Page 14

Jake

E liana missing two meals really bothered me.

Her stomach continuing to grumble, her empty fridge, and the way she looked more tired than usual this morning worried me just enough to storm out of her apartment and make a beeline to the Beanery.

I don’t know much about being friends with girls, but I do know I’d never let one of my boys go hungry.

I still wasn’t sure what she wanted, or if she had any dietary restrictions, which meant I ordered three breakfast sandwiches and hoped one of them would be edible.

While I’m waiting in line, I send a quick text to, Sienna, my younger sister, who’s an undergrad student at MIT.

Jake

Is it normal for girls to starve themselves?

The next thing I know she’s calling me. “Hello?”

“Sorry, currently getting ready and thought it’d be easier to talk on the phone. Why are you suddenly invested in the eating habits of women?”

“I have a new friend; she does psych research like you. She just told me that last time she ate a meal was lunch yesterday. Isn’t that crazy? Her stomach was grumbling the whole time we were together too.” Unsure why Eliana’s eating habits had become a problem I had to solve but here we were.

Sienna clicks her tongue, “Well if she is an academic there’s a super strong possibility she’s struggling a lot financially. Even really established academics tend not to make a ton of money. You have to remember mom inherited a lot of money from grandma and grandpa.”

Shit. Yet another thing I wasn’t aware about when in comes to psych lifestyle.

“You’re right. I’m being a dick. Hopefully the breakfast sandwiches I’m about to bring her will make up for it.”

“It would certainly cheer up my day— wait. My brain is finally putting this together….since when do care about what your random hookups do?”

“First of all we have not hooked up. We’re jus t friends.”

She snorts, “You just friends with a girl? As if.”

“Why is that so hard to believe?

“Jake. Be for real for a minute.”

“I am!” I exclaim.

She refuses to listen, “So who’s the girl that’s finally gotten my brother to settle down.”

This was definitely my worst nightmare. The last time my sisters and mom thought I was seeing someone, they had uncovered her Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn in a matter of minutes.

Not that what was going on between Eliana and I was even remotely romantic.

Unfortunately, the only thing worse than Sienna thinking I was seeing someone was her finding out how much I was struggling.

“Again we are just friends.”

“Friends who hang out at 6 a.m.?”

“I ran into her on my way to practice.” I lie. Easier than coming up for an excuse as to why I was in Eliana’s apartment before the sun was fully out.

“No you didn’t. You have practices Mondays and Wednesdays. Thursdays are your rot-in-bed day in preparation for weekend games. You sent your schedule to me so I can keep track of when you’re busy, remember?”

Dammit. For once I wished she wasn’t so damn supportive.

“So tell me all about her, don’t leave out any juicy details. Well, actually maybe not all the juicy details. There are some things I should never know as your sister.”

I snag the food from the counter and start walking back to the apartment. “I’m hanging up now.”

“Hang up on me and I’ll text Mom and Charlotte right now. The Keeley woman will be on your ass and have your secret lover’s astrological birth chart in two hours. Tops.”

“I’m going to change my name and move to a different country when I graduate. You’ll never hear from me again.” I groan.

“Just give me one small detail, and I’ll leave you alone forever.” A promise even she knew she couldn’t keep. “Or at least I’ll try minding my business until you decide to tell me more.”

I sigh deeply. “Her name is Eliana, and we’re friends. That’s it. That’s all. Now I have to go. Goodbye.” I hear a squeal before I hang up the phone.

I knock on Eliana’s apartment door and when it opens, I find her roommate holding it open.

She shoots me an unimpressed and downright irritated look before moving out of the way.

Okay so roommate is clearly not a fan. When I reenter the living room, I see Eliana seated at the table.

Well, slumped over the table. Fast asleep.

She looks fully at peace, and I get the urge to leave the food and let her get some sleep. Ultimately she makes the decision for me as her eyes flutter open to meet mine.

“Hey. Sorry, I told myself I would put my head down for just a second and then…” She shrugs, then winces, rubbing her neck .

I hand her the bag of breakfast sandwiches and settle back into my seat as she inspects each one and then proceeds to inhale all of them. I guess that’s a no to the food allergies.

After 20 minutes of honest concentration, I get stuck. I give Eliana a sheepish look, and she smiles, spinning my textbook around so she can read the question.

“Alright, so t-tests are basically statistics we can run to test whether there are differences between groups. More specifically, we compare the mean, or average, of each group to each other to see if there’s a difference,” Eliana starts.

My eyebrows knit together as I read over the section she’s underlining with her finger.. “So there are dependent and independent t-tests. How do you know which one to use?”

I pause for her to roll her eyes or scoff at how basic my question is. Instead, she gives me a soft smile and starts drawing on the small white board next to her.

“That’s a great question! So independent t-tests are for when you’re comparing two separate groups that have nothing to do with each other.

For example if you wanted to see if there was a statistically significant difference in shooting accuracy between forwards and defensemen.

Does that make sense?” She looks up at me for confirmation.

I quirk an eyebrow and feel myself smile. She reminds me of Ollie, using the one thing he knows I understand to communicate with me. “Yeah it does. Or if you wanted to compare how many goals were scored between two teams?” I offer.

“Yes exactly!” Eliana’s eyes light up as she nods enthusiastically .

“So what about dependent t-tests?” I ask.

“Dependent t-tests are used when you only have one group and you’re trying to compare them before and after a certain outcome. So if you test how fast you can skate before and after a training program?—”

“Or if you want to test whether getting a new coach impacts how many games a team wins?”

“Yup. That’s another great example.”

Damn, all it took was relating things back to hockey and suddenly things became a lot less confusing. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.. “You just might make a statistician out of me.” I let out a self-deprecating snort.

“Hey, you never know. Why don’t you try figuring out what tests to run using some examples from class?”

I worry my lip over as Eliana reviews my answers on the sheet she gave me on Tuesday.

I find myself waiting for her to shake her head or tell me I’m ”close, but not quite” but instead, she looks up at me and smiles.

“You got four out of five right! And the last one was a bit of a trick question. You technically need to do an ANOVA, which Dr. Grant only started to cover toward the end of last class. This is great progress, Jake.”

Holy shit. “Really?”

“Really.” She nods. I may be overanalyzing, but I swear she looks proud of me. Then she lets out a huge yawn. Damn, I even brought her a large coffee today. Girl metabolizes caffeine like nobody I’ve ever seen.

“Have you been sleeping?” I wince as soon as the words come out of my mouth. She’s clearly over me digging into her personal life this morning.

All I get is a small shrug. “This semester’s really busy for me. Extra class load, nannying and working in a research lab, and suddenly almost all of my time to sleep, eat, or breathe is gone. ”

“That sounds exhausting.” There were moments where the hockey season felt equally as packed, but at least we got a break during the off-season. Something told me it had been a long, long time since Eliana had gotten a real break from anything.

“That’s life. You get a bunch of things thrown at you at once and do your best to juggle it all.”

“I’m not sure if life is always meant to be exhausting. I think there should also be moments where it’s fun and relaxing.”

“Okay, fun police. You did your good dead for the day. And you nailed your homework. Time to go so I can finish my table nap.”

I want to press more, but she starts cleaning up the dining room table, stacking all her textbooks, and effectively signaling this was the end of our conversation.