Sean cools off, but doesn't realize his new abilities until it's too late. [Chapter 4]

After his run in with Kaylee, Sean was still fuming about all that had happened to him that day. He was still lost in the feeling he had missed something big, and that he might never get the experiment to repeat its results. He reached the apartment door, unlocked it, and stepped inside, removing his shoes.

As he stood in the entry way, he could see the common area straight ahead, with the kitchen and dining area off to the left. Forward to the right, and past the coat closet (where he hung his jacket) was the halway to the two bedrooms and shared bathroom.

His was the smallest bedroom and the first door on the left down that hallway. As he entered his room and closed the door, he could here some upbeat punk tunes coming from Brandy's bedroom, and he could hear her singing along to them. Her positive energy was electric and infectious.

For the first time in many hours, Sean let a smile creep onto his face. Just being in the same apartment as her was enough to lift his spirits, and he let some of the tension roll off his back. He gently set his computer bag down on his desk and changed into more comfortable clothes.

Sporting a hoodie and pajama pants, the burly young man left his room and headed to the kitchen for a snack and a glass of water. He went to the dining room table and sat down to go through the mail.

From her room, Brandy heard Sean come home and smiled. Her music was playing a bit loud, but she knew he would like hearing the upbeat tune as it pumped out of her bluetooth speakers. Singing along she finished getting dressed after a recent shower and put on her glasses.

With a small, Star Wars t-shirt featuring Yoda and his sage advice about, "Do, or do not. There is no try," the skinny young woman walked down the hallway from her bedroom to see her BFF sitting at the table getting ready to open the mail.

"Hey buddy," she exclaimed as she hugged him from behind before sitting down in her own chair and studied his face. "What's going on, you look like something's bugging you."

Sean flicked his blue eyes up to her dark brown ones and sighed, knowing he would never get away with lying to her if he told her nothing was on his mind, "Well...there was an incident at the lab today, and I failed to record what could have been the most significant breakthrough in quantum entanglement in almost a hundred years!" He let himself slump against the table top, resting his chin on his folded arms, "How could I be so smart to create the device which caused it to happen, but so dumb as to not start recording?"

Looking down at her friend, her heart went out to him. While she stopped understanding most things that started with 'quantum', she knew her friend was beating himself up. "Man...I know how hard you were working on that experiment too." She wanted to tell him something to cheer him up, "What I know about you, is that you will work even harder to make sure you don't make that mistake again."

Moving her hand to his shoulder, Brandy rubbed it with care, "'You always learn and gain something from your mistakes,' didn't you tell me that once?"

Sean smiled and nodded, "Yeah. I did." Chuckling a bit, he rubbed his hands on his face, slipping his fingers easily under his glasses and then remembered the situation in the stairwell, "To top it all off, Kaylee nearly knocked me all the way down the stairs when I got home," He recalled the situation in his mind and continued, "Then she had the audacity to call me a nerd! What is this, high school all over again?"

From the moment Kaylee had moved in across the hall, Brandy didn't care for the cocky blonde's attitude. She seemed to think she was above everyone else, and as soon as Sean mentioned high school, Brandy nodded in agreement, "Yeah. She can be a bit of a bitch sometimes. Hopefully you didn't take her words to heart," she ruffled Sean's hair and smiled, "Besides, you know you're my favorite nerd."

He chuckled and shook his head as she made fun of him in such a way he actually felt better. God he still loved that girl. Deciding to play back with her a bit Sean smiled, "Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know you've always loved me!"

Brandy giggled and shook her head as she headed back towards her room, "I'll be right back, I forgot to grab my phone from my room."