Square Root

This is an adapted work, for those of you who might recognize it.


Liana Mir

Liana Mir reads, writes, and wrangles the muses from her mundane home in the Colorado Rockies and, occasionally, from the other side of the Barrier.

Series Listing

02. The Good Heart - Case 27

All Them Bright Stars

03. Elysia - Shel 05

Best Friends

03. Elysia - Shel 05

Since When

04. Kailin University - Shel 16

Poetry is Fire

04. Kailin University - Shel 16

Scarred

04. Kailin University - Shel 16

Square Root

Story Within a Story

A Traditional Love Poem

Square Root

Ten minutes to midnight, and there was a girl in their dorm room.

All Ruego wants is some peaceful undisturbed rest in his own dorm room at Kailin University. Is that too much to ask?

04. Kailin University - Shel 16
Alliance Science Fiction
Flash Fiction Short Story

“The square root of seventy-three,” Shelley repeated sharply with a glare.

Ruego Dominguez glanced up wearily from his pillow at the glowing red numbers of his alarm clock. Ten minutes to midnight, and there was a girl in their dorm room. Never mind the curfew, the rules, or the primal need for sleep—Shelley Huntington had moved in on Gideon’s bed with her stacks of textbooks and her fierce glares for Gideon with the stated goal of teaching the most mathematically challenged student at their entire school—who just happened to also be Ruego’s roommate—how to manually extract a square root.

Naturally, Gideon was doing rather poorly, which was not at all helped by the fact that the two were lying practically entangled on his bed and Gideon’s interest was clearly more on nuzzling Shelley’s neck or playing with her hair than doing homework.

“Stop that,” Shelley snapped.

Gideon shrugged. “I have no idea.”

Shelley growled.

He kissed her cheek, and she glared at him again.

“Can I file a complaint for sexual harassment or something?” Ruego demanded.

Shelley’s head came up with an entirely perplexed expression on her face. “Huh?”

“I am being exposed to sexual attention I do not want to see,” Ruego insisted.

Shelley and Gideon exchanged looks.

Shelley answered slowly. “I’m pretty sure I’m the one being ‘sexually harassed,’ and um…I’m pretty sure…”—she was blushing and suddenly Ruego realized this was not going to be good—”the attentions have to be unwanted to be harassment.”

His jaw dropped. All that bluster—the glares, the biting comments, the smacks upside Gideon Thompson’s smug head—were fake? “I just want to go to sleep!”

Shelley looked at Gideon. “Is he always like this?”

Gideon chuckled. “Much, much worse.”

Ruego’s mouth dropped open again.

“Right,” Shelley replied, all business. “Now the square root of seventy-three. Let’s start with the square root of seven…”

#


Alliance Science Fiction

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2 Responses to Square Root

  1. Rabia says:

    That was cute! 🙂

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