Nine months later

"The boys here are surprisingly dumb," Alice complained as she usually does after a lecture. Attending hour-long mansplaining sessions—her words—tends to do that to her. This time it was about a date she had, which irked Pauline, who usually had trouble finding one. But the benefit to Pauline was that Alice was easy to talk to and could take a joke.

"Still can't believe you went on a date before a final."

They, along with the rest of the crowd, made it through the doors and passed the stone columns that lined the building. As students dispersed, Alice tugged onto Pauline's coat.

"That's him, right?" she gestured with her head towards another student sitting at a bench.

Pauline saw who she was pointing at. A student sat on a bench by another walkway, interacting with a small puppy on a leash. His hair was shabby, and his beard was messy. He brushed snow off the bench and sat the puppy on it.

"Him, who?"

She rolled her eyes to point at the target. "Him."

Pauline squinted. "You sure? That guy looks... homeless."

"He goes here, a mechanical engineer major? Right? That's a close match, and he's near the engineering building."

"You could ask him."

She stepped off the sidewalk and onto the snow, "I think I will."

She built up the courage. It's not like she's never approached a boy before, but this time it was different. She was approaching the most famous person on the planet. Or to some, infamous. So much so, the college issued special rules for his attendance, allowing him to use a different name and to live off campus as a freshman.

She was about to say hello but stopped when she heard his dog speaking voice.

"What a cute wittle killer you are," he said. "Yes you are, yes you are!"

The puppy howled, and he howled along with it.

Well, maybe Pauline was right. She felt some secondhand embarrassment.

He lifted the puppy, stood, and caught Alice staring at him in her long coat and brown hair tucked into her scarf. He paused for a moment and started walking.

"Wait," Alice spoke quickly. "I mean, hey. Cute puppy."

He turned back to her. "Thanks." He held the puppy to her. "Want to pet him? His name is Socrates."

She did so. "A husky? I had one as a kid."

"Gray wolf."

Her hand flinched.

"What?"

He smirked. "The animal sanctuary is letting me take him out to get used to people."

"Wow."

"Yeah." He pulled the puppy back. "Thanks. But I gotta get him home before they close."

As he started to go, Alice said, "Some friends of mine are having a small party. Want to come?"

He turned around but kept pace by walking backward. "Nah, I'm good."

Alice looked dejected, but she found out that, yes, that was Connor Voll.

Pauline ran over. "Nice. How did it go?"

"He's more awkward than I expected."

***

Connor stepped into his filled dorm. His roommate made sure the corner got cleared out and that the small crowd no one was near it. The ruckus went quiet like a candle.

"So you're positive they said I can't come?" His roommate said.

"Yeah, sorry, man."

About a dozen freshmen stood in the room, standing on the two beds to make room for everyone, and filled the hall behind Connor as he walked in.

"Alright, everyone, I'm giving them a call. Please be quiet, and no recording. The government doesn't exactly like this. Plus, Stephanie and Teresa won't be happy if something leaks."

Several cell phones were turned off.

He was about to dial when his phone lit up, and he put it on speaker. "Hey. Good timing, I just got back from work."

Stephanie was ecstatic. "Connor! Hello, we're ready when you are."

Several of his peers spoke up.

"Hey, Stephanie!"

Another. "Is Teresa there?"

"Taking internships?"

He had to stop them by raising a finger to his mouth.

"Hey, boys," she said back to Connor's roommates.

"Hi, everyone," Teresa said.

"Ready when you are," Stephanie said.

Connor's roommate and everyone else on the floor were big fans and, to Connor's annoyance, had been begging him for an introduction, which he always refused. "Alright, everyone, stand back. Further. Alright, Stephanie, my bags and I are in the corner of my room."

"And the roommates?"

"Ten feet away."

And he left the room in a flash of violet hues. The journey through the Lucid Passage, the first in months, was pleasant.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Stephanie immediately ran onto the plate, and they gave each other a giant hug. She eased off, gave him a once-over, and pinched his cheeks covered in a complete, well-manicured beard. "Look at you, so manly now."

"Alright, alright..." Connor's cheeks went warm. "What happened to your hand?"

She rubbed the wrapping around her left palm. "Small injury with a screwdriver, it happens... And? Finals? The animal sanctuary? Your mom?" She wanted to know everything, despite them talking all the time.

"All good. I hope, with the grades. It's gotten better with my mom. Just a little, as they told her some bullshit story about Axel being a hero."

Stephanie didn't respond, mostly because she and no one else had the heart.

"Still working a lot?"

"Of course."

He smiled. "Figures." He wanted to get this next part out of the way. "Um, my roommates keep asking. If you and Teresa want to come up to the campus and—"

"Maybe under a different administration," Stephanie said. "The US and I aren't on the best terms right now. But maybe in the Summer, they can come down."

"Great, sorry I had to ask, or I'd never hear the end of it."

"Yup, no worries."

Teresa stepped into his view from behind Stephanie. "I'll come."

And she looked stunning with her brown skin in her light purple short sundress, hands locked behind her, and a smile as wide as possible. What also stood out was her neck, which had a matching gold Aeon Switch alongside Stephanie's.

"Great," Connor stared. "Great."

Stephanie stood awkwardly between the two. Yup. "I need to run an errand, and we got you clothes more appropriate for this climate in your new bedroom. Teresa, dinner at seven."

Teresa twisted and whispered a "Thank you" to Stephanie walking by her.

The two stood alone, and Connor finally took his coat off, stepped off the plate, and looked out onto the Pacific Ocean.

"So when you said you were from California, you meant—"

"Baja. Sorry. I thought being from the states would sound cooler."

Connor tried to count the number of battleships, fighter jets, and helicopters that swarmed the place. "This town is really on lockdown."

"UN, Mexico, and the US. Everyone who goes to Mars gets vetted up to high hell. Not that we need to do that, we're just playing nice."

He smiled. "Once I graduate, I'm hoping you two hire me."

"You're a founder of the Solar Express," Teresa said. "Stephanie has plans for you, plus a flush bank account."

"Yeah, but, I always just did as I was told. I want to contribute more than that."

That's admirable.

"It's nice to see your face. In person that is."

"The phone calls were nice too."

He felt the same. Once they charged up their switches when they returned to Las Vegas, they immediately went to Mexico. Stephanie wasted no time negotiating Connor's livelihood to remain safe in the US. He moved back with his mom the next day and started college after the summer. It was what Connor wanted. Therapy, as well, from Stephanie's suggestion. His summer sessions were five days a week, then three, then one. Then he got the courage to call Teresa one day a week and eventually every day.

"One thing I wanted to say in person is sorry."

She didn't understand why he'd want to apologize. "You didn't do anything wrong, so, no need to apologize."

Connor leaned on the terrace spindle and sighed. "For yelling at you."

"Hmm?" She still had no idea.

"In the classroom, in the Lucid Passage."

The outbursts they had towards each other were honest. They never brought it up during their phone calls. "That's okay. It was a stressful situation." She was about to discuss him having just lost Joules but left it at that.

"I wanted a normal life too. I was no different than you. And you were right. You were trying, and now I am."

She smiled and rubbed his shoulder. "Anything else?" It was nice to touch him again finally. It also broke the tension of seeing each other in person again.

"That's it."

He finally got that out of the way. Time to change the subject. "Finished the Estelar two?"

"Yeah, there's a few up there." She pointed skyward. "It's awesome, and it's all solar-powered. You should see Thomas. He is having a blast giving Mars tours in them."

Connor chuckled at the thought of his principal living in Mexico and working for Stephanie. He won the lawsuits for expelling a few students. But he did not appreciate his tax dollars being spent to harm Connor. So Thomas, his wife, son, and daughter-in-law came down.

"We'll see him at dinner tonight?"

"Yeah. My parents will be there too." She got giddy. "They're super excited to see you."

"Great, looking forward to it."

"Now, I need to tell you something," she's been saving this to be in person.

And without hesitation, he said, "Mr. Furyk told you to get close to me in case Stephanie revealed any tech secrets?"

She gasped as he was spot on.

"It was pretty obvious," he said. "Cute girl just sits next to me out of the blue on her first day. And wants to hang out after she learns the teacher ran into me at the coffee shop." He saw her at a loss for words. "It's fine. It all worked out in the end."

A bit of an understatement considering they had to stop a wormhole. She smiled and placed her arms around his neck. "I was so worried about you. The color in your face was still gone the last time I saw you." It took some time, but eventually, he did a few video chats with her if he had the dorm to himself.

"Therapy has helped a lot. Along with making new friends. Plus, the board game club has become the most famous on campus."

She was sad and happy. She held back a tear as she felt partially responsible for what had happened to him. Stephanie did too, but she hid it better. Improvement was an understatement in describing Connor as he looked as happy as if he were walking Joules.

"That switch looks good on you."

She rubbed the gold band next to the purple jewel. She wanted purple. "Dr. Rodrigues put this together for me. He's here too. And it turns out he helped Stephanie with her tech." She smirked. "We've been helping each other a lot, Stephanie and I."

Connor nodded, and Teresa placed her hands on his chest and went in, getting as much as her surface area to touch him. "Is this okay?"

Connor placed his hands on her waist. "I missed you."

"Yeah, I can tell."

Before his blush, she began kissing him. She removed her straps, and the dress puckered on the floor, and Connor paused as his hand felt the scar of her gunshot.

"It's healed pretty well," she said.

Connor smiled, and the two got honest with each other.

***

Stephanie made her way to the shore. Restaurants and vendors filled the popular part of the beach, and the people were enjoying the soon-to-be sunset. She was a welcomed guest, and everyone waved and got out of her way. Her tours to Mars and the construction of several buildings on Mars for research and mining have caused an enormous boom in the local economy. Teresa's hometown, in just a summer's worth of time, transformed into the most talked about city in the world.

One thing she's never tried before was surfing. She figured the two would be busy. She had her suit on underneath her shirt and shorts, a new habit she started living within walking distance of the beach.

She approached a surfing vendor wearing sunglasses and baggy swimming trunks. "me gustaria alquilar una tabla."

The man responded in perfect English, "foam core or wood?"

"Oh. Foam core?"

"First time?"

"Si."

"I'd love to show you, but first, the band-aid."

She lifted her hand and unwrapped it. It was still healing.

"Can I keep it on?"

"As much as I'd love to let you go surfing, I cannot as we've spent too much time and effort preserving this ocean, and a piece of wrapping falling off your hand would cause me to lose sleep at night. Even if you are the famous Miss Saunders."

"Ah. Sure, I'll come back tomorrow."

She took a few steps and remembered what Connor had asked. Still working a lot? Surfing probably isn't what he meant.

Why wait until tomorrow to have fun? When there are other things to do now. And him standing by his principles and not wavering for a woman was good enough for her.

She turned around and asked the man, "Would you like to get some coffee?"

End.