Chapter 8: Small Errors

Calvin watched his roommate impassively. He counted to thirty one in binary on his right hand, and then his left. Theresa was still talking. He decided to interrupt her after all; if he didn't he might be waiting a long time.

“Theresa, have you considered the signal that I would be sending if I was to go over to the Sunlight Spires and ask Alexandria if she would like to get dinner?”

Theresa stared at him, with something almost like pity on her face. “Yes, Cal, I've considered it.”

“Have you considered that it would send an incorrect signal, by which I mean one whose message I did not fully support?”

“I've considered that too,” Theresa said. “And I don't get it. Why don't you support it? Lex is pretty; she's smart; she's incredibly determined. What's wrong with her?”

“Why do you assume there must be something wrong with a woman if I'm not attracted to her?” Calvin said. He started counting as high as he could in binary, using both hands. The disconnect between his left and right had him dropping digits occasionally, but it was something to keep his mind occupied.

Theresa put her hand to her forehead. “Cal, dear, you're brilliant, but you don't know anything about women. Trust me, I'm doing you a favor by having you do this. What's the downside?”

That was the problem. Calvin really couldn't think of any. He certainly enjoyed Alexandria's company, if the brief car trip was any indication, and he had nothing else he needed to work on that night. It would certainly be an enjoyable evening. Maybe Alexandria wouldn't see it the same way, but he had a low confidence on that. She seemed pretty sane in the car.

“You've convinced me,” Calvin said abruptly. He stood up and went to get his jacket. Theresa looked pretty pleased at the proceedings. As he was exiting the apartment, Theresa called to him. “Calvin, don't forget that we're having a dinner party here sometime next week. Do you think you could be a dear and come up with some activities or appetizers?”

Calvin stood, hand on the door. “I'm not sure that I could come up with activities that would be of general interest. But I'll give the food some thought. I will not forget.”

Theresa smiled at him. “Have a great night, Cal. Tell me all about it when you get back? Or maybe tomorrow, you might be back late.”

“I do not anticipate being back late,” Calvin said. “And if you like, I will.”

Calvin closed the door and walked down to the garage to get his car. As he drove towards the Sunlight Spires, he thought about Theresa's requests. He was keenly aware that Theresa was probably trying to play matchmaker, for some unguessable reason. Perhaps she got some sort of pleasure from successfully setting two friends up in a relationship. That pleasure was probably easier to get elsewhere.

Or was it? Calvin decided to question his assumptions a little bit as he drove. If, hypothetically, Theresa was really doing this for her own pleasure-- and was she? He decided to question that one too.

She could either be doing it for herself, or doing it for Calvin and Alexandria. But Calvin was already perfectly happy, or close enough. A relationship, even a successful one, wouldn't really increase his happiness all that much. And Alexandria seemed happy enough; he decided that the probability of her being happier in a relationship was eclipsed by the probability of either her being slightly happier, or of her not wanting a relationship in the first place.

Could Theresa be miscalculating their desires? That was doubtful; Calvin had made his own side of things quite clear in the conversation.

It seemed that Theresa was matchmaking largely for her benefit, then. For some sort of satisfaction. He pulled that internal disagreement off of his mental stack, and popped off the next one.

As he idly started to consider that problem, he saw the Sunlight Spires looming ahead of him, and coming up fast at that. They were located a few miles outside the Archmatic University campus, and were a series of pillars of rock that jutted skyward on the otherwise flat Great Wyoming Plain. Spires was a bit of a misnomer: the highest one was only about twenty five or so feet tall. It certainly was a geological puzzle, but not one that Calvin had the expertise to solve.

It was a popular spot for the few rock climbers of campus, but there were a variety of trails around the Spires that non-climbers enjoyed hiking and picnicking on. Admittedly, the terrain was pretty similar to the campus, but the presence of the Spires made the trails more interesting than the ones by campus. On a nice day like this, there would be a small group of people hiking, picnicking, and climbing in the surrounding area.

Calvin stopped the car in the park lot, and exited it. He walked over to the nearest spire, where there were a couple men climbing.

Calvin called out to them. “Excuse me,” he said. “Have any of you seen a girl climbing on one of these spires? She is of medium height with brown hair that goes down a little past her shoulders.”

One of the guys lounging on the ground nodded. “Yeah, sure. Off by the Watchtower in the middle. Pretty cute, right?”

“I suppose,” said Calvin, and walked towards the spire which the man had pointed out. The ground was thick with pebbles and sand, and Calvin struggled to keep his footing well without letting the grit get into his shoes.

He found the correct spire soon enough. Alexandria was there, alright, in the middle of climbing. She was wearing loose brown cloth pants, and a purple athletic top. He found a wide rock, and sat down to watch.

She was about three feet of the ground already. The wall slanted towards Calvin in front of her, so she was climbing where the angle between the ground and the wall was about probably sixty or seventy degrees. Her hands were tightly gripping a rib of rock that jutted out from the normal surface. She jumped off with her legs and pulled herself up in the same move, keeping her hands where they were but stabilizing her feet higher than they previously were. Her knees were now higher than hip height, but were pushed out to her sides. She looked a bit like a child pretending to be a frog, but Calvin instead thought of a snake, coiled up to strike.

Alexandria pushed herself hard with her legs at the same time she pressed off with her arms, vaulting herself into the air. She grasped wildly for another rib of rock above her, but her hand slipped off and she fell hard onto the mattress below.

She lay there for a brief moment, panting. Then she pulled her torso upwards and hugged her knees, staring at the rock above her, evidently lost in thought. Soon enough, she put her hands into a small bag, and they came away coated with some kind of white powder. Calvin suspected it was to clean them of the oil and sweat that would make grabbing the rock difficult.

Alexandria got back onto the rock, but her angle at the beginning was low enough that she happened to hang her head upside down. She stared back at Calvin, and gave a little gasp of surprise. She fell of the rock again onto the mat.

She rolled to her feet, and strode over to Calvin, wiping the white dust off of her hands. Her expression was unreadable.

“Hi, creeper.” Alexandria sat down next to Calvin.

“Hello,” Calvin said in reply. “So what's causing you to fall? Just a lack of arm strength or is it a grip issue?”

She scowled. “It's a bit of both, probably. It's just a small error. I'll get it one of these times.” She lay back on the rock, arms behind her head. “I've been trying to get this darn route for a week.”

“How long have you been trying today?”

“An hour?” Alexandria said. They both sat in silence for a bit. “Theresa decides not to come,” Alexandria said, “and sends you instead.”

“Correct,” Calvin said.

She sat up and looked at Calvin. “Why?”

Calvin shrugged. “My working hypothesis is that she wants to set you up with me.” Alexandria started laughing, and Calvin calmly let her finish.

Alexandria stood up, and stretched. “Well, you can tell Theresa that she should stop wasting her time.” She went over to the mattress and tied up her small cloth bag, and started to gather her other possessions.

Calvin thought. There were several things that could explain Alexandria's behavior. Either she was opposed to being with him, even as a friend, and was resentful of Theresa for trying to force something that wasn't happening. Or she was fine with spending time with him, in some capacity, but was resentful of Theresa for trying to force something upon her. But how to tell one from the other?

“I see we are of one mind,” Calvin said, but continued to sit. He wasn't sure they were of one mind, not at all, but perhaps this would help him see whether they actually were or not. Alexandria looked at him thoughtfully.

“So why do this because of her? Why not just come here yourself?” She asked.

The latter possibility, then. She wasn't opposed to him in principle, just Theresa's small matchmaking. So she liked him. But to what degree? He couldn't figure this out with a couple of key questions. Not that it really mattered to him anyway.

“It costs me little, and sustains a valuable friendship,” Calvin said. Alexandria's eyes narrowed.

“Why are you here?” she asked, flatly. There was more anger than curiosity behind that question.

Calvin chose his words carefully. “I'm here to drive you back to your apartment,” he said. “Theresa figured that you might be tired after your run and your climb, and that you would appreciate it.”

“Is that really the reason you came here?”

“No,” said Calvin, “but that's my reason now. Would you like a ride?”

Alexandria folded her arms and stared at him. “I can't decide how insulted to be by all this. A little or a lot? What do you think?”

Calvin had no idea what she was thinking anymore. His model had completely fallen apart. “A little,” he said, hesitantly. Alexandria looked at him.

“Fine,” Alexandria said, “Drive me back.” She finished putting everything in her backpack, and pulled it to her shoulder. She walked past Calvin without looking at him. He followed her at a slight distance.

They got in the car and started to drive back towards campus. In a similar fashion to the night before, Alexandria waited a bit, and then was the first to talk.

“You know, I don't get you,” she said. “What do you want?”

“Maybe I just want everyone to be happy,” Calvin said. “Doing this makes Theresa happy. If you had wanted to, we would have gone out to dinner, and that would have made you happy. Everyone wins.”

“You wanted to go out to dinner?” Alexandria asked quietly. She quickly followed up with another question before Calvin could respond. “Well what would have made you happy?”

“Anything. Making me happy isn't difficult, Lex,” Calvin said.

“Well if you wanted to get dinner, why did you just ask me that? You didn't say anything about it at the Spires.”

“My prediction was that asking you whether you wanted to get dinner would make you unhappy,” Calvin said. They had arrived at her apartment.

Alexandria looked at him. “I feel like I should tell you that your predictions are crap,” she said. “And that maybe you should figure that out next time.” She got out of the car, but before she closed it Calvin heard her sigh heavily. She turned around, and crouched down to talk to him at his level. “Look,” she said, “I'm sorry I'm being rude. I'm just a little frustrated at the moment. I'm sure you can understand why. If you want to get dinner sometime, I'm fine with that. Just not tonight, ok?”

“I understand,” Calvin said. He didn't really, but he had a whole car ride, the rest of the evening, and probably Theresa's input to figure it out.

“Thanks,” Alexandria said. She smiled at him suddenly, and then turned around and headed for her door.

When she had gotten inside, Calvin turned the car around, and headed back towards his apartment. 

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