Arnold went to work and had the lab set up quickly. Amy, Cissily and the other lab workers came in and weren't surprised that all of their set up work was done for them. What did surprise them was that Cissily didn't glare at Arnold. She hadn't told anyone what they had talked about... or did... during lunch the day before. She also wore a tight pair of jeans and a top that had frills on the right side and was plain on the other.

“Good morning, everyone.” Professor Hamil Crenslav said as he came into the room. “Arnold, great work as always.” He said and turned to look at the door. It opened and a bunch of students came in, then class began. It was fairly routine and not a lot of roaming or supervision was needed from Amy or Arnold. The next two classes passed just as quickly and then it was lunchtime. The workers cleaned up the lab quickly and Cissily walked over to Arnold.

“I know I've always just told you to come and eat lunch with us.” Cissily said. “This time I want to ask. Do you want to eat with us?” She asked, then quickly added a qualifier. “As friends.”

Arnold nodded, to the surprise of the other lab workers and Amy.

Hamil just smiled at the exchange. “Arnold, you're doing inventory and stock maintenance this afternoon.” He said. “If you can finish with the lab, then you can go down to the storage and do the inventory there as well.”

“Yes, sir.” Arnold said a little excitedly and a smile appeared on his face.

“I'm glad it's you and not me.” Amy said with a laugh. “I did my penance in the basement last year.”

Hamil laughed, too. “It's a big job. I'm tempted to ask one of the others to assist you, since Amy seems to be adamantly against it this year.”

“I'll do it.” Cissily said, to nearly everyone's surprise. “Arnold and I had an argument and it's only fair that I make it up to him.”

Hamil gave her a huge smile. “I'm glad the two of you worked out your problems.” He said and wrote out a note for her. “Please do your best for him this afternoon.”

Cissily took the note and saw that it gave her a free pass from classes that afternoon. “I will, sir. Thank you.”

Hamil raised his eyebrows at her.

“I still think you're an arrogant little prick.” Cissily said with a grin and he laughed.

“That's what I was expecting.” Hamil said and waved to everyone and left the room.

“What the hell, Cissily?” Amy asked when the door shut.

“You heard me.” Cissily said and took Arnold's hand. “I'm going to have to eat lunch quickly and then bring this note to my classes. I can come back to the lab to meet you after that.”

“Okay.” Arnold said and Cissily led him out of the lab. Amy and the other lab workers followed right behind them. They were still surprised at the change in her attitude. They all made their way to the cafeteria and grabbed their meals from the woman behind the counter.

“Arnold, I missed you at lunch yesterday.” Mabel said and handed him the entree he asked for. “What I made for you is not going to be as fresh today; but, it still should be tasty.”

Mabel walked over to the large walk-in freezer they had and took out a fancy dessert. It was a slice of vanilla sponge cake with cream, berries, and caramel swirls. There was also a half scoop of ice cream on the side, with chocolate swirls, and a cherry on top.

“By the time you eat your main meal, it should be defrosted enough to enjoy it.” Mabel said as she came around the counter to put it on his tray. “Happy Birthday, Arnold.”

Arnold put his tray down on the counter's ledge. “Thank you.” He said and leaned in close to give her a quick kiss on the lips.

Nearly everyone in the cafeteria let out some kind of sound at the sight. Some were from disbelief, some were from shock, and a couple of them were even sounds of horror.

He just kissed the lunch lady! A lot of them thought. Some were too surprised to even think past what they saw, which included the other lab workers.

“Jesus Christ, you really are the kissing bandit.” Cissily said and smacked his arm. “Grab your tray and let's go.”

“Okay.” Arnold said and they moved down the line.

“Hey, can I get some food here?” A guy asked the stunned woman.

“Huh?” Mabel tore her eyes away from the handsome young man that had just kissed her in front of a room full of college students. “What?”

“Food.” The guy said and pointed to the unoccupied counter.

“Oh! Yes, right... right away.” Mabel said and quickly walked around the counter and got back to work.

Angela's face was bright red as Arnold approached the cash register. She was so surprised at what she saw that she had forgotten to get him his drink, until he reached by her and picked up a cup and filled it with root beer soda himself. Her hands jerked as if to take the cup from him, then she sighed. She had messed up her one chance to keep things normal between them.

Arnold paid her and she gave him his change back, then he followed Cissily and Amy over to the table that Maxine and a couple of the other girls sat at. The girl at the end of the table just stared at him with her mouth slightly open.

“Hey, are you trying to catch flies or something?” The black girl with dreadlocks asked her, and she didn't respond. Even when the black girl forced her mouth closed, the girl at the end of the table kept staring at Arnold and didn't say anything.

“I think someone is stunned that Arnold is friends with Cissily again so quickly.” Maxine said.

“It's hit her hard, that's for sure.” The black girl with the dreadlocks said with laugh.

“I meant me.” Maxine said and looked at Arnold. “What happened yesterday at lunch?”

“I'll answer that.” Cissily said before Arnold decided to tell them exactly what happened. “I didn't know all the facts and I took what she said personally. So, I apologized for what I said to his mother.”

“All what facts?” Amy asked and took a drink of soda.

“Arnold doesn't have a girlfriend anymore.” Cissily said and Maxine caught her breath, Amy choked on her soda, the black girl cursed, the others had surprised looks, and the word spread throughout the cafeteria almost instantly. The girl at the end of the table let a smile appear on her face at everyone's reactions.

“She was protecting him.” Maxine said. “From us.”

Cissily nodded. “Apparently, she thought we already knew he was single and wanted to stop us from taking advantage of him.”

“Which is why we're allowed to be friends with him and not girlfriends.” The black girl with dreadlocks said, then laughed. “Well, she's not wrong.”

“Hey! I wasn't going to try to jump on him...” Maxine said with a smile. “...right away.”

That made everyone laugh.

“I think we should respect his mother's wishes.” Cissily said and the girls around the table looked at her with wide eyes. “No flirting, no making passes, and definitely no asking for sex.”

A collective groan came from the others.

“Not even a little?” The black girl with the dreadlocks asked and held her fingers up an inch apart. “Like, just sticking the tip in?”

“HA! Like you could stop at just the tip!” Maxine said. “You'd gobble him right up!”

The black girl with the dreadlocks gave Arnold a sexy smile. “I really would.”

“No flirting.” Cissily said.

“I just smiled at him, for fuck's sake.” The black girl responded with a roll of her eyes.

“You said you'd gobble him up and then gave him that 'come here' look.” Amy said. “I agree with Cissily. That was flirting.”

“Fine, fine.” The black girl with dreadlocks chuckled. “I'm sorry, Arnold. I didn't think it was flirting and I was apparently outvoted.”

“If you had left off the sexy smile, they wouldn't complain.” The girl on the end said and then covered her mouth.

“Uh oh! She expressed an opinion!” Maxine pointed to her and all the girls around them laughed.

“Dammit.” The girl said and everyone kept laughing.

They ate their main meals and then every girl at the table stared at Arnold as he ate his special dessert. Just like Mabel had said, it had achieved the proper consistency and he ate it under intense scrutiny. He successfully ignored that and finished the dessert off without offering it to anyone.

“I need to go.” Cissily said and stood up. “Arnold, I'll meet you in the lab soon.”

“Okay.” Arnold said and stood up with his tray. Cissily took her tray as well and they both delivered it back to the counter, then they split up and left the cafeteria. They had both missed the fact that Mabel had a red face and hadn't been able to say thank you to either of them.

Arnold went to the lab to set everything up and Cissily went to the three teachers she had that afternoon to deliver the note the professor had given her. She didn't run back to the lab, even though she wanted to get there as quickly as possible.

Cissily entered the lab and saw Arnold was already through three of the cabinets. “I'm glad I didn't tell you not to start without me.” She said with a smile and walked over to him. “What can I do for you?”

Arnold handed her the clipboard and the pencil. “I'll tell you the conditions and other information and you mark it on the sheets in the right spots.”

“Got it.” Cissily said. “This will free up your hands and you can check things faster.”

Arnold nodded and they went through the entire lab in less than half the time it took Arnold to do it by himself. They went into the side room with Amy's and the professor's separate equipment, then they went back to the lab and used the laptop to change the data on the inventory spreadsheet to reflect the new usage numbers and update the condition of the equipment already recorded. With Cissily reading it back to him, Arnold updated the inventory in half the time it took him the last time.

“Jesus, that went really fast.” Cissily admitted. “I've done inventory with Amy and it takes us nearly all day!”

Arnold gave her a look and she couldn't help but laugh.

“All right, I admit that we goofed off a lot.” Cissily said. “I don't remember seeing an inventory list for the storage room, though.”

“That's because there isn't one.” Arnold said.

“What?” Cissily looked at him with surprise on her face. “How the fuck did that happen?”

Arnold shrugged. “I think they just bring in the next batch of things for the students and that's it.”

“But... there could be...”

“Anything could be down there.” Arnold said with a smile.

“You're actually looking forward to this.” Cissily said and he nodded. “Why?”

“I want to see as many specimens as possible.” Arnold said and pulled the pile of sheets for the lab inventory off of the clipboard and put them in the professor's desk with the laptop. “Let's go.”

Cissily followed him down the stairs to the basement. “Arnold, those sheets are blank. How are we going to fill them out with a proper inventory?”

“The same way I did it with the lab inventory the first time.” Arnold said and opened the door for her.

Cissily stepped inside the cool room and almost immediately her nipples popped out. “Dammit, every time I come in here the girls make themselves known.”

“The girls?” Arnold asked and turned on the lights.

“My tits.” Cissily said and used her fingertips to poke her nipples. “The traitorous little bastards called nipples always come out to see what's going on when it's cold.”

“That's because there are muscle cells around the hair follicles that contract to reduce the skin's surface area when it's cold. That tightness pushes out the nipple and makes them hard.” Arnold said.

Cissily opened her mouth slightly and stared at him. “Are... are you serious? That's why nipples get hard?”

“When it's cold.” Arnold said and reached over to caress one of her breasts. “Direct and indirect stimulation also produce similar results.” He said and caressed the other. “Now they're bigger and warmer because of the increased blood flow.”

Cissily had clamped her mouth shut at Arnold's casual groping. “You just... you made my pussy really wet doing that.” She admitted, because she really enjoyed it when a guy knew what he was doing when touching her breasts.

“We have to do inventory.” Arnold said.

“I know. I'm only telling you that I liked how you grabbed me just now. I'm just being honest.” Cissily said. “Let's get to work.”

Arnold nodded and they started recording different categories, divided by the shelves that Arnold decided to number, and started at the door and went around the room. When they reached the door again three hours later, Cissily wasn't as cold as she had been when she first came in, from all the moving and walking around.

Cissily was also shocked at the huge stack of sheets they had filled out. “Holy fuck, Arnold! How can we have this much stuff down here?” She asked and flipped through it.

“The shelves are deep and can hold a lot of specimens.” Arnold responded and she nodded.

“Hey, we even have a pile of rats as specimens!”

“Those are mine.” Arnold said and tapped the sheet. “Marked as personal specimens, because I don't have anything to work on here myself.”

Cissily gasped. “You won't get any for yourself until the new order goes in next month!”

Arnold nodded. “The rats are ready for dissection now. I just haven't had time to work on them.”

“I'm not going to ask where you got them.” Cissily said. “Hell, I don't think Fareena or the professor will ask, either.” She laughed. “They'll probably think they are just rats we found down here!”

Arnold gave her a big smile and she let her laughter die at seeing him look so angelic.

“Well, we finished this ridiculous amount of paperwork a hell of a lot faster than I thought we would.” Cissily said. “I think that's why the professor gave me the afternoon off from normal classes, just so we could spend it all in here together.” She looked at the clock on the wall to try and distract herself from his handsomeness. “We've still got an hour before classes end, too.”

Arnold put his arms around her from behind and grabbed her breasts.

Cissily gasped at the touch. “Arnold... what...”

“You helped me catalogue all these specimens.” Arnold said and let her breasts go, then turned her around and lifted her top and massaged her breasts. “You handled my rats without saying anything.”

“They're... just rats.” Cissily moaned and her hands reached down and opened up his dress pants. They dropped to the floor and she looked down at him. “Being around all these specimens really does it for you.”

Arnold nodded and she nodded back.

“Well, let's see what else I can do to get you off.” Cissily said and knelt in front of him as she pulled his underwear down, then she admired him and his hardness. “Please tell me you have a condom.”

Arnold pointed at his pants and Ciccily reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of them.

“Jesus fucking Christ, Arnold.” Cissily laughed and beamed a smile at him. “I fucking love you!”