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arms, she’d stopped entirely. Almost without her noticing, her favourite hobby had simply faded out of her life.
    Perhaps she should take it up again, see if the buzz was still the same. There were those vouchers the boys had given her – she could use that and the cheque from her parents to get some supplies. It would make a change from taking pictures of bacteria.
    She slammed her way into the office and stomped to her bench. There was a Post-it note saying, ‘I’ve set up cultures for you to do your experiment tomorrow. Hibs.’ She scrunched it up. She had lost the morning. The only way she could catch up was to work through until late.
    â€˜Afternoon,’ said Hibs.
    She turned, slowly, so that she didn’t overbalance. ‘What?’
    â€˜Good afternoon, Hibs. Thanks for getting me home and putting me to bed last night, Hibs,’ he prompted.
    â€˜Did you?’
    â€˜What, take you home? Of course I did, you ninny. You fell asleep on me.’
    Beth frowned. ‘Did I?’ She couldn’t remember anything. She hoped she hadn’t embarrassed herself. At least she had been fully dressed when she’d woken up, so she hadn’t done something truly idiotic like succumb to Hibs’s seduction voodoo.
    Hibs came over and stood next to her. The bay was narrow, so they were only inches apart. He looked so utterly like his normal self that she relaxed a little. He peered at her. ‘You look like crap.’
    â€˜Thanks.’
    â€˜Go home, Beth. You’re probably still drunk.’
    She shook her head, but then wished she hadn’t. She put her hands up to her head to stop it reverberating.
    Hibs put a hand on her shoulder. It felt like a ton of lead. ‘I’ll cover for you with Roger. Vik didn’t make it in either, so it’s not just you.’
    Beth ignored him. ‘My flatmate fancies you,’ she said, accusingly.
    Hibs grinned. ‘I know.’
    â€˜You’re not going to do anything about it, are you?’
    â€˜Do you want me to?’
    â€˜No. Definitely not. She’s my housemate. She’s new to town. Have mercy.’
    â€˜Mercy,’ said Hibs, ‘is definitely
not
what she wants.’
    â€˜You know what I mean. It would be weird. I don’t want to see you wandering around in your pants while I’m having my breakfast.’ The very idea made her feel light-headed. Clearly, her hangover was worse than she’d thought.
    Hibs laughed. ‘I don’t do that.’ He took her elbow. ‘Now go home and sleep it off.’
    She shrugged him off and stalked to her bench. She tried to pick out a pair of gloves and managed to knock a box of pipette tips on the floor. Yellow plastic tubes sprayed everywhere. She stared at the mess for a moment before kneeling on the floor and trying to gather the tips and slot them back into the holes on the box.
    â€˜You can’t use those now: they’re covered in crap,’ said Hibs. ‘Just bin them.’ He started to scoop them up. ‘And, Beth. Go. Home.’
    Beth stood up. ‘Okay, okay.’ She set off towards the door. As she paused to wash her hands, she looked over her shoulder. ‘Hibs?’
    â€˜Yes?’ He was standing by the bin, wearing his white lab coat. He had blue latex gloves on and a pair of safety goggles on his head. His hair was tucked into the collar of the lab coat to keep it from getting any chemicals on it. This was what she thought of when she thought of Hibs. Not the sex god creature that Anna had described.
    â€˜You were right. About Gordon. I need to get over it.’
    Hibs smiled. ‘I’m glad to hear it.’
    â€˜I’m going to move on with my life,’ she said. ‘Move on to new things.’
    The smile moved off his face. He nodded. ‘Good. I’ll look forward to it.’
    As she left, she couldn’t help wondering what he meant.

Chapter Four
    A couple of days later