Chapter 3 --The Auction
Luke went straight to Mara's apartment and started cleaning. He was relieved to note that Mara was a fairly neat and organized person. There wasn't much to do but dust and straighten up a few things.
'It looks like she cleaned up before she sent me over here to clean up', Luke chuckled softly to himself.
He had finished all the rooms in the apartment within an hour and he was finally left with the room he had been avoiding... the bedroom. He didn't quite feel comfortable entering Mara's personal space. He knew Mara was a very private person, plus who knows what type of embarrassing things he would find in there. But, she didn't tell him to stay out, so that must mean she was okay with him being in there.
Luke's hand paused over the door panel. He took a deep breath and then slowly let it out to calm his nerves. He activated the panel and the door slide open. Luke was relieved to find this room was clean also. There were a few clothes that didn't quite make it to the hamper and the place desperately was in the need of dusting, but overall it was rather tidy.
He moved over to a low dresser and started dusting. He began to move a group of Holos so he could clean under them when he noticed that a few of the images were actually of him. This shocked Luke, not that Mara had them, but because she left them out knowing he was going to be in her room. Luke grinned as he gazed at a holo of him and Mara on top of one of the Massassi temples. Mara's hair was blowing in the breeze as both of them smiled brightly at the photographer.
'Mara is my friend,' he thought, 'we have trusted each other with our lives. She won't let one awkward moment wreck our friendship.'
After he finished the dusting he started throwing the few escapee clothes on the floor into the hamper. He picked up one particularly small garment that was balled up on the floor next to the bed. As he held it up he realized it was a small pair of black lace panties. The sight of the frilly underwear sent Luke's imagination into overdrive. He could imagine seeing Mara in her sexy undergarments, his hands delicately slipping the panties over her slim hips to expose the soft curls below.
Luke was pulled out of his musings when he realized it had happened again. He was now so hard he was about to bust out of his pants.
"Aghhhh," Luke moaned, "why am I doing this to myself? Mara is attracted to sweaty, muscular firefighters, not placid Jedi Masters."
Luke sat heavily on the edge of the bed and was shocked to feel the mattress move. He looked down and pushed on the mattress with his hand and he could hear fluid moving underneath the sheets. "Mara has a waterbed," he said with a smile.
Luke had heard of them, but growing up on Tatooine, he never seen one. He was pleasantly surprised at how comfortable it felt and bounced up and down on it experimentally before he flopped back, swinging his legs up on to it. "This feels great," he said with a sigh. He stretched out, breathing deeply. He sighed contentedly as he caught the light scent of Mara's perfume on the sheets.
"Getting comfortable Farmboy?"
Glancing up he saw Mara leaning against the doorframe and he immediately jumped out of the bed.
"Mara!" he said flustered. It was bad enough that he made a fool of himself this afternoon, but now Mara catches him lying in her bed. Could things possibly get any worse?
Mara didn't say anything at first, but she did put on an amused look. Her gaze wandered down his body and to his right hand. "Are those my panties?"
"What?" Luke asked confused. Then he looked down and realized that he was still clutching the lace black panties he had found earlier. 'It just got worse,' he thought apprehensively. He quickly tossed the garment toward the hamper and waited for the impending tirade. "Umm… sorry. I was just cleaning up," he explained.
"Cleaning up while lying in my bed?" she said with a raised eyebrow. "I thought you said you were worried about a woman buying you just to get you into her bed?"
He ran his fingers through his hair nervously. "Look Mara, about his afternoon…"
"No, Luke, please don't," Mara interrupted, "that was my fault. I thought you would get my little joke… that you would realize I was making fun of our conversation last week…" she hesitated, "But… um… obviously you didn't make the connection. I just wanted to say I'm sorry. I never wanted to make you uncomfortable." Her face started to turn a bit red.
Luke felt a tremendous amount of relief and he let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding. He smiled at his friend. "Thanks Mara. I was scared that things would be awkward between us. You are too important to me. I don't want to lose you as a friend. And don't worry, you didn't make me uncomfortable."
"Oh Farmboy, don't lie," she grinned, "I could tell you were uncomfortable."
Luke shook his head, "No really, I wasn't uncomfortable," he lied.
"Well, from where I was standing, it..." she gestured to below his belt line, "looked uncomfortable."
Luke's jaw dropped as he realized what she was referring to. "Okay, now I am uncomfortable," he said with a blush.
Mara just laughed and gave his a playful slap on the shoulder. "Force Skywalker, you are just having an awful day."
"It could have been worse," Luke groaned, but then gave his friend a genuine smile. "Thanks for saving my butt again, Mara."
"And don't you forget it, Jedi." Mara said playfully and then turned to return to the living area. "If you are done with the bedroom can you please help me set the table. Dinner should be delivered soon."
Luke followed her out of the bedroom.
"There are some candles over in that corner hutch, can you grab them, Luke?"
Luke's smile fell from his face as he was reminded that all the cleaning he was doing today was to prepare her place for her "hot date". Luke didn't know why the thought of Mara with another man bothered him. She was only his friend, after all. Why should he care?
"What's up Farmboy?" Mara seemed to have sensed his mood, she was good at that.
Luke looked up startled. "Oh… nothing, just thinking."
"About what?" Mara pressed for an answer.
"Really it is nothing. It is just… well…" Luke looked down as he shuffled his feet, "I really would prefer not to be here when your date arrives."
"My date?" Mara asked confused.
"Yes, your Hot Date you mentioned in the conference room."
Mara gave him an amused look as she put out two settings on the table. "Oh, but I thought you would be my manservant and serve us dinner," she said with an evil grin.
"Come on Mara, I did what you wanted, at least leave me with my dignity. I don't want to have to serve dinner to you and your muscle bound firefighter."
Mara smiled broadly and looked as if she was trying to contain her laughter. "Oh, I can't make you sweat like this anymore, Skywalker. The truth is, you are my date tonight."
Luke smiled broadly. "Really?"
"Yes you big nerf…" she laughed, but then her face turned slightly worrisome, "unless you don't want to be."
"No, no, I want to." Luke placed a hand over his heart and gave a mock-bow, "I would be honored."
Mara smiled brightly then went back to fixing up the table.
Luke watched Mara as she set out the silverware, a burning question on his mind. "So why didn't you bid on the men you were intending to purchase?"
"Why would I want a tall, sexy, muscular rescue worker with rippling abs, broad shoulders and a butt to die for when I could have a stuffy Jedi Master?" Mara answered wryly.
Luke gave her a hurt look. "Hey, I'm not stuffy and with the exception of being tall, I am all that and more."
Mara crossed her arms in front of her chest and gave the Jedi an appreciative look. "You think so, huh?" she asked. "Turn around."
"What?" Luke responded.
"Turn around." She demanded again. Luke obliged and felt Mara's eyes appraise his backside.
"I don't know," Mara said with a frown, "I don't think that is a butt to die for… maybe something to be seriously wounded for, but not die for. Of course, I may need a better look."
Mara grabbed the waistband of Luke's trousers and he wasn't sure if she was only pretending that she was going to pull them down, or was actually going to do the deed. Just in case, Luke quickly spun catching Mara's hands in his and pinning her to the wall.
"Oh no Jade. No handling the merchandise," Luke said with a broad smile, caught up in Mara's playful mood.
He expected Mara to struggle, but she suddenly went still as if in shock by their close proximity. Luke had her hands pinned to the wall on either side of her head, his body pressing against hers, holding her in place. His face was mere centimeters from hers and he could smell the sweet-smelling fragrance of her perfume. He could feel her heart beating wildly. Looking into her deep green eyes his gaze wandered across her face. He almost shuddered when she ran her tongue across her bottom lip.
Mentally his mind was screaming for him to back off, to not do anything to endanger their long friendship, but other parts of his body had other ideas. Luke leaned forward with every intent to kiss her. Mara's eyes widened as he closed the gap between them.
The front door buzzer interrupted the moment.
Mara quickly disentangled herself from Luke's arms and stepped away flustered. "That is probably the food," she said as she quickly went to the door.
Luke ran a hand through his hair and tried to still his racing heart as a delivery droid brought in a six-course meal and laid it out on the table. Remembering his manners, Luke pulled out Mara's chair for her and then sat down across from her.
"Dinner looks fantastic," Luke commented nervously. He eagerly dug into his steak wanting a reason not to talk for a moment so he could collect his thoughts. Both ate silently finding conversation still a little awkward after what almost happened a few minutes ago. Finally Luke's curiosity overcame any awkwardness and he broke the silence.
"So, Mara, what was the real reason you didn't bid on one of those sexy firefighters you were talking about the other day?"
Mara laughed lightly, finding some humor in his question. She looked up from her plate and smirked at the Jedi. "Oh, I was hoping to be able to save your butt and also get me my fireman with the credits I had, but I saw somebody in the lobby that made me realize I was probably going to have to spend all my credits just to get you."
"Oh, and who was that?" Luke asked confused.
"Baron Richard Chupador," Mara stated conspiratorially.
Luke did not recognize the name. "Should I know him?"
"Oh, he is only your number one fan, Jedi. He was that caped fellow that was having the bidding war with me over you," Mara laughed again before she tossed some more steak in her mouth.
"Well, who is he? Just another admirer?"
"Yeah," Mara laughed again, "the same way you are just another moisture farmer." Mara took a sip of her wine and gave Luke an amused look. "Are you telling me you never heard of Baron Richard Chupador the founder of an… um… alternate lifestyle group called Men Who Love Jedi?"
"There are organizations like that?" Luke gasped incredulously.
Mara cracked up at Luke's expression. "Luke, it seems that the Jedi have a huge following in the homosexual community. I read a little about it and it appears that on many planets and communities' people with a same sex orientation are often seen as outcasts. These people can relate to the Jedi as the Jedi are productive members of society but are also seen as different from the general population." Mara grinned at the Jedi. "I guess you should be flattered."
"Now wait a minute," Luke said as made a stop gesture with his hand, "how in the universe do you know this, Mara? Is there something you are not telling me?" he said with a wink.
"Ghent told me," she said matter-of-factly.
"Ghent?" Luke whispered, "Is he… not that there is anything wrong with that."
Mara laughed again, and Luke thought she was really starting to enjoy this evening a little too much.
"No, no, no… at least I don't think so," Mara shook her head uncertainly. "No, anyway, Ghent had just finished developing a new Holonet search engine program and he wanted test the system. So, on a whim, he punched in the word, Jedi." Mara took another sip of wine and then continued. "There was the normal things you would expect, but then he saw some… really interesting sites, so he called me over to his station. We scanned through droves of sites until I saw the Holosite Men Who Love Jedi, and well, I thought it was about men who admired female jedi… and… um…" Mara trailed off as she blushed.
"You wanted to see if you were mentioned in the site," Luke volunteered, grinning.
"Yeah," she admitted, her face turned even redder. Now it was Luke's turn to laugh.
"Shut up, Skywalker!" Mara snapped, but she couldn't keep the amusement out of her voice. "You wouldn't be laughing if you saw what was on that site. Ghent laughed so hard I thought he was going to wet his pants. They had a whole thread on Outing Jedi." Mara gave Luke an evil grin.
"What does outing mean?" Luke asked.
"You don't know?" Mara raised one red eyebrow.
"I'm sorry, I've never heard it before," Luke shrugged helplessly.
Mara leaned forward and whispered, "Outing means naming who in the Jedi society secretly prefers the company of men."
Luke wasn't sure he wanted to know, but then he was always too curious for his own good. "So… who do they say has this preference?"
Mara smirked. "The jury is still out on you flyboy. Your relationship with Callista got you off the hook for a while, but they are pretty sure Kyp is one of them."
Luke almost choked on his food. He finally managed to get his steak down with the help of a glass of wine. "I think they are wrong," he managed to utter.
"Oh, and why do you say that?" Mara asked, "I have never seen him connected to any female."
"Oh, not officially." Luke said with a grin, "he has impressive shields when it comes to blocking out people from his thoughts, but he has just as much control over his involuntary physical reactions as I did this afternoon. And I have seen him have the same response whenever Kirana Ti is around."
Mara tried to control her laughter, "The Dathomir Witch?"
"Yep," Luke said with a nod, "I think Kyp and Ti have some sort of Submissive/Domination thing going on."
Mara laughed so hard she started to turn red. "Oh dear Force."
"What?" Luke was caught in her laughter.
"I'm trying not to think of the implications of that, but can't you just picture Kyp in leather chaps, stun cuffs, and a gimp mask?"
Luke choked on his wine, wondering if Mara was finally going to make good on her promise to kill him, only instead of using a blaster, she'd laugh him to death. "Promise me you'll never bring that particular mental image up again!"
"Deal!" Mara shook her head, still laughing.
It took a few minutes for them to catch their breath, but finally Luke was able to breathlessly say, "Who else is on the list?"
"Kam," was Mara's one word reply as she wiped tears from her eyes.
Luke shook his head, "Wrong again, he has hooked up with Tionne."
"Streen." Mara added.
Luke was about to disagree, but then thought better of it and just shrugged his shoulders then asked, "How about Kyle?"
"Oh, Kyle definitely prefers women." Mara said wistfully.
"Oh?" Luke said cautiously, "and exactly how do you know that?"
"I…um…" Mara sputtered, "well, the same way you know Kam or Kyp does."
Luke stared at his friend for a long moment before he decided to drop the subject. He finished up his steak and poured Mara and him another glass of wine. "Well, I am certainly happy that you were able to outbid a baron."
"Oh, it wasn't too hard. I am pretty sure that Baron title is either honorary or completely made up. Either way he didn't have the credits to back up the title." Mara smiled as she looked at Luke over her wineglass. "Whether the Baron is real or fake, he was sure bucking to make you his Queen."
Luke choked on his wine, again, and this time it also went up his nose sending his body into complete fits. Mara ran over to the other side of the table and gave him a couple slaps on his back, laughing hysterically as she did so.
Luke stopped coughing and gave Mara an irritated look. "Mara! You really are trying to kill me aren't you?" He tried to maintain his cold stare but couldn't help but laugh.
"Yeah, well, you know…" she grinned as she stared down at him.
He reached out and grasped Mara's hand with his right and covered it with his left. "Thank you for what you did. How can I ever repay you?"
Mara considered it for a moment, "Well, you could cough up 10,269 credits… or you can plan out our second day together."
"I think I can better afford the second option," Luke said with a smile as he gave her hand a warm squeeze.
"Okay," Mara flustered as she pulled her hand free and moved back a step. "I guess we should call it a night, it has been a long day and I want to be refreshed for tomorrow."
"Sure," Luke said and Mara walked him to the door. As it slid open Luke stopped and turned to his friend. "I had a wonderful dinner, Mara. I am really glad we can have such a relaxed time together. I will give you a call tomorrow morning."
Then before he could think about it too much about it, he leaned forward and gave her a quick, but gentle, kiss on the lips. As he pulled back he could feel the shock emanating off of Mara in the Force, but realized he didn't feel the outrage he feared would be present.
Luke smiled and then quickly hustled down the hall. He thought it was best to be out of firing range when Mara pulled out of her shocked stupor, just in case.