“You shouldgo outand celebrate, Matty. With some friends.”
Here we go again.Some form of this conversation happened every few months.
“What about those guys you play board games with?”
“Igo outto their dorm lounge once a week.”
“Do you guys ever talk about anything not related to the games?”
Matty leaned back on his bed and rolled his eyes at the ceiling.
“I saw that,” Aditi said, with a cocked eyebrow. “Skype sees all.”
It was one of the few times when technology was not on Matty’s side.
“Matty, you need to get out there.” Aditi may have been two years younger than him and still in high school, but she had an air of wisdom to her that Matty could never surpass. “College is more than classes.”
“I know. I’m hoping to get into this research lab—”
“And it’s more than research labs.”
“The reference desk librarian is a really nice lady.” Even Matty hated how that sounded.
Aditi rubbed her forehead. “Matty, your first year of college is almost over. You haven’t mentioned any friends.”
Matty really wanted to roll his eyes again. Stupid Skype seeing everything. He bounced a ball covered in periodic table elements against his wall.
“We’ve already had this conversation.”
“No, we haven’t. I ask about friends, you give a lame answer, and I keep my mouth shut. But no longer. Matty, I can’t be your only friend at college. Not when I don’t even go to your college.”
“You’re not!” He gave the accusation actual thought and realized it might not be totally false. “Engineering is a tough major. You’re studying or researching at any time.”
“What about the other kids in your program? Are you friends with any of them?”
“It’s a competitive program.”
“And high school was competitive. Even Boy Scouts was competitive. Not everything has to be a competition, Matanga.” She was pulling out his full Indian name. She was serious. “You’re allowed to let people in without risking career failure.”
Matty let his elements ball bounce onto his bed. Au, the symbol for gold, stared at him.Au! Give me back my gold!He laughed at his joke and wondered if there was anyone out there who would also find it funny.
“So I’m not a social person,” he said. “A lot of successful people are loners by nature. That’s how they become so successful.”
“And they have nobody to celebrate their success with.”
“Just the Nobel Prize committee.” Matty scoffed. “I don’t see why it’s so important that I have a ton of friends and party like every other undergrad.”
“Because…” Aditi thought that would be enough. Matty crossed his arms, excited to have the upper hand. “Because it just is!”
“You’re using faulty logic. If you were a computer program, this would be the part where your algorithm malfunctions and you go haywire.”
“Ugghhhh!” She slammed back in her chair and sighed. “I’m trying to help you!”
Matty cracked her a smile. He was lucky to have her, and he knew it. “How’s Mom doing?”
“Better. She’s making good progress on her speech with her new therapist, but she still wishes she could make herself a cup of coffee.” Their mom suffered a stroke last year, and recovery has been a process. Matty offered to defer going to Browerton for a year, but his dad wouldn’t let him make that sacrifice. There wasn’t much any of them could do besides assist her around the house, and they hired a homecare worker for that. Matty thought about her every day and wanted to make her proud – which he would do by making Dean’s List, not tons of friends.
“I’ll tell her you got an A. I won’t mention the minus part. And Matty,” she said. “Anyone would be lucky to be friends with you.”
