Star Crossed Read Free

introduced him to me at a club. Isn't he cute?”
                Chris shrugged. “I don't dig guys that way so probably am not the one to ask about that. Good luck with that, I have to get started. If I don't make a breakthrough or two in my research today then I'm going to have to ask my professor for another extension.”
                “What are you working on?”
                “One of my long papers about boring theories,” he said dismissively. “My mentor says the only people that care to hear about it usually get pulled away by starting a family or making more money.”
                Skylar frowned. “How come you don't want to get a better job? Isn't there not a market for teachers anymore?”
                He sighed. “Depends on what they're teaching and where. I might have to move to get the job I want but I'll see where it takes me. I think economy is more interesting than business and I've stuck with it so far, so we'll see where it goes, I guess. Anyway, have a good shift. If you get bored and want to keep me company later then I can see if I can afford to take a break.”
                “You should take breaks anyway. It isn't healthy to do nothing but work.”
                “The opportunity cost of--”
                “Oh, going all fancy on me, are we? I guess that's my cue,” she said as she went to move her car so that she could go in to work.
                “Have a good day,” Chris bade her as she left.
     
    ~~~
     
                Chris watched his friend as she walked distractedly to her car and then shook his head at his own thoughts as he purchased his coffee and claimed his favorite table to sit and work at. Skylar's constant need to keep trying to 'talk' to people was starting to worry him. They had been friends for years but had grown apart when college hadn't been something she was interested in and he had gone away to school. They still talked, but not at all like they used to.
                Even if they did, though, he wasn't sure if she was the same person that he used to hang out with on the bus to and from school or during lunch period. He felt as though he had been in school so much that he was still very similar to his teenage self. Chris mostly exercised his mind, after all, aside from his occasional camping trips through the mountains. He hadn't had the kind of experiences that he considered life changing, such as growing from the kind of person that was a good friend to the kind of person that could be a good husband.
                Besides, after he'd seen the way his friends behaved he couldn't stomach the thought of dating someone. If all dating was for was to find different ways to get his partner drunk or laid then he was certainly not interested. He had enough to worry about with his studies without thinking about what was going to be his latest score, or without wondering if the person he was with had some kind of hidden agenda. Guys weren't the only ones looking to get into as many people's pants as they could, after all.
                Which was part of why he didn't go into business, he thought as he pulled out his books and started working. Fewer girls went after the guy that wasn't going on to make hundreds of thousands of dollars one day and he had no interest in painting a target on his chest. Besides, he enjoyed long hours of research and plugging numbers into mathematical theories. It all had a kind of order which allowed for prediction and study, which suited him just fine.
                He could still recall his first economics teacher, a tall and somewhat quirky man with a prideful twist to his personality that still made Chris smile. His tests were the kind that included questions such as 'which is greater, the current unemployment rate or Mr. Benson's biceps?' His joy in teaching and carefree attitude had inspired Chris