A/N: Well, life got in the way once more, keeping me from getting a lot of writing done during the winter break. However, I just completed Chapter 43 and it's totally Zentran-sized! Weighing in at ~12000 words, it promises to deliver plenty of content in a single shot! I've decided to stop moderating chapter lengths because it's taking me too long to pull the story into the "action" phases. This way, the story progression rate will increase and you will get more bang for your buck. It's funny how life always seems to screw up your plans. Once I finished my wintermester writing class, my computer's video card decided that it didn't want to remain among the living anymore. I spent several days not able to use my own computer, while half of Chapter 43 sat on its hard drive. After about a week of e-mail correspondence with EVGA, my video card manufacturer, I caved in and bought a cheap-ass video card to use while EVGA plays around with the RMA process. All this time, I kept getting called into work. The weather was making things busy for us and it even snowed here in Dallas last week! Snow means that all pizza places get completely hammered with business from people who are too scared to tread in that "white stuff sitting on the lawn". It's all good, though. I made good money during this time; snow is not that hard to drive in. In this case, the snow never even accumulated on the roads. It just stayed mainly on the grass.
Anyway, I managed to work hard at getting Chapter 43 finished, so I could turn around and get this chapter prepped for posting here. I'm going to be spending the next week or so getting ready for the coming school semester, including a crash course in precalculus in preparation for calculus. So far, I managed to buy all of my books from other nearby students, avoiding the financial rape-fest that is the campus bookstore. However, I'm going to need to at least get my lab manuals from there. I will be sure to keep any of the workers from sneaking behind me. Who knows what they're planning when they do...
I'll do my best to finish the next chapter as soon as possible. Good times are coming...! -(01/13/11)
Another day wound to a close and a large flock of migrant birds had stopped to rest near Ozma's house. Most of the flock had taken up their perches amongst the branches of the large tree in his front yard, while the rest of them were spread around his neighbor's yard. Nevertheless, the flock of birds made quite a racket while they chirped and squawked amongst each other before they began to hibernate for the night. The evening sky was also blotted with many dark clouds, each of which threatened to rain at a moment's notice.
"What the hell is that noise? Damn birds!" Ozma complained as he looked out of his front window to investigate.
"It's almost wintertime," Kanaria calmly replied from the couch, "They're probably on their way to a warmer climate for the season; they're just like the birds of Earth and Eden."
"They're gonna crap all over everything! They'd better be glad that I keep my car in the garage," he angrily stated. He then sat back down on the couch across from Kanaria. Between them was a small setup of snack foods and a couple of drinks. Ozma certainly did know how to entertain guests at his house and did everything to make his home into a relaxing atmosphere for them. "Anyway..." he said as he leaned forward to put together a tiny cracker sandwich with a slice of cheese and pepperoni inside, "Did you have enough time to consider my request?"
Kanaria sat quiet and motionless for a moment before she answered. She seemed to have a bit of hesitation before giving a response. "My husband and I have talked it over the last couple of nights and it's gotten to the point where he actually thinks that your plan is quite the bee's knees," she said, followed by a pregnant pause.
Ozma smiled upon hearing this response, but it still didn't answer the question that was burning a hole in his skull. "Well... what do you think?"
"I'm still not 100% sure, Ozma. Normally, I'd just dive right in, but maybe it's just that we're getting a little older every day. I find myself second-guessing everything that I do. It's as if I always want to take a look at the bigger picture and evaluate all of the variables before making a decision. Does that sound crazy to you at all?"
"Not at all, no. I've always relied on you to be my voice of reason when I needed it. While it is true that we're getting older, wisdom comes with age. It looks like your wisdom is starting to take priority in your decision-making. I find myself stopping to think about things far more often nowadays as well..." Ozma said with a slight laugh.
Making good on their threats, the clouds outside began to heavily precipitate. The annoying sound of the birds outside gave way to the spattering of the rain hitting the top of the house and the pavement outside. The torrential downpour was more than enough to send the birds deeper into the trees and underneath man-made structures so they could find shelter.
"Ha! That oughta shut those birds up," Ozma said, noticing the effects of the heavy downpour outside.
"Well, we definitely needed it. I don't think it's rained once since we got back from deployment. ...but with the recent coldfront coming through, I'm glad I'm not stuck out in the rain right now," Kanaria noted as she leaned back to take a sip of hot cider from her cup. Suddenly, her spot on the couch felt twice as comfortable than it was just a few moments prior.
Ozma became silent for a moment while he put his mind back on the issues at hand; the very reason he was having this discussion with Kanaria. "All joking aside, I'm going to get right to the point. I hate to have to feel like I'm asking so much of you, but I really do believe that I need you for one more assignment. There are some big things coming up that I need your help with. If all goes according to plan, we'll be done with all of this and be home by Christmas... I promise."
Somehow, the inclusion of such a promise, no matter how uncontrollable the circumstances could turn out to be, gave Kanaria something of a goal to work towards, should she agree to Ozma's request. She looked downwards as she answered, "If what you say is true, then that means that we'll have secured a bright future for those that follow us... including my own son." Ozma nodded and Kanaria straightened up her posture to continue her answer, "Alright. Count me in."
Ozma smiled and clenched his fist in front of him in a celebratory gesture. "You're making the right decision, Kanaria. I'll make sure things get rolling on the logistics side of the operation. We'll get your Monster fixed right up... just in case," Ozma added with a wink. He threw that last phrase in there to punctuate his understanding of the deal between the two pilots.
Kanaria got up from her seat and saluted Ozma. "Understood. Now, if you'll excuse me, I should get back home soon. My husband is cooking up some of his world-famous barbecue ribs tonight and I want to get my hands on them while they're still fresh. Thanks for the snacks!"
Moments later outside the front door of his house, Ozma stood on the walkway leading to the driveway with his hands in his pockets. Kanaria was placing a bag into the backseat of her car, which was under the shelter of the carport covering the driveway nearest to the front door of the house. Meanwhile, the rain continued to relentlessly pour down just mere feet away from where they both stood.
"Hmm... looks like the clouds are starting to break up. I wonder if this is just something of a squall..." Ozma remarked towards Kanaria as he peered at the sky.
She closed the car door and turned towards Ozma, but she didn't really have the intention of responding to his offhand remarks about the weather. "One thing is bothering me, Ozma. What about my pilots? Who's going to be watching over them?"
"Well, I had Wagner keep an eye on them for you before we came back to Aimo. Looked like he was able to keep them under control..." Ozma trailed off while rolling his eyes and smiling.
"Seriously? Do you really think he's ready?"
Ozma kept smiling, but shook his head. "No... ha ha. Commander Thompson will be taking over your team. Wagner's ready, but it's just not quite his turn yet. I gave Wagner that assignment so he could have a taste of a leadership position. I promoted him so he'd start to put himself in the right kind of mindset for the job. He's already a good pilot; now I want to see how good of a leader he can be."
"Once again, I have to admire your ability to cultivate the best qualities in your pilots, Ozma," Kanaria commented.
He simply shrugged, as if it was no big deal. However, he squinted at something moving in the distance beyond his property lines. "Well, speak of the devil..." Ozma said while using his eyes to point Kanaria's attention to his driveway entrance.
Walking down the sidewalk, Cal appeared from behind Ozma's neighbor's six-foot hedge. Despite the pouring rain and chilly weather, he casually strolled along the walkway. He wore his usual uniform and had his duffel bag slung over his back, but he was soaked to the bone. Trying to read from the soggy sheet of paper in his hand, he stopped for a moment to verify the house number on Ozma's front gate. He looked up to see the faint figures of Ozma and Kanaria standing under the carport, completely untouched by a single raindrop. Ozma gave a friendly wave, inviting Cal onto his property, to which Cal responded by tugging the gate's latch to an unlocked position and swinging the door open.
While they waited for Cal to walk across the front lawn along the stone walkway, Kanaria turned to Ozma to make a quick remark. "Why is he walking? He doesn't seem to care that it's raining cats and dogs out there and that it's cold as ice. Doesn't he have any kind of personal transportation?"
Again, Cal's personal issues seem to raise questions in the minds of those who observe his behavior. However, Ozma was quick to give an explanation. "Look, he's just been through a lot of personal crap that's left him with little to no possessions. He's been staying with Ensign Garrett, sleeping on his living room floor because he doesn't have a place of his own. He's here because I offered to let him stay in the spare bedroom in my house."
Kanaria smiled and responded to Ozma before she came within earshot of Cal, who was quickly approaching. "Wow, you also know how to show your human side, huh?" she said with a chuckle.
Cal finally made it under the shelter of Ozma's car port and greeted the two pilots. "Lovely weather we're having..." he casually stated. "Commander... Lieutenant..." he said with a casual salute to them both. They nodded in response. "The stupid bus route drops me off about half a mile from your house, Commander. Of course, the rain didn't start until I disembarked from the bus and started walking... just my luck," he continued with a roll of his eyes.
Just as he said that, the rain let up as if the valve to the water works had been turned shut by some divine hand. They all looked out to the clouds, which were starting to break and were allowing some rays of the late afternoon sun shine through.
"Son of a bitch!" Cal exclaimed while swinging his clenched fist towards the clouds in the sky. Water from his soaked uniform launched into the air before falling harmlessly to the ground. He then turned around and glanced at Ozma and Kanaria with a slight laugh.
They looked at each other and laughed at Cal's exuberance over something that's far beyond his control. However, there was no way that Ozma was going to allow Cal to walk into his house soaking wet like that. "Wagner, the laundry room is right between the garage and the house. Just go in through the garage. You'll find a linen closet in there too, so get yourself dried up and I'll give you the standard tour," he said, pointing over his shoulder with his thumb.
"Sir," Cal acknowledged. He immediately began to walk towards the garage, leaving Ozma and Kanaria alone once more.
Before Kanaria could leave, Ozma had one more question to ask. "Oh! Are you going to be able to make it to the crew picnic this weekend? Bring your husband and son with you!"
"I wouldn't miss it for the world, Ozma. You take care and let me know if and when we get some information about our 'upcoming plans'," she said as she ducked into her car. Her head popped up above the car once more, "I'll bring you some of those ribs when I get a chance."
Ozma stayed on the sidewalk with a smile while he watched Kanaria drive away. He spent a few moments to gather his thoughts before he rushed inside to make sure that Cal wasn't tracking water all over his house.
…
Within a few hours, the inclement weather had cleared up and nightfall had fallen over Frontier City. Meanwhile, a motorbike rider clad in a heavy winter coat traveled along the lit highway, before casually pulling into Ozma's driveway and disembarking. The rider then walked his bike, which carried a couple of paper bags marked with a restaurant logo in its basket, into the opened garage.
Inside of his house, Ozma studiously worked with some files on his coffee table when he heard the door leading to the garage open behind him. Cal walked through the doorway while reaching to his side to toggle the switch for the garage door to move it into a closed position. He carried the paper bags in his hands and promptly set them on the kitchen pass-through counter. Before saying anything, he brushed his coat's hood off of his head and started to unpack the contents of the paper bags. "It is damn cold out there tonight," he said with a sniffle, "I should have worn a scarf, too." He continued to set up the boxes he had taken out of the bags. "Alright, here's your order," he said to Ozma.
Ozma got up to get his meal and asked the obligatory question that crops up whenever one man brings another some food, "Great. How much do I owe you?"
Cal glared in frustration towards Ozma for asking that damned question, "Sir, today, you opened up your house for me in a gesture of kindness. Do you really expect me to take money from you for some food?"
Ozma wore a sly grin as a reaction to Cal's response. "Okay, I got it! I just had to ask out of courtesy."
"Isn't it strange how we ask questions to which we already know the answers?" Cal rhetorically asked without looking at Ozma. He continued to remove the boxes from the bags and set them on the counter.
Ozma simply turned towards his food and began to transport it to his workspace on the coffee table. "How was the motorbike? I haven't used it in several months, so I wasn't sure if it might have needed some mechanical maintenance."
"It ran just fine," Cal said as he placed his coat on one of the barstools at the pass-through and took a seat in the other, "I'll look it over tomorrow to see if it needs its oil changed or anything..." He quickly took a bite of his food and fell silent while he chewed it for a bit. He swallowed and took a breath to continue speaking to Ozma, "I'm sure it's nothing like that Lancia Delta you've got in there. Are you entirely sure you don't want to let me take that gorgeous baby for a spin sometime?" he asked with a mischievous smile.
"If you so much as touch that car without my permission, nobody will be able to find your body after all is said and done," Ozma playfully threatened while pointing at Cal with his eating utensil.
While chewing his food, Cal reacted to a chime from his PDA by taking it off of his hip and reading the message on the screen. He typed a response on his PDA while talking to Ozma about a different subject, "This is a very nice place, but why the extra room? You seem to be quite the bachelor-type. I would never have guessed you to be a man of extravagance, in any degree."
"Well, it's a guest room, of sorts... I figured I would have the extra room in case Ranka decided to stay overnight sometime."
Cal had all but forgotten that Ozma was once Ranka's legal guardian, so Ozma's response evoked an "Oh yeah!" reaction from Cal. "Ahh... That's right. Well, that makes sense, then. I suppose I might run into her at some point while I'm staying here."
"She doesn't visit often, to be honest. She's been busy with her career and her friends and all... I guess her dear 'brother' doesn't rank too highly on her priority list," Ozma said with a confident chuckle. However, it didn't seem to bother him at all.
"Ha ha... Well, you never know..." Cal responded, but his sentence was cut off by his PDA's chime again. After reading the message, his face contorted to a mixture of confusion and frustration. With a heavy sigh, he typed a response onto the PDA and sent the message back.
Noting Cal's sudden silence, Ozma had to ask about the text messages. "Girlfriend?"
Cal immediately thought of the same situation he had been in several days before while standing in front of David at Bell-Casse. "No, I don't have a girlfriend, Sir. However, I seem to be constantly stuck between a rock and a hard place, when it comes to women. I've always been surrounded by obstinate women during my adult life and some things just never change," he said with a slightly frustrated sigh. He then began to quickly shovel his food into his mouth.
"You just need to find a woman with whom you can learn to see eye-to-eye," Ozma replied. It was the usual advice from one man to another.
Cal, who had crammed his mouth full of food, began to laugh at Ozma's remark while trying not to spray his dinner all over the clean countertop. He lurched forward over the counter and put his hand over his mouth to contain the masticated food behind his closed lips while he wheezed out his laughter.
Ozma raised one eyebrow in a gesture of curiosity. "What's so funny?" he said with a slight chuckle.
It took Cal a few seconds to contain his laughter to the point where he could swallow his food to answer. After a few moments, he succeeded in swallowing and responded to Ozma's question with laughter in his voice, "What if you were involved with a Meltran? How, then, would you be able to see eye-to-eye with her?"
Cal had done a good job of hiding his actual thoughts from Ozma, who simply played along with the joke. "Yeah, I guess that would be a problem." He paused for a moment to chuckle, "You know what I mean, though..." It was a courtesy laugh, since he didn't quite get what was so comical about his statement.
"Mhmm..." Cal responded with his mouth full of food once more. While he was still chewing, he got up from his chair and took the rest of his food into the kitchen to store it in the refrigerator. He came back out into the living room where Ozma was sitting and put his coat back on in a hurried fashion.
"Going somewhere again?" Ozma inquired.
"Yeah, it looks like I need to be a good friend again..." Cal vaguely answered, "You don't mind if I take the bike out again, do you?"
"Nope, it's yours to do whatever you like with while you're staying here," Ozma replied.
Cal simply smiled with a nod at Ozma and rushed out to the garage to get on his way. However, Ozma still didn't get why his offhand comment was so funny to Cal. He quickly brushed the thought from his mind and buried his concentration back into his work while grabbing another bite of food.
…
The night continued on, but with it came certain leisurely activities for those who had already performed a hard day's work. Near one of the city's numerous concert halls, many well-dressed individuals chattered with each other as they calmly filed into the building's entrances. However, one familiar figure quietly waited outside, albeit rather impatiently. The chilly night wind occasionally swept by, adding to her level of discomfort.
Ranka angrily checked the time on her phone before scanning the sparse crowd of people once more, looking for a particular individual. She began to rub her arms uncomfortably while looking around, indicating both the awkwardness of her standing all alone there and from the chilly air blowing past her. Even though she was aptly dressed for the season, the combination of factors contributed to her overall uneasiness. She wore a furry black coat to match her black dress and cardigan sweater underneath, but having to stand outside for so long began to wear down her tolerance for the chilly night air. In her hand, she held a small black purse alongside her phone while she began to scroll through her address book to make a phone call.
Before she hit the "call" button on her phone, she spotted her target emerging from amongst the crowd. Alto hurriedly rushed towards her position, a look of regret and sorrow already pasted onto his face. "I'm so sorry, Ranka. I took far longer to get ready than I had planned. I am not used to wearing this kind of fancy getup..." he began to sputter as he came within earshot of Ranka.
However, Ranka's patience had already worn thin from having to endure the elements for so long while she waited for him to arrive. "You're 20 minutes late! Do you have any idea how cold I am right now? The least you could have done was call me to let me know where you are! I've been standing here waiting for you all this time!" she angrily stated.
Just as she erupted in anger, Alto stopped his forward progress and almost took a step back in surprise to her reaction. He couldn't recall ever seeing her really angry over anything before and it wasn't like her to chastise him over something so menial as being tardy. "I said 'I'm sorry'! You don't have to get so angry about it..." he shot back.
Ranka wouldn't have any of it. "Do you have any idea how hard it was to get tickets to this orchestral performance? This is a very high-brow event and I wanted you to have the chance to enjoy something new." She then searched him over with her eyes and immediately found something else to complain about. "Your clothes are a mess! Look at you...! Here!" she said as she shoved her purse and phone into his hands in front of him.
Alto had to stand still for a moment while Ranka adjusted and fixed every little detail of his clothes so he'd look more presentable. All the while, he's wondering why he's seeing this behavior from Ranka. She's certainly upset at him right now... He realized that it was kind of rude of him to not let her know that he was running late. It was now clear that he should have called, instead of making her wait out in the cold like he did. "Ranka, I-"
She immediately looked back up at him as she finished her work. "There... Now you look much more like a gentleman!" she confidently stated as she took her purse and phone back out of Alto's cradled hands. She then whipped around to face the performance hall and began to walk towards it. "Let's go!"
Alto sheepishly walked beside her, but slightly behind. He was already feeling bad about making her wait for him in the cold, but he was more stupefied about the lecturing she just gave him. Ranka quickly reacted to his behavior by stalling her step for a moment to allow him to get beside her. She then continued her stride while she forced her arm underneath Alto's and firmly grabbed ahold of it. "A gentleman escorts his lady like this..." she said as if she was giving him a lesson on etiquette. However, her demeanor had quickly turned positive once more and she smiled as she huddled up closely to Alto's warm body. They soon entered the performance hall to take their seats inside.
Even though the orchestral performance was quite powerful, Alto sat in his seat pondering all that's happened whole he was gone on duty with the Quarter. Had he forgotten the way his relationships with Sheryl and Ranka felt to him? In his mind, he debated with himself on whether or not things were truly different between them. He was happy to be home and amongst his friends once more, but it felt like things were out of place. It could be how he felt different around Sheryl and Ranka, or it could be that there's something that's lingering in his mind; the feeling of unfinished business.
The intermission could not have come any sooner for Alto, who was beginning to feel a bit of drowsiness overcoming him. He had agreed to go to the orchestral performance because Ranka practically begged him to go with her. At some point during her phone call, he realized that he had been ordained by her to go and submitted himself to her requests. The concert wasn't boring to Alto at all, but for some reason, he just couldn't really get into it. His mind seemed to be too preoccupied with matters of greater importance.
Outside of the performance hall, the concert attendees mingled with each other while just about all of them held wine glasses in their hands. Alto patiently stood by himself at the side of the room while he watched Ranka talking with a small group of people whom she had recognized. He was just happy to get to stand up and stretch out a bit... and get a little food in his stomach. He stared at the table covered with so many delicacies, but he couldn't identify at least half of the dishes there. Even though he had some experience in gourmet cooking, he was surprised at the concoctions laid out before him. Rather than eating them, he tried to figure out how they were prepared and what ingredients were in them.
"Alto!" Ranka said to him with a bit of a raised voice. Alto jumped and snapped out of his distracted state, looking to Ranka standing right next to him. "Are you okay, Alto? You seem completely spaced out..." she asked with a concerned look on her face.
"Yeah, I'm fine... sorry, I just got to thinking about something," he coyly replied as he noticed a couple of people standing behind Ranka. It appeared that they had followed Ranka over to him.
She turned towards them and put her hand behind Alto, slightly pushing him towards the couple standing nearby. "This is Alto Saotome. He was kind enough to accompany me to the concert tonight!" she cheerily stated.
The couple seemed almost exasperated to meet Alto. "Wow...! It's such a pleasure to meet you!" the wife said, both of them shaking his hand with a little bit of exuberance. Alto cracked a smile, but he had no idea why they were so excited, until they continued their greeting. "My husband and I are huge fans of your performance in 'Sakurahime Azuma Bunsho' a few years ago. I never thought we'd get to meet you in person, but then Ranka has told us all about you ever since we met each other."
"Uhhh... Thanks!" Alto barely replied. He still looked confused, though. "How do you know Ranka?"
"Oh! Forgive me... I own the recording company that Ranka works for. I guess you could say I'm her boss, but we have more of a personal relationship than that." Both she and Ranka laughed a bit at her response to Alto's question. "Is there any chance that we'll get to see you on the kabuki stage again in the future? We know you're a military pilot now, but that doesn't mean that you can't come back and amaze us with your talents! We'd love to see what you're capable of."
Alto was already getting embarrassed from them bringing up his past; especially since he had done everything to hide the fact that he was a child prodigy kabuki actor. "Um, I really can't say at this point. The military keeps me busy and I'm fairly happy with the job. I think that I can give more to the colony as a pilot than as a kabuki actor. We're still in constant danger from outside forces and if I'm not out there doing my best to protect, then I don't think I'm making the most of my talents. Perhaps if we can assure the security of this colony beyond the shadow of a doubt, I might consider returning to the stage..." he replied with a slight laugh.
"Well, we thank you for your military service," the husband chimed in with a sincere smile, "Here's to your success in achieving a more secure future for us all." He then raised his wine glass to Alto before taking a sip. Alto smiled and did the same in return.
While Ranka and Alto returned to their seats in the performance hall, she had to remark about the meeting during the intermission, "I'm glad you got to meet them. I really think that you should network with people like that so they can open up opportunities for you, should you choose to venture into another line of work. ...or if you ever decide to go back to kabuki acting."
"Ranka, I don't-"
"I'm just saying, Alto!" she snapped. She then sighed and apologized, "Sorry. I am just trying to help you broaden your horizons. I'm glad that you're happy with your work now, but you never know what the future may bring. Don't get complacent with what you have in the present. If you network now, you will be in a good position to succeed, should any opportunities arise."
For a split moment, Alto looked at Ranka as if she was a total stranger to him. However, he realized that maybe these past few months apart from her were what she needed to grow more independent and ambitious. "That's very true, Ranka," he said, "I appreciate you looking out for me."
She smiled and hugged him with one arm before she turned her attention back towards the concert playing on the stage. "It's what I love to do."
…
In the near-perfect darkness of his new room, Cal stirred in an unfamiliar bed once more. Although he was absolutely drained of energy and he could barely keep his eyes open; it was difficult to adjust to yet another sleeping arrangement. It was nice to get to sleep on a real bed for a change, but that was not the only reason he found it difficult to sleep. In his mind, he kept going over the events that occurred after he left Ozma's house several hours earlier that night. Those text messages were the start of it all...
After he had left Ozma's house, Cal pulled up to an apartment building and ascended the stairs to the third floor. He took a deep breath before knocking on the door. However, only a couple of seconds had passed before the door opened for him. It became immediately apparent the urgent tone of the text messages he had received. Jen sheepishly stood before him, completely exasperated and looked towards him with bloodshot eyes. The coffee table in the living room behind her had a couple of wadded-up tissues. Also on the coffee table, there was an opened movie guide and a cocktail glass.
"What's wrong? Through your text messages, you made it sound like the world was coming to an end," he calmly asked. At a first glance, the tissues would indicate that she had been crying, but the movie guide told him that she was just watching cheesy romance movies. The reason for the cocktail glass was open to speculation.
Jen used the opportunity to throw herself into his arms, even though he hadn't made any physical gesture to invite her to do so. Cal was initially surprised at this, but he slowly closed his hands around her, still confused as to what's going on.
"Stephen and I had a big argument and I got mad and made him leave. He found out that I had lunch with you last week and completely blew up over it," she struggled to say. She almost looked ashamed to admit this to Cal.
"Why does he think that's such a big deal?"
"I don't know why he's so insecure about it. I have to keep reassuring him that you and I are just friends now."
Cal's eyes popped open upon hearing her answer. "Wait... you told him about us?"
Jen stepped back and looked into Cal's eyes, unaware of any wrongdoing. "Yeah... Why?"
Cal smacked his hand on his forehead out of frustration, "Aw, no wonder he reacted like that! You don't tell a boyfriend that you're 'just friends' with someone you've recently been with. It's just not a smart thing to do so early in a relationship!"
"Well, why should it matter?"
"It shouldn't, but it does. That's just the way guys are! You can't tell me that you wouldn't feel awkward being around someone whom Commander Ortiz has been with, would you?"
Jen got a bit aggravated at Cal's questioning... and his seemingly flawed sense of logic over the matter. "No...! I wouldn't find that to be weird at all!"
Cal chuckled and smiled as he responded, "Then you're definitely one out of a million." Jen blushed ever-so-slightly and walked over to the couch to take a seat. He then stared at the ground as he realized something else that's going to cause him problems. "Man, now that he knows about us, I'm going to get the strangest looks from him every time we pass each other in the halls of the ship."
"You men are so fickle when it comes to dealing with things like this... I can't believe that something so dumb is such a huge deal," she said with a laugh.
Cal didn't really like where the conversation was going and decided to leverage things into his favor a little bit. "You know, I can just head on home if you want me to go..." he sternly said, pointing at the door behind him.
"No! I'm sorry, Cal... I just wanted someone to talk to, you know? Just do me this favor and keep a lonely girl company for a while, okay?" she said, reaching out to the air as if she was grasping at Cal to keep him from leaving.
"Wait, so you just had a fight with Commander Ortiz because he was mad that you had lunch with me. Now, I'm in your apartment in the middle of the night while you're wearing your grubbies and you want me to stay for an undetermined amount of time... How is this a good idea?"
"Don't worry about it. I texted you because I knew that you would come to help me feel better. Now, just come sit down and finish watching this movie with me. I promise you that you can go when it's over, okay?"
Cal continued to play his little game and feigned hesitation while he debated on whether or not to stay. After a few moments, he agreed and sat down next to Jen on the couch. She had just started watching some mushy romance movie on her television when Cal arrived. She motioned to the screen to unpause the movie and it responded by continuing where it had left off. A comforter-sized blanket laid on the floor in front of the couch and Jen picked it up and threw it over herself and Cal as she settled into her seat.
"Comfy?" she asked.
Cal simply nodded and pulled the blanket down so that only his legs were covered. "Been watching movies and doing a little drinking, huh?"
She was a little embarrassed at the presence of evidence, but she did little to refute his accusation. "I just figured that I'd help get my mind off of things by watching a couple of movies."
Despite the numerous alarms going off in his head, Cal did what he thought was best and agreed to endure that which was considered to be "entertaining" to the seemingly-enigmatic female gender.
Throughout the movie, Cal noticed Jen getting closer and closer to him. By the time the credits started rolling, she was comfortably resting her head on his shoulder.
"Thanks for coming over tonight; it really means a lot to me. You're a real good friend, you know that?" Jen asked. Suddenly alarms began to go off inside of Cal's head, but there was little he could do about it at that very moment. Jen began to shift slightly in her position, leaned up against Cal. "I sometimes wonder if I made the right decision in letting you go in favor of Stephen..."
"Don't say things like that, Jen. I don't think he deserves those kinds of thoughts in your mind. I'm glad that we're friends, but that doesn't mean that you two can't be happy together." He did his best to diffuse the situation, before anything weird happened.
"Hmph... I can think of few guys who would willingly spend their evening watching cheesy romance movies with another girl and not have some kind of feelings for her... All those times on the Quarter when you were there to help me feel better about the problems I was going through at various times... what was that about, Cal? I know you care about me. Come on, you deserve someone who appreciates everything you do for them..." she said with an inviting voice.
Before he knew it, Jen had already taken her hand off of his side and gripped his shoulder to pull him closer to her. He felt her turn her head upwards to look at him and very slightly shifted his head away to make sure she didn't get too close. However, it didn't seem to have any effect on her motivation and she pulled him closer until she started to kiss on his neck.
"Jen..." Cal said as he kept pulling away, "No, Jen... this isn't right." In that very moment, he could smell the alcohol on her breath. Cal's eyes shot open in response and he lurched away and jumped up from the couch.
As if she had just woken up from a bad dream, she came to the realization of what she was doing. "Oh my god! I'm so sorry; I didn't mean to...!" she said as she bent forward in shame.
Cal wiped the wetness away from the skin on his neck and rubbed his eyes with his palms. "What's the matter with you, Jen? I kept having this feeling that something like this was gonna happen..." He removed his hands from in front of his face to see Jen sitting on the couch, staring at the wall with a catatonic look.
"Perhaps it's best if you just go on home."
"Yeah..." he responded while he put his shoes back on. He felt compelled to make her feel a little better before he left, though. He walked up behind her and squeezed her shoulder. "I can understand that you might be feeling a bit lonely right now, but just give this some time. Relationships always have their ups and downs. If you didn't have the occasional fight with each other, then you wouldn't have any other way of working out your differences. Trust me... when he comes back and you guys work out the problem, you'll be even more in love with each other. It happened all of the time when I was with Marie and our relationship grew stronger with each incident's resolution. I've even fought, quite literally, with my wingmates on various issues, but we get over it and we have become such a tightly-knit group together. It works on so many levels."
Jen didn't really respond verbally. She just grasped Cal's hand on her shoulder for a moment and then pulled his hand off of her shoulder. It was her way of telling him to just let her be alone with her thoughts for now.
"Oh, I think it would be best if you don't mention any of what happened tonight to Commander Ortiz," Cal remarked mid-stride on his way to the door.
"I know. Goodnight, Cal," Jen responded without looking at him.
Cal slowly and quietly walked out the door, taking care not to let the latch make any more noise than was necessary. Once the door was shut, he put his hand up to the wall nearby and gently bumped his head against the wall's hard surface. At that point, there had to be a million things going through his head...
Even while he laid in his new bed some time later, it seemed that none of the questions had yet been answered. However, he had finally succumbed to his physical exhaustion and made note of the last image he saw before he finally fell asleep: the digital clock next to him reading the current time of 3:56 AM.
At some point in his dream, Cal became annoyed at the repeated sound of a phone jingle. He suddenly realized that the jingle was his PDA ringing at him. He came out of his deep sleep and fumbled with the items on the nightstand near him. "That better not be Jen calling me at this ungodly hour," he thought to , he knocked the alarm clock off of the nightstand, sending it crashing to the floor. "Shit!" he mumbled. He then found his PDA and instinctively pressed the answer key on the screen without looking at the caller ID.
"Yes...?" he spoke with a hint of annoyance in his voice.
There was a brief silence from the phone before an answer came forth. "Cal?"
That was all it took for him to recognize the caller. He slightly gasped as he responded, "Half-pint!" He felt a little tightness in his chest from his pulse increasing a bit out of excitement.
There was a forced exhalation of breath that came through the phone's speaker; Cal's little pet name for her still seemed to bother Klan a bit. "Yeah, it's me," she replied.
Cal could almost hear her rolling her eyes on the other side of the connection. "Oh man," he groaned while rubbing his eyes, "What time is it?"
"Umm... it's about 4:30 in the morning. Were you sleeping?"
"No."
"You're such a liar! I can tell you've been sleeping by your voice. I thought you got up at four every morning!"
"I did while we were on duty, but ever since we got back to Aimo, I found myself waking up a little later every day... heh. I actually just got to sleep a half an hour ago."
"Oh, well I'll let you get back to sleep then. I'm sorry to wake you!"
"No, it's okay! I'm fine. I'm just glad to hear from you again. I've been wondering what you've been up to since you never seem to call me..." The guilt-trip has been carefully laid out.
"I know... it's just that every time I have a free moment, I look at the clock and realize that it's your usual time to sleep. I wouldn't want to disturb you. You could have just sent me a text message or something to say 'hello'. I would have responded when I got a chance!"
Cal had to stop him self from verbally sounding out his frustration over the text message statement. All this time, he worked hard to not try and contact her so he wouldn't seem like he was imposing. Now, he just wanted to kick himself. "Well, I thought you were going to be too busy and I didn't want to bother you. I guess I got it all wrong, huh?"
"Have you been keeping yourself out of trouble all this time? I know how you can get when you're bored to tears..." Klan said with some sarcasm in her voice.
"I may be off-duty from the NUNS, but you forget that I have a secondary job. I always manage to find something to do over at Bell-Casse, so I've been doing a good job of keeping myself from any kinds of destructive activities that you might suspect me to be guilty of at this point." Cal followed up his response with a very audible yawn.
"Oh man, don't start yawning. You'll make me start too; although I am pretty tired right now."
"For some reason, I have this overwhelming urge to make you start yawning now... that's so weird!" Cal said with his usual mischievous tone, "Anyway, how's the test piloting going? Are you guys making some progress?"
"Yup! As a matter of fact, we might be finished with our current phase real soon... which is kind of why I wanted to call you. If all goes well, we'll be taking a few days off while we transition to the next phase-" Klan stopped mid-sentence as soon as she heard Cal yawning into the phone again, "Stop that!"
"I'm sorry, I am just tired! You said you might have some time off soon? That's great! I hope that everything goes off without a hitch for you."
"Yeah, this whole test-piloting thing has been such a great experience for me. I've thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of it and it's just a great feeling to be such an influential force on the production and perfection of the next-generation Queadluun. I'll see if there's anything that I am allowed to tell you about concerning the testing of the Rasa and we can swap stories with each other soon. Deal?" Klan asked. She waited for an answer, but received none. "Cal?" After another moment of waiting, she checked to see if the call had been dropped. However, the phone still indicated that the connection was active. There was still the white noise of the line, but she began to make out the sound of rhythmic inhaling and exhaling. That was all she needed to hear in order to deduce that he had fallen asleep with his PDA still on.
For some reason, she kept the line open for a good minute, listening to him breathing. Part of her hoped that he'd wake back up so she could give him a little bit of crap about falling asleep while she was talking to him, but she then felt like it just wasn't worth waking him up. However, she spoke softly into her phone, thinking that maybe he'd hear her subconsciously, "I sometimes wonder why you purposely go out of your way for me. But as the saying goes, actions speak louder than words. I can hear you loud and clear. I just wish it was that easy for me..." She stopped speaking for a moment before finishing her one-way conversation. "Goodnight to you. I guess I'll be talking to you again soon... whenever that is."
While he slept, the screen on Cal's PDA lit up once more, illuminating the side of his face where it rested. No doubt, it was displaying the "disconnected" message to him, indicating that Klan had hung up on her end. He remained motionless in his sleep while his breathing continued the same rhythm. The PDA then fell off of the side of his head and landed face-up on the bed, shining its light upwards towards his face. The touchscreen soon went dark from inactivity, once again returning the room to the level of darkness that shrouded everything before the phone call came in. Only Cal's breathing could be heard at that point.
