Chapter 3 #2
“What?!” I gasp, eyes wide. I don’t have that kind of money!
No one does, or at least, no regular people.
No wonder not that many people come back to Earth.
Who can afford that kind of fee? “Listen, I ain’t got that kinda money.
I was thinkin’ maybe a couple thousand or something.
” Not more money than I could ever make in my entire life, unless, of course, my music career really takes off.
I have a feeling Tavryn won’t be willing to take an IOU.
Tavryn shrugs in response, heading out of the storage area and through a door to our left.
I trail after him, trying to figure out how to convince him to take me home.
The next room is basically a small studio apartment with a kitchen, a little seating area, and a bed.
It’s so homey I kind of forget we’re in a moving spaceship.
“You could consider another form of payment,” the voice, who must be this Stells Tavryn keeps talking to, suggests. “I hear that sometimes when a human on Earth can’t pay for services rendered, they provide comparable services in return instead of money.”
It takes me a couple of minutes to figure out exactly what she’s saying.
Once it clicks, my whole face brightens.
“Oh! I could sing for you. I’m real good at singin’.
Actually, back on Earth, I won this big competition show where I sang on TV and got judged and people voted for me and stuff.
It’s called America’s Voice. Y’all get that up here? ”
Tavryn doesn’t bother to look at me and instead walks over to the fridge, acting like I’m not standing here trying to talk to him. It brings my excitement down a couple of notches.
“Er, I play the guitar too. I can play a lot of stuff. I write some, but I know a bunch of covers, so I can take requests.” I’m rambling now, but I can’t seem to stop myself.
I just want him to say something. “Though I guess y’all’s music is probably different.
I kept askin’ ‘em to play somethin’ for me on the last ship I was on, the one with all those fancy copper and silver-y lookin’ guys.
They always said no, so I ain’t never heard no alien music.
I’m sure it’s good. I’m pretty quick at learnin’ songs by ear if you wa—”
“Stars, do you ever shut up?!” Tavryn exclaims, spinning around to look at me so quickly that liquid sloshes out of his glass, which is gripped tightly in his tail.
It’s so not human that my gaze immediately clocks the motion as he uses his tail to bring the glass to his lips and takes a calming sip.
“No wonder they abandoned you on Hurcaria to die.”
That brings me back to the conversation real quick. I glance away, feeling that same sense of shame I got in school when I got in trouble for talking too much. Apparently, I hadn’t learned anything since then. “That’s really what happened?” I ask much more quietly. “They weren’t comin’ back?”
Tavryn stares at me like I’m dumb. It’s a look I’m pretty familiar with by this point in my life. “Did they tell you that they were coming back for you?” When I nod, he sighs. “And you just believed them?”
“They said they were throwin’ me a surprise party!
” I huff. It was a very believable excuse.
Who knew that aliens were such good liars?
“I didn’t think they could hurt me! Ain’t that part of the treaty or somethin’?
They’re not supposed to take humans just to kill ‘em.” I let out a breath, running my hand through my still-damp curls.
“So I guess I didn’t consider they’d just drop me off somewhere dangerous and never come back. ”
Tavryn sighs again, his head falling back.
It’s louder this time. I’m really starting to think he might be able to have an entire conversation just using all these different sighs he lets out.
He stares up at the ceiling for a long time.
He must be trying to decide what to do with me.
Hopefully the answer is to take me back to Earth.
I rack my brain for ideas of what I might be able to do for him.
Besides singing and playing the guitar, I don’t really have any skills.
The only job I ever had was stocking cans at the Piggly Wiggly.
I’d wanted to work back in the meat department, since it looked more exciting and paid better, but my boss never trusted me around the machinery for some reason.
When I’d asked to be transferred back there, he just laughed and told me to get back to work.
I hadn’t bothered asking again after that.
Stells interrupts what was becoming a very uncomfortable silence. “Actually, those weren’t the services I was alluding to,” she says, voice much happier than Tavryn’s. At least someone around here seems glad to have me on board. I frown as she pauses, waiting for her to continue. She doesn’t.
“Stells, hun, I’m gon’ need a little bit more info than that,” I admit.
I honestly have no clue what she’s talking about.
Tavryn apparently gets something that I’m missing, because his pretty grey face has suddenly gone all purple.
Is that how he blushes? It’s real cute if it is.
Makes him seem a bit less like a jerk and a little more… well…human.
“For example, I believe on Earth, if one was unable to pay for a service, they might offer some sort of sexual favor as an alternate payment.” Now I’m the one blushing.
Out of everything Stells could have said, never in a million years did I think she was going to say that.
“Do you understand what I mean by a sexual favor, or should I explain further?”
“No, no, no, I got it,” I say quickly. The last thing I want is her describing how blowjobs work or something.
I’m familiar enough with the concept. I glance over at Tavryn.
When our eyes meet, he quickly looks away.
I doubt he’d be interested in that kind of deal anyway, so there’s probably no need for me to even consider it as an option.
“Based on the fact that you packed a sex toy in the single backpack you were allowed to bring from your home planet, I assume you’re a sexually active individual.” Apparently, Stells is just going to continue down this thread until one of us stops her.
I open my mouth to do so, about to say that there’s no way Tavryn would ever want to fool around with someone like me, but she’s faster. “And my good friend Tavryn desperately needs to get laid. It’s starting to become an issue, to be quite frank with you, Banjo.”
“Stells!” Tavryn nearly shrieks the word. The sound makes my ears ring a little. “I swear I’m going to just start ripping out wires if you don’t stop talking right now.”
I don’t know why ripping out wires is such a threat, but his tone makes even me go quiet. I get the feeling that I don’t want to be on this guy’s bad side. His good side is already bad enough.
“I mean…” I trail off when Tavryn moves his death glare to me, holding my hands up in surrender.
“Look, I know you ain’t interested in me.
Even I ain’t stupid enough to miss those signals.
” Tavryn barely wants to look at me, let alone touch me.
I can take a hint. “I’m just sayin’ that you’re pretty dang good lookin’, so it ain’t a deal I’d be opposed to. ”
My entire face is burning by this point. Maybe I did catch on fire down on that planet, and I’m only noticing it now. I push through the embarrassment though, willing to do whatever it takes to get back to Earth.
Tavryn looks only slightly less horrified than he did before.
I can see the gears in his head turning as he gathers his thoughts.
Or maybe he’ll just storm off and not say anything.
This ship seems small, but that’s because the only other ship I’ve ever been on was bigger than four Walmarts mashed together.
I’m sure it’s still big enough for Tavryn to find some place to hide away from me for a while.
“That’s not…” He pauses for a moment, licking his lips as he looks away from me. “I would never want you to feel obligated to do anything like that. Not that I’m even slightly interested in fooling around with a human.” He says the word “human” like it’s the biggest insult he can hurl.
However, buried beneath all that snootiness is concern.
Concern for me. He doesn’t want me to think I have to have sex with him just to avoid being left for dead or sent to some kind of weird alien auction.
It would be sweet, if I didn’t fully believe that he would, in fact, leave me behind or sell me off to anyone with enough money.
Whatever moral compass this guy has is really all over the place.
“Well.” I’m not sure what to say to that, so of course, I just say the first thing that comes to mind.
“Even if you weren’t gon’ take me back, I’d still do you.
I mean, it could be kinda cool to know what it’s like to be with an alien.
” Does Tavryn even have a dick? It isn’t a dealbreaker to me if not.
He puts off a masculine energy, which is enough to pique my interest.
“In your dreams,” Tavryn shoots back with a snort, stomping over to a door on the other side of the room.
It slides open with a quiet whoosh as he approaches it.
“Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to get back to my very important job of piloting this ship.
Stay here and try not to get your human stink all over everything. ”
Before I have the chance to say anything else—like maybe asking where the bathroom is so I can freshen up—the door is sliding shut again, and my moment is gone.
Okay, that definitely could have gone better.
I also get the feeling that it maybe could have gone worse.
I’m still here on the ship, after all. Tavryn didn’t boot me out like those other guys did.
Wherever he’s going, he seems okay with me tagging along, at least for now.
That means I have another chance to convince him to take me back to Earth, or at least not sell me off at the first opportunity.
Time to get to thinking, Banjo. If I can convince all of America to love me, I can get this alien to fall for me too. I just know it.