CHAPTER 13 - THE TALENT SHOW
After the fiasco with Elizabeth having been tied up and Jack assaulting Wayne, it didn't seem right to just pick up with the earlier kiss which had been interrupted by the gravity fluctuation. Neither Jack nor Elizabeth wanted to rush things. Both deciding that taking their time and avoiding future misunderstandings might be best.
"So what happens now?" Abigail asked as she and Elizabeth walked down a long corridor after sending messages to Coal Valley and to family back on Earth.
"We've kind of hit a restart button. Everything over the past week was so messed up. Our movie date was great, but then it got interrupted, and then we barely saw each other due to work, and then there was that whole misunderstanding with the magic act."
"Which Jack thought was a hostage situation or some sordid tryst."
"Okay, let's forget about that," Elizabeth remarked. "And then his job was in jeopardy. It's just been a lot to deal with. So, we're restarting."
"When's your do-over first date?"
Elizabeth frowned. "I'm not sure yet. We're going to sing together in the talent show, but we're not together together."
"You must have kissed since your first date"
"Nope", Elizabeth said with slight embarrassment.
"You haven't kissed again?" Abigail asked in surprise.
"No. We've barely even held hands!" Elizabeth whined. "It's like we're both more nervous now than before!"
"There's no doubt you two like each other. There's nothing wrong with taking your time."
"I suppose. But I would like to kiss him again," Elizabeth said wistfully. "It sure was nice."
"What song are you singing for the talent show?"
"It's called Annie's Song. It's really romantic. He made a guitar with some help from one of the engineers, a 3D printer, and some wire. It's really good. We've practiced once."
Abigail stopped walking and looked at Elizabeth in disbelief. "You've been singing a romantic song together and you still haven't kissed again?!"
Elizabeth scowled. "It's like he's changed his mind about us. Or he's afraid to kiss me."
Abigail smiled. "Why would he be afraid to kiss you?"
"I have no idea!"
Jack was afraid to kiss Elizabeth.
What is the matter with you, you idiot? She likes you. You like her. Just kiss her sometime! he told himself as he strummed the strings on his make-shift guitar. They were sitting next to each other on the lower bunk in their living quarters.
He wanted to kiss her. He thought about kissing her. And yet, he didn't.
"Stop already with that song! It's making me miss my wife!" Seth called out from his upper berth and shoved a pillow over his head as he tried to drown out the sounds of Elizabeth voice.
Elizabeth yelled up to their roommate. "It's your own fault. You could have waited until the next transporter."
Seth, who had been eager to begin his geology work on Planet Assaymark, has grabbed the last available seat on this flight and left his wife behind to handle selling their home and putting their belongings in storage. The farther he got from Earth, the more he regretted that decision.
"You pick up the next lines too," Jack reminded Elizabeth as he motioned to the paper in her hand. "I think I should sing the lyrics 'Like a sleepy blue ocean'."
"Okay. Why's that?" Elizabeth asked absentmindedly as she decided to ignore Seth's groans of missing his family, and she turned her attention to the page of lyrics in her hand.
"'Cuz your eyes remind me of a sleepy blue ocean", he said with a boyish grin, causing Elizabeth to be grateful that she wasn't an ice cube or she would have instantaneously melted into a puddle.
Jack knew all the right lines to say. How to tease Elizabeth. How to flirt with her. How to make her blush. But he had to admit that behind his cocky attitude, he was afraid that he would end up like Seth, a well-built muscular man who could bench-press 250 pounds but was turned into mush by a wife and the lyrics from a simple song. Do I want to be mush?
There was also the problem with a lack of privacy. Jack and Elizabeth had previously decided that while in their living quarters, they would just be friends. Unfortunately, that didn't leave them many places on the ship to be alone. Although the security office was private, Jack realized that it probably wasn't appropriate to invite her to stop by just so he could make out with her while on duty.
And then there was the problem of her social status.
Sometimes she said things in passing that made him wonder if they would even be a good match. Yesterday at lunch when he had mentioned to the others at the cafeteria table that he had been riding horses since he was a kid, Elizabeth had then relayed how she got her first mini-transporter at age sixteen. Does she have any idea what those cost?!
And the night when they had Chinese food, she mentioned that it reminded her of a great little Chinese place in Beijing that she liked to go to once a month for their delicious Kung Pow Chicken and Won Ton soup. Never thinking that most of the other passengers couldn't afford to fly to China once a month for their favorite restaurant.
Maybe I should just forget about the idea of a relationship with her. It would never work. She's way too rich and cultured for me. Too many problems already.
"You forgot a line."
"What?" Jack looked up at her.
"You missed a line," Elizabeth said. "You're not concentrating. The show is in two hours."
The audience clapped enthusiastically and cheered through each one of the twenty acts of the talent show. Elizbeth felt like she was back at summer camp with the good-natured ribbing and hooting and hollering, and the crew members acting like counselors with their never-ending encouragement.
It was obvious who the winners would be when Wayne and his new assistant – a twentysomething female rocket scientist – performed their magic tricks including a sensational finale of exchanging places after first having been handcuffed and tied to chairs six feet away from each other. When the bedsheet was pulled away to show them sitting casually in each other's chairs, the crowd whooped with appreciation.
"That was incredible!"
"How'd they do that?"
"Amazing!"
Jack turned to Elizabeth, "Sorry I ruined it for you as his assistant, but stop frowning. It was pretty darn good", he said quietly.
Elizabeth plastered a fake smile on her face and joined in the clapping, but inwardly she grumbled. When everyone else in the audience had been mesmerized by the sleight of hand, all she had noticed was how squeaky clean the woman in handcuffs and rope ties had looked. Her hair is so full and bouncy. She probably washed it and conditioned it twice. With my water-minutes!
Of the twenty acts, Elizabeth and Jack's singing duet came in fourth place, earning them a certificate and a pair of transporter-issued slippers.
Elizabeth wouldn't have cared if they had come in last place, she just loved the way Jack looked at her when he sang. When he sang the lyrics 'let me lie down beside you', she felt like undressing for him right there. And she probably would have if they had been alone and he had asked her to.
"Let's go. Party in lounge B2!" one of the crew-members announced to the crowd as the awards were finished being passed out.
The ship's passengers didn't waste any time moving to the large lounge on Level B and soon the party was in full swing.
Elizabeth took another sip of her drink and looked around the room. Jack had a beer in one hand as he stood with a group of guys who would be working on the power facility once they reached Coal Valley. The men were smiling and animatedly talking with each other.
Someone turned up the music even louder and several people began dancing. Star, a cute woman with a pixie haircut and the perfect name for space travel, grabbed Jack's hand, pulled him away from the guys, and began swaying her hips to the rhythm. Jack threw back his head in laughter at something she said and began moving with her.
Elizabeth barely paid attention to the conversation around her as her eyes followed Jack. There was no doubt about it. He was one of the most sought-after bachelors on the transporter.
Weeks ago, the females on the ship had seen Jack as another nice attractive man. Then, after the whole fiasco with Elizabeth tied up, he was seen as a nice attractive man who could throw a good punch and protect a woman. That added considerably to his desirability, and despite his misunderstanding of that situation, the female passengers had moved him up to a nine out of ten on the "hotness" chart they kept. Now, after the talent show with his guitar playing and smooth voice, he was definitely an eleven out of ten.
Elizabeth scowled and took a long drink as she watched another woman join Jack, placing her hands on his hips and laughing as they moved together. Jack going back and forth between the two women.
It was clear that he had his pick of almost every single woman on the transporter. And if he tried, he could probably land even some of the women who had already paired up with another passenger or crewmember.
Elizabeth's desirability, on the other hand, had diminished considerably since she arrived on the ship. Initially seen as a smart nice attractive woman, she somehow had managed to become a smart nice attractive woman who had slightly injured one person (Ally), gotten another person beaten up (Wayne), seemed to be preoccupied with not getting dirty or sweaty, and was hopelessly besotted with Jack. The fact that she had a great singing voice couldn't make up for any of that. Most of the men on the ship considered her off-limits.
It's hopeless. He's changed his mind. He doesn't want me after all, Elizabeth thought in disappointment as Jack disappeared into a crowd of exuberant passengers who were huddling around a table.
Those other women are smarter than me. Sexier than me. More his social level. It probably didn't help that I mentioned that my closet at home is three times the size of our living quarters. Stupid! I should never have mentioned that!
She was standing in a large group which included Alex the Gazelle and Ally the fiery racquetball player when Jack looked in her direction.
Elizabeth's face broke out into a hopeful grin when he winked at her before rejoining his group of friends who were playing a drinking game involving tossing small balls at moving holograms.
But then her smile quickly turned to a frown when she noticed that the women next to her assumed that Jack had been winking at them.
Was he looking at me or one of them?
Me, of course! Yes, definitely me.
Maybe.
Hopefully.
Damn, why are there so many females on this transporter?
"His singing voice is terrific", Alex noted.
"You're not with him, are you, Elizabeth?" a woman from the Quartermasters questioned. "I don't want to step on any toes, but I'd love to throw him into bed."
"She's not", Ally answered before Elizabeth could reply. "They're just roommates."
"Well, you're not with him, are you?" Ally asked hotly when she saw Elizabeth give her scowl.
Elizabeth glared at the woman and then took a sip of her drink before moving away without answering. Instead, she approached Jack and tapped him on the shoulder. When he turned his head and saw her, he gave Elizabeth a smile.
"What's up?" he yelled loudly over the noise.
"I just wanted to thank you again for my flowers."
"What?" he asked as he moved his head closer.
"My flowers!"
"Flowers?"
"My flowers! Thanks again!" Elizabeth said loudly into his ear.
"No problem. It was the best I could do on a transporter. Do you know how hard it is to get flowers when you're in deep space? I couldn't get anyone to deliver."
"They were lovely", she started to say with a giggle, but Jack's attention was diverted by someone pulling on his arm.
"It's my turn", Jack explained loudly to Elizabeth as he nodded to the game.
"No problem," Elizabeth replied. But she had already lost Jack's attention as a woman in tight jeans handed him a ball.
The music continued to be loud and the alcohol continued to flow as the party went on into the night. Elizabeth rarely drank alcohol, but she found herself finishing her second hard apple cider after dancing enthusiastically with several of the friends she had made on the ship.
Wiping a bead of sweat from her brow, Elizabeth was only half-heartedly listening to the conversation around her when she heard Jack's name mentioned.
"He's coming over here now", Alex remarked. The women all turned their heads in the direction at which she was looking.
Jack, feeling confident after a night of compliments about his singing, attention from several female passengers, and winning a drinking game, was moving towards the group of attractive women with a friendly smile on his face.
Gosh, he looks so good! Elizabeth thought. Did he look this sexy the first time I met him? Impossible.
Elizabeth and the other women would have continued staring longingly at Jack as he pushed his way through the crowd if the lights hadn't gone out when he was just a few feet away.
"Lights!"
"Power please!"
"Back- up Lights!"
The crowd's voices mingled with each other as some booed, some laughed, and some cursed the power outage as they were plunged into total darkness.
Elizabeth did none of that. She couldn't say a word.
Because Jack's lips were on hers.
His mouth was warm and delicious. Like a mixture of beer and the citrus tang of limes, which she decided was now her new favorite flavor.
His hands held onto her hips, keeping her close as her mouth parted for him. Their tongues met for the first time and moved perfectly together.
She blindly dropped her bottle, hoping it landed on the couch behind her rather than the hard floor but not really caring. He kissed as if he couldn't get enough of her. Weeks of thinking about it and now he finally had her lips. Her mouth. Her tongue.
Elizabeth was thinking it was the most perfect kiss. And it was. Until . . . .
. . . until a uncomfortable thought jumped into her mind from out of nowhere.
Does he know it's me?! The lights went out and we were all standing so close. What if he thinks I'm Alex? Or Ally? Or Clara? What if he meant to kiss one of them?!
I have to tell him it's me.
Oh, my, he's a fantastic kisser.
The guilt of allowing Jack to kiss her when he might think that he was kissing another woman finally made Elizabeth pull back slightly.
"It's me", she quietly informed him in the blackness of the room.
She knew that Jack didn't hear her because, without allowing any more time to pass, he reclaimed her lips.
The way he held her, like she belonged to him, made Elizabeth go dizzy. She recognized the smell of his deodorant. He was the only man she knew that wore it. Sometimes when he left it out on his berth and he wasn't around, she had picked it up and smelled it quickly before putting the cap back on. It was clean and unpretentious. So different from the expensive cologne that the men she usually dated poured on themselves. She loved this scent on him.
Her mouth parted again and she returned his kisses.
He must not have heard me. The crowd is so loud.
Damn, he's good at this!
Who cares if he doesn't know it's me!
After another forty seconds, Elizabeth finally willed herself to break away again.
"It's me," she explained after taking a deep breath. His kisses had left her breathless and her heart pounding. She hoped he wasn't disappointed with her words.
Instead of acknowledging her confession, he put his hands on each side of her chin and moved her mouth to where he wanted it. On his.
His kisses became even harder. Deeper.
It's not my fault that the crowd's so loud or its pitch black in here, she reasoned. I tried to tell him. Okay, so maybe I whispered, but hey, there are no rules for this.
Oh well. Some other girl's loss is my gain.
She wrapped her hands around his neck and gave in to passion.
. . . Okay, just a few more minutes of kissing then I'll tell him.
He probably already knows it's me! Of course, he does.
Where did he learn to kiss this way? He's fantastic! The boys I know back home don't kiss this way!
I'll tell him.
"It's –" she started to say, but his tongue didn't let her finish.
The noises around them continued as people yelled for a back-up generator and others cursed when they bumped into things as they tried to move about, knocking over bottles and cups of liquid.
But neither Jack nor Elizabeth noticed. They didn't notice any of it as they stood in the darkness in their embrace.
"Jack, you have to know that it's –" she tried to say after another minute of impassioned kissing but she stopped herself when his hand moved along her back.
My knees are buckling.
Nearby someone started singing their country's national anthem. And soon the two Australians on-board were loudly chanting 'Aussie Aussie' while the lone New Zealander countered with "Kiwi!" at the top of his lungs.
Elizabeth finally pulled back and gulped in oxygen. Jack's tongue moved to her neck and then his lips nibbled on her ear.
I have to tell him.
Before the lights come back on and he realizes I'm not Alex the gazelle or the voluptuous Ally or the other girl standing with us.
"It's me. Elizabeth", she declared loudly above the noise and into his ear.
She knew Jack had finally heard her, when he pulled back. She had expected him to be surprised. Maybe embarrassed at his mistake. Maybe angry that she let him go on for so long.
She hadn't expected the reaction she got.
He laughed at her. The room was dark but she imagined his face with his dimples forming in his cheeks as he grinned broadly.
"Elizabeth, why do you feel the need to continue to tell me that it's you? That's the third time. If I didn't know it was you, I wouldn't be kissing you," he chuckled as he placed a palm on her cheek.
"Really?"
"I pushed through the damn crowd to get to you just because I had to kiss you", he said with another laugh.
"You did?"
"Yeah, I did."
"Oh", was all she could think to say. She was freaking out. He wanted to kiss ME! Like that. After the whole past week, he still wanted to kiss me!
"Who else would I be kissing?"
"I don't know." She realized that she sounded stupid but she didn't care.
"Was that okay? That I kissed you? That I want to keep kissing you." She could hear the smile in his voice.
Jack wasn't sure if Elizabeth had said anything and he couldn't see her nod her head in the darkness.
"Elizabeth, can we keep kissing?" he said loudly in her ear above the deafening noise of several crew members now trying to out-yell each other in some type of weird space chant while banging their hands on the walls.
Without another word, Elizabeth reached for him in the darkness and pulled him back to her. Pressing her lips to his.
It was Jack who pulled away this time. Interrupting her kiss before it had really begun. "Wait a second. You do know it's me? Jack? Right? You did call me Jack, right?" he worriedly questioned.
"I'd know your lips anywhere", she declared breathlessly. And then she blushed at her bold statement.
Jack started to speak but at that moment the lights and loud music filled the room as the power came back on, illuminating Elizabeth's flushed face. Her lips swollen from his kisses.
The crowd barely had time to enjoy the power when the transporter made a grinding sound which seemed to come from the walls themselves.
Someone turned down the music's volume and everyone paused quietly. Listening as they all looked at each other in confusion.
The grinding sound reverberated through the transporter and then stopped as suddenly as it had started. Leaving the passengers staring at one another with worried looks.
""What was that?"
"That didn't sound right."
As the party-goers started asking questions, Elizabeth kept her arms loosely around Jack's torso. If anything was going wrong on the ship, this is where she wanted to be.
And it can't hurt to let all the other women on this ship know he's mine! she realized happily. I mean, the lights are back on. They can see he's with me!
He's with me! she thought giddily.
Attention passengers.
The voice over the intercom was professional and calm. It was one of the same voices that made announcements almost every day about mundane meal chooses and birthdays and weather back on Earth.
This is a code yellow level 2. All essential crew-members please report to your duty stations. Passenger Alexandra Harris and Passenger Jack Thornton please report to the Control Center.
Alex and Jack caught each other's eyes and both hurried to the doorway along with the crew following the instructions of the commander over the intercom.
The rowdy partying had come to abrupt end.
No one declared that the party was over but everyone knew it was. The crew members were all gone. The alcohol was almost gone. The atmosphere had changed.
Everyone that was left in the lounge was curious about the noise they had heard, or tired from the long evening of the talent show, the drinking, the dancing. They looked around at the messy room and began cleaning up the remnants of the evening.
Elizabeth stared at the back of Jack as he left the room without a word to her. Her cheeks felt the soft brush burn from his facial stubble. Her lips felt inflamed by his kisses. She was out of breath and she didn't know what to do.
What the -?
For Pete's sake! Why is it so hard to keep from being interrupted on this ship?!
How do I go from THAT to this? she asked herself as she looked around at the room which was emptying out.
Abigail, carrying a trash bag, walked over to Elizabeth and picked up the beer bottle from the couch. Throwing it into her bag, she looked at her dejected friend.
"Elizabeth, are you okay? You look a bit flushed."
"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just wondering why they called for Alex to go to the Control Center."
"She's an electrical engineer. Maybe they need her advice on something."
"And why Jack?"
"Now that's the more interesting question", Abigail said with a worried frown.
Up next: Chapter 14