Chapter 12
CARL
Bratty Dogs wasn’t that hard to find, thankfully.
It didn’t hurt that I’d know Kittinir anywhere, even when glimpsed from behind in an area littered with several other, nearly as hunky, Mylos.
I spied him sitting outside at one of the little round tables with curved benches around them that served as seating for the kiosk style restaurant.
“Fancy seeing you here,” I teased, sliding in to sit across from him. I inwardly chuckled at the look of complete and utter surprise on his face. He really was cute, the way his eyes were wide, his half eaten hot dog held mere inches from his sensuous lips.
“Carl,” he managed to finally say. “I admit, this is indeed a surprise.” He placed his hot dog back down on his plate.
“A good one, I hope.”
He smiled at me, and I basked in the warmth of the affection evident in his gaze.
A warmth that I kept hoping to see grow hotter, but now was not the time nor the place to test those waters.
Soon, I promised myself. First, I needed to make myself part of his life changes, so we could continue with the closeness we already shared.
“Very much so,” he agreed. “I simply wasn’t expecting you yet, as we’d only just discussed my trying to arrange permission for you to catch a shuttle.”
“I know, but then I thought, why wait? There’s that mail hub not all that far away from where we live, well where I still live anyway, so I took a chance and drove on down there, where I managed to speak to a pilot, who asked Xeranos, who said sure, and tada! Here I am.”
“And here you are. How long do you get to stay?”
Not how long was I going to be here, but how long did I get to stay? The phrasing gave me hope that he was as reluctant to part as I was.
“Three days this time. Hopefully, a lot longer the next time.”
Kit nodded, picking his hot dog up again to take a bite.
“That looks good. I think I’ll go order one,” I said, trying my damndest to play it cool, as if seeing that go into his mouth didn’t give me other ideas.
Not about food either, but certain other sausage shaped things I’d dearly love to see disappear between his stretched lips.
I subtly adjusted myself beneath the table before standing up.
“Take your tablet,” Kit called after me as I began to walk away. “You’ll need it for them to note on your ration account.”
I turned back to fetch it off the table, totally not feeling silly for forgetting that the Fleet famously did not use money the way we did.
They had a sort of barter system where all anyone had to do was ask for something, and they’d get it, but they kept track of what everyone requested to ensure no one was taking unfair advantage of the system.
Presumably, if someone got greedy, they were simply told no, although I was unsure exactly how that actually worked.
Tablet in hand once more, I turned back around and strode over to the kiosk.
I was third in line, so I took the time to read the menu.
There was not only the expected assortment of hot dogs, but several I’d never seen offered anywhere else.
One of them in particular struck my fancy, so as soon as it was my turn, I decided to go for it.
”I’d like a Taco Dog, please, with a vanilla Coke.”
“And would you like mild, medium, or hot sauce?” the fresh faced young woman behind the counter asked me.
“How hot are we talking?”
“If you’re used to Taco Bell, the spice levels are about the same, so the hot isn’t very hot in the grand scheme of things,” she confided, “and the medium is right between Taco Bell Mild and Hot.”
Still too hot for my comfort if I had the hottest though, especially given what the refried beans were going to do to me later. “Medium,” I said, deciding that mild was playing it too safe. I just hoped my asshole would forgive me later.
“Jalpanos?”
“Can you only put three individual ones on, spread evenly across?” She smirked. “Yeah, we can do that.” She leaned forward conspiratorially. “I love the taste of the hot, but my stomach rains down fire, so I do exactly the same thing when I order one of these.”
Sensing a kindred spirit, I smiled. “Cool, thank you.”
“Oh, if you want to cool it, we can add sour cream.”
”Yes, please. Um, can you add extra?”
“Yup, no problem. Before or after we add the crushed tortillas?”
“A bit before, then add some guac on top, and then the extra sour cream?”
She gave me a wink. “Noted. And what sort of cheese would you like? Colby, Monterey Jack, Pepper Jack, or Cheddar?”
“Monterey Jack,” I decided.
”And would you like anything else?”
“Just the Taco Dog and vanilla Coke.”
“Alrighty then, I just need to scan your tablet there,” she said.
I presented it, and she walked me through unlocking it so her register could sync to it. That done, she turned away to assemble my hot dog and grab my bottle of soda.
“A glass bottle?” I asked in surprise, seeing it.
“Yup. There’s a soft drink bottling plant up here now, bottles all the major brands, and the bottles are recycled into atoms and remade as needed.
They chose glass as that was the overwhelming choice when polled.
I gotta say, it tastes better out of a glass bottle than a plastic one or a can. ” She popped the top for me. “Enjoy!”
“I will. Thanks!”
I picked up my tray and took it back to Kit’s table. “This is so cool,” I told him, sitting down. “I mean, I’ve seen representations on TV and in movies, but they’ve never shown that you guys have actual parks and artificial skies and shit.”
“Playtime Fleet does,” he countered. “I’ve seen memes using stills from that.”
“Yes, but that’s a make believe world that’s not entirely accurate,” I pointed out.
He arched an eyebrow at me. “And the TV shows and movies aren’t?”
“Fair point. But still, I wonder why not.”
He shrugged. “Maybe none of the script writers have actually been aboard one of our ships, or if they have, were not let into our private areas? The recreation areas are restricted to those residing here or visiting family and friends.”
“So someone here strictly for business would not have seen any of this,” I postulated, waving my hand about to encompass our surroundings.
“No,” he agreed. Then he frowned. “There was that one talk show host, a while back. But I do not think they showed anything beyond the seating areas, and not the park, or the sky, as they were mainly using close up. But then that bombing happened, so no more outside media or business visitors have been allowed.”
“Shit, I’d forgotten about that. Humans First, wasn’t it?”
He shook his head. “Turned out to be a ratings grab stunt that went too far.”
“Seriously? Holy hell.” I didn’t know how to respond any more than that, so I picked up my hot dog to take my first bite.
It was pretty loaded, topped with beef taco meat, lettuce, salsa, hot sauce, cheese, sour cream, guacamole, and crushed tortilla chips, so it was a two handed job, one hand supporting each end to prevent making too much of a mess.
Flavor exploded across my tongue. Mmmm, I definitely had a new favorite.
I was absolutely going to have to put this as a tick box in the “reasons to give Kittinir for me moving to the Fleet” column.
Right under “running an extension course in person’”, “resuming our bowling lessons” (thank you, chance meeting that revealed a bowling alley on board), and “being too lonely without my best buddy”.
As we both munched our way through our hot dogs, I mulled over how we’d kick back together over these three days, after he got off work, of course, and meet up for lunch too during that time.
While he was at work after lunch today, I’d go find my temporary quarters, then go have a good look around, maybe check out the bowling alley that cute guy was talking about.
Then Kit and I could have some dinner while maybe watching a movie at his place.
Tomorrow, while I waited for lunch time to roll back around, I’d go sign the contract that would see me start teaching that extension course, and meet the Dragonii and Mylos who would help me set it up so it could be accessed by those within the Fleet as well as distance students on Earth, aboard the two Council space stations Space Force personnel and their families were stationed on, and by the Dragonii colonists and their human mates to be as they found them.
It was an exciting prospect, and one that I relished.
Finally landing Kit, though, would really be the icing on the cake.
If I failed to become his mate? That was not even an option. Nope, not at all.