Anna was a graduate student in Dr. Moore's biology lab, a cornerstone scientist even among the older personnel. She was about a year away from defending her thesis with aspirations to move on to a faculty position of her own some day. Anna ate, drank, breathed her work. She had no doubt her work would have real impact in the world with the potential to save millions of lives.
Until joining Dr. Moore's lab, her mentors were all men. While she was interested in their work, she wanted a different dynamic in working under a woman. She found men to be overbearing, aggressive to a fault, too egoistic, surely disrupting their supposed unbiased pursuit of scientific truth. Anna felt like a woman would be more nurturing, open-minded, and engaging in propelling her career interests.
Tonight was a long night in the lab, as she had finish wrapping a lengthy experiment. She was exhausted and hadn't even eaten anything save for a cold bagel in the morning. Usually Anna was so engrossed in her work on nights like these that she would forget to eat, her stomach perhaps too used to the emptiness and seemingly giving up in sending reminders. For some reason though, she felt famished. Her mind drifted to restaurants still open at the time, but she shuddered at the thought of fast food at such a late hour. She wished she had time to meal prep but her long hours in lab made her too tired to even think of making anything. "Just another 45 minutes, and I'll be out of here."
She heard a tapping of heels on the tiled floor near the doorway. "Burning the midnight oil again, Anne?"
Anna smiled at Dr. Moore. "Yea just have to process these last samples. Shouldn't be too much longer. How about you? Surprised you're still here."
Dr. Moore brushed her hair to the side. "We have that grant application due very soon. Hopefully I can get it out in the next day or so."
"That'll be great if we get funding for the project."
"Absolutely." Dr. Moore approached the bench to see Anna's work. "Wow, Anne, this must have taken most, if not all, of your day. Did you even have time to take an eat or take a break?"
"Honestly, I haven't eaten yet but I'm fine. Once this is done, I'll be on my way."
"Let me help you then. It'll be faster."
Dr. Moore was certainly efficient. In fact she taught Anna the procedure. How could she turn her down. "Sure, if you'd like!"
They finished processing in 15 minutes. Anna was relieved Dr. Moore was there to help. They walked to the other room to remove their lab coats. Anna watched Dr. Moore remove her lab coat, gracefully slinging it onto the rack. She had always admired her coolness, a stark contrast to the gawkiness displayed by most scientists. Dr. Moore had a distinct lavender perfume, a lovely embellishment to a lab stocked with chemicals, most of which were noxious, to say the least. What use is comprehension if the eyes cannot absorb any detail? For the first time she noticed cleavage, that sumptuous indicator of voluptuous breasts lying hidden.
As Anna unbuttoned her lab coat, Dr. Moore placed her hand on Anna's. "Keep the coat on." Anna, confused, was about to stammer a question but before that was even possible, Moore moved toward Anna's body and passionately kissed her. One palm was wrapped around the neck, anchoring the face in the place while the other hand was on Anna's back. Electricity surged through Anna's body. The feeling was entirely foreign to her. She felt awkward. For the first time in as long of a time she could remember, she was not in control of her faculties. The same hands that exercised ingenuity and prowess in carrying out sophisticated experiments suddenly became voided of any agency.
She was aware of the fact she was a woman from the simple fact she saw herself naked in the mirror, had periods, etc. However, there was little context she could draw from to make her feel like a woman. As a tomboy growing up, she would always run around with the boys, catching lizards, playing football, etc. She had never worn a dress in her life and was even repulsed by it. She never cared much about her body, save for the fact it was a vehicle for her brain and limbs to carry out amazing deeds. She was not aware of anything related to sex.
