CHP 3
Jaime walked into Chester's office, unaware and unworried of his current phone call with another studio or manager. She sat down heavily in the plush chair on the other side of his desk and looked at him with an impatient pout.
"Thanks for the information, Billy. I'll let you know if I need anything else," Chester sighed and hung up the phone to face his biggest client, "What can I help you with, Jaime?"
"We're wrapping up in three weeks. Have we heard anything from Zoa yet?" she looked over her new manicure as she waited for an answer, as if disinterested.
"He will take his time to think on it," Chester grumbled and clicked his pin in agitation, "Microbe is not sold on the idea, but it would ultimately fall to Protozoa since he is the lead. They will follow his decision when it comes down to it."
"We don't need them as a whole. It looks like I will have to convince him, like I do most people. With my charm."
"I don't think that's going to work this time."
"And why not?"
"Because according to the star chasers following him, they saw a young woman entering his tour vehicle and the two of them took off to places unknown. They seemed very close on the way to the tour bus according to the rumor mill."
"Oh, please. Zoa couldn't hold a relationship to save his life. He's never been with anyone for more than a week. He gets tired too quickly. Too picky and too high maintenance. She'll call it quits by this time next week."
"From what I hear, he's known her for over six years. That's more than a week. Not to mention she seems to be on the younger side."
"He's having a moment to relive his glory years. Most rockers do, trying to hold on as long as they can. I'll have him in my hand by the end of the month, mark my words."
"If you can find him, Jaime. You forget I said places unknown? No one knows where he is- even Lester. I've already tried."
Jaime pouted again and took an enormous sigh before she turned back to Chester, "Get more info on her, I wanna know who the girl is. Everything you can find. If this is a special little diversion for him, I want to know why."
Zenon paced in thought in front of a large panel of glass she had filled with diagrams and stats. Protozoa lounged in a chair just feet away as he also looked over the notes, but strummed on his guitar. They had moved their center of operations into his recording and music room over the course of the first few days. There was plenty of room to spread out and he could work on his newest works while she worked on the developing plans. His music had a way of soothing her and keeping her mind from overworking while he gave input on the plans and made sure she wasn't going overboard with options. Like her early plan three days in to steal a space suit and go up to repair the station herself.
"You missed a chord," she mentioned offhandedly as she turned back to the board and wrote a few more options on the far right of the glass.
He stopped strumming with a slight frown, "Maybe I wanted to take it out."
"And cut the chorus short?" she asked with a smart smirk over her shoulder.
"You worry about the station, I'll worry about the chorus," he stuck his tongue out at her.
"Mature," she chuckled, but turned back to the board with a heavy sigh, "They're right so far. It's degrading. I guess when Wyndham had initially built the station, he wasn't insistent on materials lasting long term in space. Black hole of a cheapskate. I wonder if it was always his plan for the station to fail."
"The commander said the replacement would have upgraded paneling, couldn't they ship those materials up?"
"The government wouldn't pay for it. They are already in plans and in construction for the new station. They wouldn't see the need to repair it while building the new one. Why pay for two stations?"
"Does it have to be the government paying for it?" he asked and looked at her drawings.
"Until it's no longer a government station," Zenon nodded and capped her marker to toss it at the glass panel. She trudged over to the bench chair he lounged in and plopped herself against his side, her head perfectly tucked along his shoulder.
He smiled at the now familiar weight at his side and kissed the top of her head. It has become routine for them the last week and he felt like they had been doing it for years. Her at the glass board figuring out her latest impossible challenge and he would write as he watched and pitched in ideas. Her weight pressed further into his side, telling him she was totally relaxed against him.
"Rest your head for a bit, love. You're going to burn yourself out again at this rate. You've been at it for a straight week. Let's have a night break?"
"What did you have in mind?"
"The nightlife in the nearby village is something to take part in at least once. They are not as up on the popular music down here, and for once I'm happy to report, they have no bloody clue who I am."
"You're taking me on a night on the town?"
"About time, too. Go get freshened up and we'll see what kind of trouble we can get into."
She smiled brightly and grabbed her zap pad on her way out the door, still scrolling through the most recent info drops Plank had sent. She hummed a few frames of his latest work that he was wrapping up, and he was happy to hear them from her. It meant if it's catchy enough to get stuck in her head, it may just go somewhere.
He sat with guitar still in hand and strummed a few more cords as strings of lyrics popped into his head. He leaned forward and over an open notebook, where he sketched out ideas. He jotted down a few cords and the lyrics running through his mind.
"... like a new star, blinding bright- a new universe lights up the night– in her eyes like a galaxy– my new center of gravity..."
He nodded at the lyrics as he committed them to paper. Trying for the life of him to figure out just how to describe her in lyrics. How to take the energy and the being that is Zenon Kar and be able to translate it into how she made him feel. How she made everything better, made him better without him even knowing it. How she could talk anyone into going along with her plans, no matter how impossible they may seem. How he can forget just how important he is when she becomes the center of his entire universe as soon as she walks into the room.
"... spinning in a vortex I won't escape – hoping this love isn't a mistake..."
His pen stopped instantly as he stared at the page. Fear pricked at his heart, a racing rhythm took hold blasting against his sternum and he frowned at the last line. He crossed it out and closed the book shut. It's not a mistake. It's not even love.
Is it?
"Zoa?"
He stood at his name and put his guitar off to the side, back in its stand before he turned around. Zenon stopped, framed in the door arch, a long skirt flowing out from under a tighter, but well-cut tank top. She threw her hair back into a messy ponytail, a few strands framing her face with a pair of his older and less flashy sunglasses pushed back on her head.
"I haven't seen this outfit yet." He said, unable to move his eyes from her.
"Came in with my order. I'm still going to pay you back," she assured him.
"No need, love," he shook himself out of a semi-daze.
She pulled at the skirt covering her legs to show a pair or sandals on her feet, "You think this will be okay?"
"Perfect, let me slip into something and we'll head down," he brushed another quick kiss on the top of her head as he passed her toward his room.
Zenon sauntered into the living room as she waited for him to change. She thought a little on the kisses to the head he was now prone to shower her with. She had no problem with them. She would actually ask for more if she could do so without feeling like a stumbling teenage fool major crushing on their favorite rock star. She was more dignified than that. She was an almost twenty-year-old young woman... who was possibly major crushing on her favorite rock star and best friend.
It was the first time since she had arrived, where she actually looked around the front area of the retreat. There were self portraits and framed tour posters adorning the walls, but along one of the few bookcases were smaller and more intimate pictures of him and few others. Pictures when he wasn't posing or while on tour with his bandmates in green rooms or backstage areas, just being friends. Then there was a shelf lined with framed pictures of him and her. The concert on the station when she was thirteen with Nebula, Commander Plank and Judy's wedding, random visits where he or she had surprised the other, one from her birthday party last year for the eighteenth and the last one was a solo picture of her he took when she wasn't looking. She was musing about something again. But who knows what it was. It was during the last get together at Nova Linda before the Moon Festival, just after she found out she was going to be a contestant. She didn't know she appeared so much on his shelves. Other than the few of him and his bandmates, she couldn't find much of anyone else. Not even family.
"You ready?"
Zenon turned and stopped herself from laughing. Protozoa stood with one of his tight colorful tank tops with a loose even more colorful Hawaiian print button up loose over it. His shorts were a light jean, so at least they were toned down. He wore a pair of sandals and brushed a hand through his hair before pushing his sunglasses back from his face.
"What?"
"I find it so amusing even when you are incognito, you still stand out."
He picked at his shirt, "Are you telling me this doesn't scream tourist?"
"It screams something," she chuckled this time and tugged at the shirt before she fixed a spike in his hair, "It's okay. I realize nothing can ever make you any less the fabulo, handsome rock star you are."
"At least someone realizes it," he put the sunglasses back over his eyes and nodded at the door, "Come on. Let's get going. I want to get there before the sun sets."
The village was on the smaller side and it surprised Zenon to see just how many of the Hawaiian shirt monstrosities walked through the village, marking the tourists filing through. Protozoa smiled proudly at her, as if he had won his point. She poked him in the ribs with her elbow and continued on. There were small outdoor shops dotting the main walkway through the village. Some selling fruits and produce, others selling flowers or souvenirs, some offered jewelry with minerals and polished gems only found in the region, and finally some sold more of the now infamous, colorfully printed shirts.
"It's one of those rest stops before you reach some of the other bigger cities in the area. The place took advantage of the traffic and really tries to serve the constant tourist flow," Protozoa explained as they walked through the small lines of people and shops, "Notice all the Nick-knacks, but few- if any motels around here."
Zenon got distracted by some fruit she had never seen before from one of the other stalls and ran directly into the side of a tall, muscular young man. His large hands instantly caught and steadied her from the impact. His eyes, partially hidden by some large sunglasses, looked her up and down and he chuckled as if he just won something.
"Oh, sorry," Zenon sent a friendly smile at him and tried to take a step back from him, "Thanks."
"How you doin'?" he smirked and flashed her a bright smile. He looked to be in her age group, eighteen- maybe early twenties- and gave her a quick spin while he still had a grip on her wrist, as if wanting to see her from all angles.
"Whoa," Zenon tripped and fell back, where a pair of familiar hands caught her this time and pulled her to their side.
"A little presumptuous of you, mate," Protozoa spoke from her side. Zenon immediately wrapped her arms around his middle, now knowing who had her, "Not much on the manner department, are we?"
"And who are you, her uncle?" the guy chuckled and took a very slow look at Protozoa trying to figure him out. This guy had a thing for sizing people up.
Zenon felt Protozoa tense up under her hands, and she quickly put a hand to his chest to stop him. Her hand splayed over the planes of his chest as she applied some pressure to gain his attention away from the airhead.
"Boyfriend," Zenon corrected and hugged Protozoa closer with her other hand and moved the one on his chest up to his shoulder. She gave him a smile, with a subtle nod for him to catch on.
It took him less than a nanosecond for recognition to set in and linked his arms around her to settle at her lower back. He smiled at her and then sent a knowing smirk back at the guy.
"So, if you don't mind," Zenon waved at the guy and did her best cute giggle as Protozoa lowered his head, as if giving her a kiss on her shoulder.
"You didn't look like a gold digger, escort type."
"That's because I'm a 'guy with intelligence, maturity and can take a hint' type," Zenon challenged the guy back, "Stop being a whiny kid and get it in your head not every girl is going to go for the muscles."
"Let's not cause any trouble major," Protozoa whispered into her ear.
"He's pushing it," she gritted out between her teeth, low enough just for him to hear.
Protozoa pulled away from her, but kept an arm over her shoulder, her arm still tucked around his side, "I'm going to take this opportunity to part ways. Sorry for the run in and enjoy your vacation, huh?"
They both turned from him and walked on their way down the row. Zenon heard the guy kick at the ground in frustration and then storm off like a sulky child. She took a chance and looked back to see him storm off with a tourist group on a bus tour. She snickered into Protozoa's shoulder as she turned back front.
"He gone?" he asked with his own enormous grin.
"Yeah, thank you."
He had assumed once the guy got the message, Zenon would have dropped her hold around his waist as they continued. Instead, she surprised him again and leaned into his side, her arm hugging around him comfortably and her head against his shoulder. He could get very used to this. Again, feeling of fitting together so naturally and perfectly side by side. Perfect height to keep her tucked into his side with little work to make her fit. Her side melting into his as they walked in pace with one another without thought. His arm over her shoulders relaxed, and he rubbed at her arm in an unknown pattern.
"Why did we want to get here before sunset?"
"One of the best perks of this place," he turned them down another row of small shops toward what had to be a lookout point.
They both walked up to the fencing at the edge of the lookout and saw the sun just above the horizon line of the ocean. What clouds were in the sky reflected the reds, purples and bright oranges, along with the water below. Zenon stepped away from him, pushed back her sunglasses, and leaned against the fencing to get as close as she could to the view. She felt him behind her, looking at the sunset just over her head.
"And I thought you had a view," she said in a whisper as the sun kept dropping slowly into the horizon line, the clouds changing color.
He hugged her from behind, his chin resting easily on her shoulder. Her hands reflectively laid over his arms, cradling him in place, and a gentle smile came to her lips. She turned to him for a minute and pushed up his glasses from his eyes.
"You going to miss the sunset with those on."
"It's a good thing I have you to take care of me, then."
There was something in his eyes just then that caught her off guard. They were softer, calmer- and focused directly on her. Her eyes were on his and she could see the warm sun set colors reflect in them as he searched for something. Whatever he was looking for, she was more than willing to give him if he would tell her what it was. She would think her heart would have been in her throat as it had in the past with other guys. But this is Protozoa. And this felt right. Whatever this was.
There was a sudden click and whirl at their side and a smile child smiled up at them with an ancient-looking camera in her hand. She pulled a slip from the camera and shook it as she approached them.
"Picture?" she asked with a heavy accent Zenon heard from the shops along the main village street. She pushed the developing picture toward Zenon, "Picture for lady?"
Zenon reached out and plucked the picture from the girl. It was her and Protozoa, caught in the moment with one another. No pressures of either of their worlds- station or music wise- as they just were with one another. She could see the colors of the sunset catch in her hair and in their glasses as they looked not out on the horizon, but on each other. Zenon nodded in approval at the snapshot of the moment she had yet to figure out for herself.
"It did catch my good side," Protozoa mentioned over her shoulder, still holding her, "But really, do I have a bad one?"
"How much?" Zenon asked with a roll of her eyes from Protozoa's comment and pulled at a small credit chip she had tucked away in her pocket of the skirt.
The girl held up a small sign attached to her camera which read off the price. Zenon quickly gave the girl a little over the price she asked for with a smile.
"Thank you," the girl smiled and ran off to the next group along the look out.
Protozoa took the picture from Zenon easily for a closer look at it, "It will go well in the music room. Right of the award case. We can admire it as we work."
"Oh, no you don't," she quickly grabbed the picture from his hand and held it against her chest, "I paid for it, it's my picture. 'Picture for the lady', remember?"
"Aw, love, come on," he reached for her and the picture and she only laughed and skipped away from his grasp, "It's rare to find a picture where it's the two of us."
"You got a few of them in your front room- of which I don't have copies of."
"Then I'll get you copies."
"And I'll get you a copy of this one," she raised her brows in challenge as he reached for the picture in her hand, "I keep the original."
"Okay, where'd she go? I want another picture," he looked around for the young camera girl.
"We'll have time for other pictures," Zenon tugged on his arm and tucked the picture into her pocket, careful not to crease it. She settled back at the fence to watch the last of the sun duck down under the distant waves. He settled back behind her and placed his chin on top of her head this time. She patted his arm as if placating him, "I can feel your pout from here."
He only gave a halfhearted grunt as it turned darker.
"What's next?"
"The best part, and what will be your favorite... the food," he stepped away from her and she grabbed on to his arm as they turned and the main street came to life with lights and more of the open-air stalls turned into small eateries.
"You have the lead here. What am I looking at?"
Protozoa took the next couple of hours showing Zenon the ins and outs of the cultural food found around Nova Linda Cove. They shared nearly everything as they went, taste testing and sometimes gorging on the particular tasty items.
"Well, I'm stuffed major," Zenon let out a large breath of air and looked down a few of the other streets, "Did we come during their fair or something?"
Protozoa looked at the booths she spotted and saw a few of the games the village set up, "Every night is a little fair. Celebration of their culture and their home. They brought in games over the years for tourists to try their luck before they scurry back onto their tour buses and the village gets a little more money in their pocket."
"Let's try a game or two," she pulled excitedly at his arm.
"Zee, you know some of these are rigged."
"We will try to stay away from those. Come on, you know how competitive I am," she pleaded with him.
He sighed and checked the credits he brought with a sigh, "All right, let's play some games. Maybe I'll win you a plush bear or something."
"Or I'll win it myself."
"I forgot who I was with for a second."
They both tried a few games of skill, or which they each won a round. Protozoa apparently has an eye for the dart game and Zenon could crawl across the rope ladder to the end easily before anyone else. He really should have thought about the challenge before asking to go head to head with the runner-up for teen supreme. None the less, he carried around his prize- a holographic picture of himself from years prior- in one hand as he tried to avoid Zenon pushing her plush, purple space bear at his face.
"I told you, I would get one," she teased, and patted the bear on the head.
"Are we wrapping up here?" he asked with a fond smile at her.
"I think so. I-"
"Hey it's the weird uncle and the escort!"
Both of them turned to the game at the side where the young man from before stood with a mallet over his shoulder. He stood next to an old-fashioned strong man machine and flexed toward Zenon.
"Last chance, sweetie. Let me show you a good time. I'll even win you something."
"Tempting, but I already got my prize," Zenon narrowed her eyes in disgust and wrapped one arm around her bear and the other through Protozoa's arm, "And I'm not talking about the bear."
"Come on, give me a chance."
"The lady gave you an answer," Protozoa got more than a little riled up. It was fantastic he was getting extra attention from Zenon, but the guy was really pushing the both of them to the brink.
"How about you give me an answer, huh? See who's the tougher guy?"
"I don't play around with kids."
"Apparently not," he chuckled and gave Zenon another look over, "But that makes me ask what is she? Some type of toy?"
"Hold my picture," Protozoa handed his prize to Zenon and headed toward the game.
"Zoa, you don't have to," Zenon grumbled, and followed behind.
"A gentleman always answers a call out, especially with what he's inferring about you. It's not done."
"Is this a British thing?"
"This is a me thing," he stretched his neck a little and looked at the old carnival game, "They can say what they want about me. But they don't go after the people I care about. Especially not my favorite space girl."
"Losers go last," the guy shouted as he made the first hit onto the mallet hit. The old plunger shot up and stalled a few spaces down from a full ring. A upgraded digital system shouted out 'Stud' on the scale. The guy grinned as he handed the mallet over to Protozoa, "Be prepared to eat it."
"Right after you."
Protozoa looked at the plunger and the mallet, tested the mallet weight out and then raised it behind him. He took a large swing, and the plunger shot up, slowed, but tapped the bottom of the bell. The horn blew and the gigantic explosion of digital color spelling out "Winner!" at the top.
"Yes!" Zenon cheered from the side.
"You added weight this week," Protozoa turned to the guy running the booth.
The man smiled with a warm chuckle as his heavy accent weighed down his words, "Had to. You giving all my prizes away to the little ones. Which one you want this time?"
"Lady's choice," Protozoa turned to Zenon, and she looked at a set of woven bracelets with some of the gem accents she noticed from other shops and booths. She picked up the set and nodded with a smile.
"That's no fair! He's played this game before!"
"You specified nothing other than you were going to beat him," Zenon rolled her eyes at him, "And weight was added, so it was actually against him and he still won. Give it up."
"You can't convince me you like this guy."
"Really? Then you aren't really using your eyes, are you?"
"So, he's in his prime, I guess, but he isn't me. I-"
"And that's definitely part of his appeal," Zenon interrupted and sighed, "Cetus-Lepeedus, you can't take a hint. Guess I'll have to show you."
When he was about to open his mouth again, Zenon reached out, grabbed Protozoa by the gaudy printed shirt, and pulled him down for a kiss. The moment her lips touched his, everything else stopped. She meant it to be short and just this side of believable. Instead, it turned the single butterfly in her stomach from before into hundreds and sent a pleasant shock wave through her system. An instant press of reciprocation from Protozoa's side surprised her and his hands landed on her hips to keep her in place. She gasped lightly and her eyes snapped open to look to a stupefied Protozoa.
Not even looking back at the other guy, she heard her voice push out another:
"Give it up."
He huffed and walked away from the games as a couple of younger looking girls followed behind him toward the tour buses.
Zenon was still caught up in Protozoa and licked her lips before she stepped back from him. She gave him a shaky smile and then grabbed their prizes to head toward their pod. Protozoa, still shocked in place, finally licked his own lips to taste her there. A mix of sweet sugar from some churros and a berry flavor from the lip gloss she wore. He was immediately addicted. He was in trouble.
The game attendant patted him on the back and chuckled, "I like your lady friend."
"Yeah, me too," he agreed, and nodded at him before chasing after her.
The pod ride was quiet, and the silence was filled with unvoiced conversation. Questions on both ends and slight panic on Zenon's. Did she just ruin one of the best friendships she's ever had? Would he know she liked he reciprocated? Did he like it? Does she just forget it? Should she apologize? She should definitely apologize.
They entered the main room, and Zenon instantly turned to him when he closed the door.
"Sorry, I just... it was the only thing I could think to do. I didn't mean to just jump you."
"Oh," Protozoa scratched at the back of his head and played around with the sunglasses from the top of his head to find out what to say. Was it all just an act from her? Did she not feel the exhilaration he felt, the instant energy from the moment they connected? Was he the only one out of the two of them that felt something? He panicked as she looked at him for an answer, "Don't fret, love. Not the first time a girl threw herself at me."
The answer made her step back from him. Was that what he really thought of her? A fan throwing herself at him?
"Well, don't worry, it won't be a thing," Zenon drew her plush to her front as if to shield her and clutched the small box with the bracelets in it. She looked down as if disappointed and then popped her head back up as if she caught herself in the moment, "Thank you for the brain break. It was... good. I'm a bit on the tired side. I'm heading to bed. Goodnight."
She hurried off to her room, and he instantly knew he said the wrong thing. He shut his eyes and hit his head against the wall behind him, "Protozoa, you're a git."
He raised a hand to his lips and ran a couple of fingers over the skin. He sighed and hit his head again, "A total bloody git."
Zenon shut the door to her room and leaned her back against it, taking a deep breath, "Keep it together, Kar. You got a station to save."
She tossed the bracelet box to the side, her bear to her bed, and opened her zap pad to get to work for a little while before she would go to sleep. She could at least distract herself from the still present tingle on her lips.
