Arden huffs out a sigh, pulling his face up from where he plopped it onto the table. “Nominal, ordinal,” I nod encouragingly. “Interval and ratio.”
“Excellent!” I cheer. Arden looks at me like I’ve just promised him a blow job. “And which one is numerical data with equal intervals and a true zero point?”
He’s silent for a moment, his eyes narrowed in thought. “Interval.”
I scrunch my nose in disagreement.
“Fuck!” he shouts, understanding my expression to mean he got the answer wrong. “I’m never going to remember this shit.”
“It’s a lot of information, Ard. You can’t beat yourself up too much. Here,” I say, grabbing a notebook and pen. “Let’s make a mnemonic device.”
On the page, I write each measurement and what they mean. Arden reads over my shoulder as I write. “Nominal means no order, ordinal means natural order, interval means equal spacing with no true zero, and ratio means it has a true zero.”
When I finish writing, I look up at him expectantly. Pushing the notebook toward him, I command, pointing the pen at the notes. “Make a rhyme.”
“A rhyme?”
“Yes, a rhyme with this information and then you’ll remember the names and all the pieces.” I nod encouragingly, handing him the pen. Arden sighs but takes the writing implement.
“Ordinal is natural but nominal is none. Interval is equal but zero is done,” he writes. “Ratio is equal and zero, that is true. That’s the four measurements and now I’m through.” Arden looks at me.
“Look at you! A regular Lin Manuel Miranda.”
“Who?”
I shake my head. “This is great,” I cheer, way too excitedly. “See, it’s easy! Okay, now what else?” I pull the textbook toward me, but Arden puts his strong hand down on top of it.
“Now, we take a break.” Getting up from the table, Arden moves to the kitchen to grab a couple beers from the fridge.
Closing the book, I place it neatly on top of the other textbooks on the table and gather them into my arms, taking a sip of the beer Arden handed me. “I think we’re making good progress here.”
“It’s only our first study session. There’s a long way to go,” he huffs, landing roughly on the couch and plopping his feet on the coffee table. Placing the books on the bookshelf, I land next to him, grabbing the remote before he gets a chance. “Reality TV it is,” I say, sticking out my tongue.
“So, got anything going on this week? Any fake dating I need to be a part of?” Arden says casually from the other side of the couch. As if he’s asking the weather or what kind of jacket to wear with his outfit.
“Well, I’ve basically just got classes all week, but there is a luncheon that I was invited to with my cohort. Oh, and there’s a party on Friday.”
“A party? Like the one we just went to?”
“Oh no, that was a school-sponsored event. This apparently is being hosted by the second years. More booze, less mingling with professors and what not.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah.”
We sit in silence for a moment, the only sound between us is the intro toBelow Deck Mediterranean.
“Well, I’ll prepare for that then,” Arden says finally.
“Prepare?”
“Mentally.”
“Oh.”
A buzzing pulls both of our attention to Arden’s phone on the coffee table. Gripping it, he gets up from the couch and walks unceremoniously into his bedroom, closing the door behind him.Guess I’m on my own for dinner then.
I’m not a morning person, but I couldn’t resist jumping out of bed for my eight o’clock physiology lecture. This week, we are starting our anatomy labs, which means hours in a lab dressed head to toe in protective gear. Typically I don’t find goggles, gloves, and booties to cover our shoes especially fashionable but for this, I can make an exception.