Chapter 4 #3
I instantly recognized her as one of the women who had been hanging around Kyle at the air hockey table earlier, and I wondered if they somehow knew each other.
“Hi,” I greeted her with a polite smile. “I’m Liam.”
“Clarisse,” she introduced herself. “What do you do for work, Liam?”
“I’m a mechanic in my friend’s car shop,” I replied. “It’s one of my passions. What about you?”
“I’m an OF creator,” Clarisse replied.
I wasn’t sure why, but something about the way she said it rubbed me the wrong way.
“OF?” I cocked my head to the side.
“Only Fans,” she replied in a condescending tone, as if my question was stupid and obvious. “I have over two million subscribers.”
“Cool.” I tried to be diplomatic despite her attitude. “You must do very well for yourself, then. That’s awesome.”
She sat back with a smug grin on her face, and she didn’t make any other move to ask me more questions.
Quite frankly, I wasn’t too eager to learn more about her either, so I decided to change the subject.
“I saw you with Kyle earlier,” I said. “Did you know him before… all of this?”
I didn’t really know the best way to describe the current predicament we were all in.
“Are you talking about the tall blond one?” Clarisse looked surprised by my line of questioning. “No, I met him after I woke up on the ship. Why?”
“I was just curious,” I said with a casual shrug. “I just saw you hanging around him, and I wondered if maybe you knew each other.”
“Well, we don’t,” she repeated. “I just heard him talking about his father’s company and all the successful investments he’d made to the other guys, and he sounded like someone who knew what he was doing. So, I figured it’d be safer to stick around him.”
Ah, so she was that type of woman.
Correction, she heard Kyle boasting and assumed he had a lot of money, which, fair, he does. But the money was the real reason she stuck around.
I glanced away, and Parker met my eyes. She gave me a meaningful look, and it seemed she was trying not to laugh, so I knew she’d been listening in on my conversation.
I returned her knowing look before I redirected my attention to my current date. Even if we didn’t have anything in common, I didn’t want to be rude, so I continued to ask her questions until the buzzer went off again.
I stuck with basic, shallow questions, the kind of shit that doesn’t actually matter much to the actual character of a person. Stuff like, ‘what’s your favorite color,’ or ‘what’s your favorite kind of food?’
By the time the buzzer went off, I was ready to leave, and I practically leaped out of my seat.
I sat down in front of Parker, who looked amused, like she was thinking of some inside joke.
“Hello, again,” I greeted her. “So, tell me about yourself,”
“Before I start,” she said in a serious tone as she held up a hand to stop me, but despite her hardened demeanor, I could see amusement dancing behind her eyes. “I need to make it clear right now that money is very important to me. How much do you make?”
I instantly knew what she was doing, and I dared a glance back at Clarisse, the current subject she was mocking.
She seemed oblivious to our conversation.
“I’m no millionaire.” I pretended to look downtrodden as I played along with Parker’s joke. “But I make enough to live comfortably, and I promise to spend every penny I earn to make you feel like a princess.”
“Hmm…” She pretended to deliberate for a moment. “I don’t know… I usually only date billionaires or higher.”
“I also own a decent-sized truck,” I added as if I were trying to sweeten the pot.
“Oh, well, in that case, I suppose I could give you at least a small chance,” she finally conceded.
“I appreciate the opportunity,” I chuckled at her dedication to the bit. “I promise I won’t let you down.”
“You better not,” she teased, but then her tone switched up to one that was more sincere and lighthearted. “All jokes aside, I may have overheard that you’re a mechanic, what else do you like to do?”
“I spend most of my time in the garage,” I admitted. “But I do make time to do MMA. I’m no professional, and I’ve never officially competed, but I’ve always loved to fight and spar.”
“I should’ve known.” Parker smirked as her eyes swept over me. “You definitely look the type.”
“What, are you saying I look like a brute?” I joked.
“No!” Parker giggled. “I’m saying you’re very fit, and you look like you know how to defend yourself. You move with a lot of confidence, and it’s noticeable.”
“Oh,” I said, and I could feel the heat rise in my own face. “Well, thanks, I guess.”
I’d only just met this woman, and yet she seemed so bold and direct.
Sometimes, it left me a little tongue-tied.
“You’re welcome, I guess,” she echoed with a small grin.
She definitely was something else, that was for sure. It took a special woman to be able to act as calm as she was under such stressful circumstances.
I wanted to know more.
“What about you?” I asked. “I have yet to find out what you do for a living.”
“I work at a gym,” Parker replied. “But it’s not a typical gym.”
“How so?” I raised an eyebrow.
My curiosity had officially been piqued.
“The gym is more focused on training for specific sports or outdoor activities, rather than just working out,” she explained. “Like we have a row machine, but it’s to help people train for actual boat competitions, we have huge rock walls so people can train for mountain climbing, stuff like that.”
“That’s really cool,” I said. “I’m assuming you got that job because you enjoy that sort of stuff?”
“I love it,” Parker said with a wide smile. “I love being outdoors and exploring. We even have a training ring at my gym for boxing and MMA matches. I’m no pro, either, but I dabble a bit.”
I was thoroughly impressed, and I didn’t think I’d ever met a woman quite so active and full of life before.
“What do you love about being in nature and exploring?” I asked.
“Probably the freedom of it all,” the auburn-haired woman admitted. “When I’m out in nature, I truly feel like I can go anywhere and do anything. No restrictions.”
“That also sounds pretty dangerous,” I chuckled.
“Oh, it’s definitely not without its risks,” Parker agreed with a laugh of her own. “I’ve become quite adept at getting into scrapes that require patching myself up. If you ever need an unofficial, but well-practiced nurse, I’m your girl.”
“I’ll definitely keep that in mind,” I promised.
Before I could say any more, the buzzer went off again.
Damn, that also went by really fast.
I got to my feet, but I didn’t make any other move. We’d done an entire rotation, and I’d spoken to all the women, so unless the aliens also wanted me to speed date all the guys here as well…
We should be done with the game.
Nothing seemed to happen, though, and I could feel myself begin to tense up again.
We’d gone through the entire speed dating round without incident, but now that we were done, perhaps this would be when the aliens finally revealed their true intentions.
I kept my eyes moving and listened carefully for any change, but still there was nothing but silence.
All the other contestants were beginning to look worried as well, and I noticed they kept glancing around with wary expressions.
Suddenly, the disembodied voice spoke up.
“Congratulations, you’ve successfully completed the first round.”