Prolonged Entanglement

Chapter 3

     After you nearly got your atoms rearranged by an angry grape, you stayed the night at said grape’s house for the night, more specifically, her bed. You had a lot of trouble getting to sleep, mostly because your excursions with N caused you to take an almost nocturnal sleep schedule. This left you lazily staring at the ceiling while Uzi slept with her head on your chest. It reminded you of how N slept on you after your night together, if mirrored with Uzi being on the right side of your chest instead. You look down to see Uzi’s sleeping face. She’s cute and a good friend, but it’s going to take a while to think of her as a girlfriend.
     The next two days were full of you and Uzi just hanging out like usual with the exception of only a few things. She was a bit more affectionate in private, but was much more comfortable with receiving affection. She still acted the same as ever in public despite your previous activities together, never accepting or giving affection aside from a sincerely happy glance every so often. She would try to do it when you weren’t looking and would, but you would catch her, and she would look away in hopes you didn’t see her do it. You always did, but you didn’t say anything.
     You noticed that in private, like when you’d play games together in her room, she wouldn’t sit next to you anymore. Instead your lap had become her gaming chair of choice. You didn’t mind as you can just lean against the wall to get comfortable, and Uzi quickly realized that when you do this, she can just lay back on your chest and be very comfortable. Truly a curse to be made of comfortable squishy stuff in a colony of cold, hard, metal, people. The only thing that you could call bad about it was your own feelings about seeing two people at the same time. You hoped that after talking with N, that feeling would go away.
     The end of the second day marked N’s arrival back at the colony. You didn’t know this right away, but you and Uzi had been walking around together when you passed Lizzy, on her phone as always.
     Lizzy perks her head slightly at a notification and holds her phone to her head, “Hey, bestie. You back yet? You’re already back? What do you mean they won’t let you in yet? Ugh, can’t you just break in or something?”
     You and Uzi exchanged glances, both realizing that N must be back too. You both rush to the doors, you realize your mistake as you get closer, and colder.
     “Uzi, I have to get my gear. I can’t be near the doors without it,” you screech to a halt.
     Uzi does the same, but much later, “Ugggh, fine! Go already!”
     You sprint to your home and are surprised to see Uzi is following you. You guess she wants you to be there when she talks to N, or she wants you to do it instead. Either way, you don’t mind. Once at your place you scramble for your suits. You slip the first one on and work on the second when you see Uzi watching you. She looks disappointed with her arms crossed.
     You decide to joke with her, “What’s with you drones and wanting to see me naked?”
     Uzi jolts like she's been slapped before stomping on the ground, “Not what I was thinking!”
     “Sure,” you slip the next two suits on and dash out of your house with Uzi in tow.
     “Bite me!,” Uzi yells at you as she chases you, lagging behind due to the difference in leg length.
     She’s still insisting that she wasn’t thinking about you naked, but at this point she’s gotten so defensive that you just automatically assume she was. You thought about making a quickie joke, but decided against it. Once you turn the final corner to the doors, you see V looming over a worker menacingly, but more importantly, N. It seems he was looking down the hall when you turned the corner, and when he saw you his face lit up. You’re not sure why, but when Uzi turned the corner, his eyes went hollow, though a smile still lived on his features. He waves at the both of you.
     You run at him full sprint, only slowing a few feet from him. He braces for impact, but this proves unnecessary as you hoist him into the air in a hug. He lets out a confused scream as you hold him in your embrace for a few moments before letting him down, still holding onto him. You were more or less testing a theory. Even though N was bigger than you, he weighed less than you. You’re not sure how that hell that works, but it’s probably science. Or witchcraft, who knows?
     You give him a smile through your glass face covering, “Miss me?”
     “Yeah,” he gently touches his forehead to your mask with a light ‘tink,’ “Like a lot.”
     V interrupts your tender moment by sparing the worker she was tormenting, and walking up to Uzi. “Surprised you’re here,” she turns to you with a sly smile, “What? You let her down easy or something?”
     “No he didn’t!,” Uzi yells, getting V’s attention, “He said yes, so ha!”
     V’s face shows utter confusion, looking between Uzi and you, “Fucking gross. I’m out of here.” She wanders off somewhere deeper into the colony.
     “So, uh,” you turn back to N, who you still haven’t let go of, “We have some things we have to talk about.”
     N nods nervously, “Yeah, I guess we do huh?”
     You begrudgingly let go of N, but he stops you from breaking contact completely, holding onto the sleeves of your suit. He gives you enough freedom to turn, so you address Uzi, “Think we could have some time alone to talk for a bit? Probably at my house.”
     “Oh, yeah. Sure, that’s cool. Just going to go have a small panic attack in my room for a bit,” she backs away towards the way you two came and gives an awkward thumbs up, “See you two at my place after?”
     You look at N for his opinion.
     “Why me?,” he asks you in a whisper.
     You return his volume, “You’re involved in this too. Do you think there’s any reason we shouldn’t?”
     Making a hasty decision, N calls out to Uzi, “We’ll be there!”
     “Cool,” she gives a forced smile then turns to run away from the increasingly awkward situation.