"Hi girls," Harper said, obviously nervous. The girls were both very pretty. One had straight, black hair and brown eyes. She was sizing Rhade up and was barely even looking at Harper. Harper, however, was looking at her, admiring her long legs and seemingly perfect features. The other girl looked disinterested. She was fairly short, even compared to Harper, and had light brown, shoulder length, curly hair. Her eyes were dark and Rhade couldn't tell what color they were.
"Hi," the girl with black hair said, still looking at Rhade, "I'm Vivian, and this is Lara. And who might you be?"
"I'm Harper, and my very drunk friend here is Rhade," Harper said, putting on, what he thought, was his most charming smile. Rhade just raised his glass to them and took a drink.
"So, what are two handsome boys like you doing in a place like this?" Vivian said. Harper was noticeably more hopeful at this comment.
"I think the question is, what are two incredibly hot girls like yourselves doing on a rock of a planet like this? This place can be pretty dangerous sometimes," Harper said.
"Well, we could use two big strong men to protect us." Vivian was staring straight at Rhade when she said this.
"Uh, Viv, I think I'm gonna go, OK?" said the girl named Lara.
"OK, I'll see you later. So, you boys mind if I join you for a drink?"
"Not at all," Rhade said. He was actually starting to like this girl; she was sweet, in her own twisted way. She was obviously flirting with Rhade but managed to include Harper in the conversation. Harper, of course thought she was flirting with him. Vivian ordered a drink and so did Harper. Rhade got a refill.
"So, Vivian..." Rhade began.
"You can just call me Viv."
"OK, Viv. I haven't seen you around here."
"Well, I used to live on Seefra-3, but there were no nice guys there. So, I thought a change of location would turn up someone good. I guess I'm in luck, I found two cute guys." Harper blushed and tried to hide it. Rhade just smiled and took another drink. "Hmm, I guess it's my turn to ask a question," Vivian said, "so, what brings you two here?"
"I'll answer that one," Harper said, glad to be back in the conversation, "I came from Seefra-7 to join Rhade and the rest of my, umm, friends I guess you could call them. They needed me here to help them with some very complicated technical stuff. Rhade, well, he's been here for what, nine months now. It's, uhh, kinda complicated how we got here before that."
"Who are your other friends?"
"Well, there's Dylan, and Beka, and Doyle, who's actually kind of Rommie," Harper said.
"What about Trance?" Rhade asked.
"Well yeah, but she can't remember anything. Anyways, that's beside the point. What I'm interested in is you. Like, where are you staying?"
"For the time being, nowhere," Vivian said, hopeful.
"You could stay with us," Harper said happily. Rhade shot him a death stare. "Come on, Rhade, have some compassion, oh right, the alcohol's desensitized you." Rhade continued with his death stare. "All right, seriously, she's got no place to stay, and the Andromeda has lots of empty crew quarters."
"Please, Rhade," she said, putting on her best sad face.
Rhade made a low growly noise, "Fine, but you'll have to take it up with Dylan, and he might not be so easy to persuade."
"Piece of cake," Harper said with a large grin on his face.