CHAPTER 3
Squeezing my hand with the tentacle wrapped around it, Kita says, “Um… I am not complaining, but when you said you wanted to take me out, I did not expect the fancy schmancy treatment.”
“Well, I know for a fact that Agan and his friends can’t join us here.”
I really don’t need an interruption.
They won’t get past the host stand without reservations, and if they do, I will make a waiter kick them out so fast.
Balphor’s is booked out for months.
Taking advantage of Phantom’s connections is the only reason I got us a table
If they put in the request for us, apparently we’ll have a table, no matter what. And tonight… Tonight I wanted something special.
The conversation with Sirin had gone on for over an hour with brief spots of silence when his work intruded. He’s lonely, and I hate that.
And when he had to go, all I wanted to do was tell Kita.
But telling Kita meant admitting to more than a few secrets, and that was why I brought her here. Buttering her up before I “break the news”.
The waiter brings us our drinks and takes our orders—it’s fancy, but there are only three things to choose from on the menu for any species that sits down, so it’s not a hard decision to make—and when we’re alone again, I bite my lip.
I ran through a dozen different versions of the script for this in my head and… none of them are right.
“So,” I say, prompting myself and forcing the conversation to start. “I have something to tell you.”
Kita folds one tentacle onto the table and under her chin—it’s a gesture she’s copied from me, even though she doesn’t have human arms. “Why do you look nervous?”
Exhaling, I say, “I’ve kind of been lying to you?”
Her head tilts to the side, her smile absolutely incredulous. “What could you possibly be lying to me about?”
“I changed jobs a few months ago.”
“Okay… I don’t see why that would need to be a secret.” She takes a drink and wiggles with joy.
“The important thing is that I love my new job, but also, I need you to keep it a secret.”
“Of course.”
“I work at Phantom’s.”
“Oh! That’s awesome! And it explains this.” She waves a tentacle around to indicate that she’s talking about the restaurant. “Balphors is not someplace we would go on either of our salaries—well, your previous one.”
“No… I definitely could not have swung my half of this, much less offer to treat you.”
“Nice.” She takes another drink. “You promise you love it?”
“I do.” I bite my lip, still waiting for some kind of fall out. “You’re not upset?”
“Of course not, why would I be?” Laughing, she says, “Milk those guys for every credit they’re worth.”
I grimace at the particular word choice, but… “Not everyone is as open minded about that, which is why I’d like to keep it between us.”
“Of course.” She smiles and then it falters, and her eyes go round. “Oh! No wonder you looked like that after Agan’s little outburst. He’s such an asshole. I do not know why anyone likes him.”
I pitch my voice in a mocking tone. “Oh, it’s because his uncle is so important, obviously.”
She snorts and the waiter asks her if she’s okay as he brings our food.
Assuring him that she’s fine, we wait until we’re alone again to laugh because, even though it’s not actually funny, we both have the giggles.
Mine are no doubt from the lightness I feel being able to actually talk to her about this now.
She asks about the logistics and I tell her almost everything.
I don’t tell her that my favorite client is an Opodean… or that I first took him on in that ridiculous, misguided fantasy.
I do tell her about the women I work with and Phantom’s policies to keep us safe.
“Good. If they weren’t looking out for you, I would go down there and make certain of it.”
I’m not sure who I think would win in a fight between the two of them. When I tell her that, we both laugh again.
The lightness of my confession carries me all the way home and when I’m alone again, I pull my comm out… one new message.
I hope your day was better than mine.
I tap out my reply while I wriggle out of my pants.
I think I’d need more information before I’m able to judge.
Someone—
The message appears for a second and then vanishes before I can read it.
[System message: privacy settings breached]
I don’t know what that means, but it doesn’t sound good… and I don’t have a bot in my apartment to ask. Tossing my pants over the back of my desk chair, I sit on my bed and wait.
Sorry, I forgot that my parameters are set to stop me from talking about work.
That’s okay. If you don’t like your job, we definitely don’t need to talk about it.
I almost joke that not everyone can have as nice of playmates as I do… but I don’t think he wants to be reminded I have other clients.
I do like my job.
It is simply not something I’m supposed to talk about.
For more than just my own privacy.
That could mean anything, and I am not about to ask if he works with medical records at the station medical facilities, or is in some kind of personnel department. What he does, doesn’t matter. Instead, I ask,
What are you up to tonight?
I don’t plan on going out again and I don’t need to get anything done—my apartment is the size of a postage stamp—so, I finish getting undressed and snuggle down in bed.
Work.
That’s no good. You’ve been working *all day.*
You need a break.
What do you do when you’re not at work?
I see you.
That can’t be the only time he isn’t working.
Or I go to the bowls.
So, he gets naked one way or another.
I literally didn’t know about those until this the other day.
I scowl at the emoji as soon as I press send. I shouldn’t have used it.
Sometimes, it feels like I got here yesterday. There are so many things I don’t know about so many different kinds of people.
There are certainly more than enough of us to keep a scholar busy. What incited your education on the bowls?
A friend’s brother went to the new one they opened today.
I don’t know how much more I want to say about it. I definitely don’t want to talk about Agan with him. So, I quickly say,
My best friend is Opodean, but she doesn’t like the bowls, so we’d never talked about them before.
But she said there are several. Do you have a favorite?
I immediately question if I should have asked that.
You don’t need to tell me which one it is.
I do have a favorite.
And I don’t mind telling you.
There’s a long pause and for a moment, I wonder if the app has stopped him from breaking his own rules again.
There’s a small set of bowls and baths run by a Trulavian family in the lowest public level of the station. It’s quiet and private and most people chase the new and popular places, but they sacrifice the point of the place.
What’s the point?
To be the person you actually are when everything else is cleaned away.