Bearly Interested by Kim Fox

one
     
     
     
    Angie rolled her eyes as the other scientists in her team packed up for the night. It was only seven o’clock. She turned back to the Graphene Quantum Dots Accelerator and set it up for another test. Her team might be finished for the night but she wasn’t going anywhere. They were close to getting all of the results that she needed for her study and she wasn’t about to let up now.
    She hummed as she worked, trying to block out all of the distracting, friendly chit chat of her fellow workers as they packed up for the night. So Frank’s son won his soccer tournament. So Betsy and her husband were going to their cottage for the weekend. Who cares? Really? Who could care about stupid family stuff when they were close to unlocking a mystery of the universe?
    “Wait,” Betsy called out, getting everybody’s attention. “I have an announcement to make.”
    The team of five other Quantum Electrochemists gathered around her with smiling faces. Angie muttered to herself as she put down her clipboard and walked over. She hated being interrupted when she worked.
    “I am happy to say,” Betsy said, pausing to drag out the news. Angie glanced back at the Accelerator. “I’m pregnant!”
    Angie’s coworkers clapped and cheered as Angie jerked her head back. Is this good news? Betsy was one of the leading figures in her field. She had such a bright future ahead of her and she was throwing it all away for what? Diapers and sleepless nights? Spaghetti plastered walls and more diapers? That was ridiculous. What a waste .
    Angie forced out a smile and clapped as the other scientists hugged the new mom.
    “Congrats Betsy,” Angie said, when it was her turn to congratulate her on her career death sentence.
    “Don’t worry boss,” Betsy said. “I’ll finish up the project. It won’t effect my work in any way.”
    Yeah right.
    Angie smiled. “I wish you all the best.”
    She walked back to the Accelerator and noted down the data points that the machine was spewing out. Interesting . There was a slight variation on the previous tests. How exciting . The numbers varied by 0.00000005%.
    Angie glanced at Betsy and shook her head, feeling sorry for her. She was going to miss all of this when her baby came.
    “We’re going to the pub to celebrate,” Sara said to her as the rest of her team left. Angie was team leader on the project. “Want to come? I’m going to buy Betsy a shot of apple juice.” She chuckled at her bad joke.
    “No,” Angie said. “I’m going to finish this up.”
    Sara leaned forward, looking at her faded reflection in the stainless steel Graphene Quantum Dots Accelerator. She pulled out a stick of red lipstick from her pocket and puckered her lips.
    “There’s going to be men there,” she said, slathering it on her lips. “You have to leave here once in a while. Go on a date.” She placed the lipstick back in her pocket and turned to Angie. She had a smudge of lipstick on her teeth.
    “When was the last time that you had any fun?” Sara asked.
    Angie sighed. It had been over a month. She went kayaking in New Hampshire with her friends Becca and Grace. A wild storm separated her from the group and she ended up staying the night in an abandoned cabin with a huge bear shifter named Sidney. He was a know-it-all and frustrating as all hell but she had a lot of fun with him. They played games and got drunk and then he fucked her brains out. All in all a great night. But she didn’t have time for that now. Her career was exploding and she had no time for anything else.
    “I have fun,” Angie lied. She marked down a number on her clipboard.
    Sara snatched it from her hands. “This is not fun. Come have a drink. The mysteries of the universe will still be here tomorrow waiting for you.”
    Angie grabbed the clipboard back and shook her head. “Maybe next time,” she said, turning back to the readings on the machine.
    “Alright, suit yourself,” Sara said, getting up, fixing her