Okay, well I've got a couple of one-shot requests, but as I received them I had been in the process of creating this story. And it totally consumed me for the past couple of weeks, because I thought it was a pretty cool thing I came up with. If you have ever read the UGLIES series by Scott Westerfeld, then you will have a very good idea of what I talk about here. And if you haven't read it, go read them! They're awesome! Anyways, that brings me to my disclaimer.
Disclaimer: I own all of my OC's, which Is Brittany, Alex, and anyone else who I make pop up. I don't own the others, aye?
The Year is 3000. (Just so you know.)
And I feel that people of the future would have different values and opinions from now, of course, so the whole ending part would totally not be weird. (Just wanted you to know, again!)
I stared down at my handheld, concentrating on what I wanted to wear to the lounge this morning. Exactly what I used to do everyday for school, until I turned 16. That's when school ends for good, and we are officially off on our own in the world, doing our own thing. After graduating, learning basic math and science, we all get apartments in 20 story buildings, with casinos, malls and pools on the lower levels.
Thinking back to my old days of school, I remember reading about people of the twenty first century. They were so clueless when it came to technology! Now, everyone has handhelds and eye-screens, where you can communicate with everyone in the vicinity with a few twitches of the finger, and the handhelds could give you anything you needed. So, that brings me to now as I choose my outfit.
I knew I wanted a spaghetti strap 'mosiac' tank top, with bright, vibrant colours. I also wanted to wear light blue denim shorts, since it's really hot here in Nassau. I also wanted gold earrings and white shoes. I shut my eyes and thought hard, picturing myself wearing it, and pressed a small blue button on the handheld.
Slowly, the outfit began to materialize on my body, covering the underwear I had been standing in a moment ago. Smiling at myself in my wall-sized mirror, I flexed my ring finger, turning on my eyescreen so I could check my messages. A few messages from my parents popped up, but I waved them off to look at later.
2 messages from Xavier, 1 from Junisse, and none from Alex. I gritted my teeth. For the past week I had been shamelessly flirting with him, in hopes of a date. Alex was so cute, caring and kind. I've had my eye on him for weeks! And I'd been dying to get his attention. Instead I had probably made a fool of myself.
I flexed my ring finger and my eye screen shut off. Stretching, I stared out my wall sized window, gazing at the little ant sized people basking in the water and sitting under umbrellas. Today would be my last day of trying for Alex. After that, it's not worth it. Besides, there are other fish in the sea. I could always find someone more adventurous, a dare-devil, maybe. Alex was more cautious, which could sometimes drive me crazy. I wanted someone who wasn't afraid to get their hands dirty, someone who didn't carry around sanitizing spray. But Alex's cute face and respectfulness was something I admired, and was willing to try for.
Walking over to my kitchen, I poured myself some Rocket Spritz, a drink I had been craving since I woke up. I sat down on the silver hover-stool and let the spritz run down my throat. Feeling more refreshed and energized, I made my way to my apartment door, let the laser scan my eyescreen code, and then headed down the corridor.
Stepping into a free hover lift, I pressed the lounge level. People hundreds of years ago had dreamt of hover lifts. They would draw them in cartoons, as a tube with a platform that moved up and down with a whoosh sound.. I believe the cartoon was called 'Jetsons' or some sort of crazy thing. The school had shown us a video once as we learned about the evolution of technology, and the creators of hover lifts had gotten them pretty close. Our hover lifts looked like those in the cartoon, except way more realistic. They moved quite quickly, and you would have to hightail out of it before someone else called it up, or else it would take you back up with it, and the person above or below waiting would have a meltdown. Happened to me, once. True story. In my apartment, the lounge is on the bottom floor, so you could walk right out to the beach directly through the doors. Malls, amusement rides and pools were all underground levels. The lift dinged and I stepped out before some above or below called it.
I marched up to the bar, and sat atop one of the hover-chairs. Practically everything had been built on metal grids, making it possible for almost anything to levitate or hover.
"Martini, please." I asked the bartender.
As he got to work on my drink, I spun my chair around and scoped out the scene. The lounge was somewhat empty today, since it was quite warm out and the water was perfect. Everyone else who was inside was either playing cards or drinking alcohol. Drinking is one of my most favorite things to do.
Practically everyone drank.. Those who didn't were weird. Most of us liked nursing a drink or four, maybe more. Operations were done as soon as we are 16 years old, implanting eye screens and drink-safe patches to our liver, making it possible to drink with no consequences, including hangovers. The city council had decided it was better if we could drink and not be drunk, and drink and not damage our body, so no more deaths would be caused by alcohol as it had in earlier times.
Smiling, I turned around to grab my martini from the bartender, nodding to him in thanks as I got up and headed over to the exit near the beach, where there were bamboo polls holding up old fashioned hammocks. I peeked into some as I passed and noticed couples resting together. Thank god this wasn't a pleasure park...Pleasure parks had been created for couples to go and be together. Now this decision of the city council was a weird one, but I suppose it had stopped all the crazy PDA couples from going all the way in a roller coaster, and for that I was thankful. That would have been a terrible ride. Pardon the pun. I spotted Alex's hair poking up over the top of a red and white striped hammock, and made my way over.
"Hey stranger!" I called casually as he pried one eye open.
"Brittany..." he said drowsily as a toothy grin lazily emerged on his face.
"Mind if I lay?" I asked, pointing to his hammock.
"No, sure go' head!" he smirked as I set down my martini and climbed up onto the hammock with him. I layed my head next to his and I folded my hands over my stomach. He leaned on his side and stared down at me, as I looked up at him.
"So I was wondering if you would like to head down to the AP level for a cotton candy later." I said as I looked into his brown eyes. He smiled at me and started to stroke my folded hands.
"I'd love to!" he said, focusing on my hand as he drew little circles and swirls.
"Mmm... Good, it's gonna be fun." I said, as I stared at his soft, pink lips.
"Yes." he agreed. I could see his eyes slowly drooping, and I giggled...
"Hey, it's not funny, I couldn't sleep last night!" he teased. I couldn't help but smile. I think he liked me!
"Same..." I lied. I had a perfect sleep, but if he did like me, maybe he will take the hint.
"Hmmm... I think I can solve our problem." he said, gazing into my green eyes. "Lets have a nap." he said, pulling me closer to him. I grinned.
"Okay!" I said happily, as I layed next to him, closing my eyes and relishing my accomplishment. He had asked me to sleep with him! No, not like that...jeez, sometimes I don't realize what I say sounds really dirty. He draped his arm over my waist and we swung back and forth in the breeze. Our breathing both slowed and I relaxed my muscles. Sighing happily, I felt myself drifting into the dream world. Huh. I guess I was tired, I thought, as my eyelids suddenly felt like tons, and closed over my sparkling eyes.
Well, what did you think? I want honest feedback. Really, I just couldn't get this out of my head, I just had to put it up. So, just to clarify, Handhelds can give you anything you want by thinking about it. For example, Brittany thought "clothes" and bam, her clothes appeared. Useful, eh? I made that one up myself. Eyescreens are like mini computers in your eye, which people can see glowing from the outside if they are really close, but only you can see on the inside. You'd see calenders, notepads, messages, pictures, etc. You can control it with a few twitches and flexes of the finger, so its really practically unnoticeable. (Except if someone looks deep into your eyes and it's turned on.) And I didn't come up with that idea, I read it out of a book. Hoverlifts are from a TV show, but they weren't called that. They didn't have a name. And hoverchairs and such are anybodies idea, really...Everyone likes hover things! I think everyone got the point of pleasure parks...But don't be afraid to PM me if you aren't understanding anything!