Scenes From Space

Chapter Seven: Another Night

The skin patches were hell to apply and they itched like crazy. They were a weird mix of gauze, a silicone like substance, and a nano-chip that was used to detect the pigments in skin. I tried and failed at not thinking about how much they itched. The one covering up the dragon on my right hip was driving me crazy. I knew the skin patches wouldn't move, but every time the lace of the navy thong caught the edge of the patch, a little zip went through my nerves. Not even the painful practice of using the tech-eye distracted me from the need to scratch at the flesh-toned coverings. But, at least I learned how to record video through the eye. That was something.

Today's solo dance was a Brittany Spears schoolgirl number. You know the one. The mini-skirt I was wearing over the thong untied on the left, so it could easily be discarded. Amber assured me that the act worked just as well on the alien audience as it would on Earth men. I didn't know how to feel about that.

The group routine afterwards was to a custom cover of Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy. The lyrics had been changed to Save a Rocket, Ride a Ruffsav. Ruffsav was apparently slang for soldier. The translator didn't really know how to handle the song.

For our cover, Graham and I started our break by making out against the bar. Graham was slouched against the bar and I was on tip-toes leaning against him. His human hand tangled in my hair. I ran my hands up his chest before locking them together behind his neck. Amber smacked us with a towel and shooed us out the employee entrance all the while laughing.

Graham held my hand down all the way down to the beach. It was nice. Also, bonus now the last person I made out with wasn't Prince Douchebag of the Royal Collective of Planets, it was a colleague who had vocalized his dislike of me. 

I sighed and failed at not feeling lonely. We stood at the edge of dry and wet sand. On a surge the sea would trace the edges of my toes with a cool brush.

"You doing okay?" Graham asked.

"Yeah, not great but okay," I answered. "Have our three guys say anything interesting tonight?"

"They had a lot of feelings about your Oops I Did It Again routine. They discussed business very briefly. We now have some Commanders' names," Graham said. I would have to read the transcripts later.

"Any information is good information right?" I asked in response. Graham smiled at me. His teeth were very white, even in the dark.

"Watch out for Dameryn, I think he's a little too into you," Graham instructed.

"Yeah, I know," I sighed. I chewed on my bottom lip and looked down. "Is there a way we can use it? Or should I discourage his interest?" I looked back up and Graham and watched as he blinked. I let go of my lip.

"Play it straight for another day. We have our night off tomorrow. We can come back fresh afterwards and see how desperate he is," Graham said. I nodded.

"Let me mess up your hair before we go back in." Graham bent down and let me run my hands through the longer, wheat-colored locks on the top of his head, so it looked like we had been making out some more. I made sure to turn my tech-eye before we re-entered the bar and walked back upstairs. The flashing lights were hell. The migraine was instant. I squeezed my eyes closed tightly and took a deep breath. Graham ran his metal thumb over my cheek, under the eye. I turned a fake megawatt smile at him and took the tray of drinks out to table 23.

The next tray was for table 18. I plastered a smile on my face and got ready to flirt.

"Good evening," I smiled at the three Waseatryns before leaning down to slide the tray onto their table, and handing the drinks to them. "Was the level of clothing all that you hoped for?"

"Any less and you would have violated house policy," Cafferty said. He was the one without fangs, apparently. The one with fangs was called Bryrian. I didn't think there was house policy. When Amber and I discussed the routine, she had laughed loudly and pulled me over to rack of smaller clothes. 

"Well, it was quite the tip your friend left yesterday, I wanted to make sure he got his money's worth," I said with a wink.

"I did," Dameryn said. "I would be willing to spend much more for some one on one time with you." I tilted my head down like I was trying to hide a blush. I looked back towards the bar.

"I'm uh," I paused and pretended to nervously swallow. "I'm really flattered Dameryn, but my boyfriend and I both work here and we agreed that we wouldn't touch other people. I'm really sorry, but it's also kinda my job to lead you on."

"I see," Dameryn said. "What are you and your boyfriend working towards?" He spat out the word boyfriend. Or, at least, I assumed that was the sort he was disgusted at the word. The translators weren't perfect.

"We're working to pay for our partner certificates," I said. "I'm really sorry, I'll swing back around with another round of drinks, on me this time."

"Maybe I could work something out with you and your boy," Dameryn suggested.

I smiled a customer service smile at him. "I'll ask him. Do you need anything else in the meantime?"

"No," Bryrian said. "Go cover your other tables for a bit." I nodded and left quickly. 

Back at the bar, I filled Graham in on what happened and grabbed the tray for the next table. After four more drink orders were fulfilled, Graham grabbed the drink tray for table 18 and we both went over to talk to Dameryn.

As we got closer to table 18 the club got darker and more uncomfortable. I shivered. Graham grabbed my hand while the other held the drinks aloft. Graham set the drinks down and took a step back from the table. He squeezed my hand. The three aliens looked us up and down. I leaned in closer to my fake significant other.

"Hi, I'm Greg, you asked to see me," Graham said awkwardly after a moment of silence.

"Where did you get the arm?" Dameryn asked suspiciously.

"Medical study, private firm," Graham answered, simply. Dameryn hummed. The lights flashed and Amber announced Alexi was next on stage.

"Genevieve tells me that you are working towards your partner certificates. Surely they can't be that expensive." Dameryn's claws clicked against his glass. He held it close but didn't take a drink.

"We're from Baltuu, Sir," Graham responded.

"The partnership documents on Baltuu are quite high, especially for humans," Cafferty said. Dameryn frowned.

"We'll let you know if we need anything else," Bryrian dismissed us with a wave of his hand. I grabbed the tray off the table and Graham escorted me back to the bar. The metal of his hand was cool on the bare skin of my back.

"Hated all of that," I whispered in Graham's ear before planting a gentle kiss on his cheek for the cover. I grabbed another tray of drinks and went off to deliver them to table 17. I did hate all of it. I was already so tired of this mission.