Page 6 of Lessons in Chemistry

“You’ve got reading to do.”

“Oh, yeah. Thanks, Em. What would I do without you?”

“Sleep?”

He chuckles. “I was thinking I’d fail my degree if I didn’t have you looking out for me.”

“I doubt that.”

“Would you mind if I brought my textbook in here?”

“No, of course not. I’ve got some reading to do too.”

“Thanks.”

While Casey slips out of the room, I pick up the textbook I need to read a chapter of for a lecture on Friday and then sit on my bed again. Casey returns five minutes later and sits beside me, resting his head on my shoulder as he reads.

“Do you need help?” I ask after twenty minutes have gone past, and he’s still on the second page.

He’s staring at the table of elements poster on my wall rather than reading.

Casey rubs his forehead with the heel of his palm. “I’m too tired to take it in. There isn’t an E-M element.”

I laugh. “What?”

“There’s C-A.”

“Calcium,” I say without looking. “It has an atomic number of twenty.”

Casey squints at the poster. “Right. But there’s no E-M.”

“You’re meant to be reading, not looking for elements made up of the first two letters of our names.”

He sighs. “I know.”

I put my book down. “Why don’t I read it and parse it into bite-sized chunks for you?”

Casey shifts his attention from the poster to me. “You’d do that?”

“You’re my best friend, aren’t you?”

I’d do anything for him. I hate seeing him stressed. Balancing swimming and university are juggling acts, but he does his best not to let his schoolwork suffer.

He gestures at my book. “What about your reading?”

“Oh, that? It’s not due until Friday.”

“You’re so organised.”

“No, I’m just not as busy as you.”

Casey arches an eyebrow. “And you’re more organised.”

“Get a pen and paper so you can make notes.”

Casey nods and leaves the room again. While he’s gone, I go to the start of the chapter he needs to study and read. Casey is studying sports and exercise sciences. Like pharmacology, his course has an underlying foundation of biology and physiology, which means I’m able to help him.

“Back.” Casey sits beside me, balances a notepad on his knee, and holds a pen over it.