Andrew sat in the university cafeteria eating his lunch alone. He always took his lunch at the same time and at the same table. He always had the same lunch too – a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (light on the jelly) with the crusts cut off, a small glass of milk, and four Oreo Doublestuff cookies. Andrew liked things to stay the same ... he hated change and anything that was new or different just ruined his day.

Andrew worked at the university in the science department as an astrophysicist. His current work was in trying to determine the properties of dark matter. Andrew was a genius – his IQ score was tested at 172, so he was very intelligent and book smart. Unfortunately, his intelligence did not spill over into the social skills. His exceptional brilliance made him quite arrogant and he felt superior to everyone around him. He didn’t really mind, as he found most people wearisome and tedious. He didn’t have a lot of use for people or their insipid problems. He had bigger, more important things to concern himself with!

Elizabeth also worked at the same university, but in the biology department. While she did not have the same “genius” IQ level as Andrew, she was still very bright and had a PhD in her field of study – genetics research. Elizabeth too, suffered from a lack of social skills – try as she might, she just simply didn’t fit in with the other girls, and the boys didn’t even see her. So she was a social outcast like Andrew, destined to live alone with no friends and no one to share her life with.

But unlike Andrew, who would be perfectly content to spend the rest of his life with the only person he felt he could feel comfortable with – himself, Elizabeth very much wanted to find someone she could call her own. She wanted the whole “small house with a white picket fence, a husband and three kids” kind of life. She wanted the companionship and the intimacy of a relationship with a boy. Truth be told, Elizabeth was a closet nymphomaniac – except that she had no one she could exercise her sexual impulses with.

On this early spring day as Andrew ate his lunch, Elizabeth came in for her lunch break as well. Finding all the tables full, she wandered around with her tray for awhile looking for someplace to sit down. The only available table was the one Andrew was sitting at, so she walked up to him to ask if she could sit there.

“Excuse me, is anyone sitting here?” she asked.

“No,” Andrew said, not even looking up. So Elizabeth sat down at the table.

“Now hold on! What are you doing?” he asked, rather shocked at her impetuousness.

“You said no one was sitting here,” she said.

“Yes, but you didn’t ask if you could. You just assumed. Perhaps I was waiting for someone!” he said.

“I’m sorry. May I sit here?” she asked.

“I don’t see why not. No one else is,” he said, going back to his lunch.

Elizabeth began eating and found the cafeteria food sadly lacking in taste. “Please pass the salt,” she asked Andrew who had it closer to himself. Absentmindedly, he slid the salt shaker across the table and as Elizabeth reached for it, their hands touched.

Now normally, Andrew detested the human touch, – being something of a germophobe, he figured that someday someone will sneeze and he will catch a fatal disease. But this was totally different. He didn’t pull his hand away like he usually would, slathering it afterwards with hand sanitizer. Instead he kept it there, almost holding hands with her save for the salt shaker in her hand.

Andrew looked at the girl across the table. She was fairly plain looking, with straight blonde hair that was parted in the center and hung limp and lifeless down her back. She wore no makeup at all and her features were quite ordinary. Elizabeth looked back at the taller Andrew and his somewhat rounded face with a turned up nose and thick, black framed glasses. His dark brown hair was cut in a short boys cut and his clothes were terribly outdated.

They sat there holding hands and looking at each other for several awkward moments before they both pulled back shy and retreating. They finished eating their meals and as Andrew got up to head back to his lab, he paused for a moment to look at the girl who had been sitting at his table.

The next day Andrew was again at his table eating. Elizabeth showed up again, and this time she came over to his table even though there were other places available.

“May I sit here?” she asked him this time.

Andrew looked up and seeing Elizabeth, he almost smiled. “Yes,” he said and Elizabeth sat down. They ate lunch that day together, occasionally looking up at the other and when their eyes met, shyly looking back at their food.

And so it went for the next few weeks. Each day they would meet for lunch and slowly – agonizingly slowly – they became more and more comfortable with each other. Andrew got to the point where he actually held conversation with Elizabeth and she began looking forward to lunch with what she now considered her beau.

One day as they were sitting there eating, one of the university office assistants came into the lunchroom and put up a notice on the cafeteria bulletin board. Curious as to the goings on and the crowd that had gathered around the bulletin board, Andrew and Elizabeth went over to check it out.

The notice was announcing the university football team’s homecoming game and after-party. It was going to be held one month from that day and it was always a great game and a great party.

“Oh, I would love to go to that party!” Elizabeth said, dreamily.

“Elizabeth please! It’s just a bunch of hooligan’s making a spectacle of themselves over a simple game. And that game is nothing more than a testosterone-fueled excuse to flaunt their machismo and show off the fact that they have muscles rather than brains between their ears!” he said.

“Yes, but the social implications are fascinating don’t you think? I’d like to go just to observe how the two sexes intermingle – strictly on a scientific basis of course!” Elizabeth said.

“I still say it is a sad excuse to get inebriated and act like a bunch of immature primates! Imagine the multitude of diseases and lord knows what that will be in that mob of hot sweaty bodies rubbing all over each other in their attempt to do what can only be classified as a mating ceremony! Pishh!” he said, derisively.

Elizabeth remained quiet knowing she couldn’t argue with him. She looked down dejectedly at the floor. Andrew noted her sudden quietness.

“Okay, I will make a deal with you. If I haven’t got anything more important to do the night of the party, I will take you – strictly for observational purposes,” he said, “I won’t go to the game ... I simply have no desire whatsoever to see grown men running headlong into each other. But I will take you to the party afterwards, if you insist on watching the rutting rituals of these barbarians!”

With the agreement reached, they waited until the night before the big game. That night Elizabeth called Andrew up.

“Hello?” Andrew said, when his cellphone began ringing the theme to Star Trek.

“Hello Andrew, this is Elizabeth. In accordance with our previously agreed upon arbitration, tomorrow night is the university’s homecoming game and subsequent after-party. It was agreed that if you didn’t have anything more important to do, that you would accompany me to the party. Now do you or do you not have anything more pressing to do?”

“Sadly, no. I shall abide by the terms of our agreement. What time is the party and when should I come by for you?” he said, sounding slightly moody.

“The party is supposed to start at 8:00 p.m. so to be socially accurate, we should probably arrive between 8:00 and 8:20. We don’t want to seem too eager nor do we wish to offend our host,” Elizabeth said.

“Agreed. Very well I shall be at your home at 8:00 tomorrow night then, to give you ample time for your preparations.”

“Thank you for the consideration. I will see you then.” and Elizabeth hung up the phone.

The night of the party, Andrew arrived promptly at the agreed upon time. Knocking three times as he always did (Andrew suffered from OCD and this was one of his repetitive habits), Elizabeth answered the door.

“Hello Andrew, please come in,” she said. “I just have to get my jacket.” Elizabeth got her jacket and being raised in the South, Andrew minded his manners and helped her with her jacket.

“You will have to drive Elizabeth, I don’t drive,” Andrew informed her as he put her jacket over her shoulders so as not to mess up her dress.

“But how did you get here then?” she asked.

“I took the bus to the bus stop on 5th and Elm Street and then walked the remaining three blocks,” he said.

“Very well, we can take my car,” she said.

So Elizabeth drove them to the party. As they drove, Elizabeth said, “I hope I look okay – my sister helped me get ready. She helped pick out this dress and did my hair and makeup. She knows a lot more about that sort of thing than I do.”

“You look suitable for the circumstances,” he said. Which for Andrew was a compliment. He was not given to displays of emotion. The fact was, that he found human emotions quite perplexing and did not fully grasp their usage or meaning.

Elizabeth actually looked quite beautiful. Her sister had picked out a very pretty and sexy little blue tank style dress made from stretchy nylon so it fit her like a second skin. It was short, hemmed to just below her ass cheeks, and it had a deep V neckline in front, and behind it was open down to the small of her back. Contrary her normal work look, Elizabeth actually had a very nice figure with curves in all the right places. And her sister had done an amazing job with her hair and makeup. Her normally flat blonde hair was styled in a loose wavy style and her makeup was perfection. One would never recognize her as the same dull, boring lab worker that she portrayed at work.

They arrived at the party, and as he walked her into the house that the party was in, all the other guys began whispering to each other.

“Isn’t that Andrew Hopkins? Who is that with him?” one person said.

“I didn’t know Hopkins even knew what a woman looked like!” another said.

“Who is the honey he is with, and where did he find her?” still another said.

Elizabeth heard the whispers and she beamed inside. She was being talked about, and this time it was in a good way! She was stunning and people were impressed! Andrew also heard the whispers and something new and strange was happening to him. He found himself oddly wanting to show off this girl with him and he felt ... pride! He was actually proud of Elizabeth and proud that she was with him! This was totally new and he was having some trouble trying to reconcile it logically. He was the genius – she should be proud to be with him. But instead he was feeling exactly the opposite and it was simply not logical.