Chapter 5

Ravi Brillion was the writer, producer and star of his own play. With Valia's storefront as his backdrop, he performed every role himself. Three friends guffawed and critiqued the lewd performance. A scattering of customers watched as well, or did their best to ignore it. Ravi was deep into the role of the female lead, sashaying back and forth before his audience with much exaggerated hip waggling. He enthusiastically ran his hands over the bulges of the melons tied under his shirt and the other fruit stuffed into his black pants. His artistic reverie was rudely interrupted by a loud throat clearing behind him. He noticed his audience's attention was no longer on him. He turned to find an annoyed Valia, holding a large empty basket and one hand on her hip. She set the basket on their table and slowly clapped her hands.

"I hate to disrupt your masterpiece, but may I please have my display back?"

"Lia! Love of my life! You're just in time to catch the last act!"

"That was the last act."

"Come on, surely you can spare a few props for a work of art," the handsome art student pleaded.

"Art, my ass! You're scaring away my customers!"

"And a damn fine ass it is, too," Ravi made a point of admiring her backside. Valia brushed off his harmless, adolescent flirting.

"Mark my words, Traxis," he gave her a mock glower from beneath his swinging hank of bangs. "When the art critics and reviewers start beating down your door for the 'I knew him before he was a star' interviews, you'll be falling over yourself to give them your reverent opinion of the undiscovered genius you knew."

Valia rolled her eyes and made gagging noises. "Hand it over, Brillion."

"Seriously, Lia, I'm practicing for my playwriting class," he said reaching under his shirt to free the melons.

"I'm sure it will be wonderfully received without the fruit. Hey, watch it, you're going to bruise my melons!"

The table full of students erupted with laughter at her inadvertent slip. Valia snatched fruit from Ravi and placed it in the basket. He dropped to his knees in front of her. "Forgive me, my lady, I would never do anything to bruise your delicate melons." His eyes were directly level with her chest.

Flushing now, she grabbed the balis, teo fruits, beomuntis, freelas, liantiums and croniferra melons off the table. The other friends scraped their chairs back and got up from the table, still hooting. "We gotta take off," said one.

"See you later," Paccaia said to both Ravi and Lia. They left with noisy farewells, leaving Ravi to face the fruit bar owner's wrath alone.

"Who let you take all this? Do I need to tell the entire staff not to take their eyes off you?"

"I told them you said I could have it."

"They should know better than to listen to you."

"Hey, part of being a great performer is being believable."

Valia made a sound of disgust as she listened to her friend and dance partner.

"Got your friend over there to crack a smile," he said proudly, giving her a sly look.

"Who's that?" she asked distractedly.

"Old stone-face Jedi. Over by the tree."

Valia's heart lurched. She glanced quickly in the indicated direction. Qui-Gon. He'd been here to see all this? And he'd smiled at it? Either Ravi had actually been good, or she'd completely misjudged Qui-Gon's sense of humor. She was still getting used to the fact that he had one at all. There he sat, by himself, seemingly oblivious to his surroundings. He was in serious study over a data-pad, absently stroking his beard. A mug and pitcher were placed on the table in front of him.

"Well, I'm sure now he knows what degenerates I hang around with and cater to," she snapped.

"I definitely think he's got a thing for you," Ravi said, mischief gleaming in his black eyes.

"He does not have a 'thing' for me! Jedi Knights aren't supposed to have... 'things' for people."

Ravi laughed, flinging back his black shock of bangs. "I think this one does. Why else is he here almost every day? I've seen the way he looks at you. Like he's really, really thirsty..."

Valia deliberately stamped out the flicker of delight at the confirmation of Qui-Gon looking at her. "He just likes a change of scenery from the Temple."

"That's what he told you, huh? 'Scenery'?" He waggled his eyebrows at her suggestively. Valia slapped at him affectionately, annoyed at her poor choice of wording. "Well, that's not exactly what he said." She wasn't sure how she was going to get out of this uncomfortable conversation. "He happens to be a complete gentleman. Unlike some people I know."

Ravi's smile widened. "You've got a thing for him," he said, pulling liantiums out of his boot tops.

"I do not have a 'thing' for him," she denied, minutely examining the skin of purple-striped pink melon for damage.

"Come on, Traxis! You spill or drop something every time you see him or talk to him here." Ravi shook his head and tapped his chin thoughtfully. "The way I see it, at the very least, this guy represents a whole lot of wasted inventory to you."

"I'm looking at wasted inventory as we speak. Give me that!" She snatched at the fruit he pulled out of a shirt pocket. Ravi was really enjoying watching her get riled.

"It's a thing."

"Not."

"Liar."

"Brat."

She grabbed at the long red pod-like beomuntis he'd wound hat-like on his head. Ravi sighed dramatically. "I'm really torn here, Lia."

"Torn? How so?"

"Well, between doing my manly duty as a friend and protecting you from involving yourself with him..."

"Oh, please--"

"Or telling you to just go for it and jump his bones."

"Ravi!"

"The smile you could bring to that face..." He gave her a leering wink.

"Don't be vulgar." She flushed again as his comment unwittingly came too close to her daydreams. "He can probably hear everything you're saying."

"Vulgar? Me? What about that story you were telling yesterday about what you and a certain body part can do with freelas--"

"Shush!"

Ravi unzipped his pants. Valia looked around in horror to see if any customers were watching this. He casually removed fruit from the inside of his pants. She looked skyward as if beseeching help. Then she held up a hand to stop him. "On second thought, Ravi, I don't think I want those back any more. You can keep those."

Ravi shrugged, his hands still down his crotch, and gave her a bright grin. She swore the native Coruscanti had been born without a sense of shame. She dared to glance back in Qui-Gon's direction. He was looking at them. The cloud-filtered sunlight gleamed on his hair and high forehead. The breeze lifted a section of hair off his shoulder. Was that a hint of a smile on his face? She could see the blue of his eyes all the way from here. She tentatively smiled and waved, then quickly averted her own eyes. Ravi sat back down in his chair and was retying his boot tops. "He's looking at you. Giving you that old thirsty eye."

"He's looking at the one-man public nuisance known as Ravi Brillion." She turned away from him with her heaping colorful basket, intending to set it back on the front counter where it belonged. Believing order restored in her dining area, she looked once more in the direction of the Jedi Master's table. Still looking this way. Just at her this time. No mistaking it. He winked at her. Valia's lower jaw and arms sagged. Fruits tumbled over the edge of the overfilled basket and fell to the stone pavers. A melon splattered messily. Ravi saw where she was staring and flung himself back in his chair and brayed laughter to the open sky. Valia turned to give him a dirty look. She spilled half of the rest of the basket lunging to grab the back of his chair as he fell backwards to keep his head from the same fate as the melon. Ravi was still laughing at her as she set the basket on the counter. Darting behind it, she glanced one last time at the openly smiling Qui-Gon, and fled both of them to the safety of the walk-in cooler.