Invited

Forty-Three - Chevelle

I made myself presentable for dinner. Probably a good idea to not look like a lazy slob in front of the mother of my boyfriend. The restaurant on the Roof was pretty fancy as well, and I didn't want to stick out. I kept it simple with a nice pair of pants and a blouse, laid back, obvious I'm not going on a date or anything, but nice enough that I would fit in and not have people stare the entire time I was out.

All dressed and ready to go, I made my way to the balcony just as Nathan was paging it.

"Hold the elevator," I called out.

He glanced over at me and laughed. "Sure thing. Hot date too?"

I rolled my eyes. "Family affair. I see you are going out again."

"Jealous?"

"Yes, but not for the reason you're going to assume." I would kill for a night out with Wicken that was normal and didn't have to be compacted into a handful of hours. Because since I didn't see him much when he was here, we had a lot to make up for in that short period of time.

Snorting, he held the door open for me as I trotted inside our elevator. "I'm aware you don't want me. It's pretty obvious with the disdain you give me on a regular basis. Don't worry, it's a mutual feeling."

"I'd hope so seeing as how you don't even know me."

"You two stop fighting and go already before you're late?" Timber called out from the kitchen. "I'll see you both later tonight." He said it like a warning, and I knew it was aimed toward Nate. Perhaps that's why the guy wasn't slutting it up. Timber wasn't letting him, or at least highly discouraging it.

Nathan laughed. "Yes, I know. I'll be back and we can powwow. Don't worry. First date policy is still standing."

"Bye, have fun you guys."

Fun wasn't what I was planning on having. Maybe Nathan would have enough for the two of us to compensate.

As we made our way up to the Roof, he moved closer to me. "Look, we keep having these not so great encounters. I just want you to know, I don't bite."

"Seeing as how I don't have any teeth marks on me yet, I'd believe it," I muttered.

"You're a riot," he deadpanned. "I know you hate me."

"I don't hate you."

"You sure give me attitude like you do. It's because I'm invading your space. Jealous of my bff status with Timmy or something?"

Among other things. I shrugged. "Don't take it personal. I gave him the cold shoulder too for a few weeks."

"Don't trust people easily," he said. "It would just be cool if you could relax. Might make my integration here a bit smoother."

"You seem to be integrating just fine," I observed.

He snickered. "You sound jealous again."

"Do you want me to be jealous?" I shot back.

"Nah, and you shouldn't be if you want to get your man back."

I pursed my lips, putting my hands on my hips. "Excuse me?"

Nathan rolled his eyes. "Tim told me all about what the Achlivans have planned for us. How they're hoping you'll fall madly in love with me and forget all about Wick. If you act like you're jealous all of the time and like there is all this pent-up sexual tension, they're going to notice and keep trying to shove me on you."

"Wait...what?" This was all news to me. "The Achlivans want us to what?"

"Hook up. I forgot, he didn't tell you." He smacked his forehead with his hand. "Crap, I shouldn't have mentioned it."

I blinked, stunned. "Why would he hide this from me?"

"Because he didn't want you to worry about it? I mean, it's a non-issue. You're not interested in me because you're hung up on your dude. I don't know you enough to have an interest in you, and I plan on not letting myself get to the point where I do." He shrugged as if it weren't a big deal, but I got the sense that it was.

"You disappointed in that?" I asked. "That you're not allowed to be interested in me?"

He scoffed. "And you say I'm full of myself? Chev, I make it a point to not go after girls who belong to other guys. It's just the nice thing to do. I'm not a jerk, despite what you might think. Could I get a thing for you? Maybe. You're definitely interesting, but I haven't entertained the thought since he told me everything going on. Right from the beginning I knew better. So just chill out, okay?"

"Fine, makes sense," I said. "And for the record there is no jealousy or sexual tension happening here." I pointed between the two of us. "So you should stop smoking whatever it is you're on because it's not good for your brain."

"Ha, cute. Drop the cold hearted tough girl act, it'll help your case better. You need to go the bro route like you do with Timber."

I peered at him. "Can't say I like you enough to consider you my brother."

"Didn't think you were supposed to like your siblings?"

He had a point. "Okay, I'll relax. I don't like all the other tension going on, anyway." I frowned. "So you're just going on all of these dates to help me out?"

"More or less, but I figure if I'm going to be forced to settle down, I should get a feel for what's out there. Hopefully the next gal shoved onto me is one with less baggage, and someone I can tolerate. It would help if she wasn't so mean to me all of the time too." He winked.

Rolling my eyes, I was glad the elevator arrived at the Roof so I didn't have to be in closed quarters with him anymore. He was close to getting a black eye or my knee in his groin. "Glad we had this chat. Be careful with the girls. They're definitely falling for you. Zoe was begging me to set you up for a second date."

"I liked her," he admitted. "I mean, enough where I'd see her again. Not sure I'm sold on just settling for one girl yet. But I promised myself out to two weeks' worth of dates with these girls. After that I'll do callbacks."

"You're such a player."

"I'm not sleeping with any of them. I promised, no sex until I've been on five dates with the same girl." He nodded. "Just exploring what is out there and how this works. There are a lot of girls who are as new to the ship as me. In a way, it's relaxing and helpful for both of us to get out and do something that isn't just staring out the window and wondering what's going to happen next. Then there are the girls who are alone and confused. It's nice to help them."

"Just be careful," I stated again. His intentions seemed good at least, but I don't think he realized how vulnerable some of the women on board were. How vulnerable he himself was. I did appreciate him trying to help me get Wicken back. Not sure it would work, though.

We walked to the restaurant in silence. I always admired the cutesy cobblestone streets and tulip lights hanging about. It was about as girlie as I got sometimes. Vintage always struck me as interesting. I looked up at the universe around us and Earth happened to come into view then. My stomach clenched as my heart ached. Off in the distance toward the side, I noticed a larger star. My guess was that was the piece of moon set to destroy home. I also noticed that we were pulled further away from the planet than before. Not sure what that meant. Probably not anything good. Also nearby I could see another large spacecraft. I mean, it had to be large if I could see it from the distance it was at.

I turned my gaze away from the sight, focusing it straight in front of me instead. "Hope your date goes well."

"I don't," he muttered. "It's with one of those Luminaries. Didn't know what they were until Timber told me, and by then it was too late to back out. I'll be happy when all of this is over with."

"Me too." Though I was sure we were both talking about completely different things.