CHAPTER 1
VIVIENNE
If I were to collapse, lose all consciousness, and bang my head against this wooden table, what’s the worst that could possibly happen?
Concussion. Fractured skull. Internal bleeding.
Not pleasant outcomes, by any means, but I’d take just about anything if it meant I could stop working.
School is hard. Life is hard. Organic chemistry at the doctoral level is even harder. Mix those three, and you’ve got the perfect conditions for a raging headache.
Add in a large pinch of failed experiments, a catalytic amount of hopelessness, and a deadline by which you’d like to start writing your thesis, and you’re successfully inducing a mental breakdown about every other day.
Every other,otherday, if you’re fortunate.
Regrettably, luck hasn’t been on my side, which is how I find myself entering the fifth year of my PhD with one out of three projects completed. And if things don’t pick upsoon, I’llbe stuck as a broke university student until I’m old. And gray. And in need of a hip replace—
“Vivienne!” A loud clap pierces the air, startling me out of my daze.
I jolt upright at the sound, my vision swimming around the book-filled shelves of Brews&Bookmarks until it settles on a determined-looking Evelyn swiping my mess aside. Crumpled pieces of paper, multicolored pens, and one too many empty coffee cups pile up to my right as she takes a seat in the booth across from me.
“Guess how long Sutton and I have been staring at you from across the coffee shop?” Evelyn rests her chin in her palms, aiming one perfectly arched brow at me.
“Too damn long, I’ll tell you that,” Sutton answers on behalf of my single overworked brain cell.
Her hazel eyes gloss over my appearance once before two cups of coffee are set before me.
“One of them was mine, but you look like you need it more than I do.”
I roll my eyes playfully at the comment, lips tugging upward as Sutton slides in next to Evelyn.
“Caffeine and most likely overbeating heart aside, we need to discuss our plans for the weekend. It’s the firstofficialweek of school,” Evelyn says, like we haven’t been busting our asses all summer, “and that calls for a celebration.”
Sutton’s freckled face lights up at the idea. “I wholeheartedly agree. And you know what I think would be super fun?” She pauses for effect. “Axe throwing.”
Evelyn stills, side-eyeing our oftentimes too unhinged friend. “Sounds like a one-way trip to the ER.”
“What’s the point of knowing a doctor in training if we can’t put her to use?”
That one earns Sutton a nudge to the arm, seemingly snapping her back to the original topic of this conversation. “So…Evelyn and I were thinking,” she starts.
“And before you shut down the idea,” the medical student tacks on.
“You should hear us out,” Sutton continues.
“I’m scared.” The words spill out of me with a nervous laugh.
“You should be.” Sutton’s eyes widen in agreement.
Evelyn brushes off the warning with a knowing smile and a raise of her shoulder.
I don’t like where this is going.
“Girls’ night out!” she announces excitedly.
My eyes snap over to Evelyn’s, and while I glare in disapproval, hers meet mine with a defiant gaze.
“Absolutely not.”
