CHAPTER 3
Other women who work here have told me how much they love their locker rooms.
I don’t love mine.
It’s not that theirs are better… I’ve just never enjoyed hanging out in a bathroom, and that’s all these are.
But I do love the mirrors.
My post booth inspections are ostensibly to make sure there’s nothing that will give my job away to people I’m not ready to tell about it yet. But really… I just love the way my body looks, pinched and swollen from my lover’s attentions.
I love it more on days like this.
The previous stains on my thighs have a depth to them now, the old have dulled, the new ones are bright and vibrant. But where they overlap has a beautiful darkness.
I almost hate to cover them up, but I made sure there are no thigh-holes in the jeans I brought to change into, and I have a pair of knee-high athletic socks stuffed in the bottom of my bag, too.
I have plans with Kita and even if no one else knows what these colors mean, she will. She might be my best friend, but I’m not sure I’m ready to have that conversation yet.
When I see her, thirty minutes later, I’m fully dressed. All the incriminating evidence is covered, and I don’t have to worry about whether or not I want today to be the day I spill the proverbial beans, because she is ready with the conversation points.
Tentacle wrapped around my arm, she leads the way to a newly opened restaurant that serves human-safe food—she always knows about them before I do—and when we’ve been seated, I tell her, “I can never decide if you treat me like I’m your girlfriend or your pet.”
Snorting… a sound I don’t know how she makes without a nose, she says, “You are my best friend, Annika. I treat you better than I would either of those things.”
The food is delicious and I’m having such a good time that I order a slice of their cherry pie… more hopeful than expecting it to be right.
But it’s perfect… “Do you think they have a human baker back there?”
She takes a bite and coos over the flavors. “Maybe they imported it from your mysterious Earth.”
I wound up here by accident… but Phantom “imports” more than just the men and women who work for them. The location of Earth is a secret Phantom has kept from the rest of the known systems.
How they’ve managed it… I don’t know.
“I haven’t been back in years. I don’t know if I can call it ‘my planet’ anymore.”
Kita doesn’t let me pay for my half of the bill and I almost tell her about the change to my financial situation right then and there. But I don’t know what questions she’d ask and the middle of the station is not the place to hear them out. But more than that, I don’t want to have to lie to her.
Before we can get up, Jesha drops into the seat beside me. All hollow chest and fishbowl eyes, he smiles at me with toothless gums. “Didn’t know you two had been invited.”
“Funny,” I say, “I didn’t know we needed to be invited to hang out with each other.”
He rolls his eyes at us and I almost ask him to do it again, because his pupils might literally be swimming.
“Don’t act like this was your idea,” he says. “We both know the two of you just drag on Agan’s heels.”
I look at Kita and her eyes narrow at him. “And how would we be dragging if we’ve been here for an hour, enjoying the time without him or you clotting up the air with your egos?”
Jesha finally looks like he might believe us and then he shakes his head. “No.”
There’s no point in arguing with him, especially when more of Agan’s friends start to show up.
The waitress looks annoyed that her cleared table has just filled up with people who didn’t check in at the hostess.
“Where’s Agan?” One of the newer friends whose name I can’t pronounce asks.
He looks at Kita, but Jesha says, “He’s on his way, don’t worry.
She mutters, “He’s probably off trying to get our uncle to give him some new benefit.”
I don’t know what she means by that, only that her Agan constantly talks about their uncle, who happens to be the station administrator.
I lean close, cutting the others out of the conversation. “What do you think he’s trying to get this time?”
So far, none of the requests she’s relayed were unreasonable, or even that outlandish. But she’s hinted at other things…
Kita grimaces, but before I can prod, Agan’s voice echoes through the corridor.
“Did you miss me?” he asks the group in general as he and another Opodean man— Markoban—join us.
There’s a general greeting from everyone and I can’t help looking at Agan and wondering, again… what if?
My mind wanders for a moment and then the other man with him softly says, “please don’t,” and I look to where one of Agan’s tentacles is pressed against Markoban’s back.
Whatever he’s asked Agan not to do though…
“You are not going to believe where I found this idiot.” He shoves Markoban forward and the other Opodean man sits, shaking his head, but Agan presses on. “He was at Phantoms, waiting for one of the cocksuckers to get off work so he could waste more money on her.”
Every atom in my body freezes and I don’t look up at them. It wasn’t Markoban. It can’t have been Markoban.
And then my brain replays Agan’s words. The derision he said cocksuckers with…
“It’s not like that,” Markoban says, speaking only to Agan. “I’ve known him forever he’s a friend and—”
“If he was a friend, you wouldn’t let him work there.” Agan makes a jeering noise.
Jesha’s fishbowl eyes bubble. “You go to Phantoms.”
“Yeah, but I go to use the facilities, not to try to bring home a pet.”
Every word spoken in the last few minutes has cinched around my skin, tighter and tighter and I want to burst.
“Ew.” Kita stands up and takes my hand in her tentacles, dragging me to my feet as well. “You’re factually disgusting, Agan. I am ashamed to be your sister.”
She hauls me away and I let her drag me, not wanting to be there anymore.
“Sometimes,” Kita says with a huff. “I don’t know how we came from the same egg sack.”
Three thoughts scream in my head, battling to be asked first.
What just happened? Why would he say that? Am I a complete idiot?
I can’t ask any of them, though. Kita has already moved on.
I’m glad she doesn’t know I work there yet. She might have killed Agan for saying it, and I don’t want to visit her in jail.