Engineering Moon Forth and Doctor Beam

Chapter 8

Warnings: language, weirdness and rambling.

There exists in the universe many questions without answers, like, what is the meaning of life, is there an afterlife, why do girls get crazier the older they get. In my world, though, there is only one unanswerable question, and that is, what the hell does pine taste like?

I don't know if Beam meant for me to hear his, uh.. confession? Insane mutterings? Whatever it was, it stuck in my head for the entire weekend. The weekend, after the whole fiasco, did go better, but I wasn't able to appreciate it fully because of the damned question of pine's taste. See, P'wan didn't ground me, hell, he wasn't even home when I staggered into the house smelling like week old fish garbage and looking as wrinkled as a ninety year old prune. Can you believe it, after almost getting a bleeding ulcer for all my worries about what the hell I should tell P'wan, he hadn't even had the courtesy to be home when I got there. Instead, he had left a note saying people at work had called him in for an early emergency (he's a computer tech, what the hell could be so damned urgent?), hope I got home okay, why don't I eat the leftovers in the fridge and mow the lawn.

Some might say I'm lucky that P'wan hadn't been home, and I'd agree with them, don't get me wrong there, but I was still bitter that I had to worry about something I had no need to worry about. You follow my logic there? Was there logic there? Anyway, so, no incidents with my guardian later, I was left to ponder Beam's rather mysterious, intriguing and mind boggling statement.

Strawberries, I know the taste. I like them, I've eaten them, and on one occasion, I rubbed it all over my body. Okay, that was a dare from Nicky, one that I will never do again, there are some places on the body that strawberry seeds take forever to get out (I mean teeth, you perverts). But pine? What the hell does that taste like? It's not like I had the occasion to gnaw on the tree or anything. Lol.

Even I have limits as to my behavioral strangeness, you get me?

So on Monday, less stressed, not grounded and still pondering Beam, I went to university in a bit of a daze. I went through the motions of attending classes, stared thoroughly at Beam who in turn pretended that I did not exist, and finally ended up in lunch sitting with Nicky who had finally managed to get my art off of his body.

Oh yeah, Nicky forgave me, did I mention that? It happened on Sunday when I went over to his house to apologize (without body armor, I'm not too bright). I knew I was forgiven when he greeted me at the door instead of the butler. How did I know? His eyes were glazed over and he had the goofiest smile I'd ever seen on him. It was.. interesting and creepifying at the same time.

Apparently, he had resorted to using turpentine to get the shit off him just before I made my grand entrance and the fumes from that toxic chemical had made him ultra, super high, giving him a sense of peace and a very forgiving nature. So yeah, he forgave me, then drooled on my shoulder while he babbled out the secret to the universe that he had discovered within the confines of his bathroom and then thrashed me on a video game.

Even high as a kite, Nicky can kick ass. But whatever, I'm not going to resent it, he forgave me and I didn't even have to sacrifice my dignity or my vital organs to earn it. Yet another instance of luck in my weekend that started off so fucked up.

Okay, enough of that tangent, where was I? In lunch, yes. Anyway, Nicky looked at me, sighed and whapped me upside of my head.

"What is the matter with you?" He inquired so very nicely as I felt around my head for permanent injuries. "You're spaced out, more than usual. Still lusting after Ying?"

"Can't you get your point across without physical violence?"

"Why would I do that?" Gah, he really looks puzzled about that. Such is my lot in life, having a best friend who loves inflicting pain.