Visiting Becker
Disclaimer: None of the characters are mine, but belong to Impossible Pictures™.
There was a tentative knock on the door. Becker stiffened. "Who is it?" he called out, warily.
"Becker, it's me, Jess. I came to check up on you – can I come in, or should I go?"
Slowly, the door opened. "Come in, Jess," Becker spoke, sounding a bit sheepish himself. "And sorry about the mess in advance. I admit I was not expecting company, so this is basically a bachelor's home."
As a matter of fact, Jess decided as she entered the smallish apartment, 'a mess' was probably an incorrect choice of words: the apartment was actually quite neat – two bedrooms, one well-stocked kitchen and a bathroom, as well as a modest TV, a computer, and a couple of drawers with books. There were also lockers that contained either clothes or utilities of some other sort.
Other than that, there were no other features. "Nice place," Jess said, thoughtfully, "but a little, uh, bare. Surely there are some posters that you can put on the walls, or maybe a map or two?"
"Yes, I could, but until I joined the ARC a couple of years ago, I lead a rather mobile lifestyle, you know?" Becker admitted, rather grimly. "Developing an attachment to things is almost as bad as attachment to people..."
"Ah," Jess said thoughtfully, noticing that Becker had trailed away, looking more taciturn and morose than the usual. "Right. But you can't help forming an attachment to people, can you?"
"People and things are two different things, pardon the pun," Becker said wryly. "But enough about me. How are you? How're Abby, and Connor, and Matt?"
"Lousy," Jess admitted, "we can't wait for you to come back, by the way."
Becker blinked. "That bad?"
"That depends what you mean by 'bad'. Matt got his butt kicked by Emily's former time travelling companion-"
"Wait. When you said 'Emily', did you mean the woman that came alongside the monkey-raptors some time ago?" Becker demanded of the lightly-built woman.
"Uh, yes?" Jess spoke in a small voice. "But she's not that bad, you know?"
Becker looked at her in silence that was rather uncomfortable; as Jess began to actually squirm, he spoke again, cleanly changing the conversation's topic. "So, what about Abby and Connor instead?"
"They spend their time in some quaint seaside village fighting both giant amphibians and local natives that were armed with shotguns and pitchforks. Can you imagine?" from Jess's tone of voice one could clearly see that she did not.
"Giant amphibians? That's a new one," Becker said thoughtfully, as he produced an encyclopaedia of some out of a drawer. "Did they make a picture of some sorts, or maybe you've recorded an image."
"Um, what's that?" Jess said, delicately.
"McMillan's encyclopaedia of prehistoric animals," Becker admitted. "Connor suggested that I get one. It's a 1999 edition. Can you, uh, check the amphibians' section?"
"Already did, back at the ARC," Jess snorted, rather cutely. "We got much more than just that encyclopaedia, you know? Anyways, the amphibian was a new one, apparently, and Connor was very upset."
"He was? I thought that he'd be happy to have discovered something new."
"Yes, well, he wasn't. I never saw he so upset, actually, not since the, uh, so-called monkey-raptors," Jess admitted. "But enough about us. How about you?"
"Just great," Becker said, trying to be nonchalant. "I, uh, got some take-out in the fridge – chicken, mostly. Want some?"
"Uh, no. I'm a vegetarian, really, though I sometimes cheat on my diet with pizza."
"Well, I also got coleslaw and some sort of a fruity drink – but if you want pizza, what do you say we go out and, well, have it."
Jess opened her mouth, closed it, and opened it again. "Hilary Becker, are you asking me on a date?" she finally said.
"I am inviting you for pizza," Becker said firmly, "and don't call me Hilary! So, you want to come?"
"Yes," Jess nodded enthusiastically, her eyes twinkling. "Let's go!"
To be continued...