There were no classes held at the Academy on Saturdays. Beverly was lying sprawled out on the lawn, talking with some of her friends. Walker and Jack had taken the shuttle over to Mars with some of their fellow classmates to tour Captain Picard's ship. Beverly shivered when she remembered the touch of the Captain's hands along her back. There had been something electric about his touch. Quickly, she pushed those thoughts aside. It had only been the situation, she knew. She had needed comforting desperately, and Picard had provided her with it. It was likely that she would never see him again. In a day or two, she would forget about him completely.
She picked at a blade of grass, and stared over at Lennie who was doing imitations of Admiral Parsons, whom he had had the misfortune of "visiting" with yesterday.
""Now then boy," Lennie boomed in a terrible imitation of the Admiral. "What is this latest tomfoolery you have been involved in?" "'Nothing', I squeaked. It was the way he was looking at me. It drained away every ounce of sense I had," Lennie continued on with his story, lowering his voice to imitate Parsons and speaking in normal tones both as himself and as the narrator. "Nothing! You think that setting fire to the physics lab is nothing! You think that creating pandemonium is nothing!" "That's not what happened! I didn't set the lab on fire, per say. I merely blew up my miniature containment field, which caused a table in the lab to light up in flames. It wasn't like I did it on purpose." "He stood there, just glaring at me. Then he laughed. I thought I was out of there, as unreasonable as he was with Beverly, but he actually laughed. He told me not to do it again, and I left."" Lennie looked around at his audience, waiting for their review.
"He let you go?" Beverly was incredulous. "That's not fair."
"Your acting stinks," said Scott.
Tafton and Korbin said nothing. They merely exchanged a look and giggled.
There was silence for a moment, and Tafton cleared her throat. "There was another incident last night."
"Oh geeze. You didn't kill her or something did you Beverly?" Scott sounded as though he were only half joking
'No. She spilled a whole tray of drinks down the front of my dress, and ran off before anyone could identify her."
"This time, we have evidence," Tafton said. "I went back to Beverly's quarters with her to make sure Mina didn't provoke her into doing anything rash."
"Beverly? Do something rash?" Lennie thrust a hand over his heart in mock horror.
"Anyway," Tafton said, rolling her eyes. "We stopped by my quarters on the way back and picked up a voice recorder. Everything she said is right here in my hot little hand."
"Well, let's hear it then," Scott demanded.
Tafton was about to push play when Korbin stopped her. "Not, not here. If Mina hears us play this she might steal it. Then she could get rid of all of our evidence." Korbin stared at the ground, her cheeks bright red, and said no more.
"Good idea, Korbin," Lennie said flashing her a toothy smile.
Korbin turned even redder.
Beverly decided it was time to rescue the poor girl. "Let's listen to it later, when Jack and Walker get back. I'm sure they'll let us play it in their quarters." The others nodded in agreement. They arranged a time to meet again, and the two boys trotted off. Scott was eager to see the incinerated table in the physics lab.
"Tafton, you seemed pretty eager to go to Walker's quarters," Beverly remarked after their male companions had left. There was a glint in her eye, and she stuck her tongue partway out at her friend.
"Walker's nice," Tafton said casually. Beverly knew she thought he was a lot more than "nice", but she didn't say anything.
"She thinks he's gorgeous," Korbin said quietly, her self-confidence slowly returning after her earlier outburst.
'I do not!"
Beverly and Korbin looked at each other and rolled their eyes. "Well, I don't!" Tafton was anything but convincing.
Beverly checked her wrist chronometer. "I think I had better get going. Jack should be back in about a half hour, and I want to go meet him at the landing pad."
"Is Walker coming back at the same time?" Tafton asked. "I mean, you could probably use the company. It seems like the shuttles you're waiting for are always delayed."
Beverly sighed. "Come on, Tafton."
* * *
Jack was pleasantly surprised to see Beverly waiting for him when he disembarked from thew shuttlecraft. Unfortunately, Walker did not feel the same way in regard to Tafton. Where Jack smiled pleasantly, Walker was forced to muffle a groan. He wondered why Beverly's friend would not simply give up and leave him alone. In the interest of diplomacy, however, he offered her a warm, if somewhat fake smile. Even at that, she frowned, seeing the way in which Jack embraced Beverly. Walker was silent. He had no problem appeasing people, but there were some limits that you just could not push. Sensing that the moment was uncomfortable, he decided to start a conversation in which all four of them could become involved. First, though, he glared daggers at Beverly, who winked at him, but said nothing.
"We had an interesting day aboard ship," Walker said.
"Oh?" Beverly looked interested, but not as enthralled as Tafton. The girl was hanging on his every word, gazing into his eyes as though the sun rose and set all because he walked the Earth. Walker knew that some men would consider this flattery, but to him it was almost sickening.
"Yeah," Jack added. "I think Walker and I must have really impressed Captain Picard when asked him to tell us his life's story. He's invited us to dinner tonight. He said we should hop on over to Paris, and after that we can tour his family vineyards in LaBarre."
"That sounds like fun, Jack." Beverly tried to keep the disappointment out of her voice. She had been looking forward to their spending a quiet night together, but she certainly didn't want him to miss this opportunity. She supposed that she could live without him for another day or two.
The disappointment in Beverly's eyes did not go unnoticed by her boyfriend. "Don't worry, Bev," he said. "The Captain said that you were more than welcome to come along. In fact, I think bringing a date was some kind of a prerequisite." Her eyes brightened measurably at this, and Jack's heart lifted. He was glad to see that she enjoyed spending so much time in his company.
Tafton looked meaningfully at Walker. "Do you have a date for tonight, Walker? If you don't I'd be happy to go with you. Not that I want to date you or anything, you understand. Just think of it as courtesy between friends."
"Of course," Walker said neutrally. He took a deep breath, and forced himself to say his next words. After all, he would feel slightly more comfortable going with Tafton than he would arriving without any date at all. "I would love it if you were to join us this evening."
Tafton smiled, but said nothing. She simply gave his arm a little squeeze. Walker sighed largely to himself. It was going to be a long evening.