did. I told him it wasn’t going to happen again and that I wasn’t looking for, y’know, a relationship or anything and that we should keep things professional in our workplace. He seemed to understand. Surprisingly. Also, did you know that he’s scared of you?”
“Damn well should be! He set a cup of coffee on my vintage map of New York Harbor the other day. Shit could’ve left a ring! I would’ve killed the boy. Took me ages to finally win that thing on eBay. I’m glad you got that all taken care of though, Abby and I were wondering what your plan was gonna be.”
“I mean, Kevin’s a nice guy. He’s gorgeous, pretty, uh, talented in the sheets. But we’re on different wavelengths. And I think things are just too busy right now for me to try and add romance of any kind to my life. I’ve been asked to give a guest lecture at NYU. If it goes well, it might become an adjunct thing.” Erin hadn’t told anyone this last part yet, she wasn’t sure how they would respond. They were all pretty busy with research and busts and she didn’t know how they would feel about her adding on something more.
“That’s great, Erin! Good for you. Though I have to say, I personally think there’s always time for romance. What’s life without a little lovin’?”
“I don’t know. I had this conversation with Holtz the other day. She told me I was looking for love in all the wrong places. I’m not actually looking for love anywhere. I don’t feel like it’s something I have time to seek out, if that makes sense.” Erin felt that this was a really sensible stance to have on the matter and she was proud of herself for realizing it.
“You told Holtzy that, huh? And what did she say?” They arrived at their stop and exited the bus along with several other passengers.
Erin shrugged. “She seemed to think there was no way that was the case. I made some comment the other day about how I figured I’d be settled down by now and she sort of ran with it. I mean sure, it’d be nice to find someone great. And yes, I enjoy sex. Who doesn’t? But that doesn’t mean I need to devote a significant portion of my life to of finding my perfect match or something. Who has time for that?” Erin followed Patty down the block.
“Well, that explains a lot.”
“What do you mean?”
“About Holtzmann. Girl’s got a thing for you. Probably crushed her when you said you weren’t looking for anything.” Patty said matter-of-factly as she led Erin into the furniture store.
“Wait, what?”
“Holtzy’s got a major crush on you, Erin. You had to know that. Girl flirts with you day and night.” Patty said, walking past a row of end tables.
“Don’t be ridiculous! She just likes to make me squirm.”
“Well, I’m sure she enjoys that too, but she also really likes you.” Patty stopped to check the price tag on a sofa table. “This would look good on the main floor. Could put a few books on it.”
“How can you be so sure of this, Patty?” Erin was surprised to hear this. Holtzmann had flirted with her since the moment she walked into the lab looking for Abby all those months ago. But that was just Holtzmann. She didn’t have a lot of boundaries.
“Trust me. I know Holtzy. We talk. She likes you. I wonder if we can have this delivered…” And just like that, Patty’d moved on from the conversation. Erin knew better than to try and get her to elaborate on the matter. But the gears in Erin’s brain went into overdrive with this new information. What was she supposed to do with it?
She could ignore it and pretend that the conversation had never happened. That seemed like a safe option. She could confront Holtzmann about it. Maybe that’s what she would prefer. She had been the one telling Erin to be more direct about things. But before Erin could say anything to Holtzmann, she’d need to figure out what she thought about the whole issue. What she felt about Holtzmann. And as it turned out, that was not so straightforward after all.