Scott “Hey, what was that star thing called again?”

Natasha “Hmm? You’re going to have to be more specific than that”

Scott “The one you were just talking about a second ago, the flashing one”

I smile and look back out the window. I’d been talking for the past 20 minutes about an interesting article I’d read about neutron stars. I didn’t honestly think he was listening, but then again, he’s probably just trying to distract me from the stressful day I have ahead of me.

Natasha “Pulsars.”

Scott “Tell me about them again.”

Normally I would just humor him, but I find myself not in the mood to repeat myself. Two hours isn’t the longest for a car ride, but it’s enough to knock the energy out of you.

Natasha “Nah, don’t worry about it. I’m guessing you’re not interested anyway.”

I look back to him and notice the smile fall from his face. Maybe that was a harsh way to phrase it, but I felt like it needed to be said. When we were growing up, he always used to ask me about space, the planets, and everything else, but even then I wasn’t convinced he actually wanted to know any of it.

Only a few minutes later he pulls the car into a parking spot at my new home, the student dorm at NEST. I moved all my stuff in last weekend, but my mom wanted to have a going away party, so I had to go back again. Not that I minded; free food is free food. I notice Scott has a smile back on his face.

Scott “I have a confession to make. I’ve never been interested in space all that much. I’m not a science guy, you know that.”

Even if I did already know that, it still hurt a little to hear him say it. Then again…

Natasha “Hmm. So why did you always used to ask about it. And you’d listen to me ramble on for hours…”

Scott “Because I liked hearing you tell it. You may not notice it in yourself, but you have more passion for science than anyone I’ve ever met had for anything. Hearing you talk about science is like going on an adventure, and even if I didn’t understand most of it, just seeing the look on your face as you told me would make me smile. I just want you to know, I’m proud of you.”

Scott has always been more like a parent than a brother, and also like a best friend. Normally he has one of those tough-guy attitudes, but today he seems a little different.

Natasha “I don’t think I’ve ever heard you be this sentimental”

Scott “Heh, don’t let it go to your head, just say thanks and go be a genius.”

I give him a quick hug and grab my backpack.

Natasha “Thanks Scott.”

Scott “If you need anything, call me, and I’ll be here as soon as I possibly can.”

Natasha “I will, see you later!”

I head inside and make my way to my new home, room 108. I wonder if my new roommates are here yet. The dorm has a large shared living room that takes up most of the space, with 3 small bedrooms, one large bathroom, and it has it’s own kitchen. As I step in, I’m taken aback by the smell. Not a particularly unpleasant one mind you, it smells like someone spilled all their perfume on the carpet simultaneously. Looking around the room makes it obvious why; since last weekend it looks like a jungle has grown in the previously empty living room…

Annabel “Welcome, I’m Annabel!”

A girl pokes her head around a corner. She’s wearing a shirt that has flowers all over it. A quick deduction leads me to believe these are her plants.

Natasha “Natasha, nice to meet you.”

I slowly look around the room at all the different colored plants on the walls, mostly centered around the windows.

Annabel “Ah, I hope you don’t mind flowers, I like to grow them and a few of them needed more light.”

Natasha “No no, I like them, just ah…surprising. Let me drop this stuff off in my room.”

I lug my backpack down the small hallway towards my room. The first room on the right is supposed to be our other roommate. It’s empty, so she must not have moved in yet. The second bedroom is Annabels, and I have to pause as I walk by. There is barely enough room to move around in her room because it is so packed with plants, small bushes and trees as tall as the ceiling. It must have been quite a process to move all of this in here. I drop my backpack off in my room and make my way back to the living room, taking another double take at Annabels room.

Natasha “How do you tend to all these plants?”

My followup question would be ‘and why’ if I could think of how to phrase it in a nice way…

Annabel “It’s a full time job, that’s for sure. Don’t worry though, most of these won’t be staying in the apartment for long. I am just waiting for confirmation from the school board to begin planting them in the garden out front.”

Natasha “Are you the school’s gardener?”

Annabel “Hmm, sort of. N.E.S.T is branching out to botanical sciences, and they granted me a scholarship because of a research paper I wrote about the thermodynamic benefits of hydroponic roof farming.”

Natasha “You’re putting all these plants on the roof?”

Annabel “Sadly, N.E.S.T doesn’t have the capacity for a roof garden, but they said I could use the old garden in front of the dorm if I wanted. They are giving my class a tuition discount if we maintain it.

As she’s talking I walk over to a large tree-like plant in the corner and smell one of the small white flowers that adorn it. It’s very sweet, but not too strong smelling, I think it’s overshadowed by some of the other plants.

Annabel “That’s jasmine. I originally started growing it so I could make jasmine tea but I have way too much now. Nighttime is when the insects that pollinate it in it’s natural environment come out, so it has a much stronger aroma at night. It’s a very calming smell too, I like having it around. I have some orchids over there that smell really pretty. They don’t grow in soil, instead they need a mix of…”

She goes on for a little while about gardening techniques used to grow several of the plants in the living room. I don’t follow some of it, but stopping her doesn’t seem like an option, and seeing the glimmer in her eye when she talks about it reminds me of what Scott said earlier. She is clearly very passionate about this, and just listening to her talk about it is really interesting. After a few minutes she stops herself and looks really embarrassed.

Annabel “Oh, sorry, I don’t mean to ramble.”

She sits down on the couch and folds her hands in front of her, very formally, and looks around as if she doesn’t know what else to talk about.

Annabel “Ah…so, your telescope looks pretty cool, are you here for astronomy?”

I open my mouth to speak but pause briefly and smile. I think I’m going to fit right in here.