The Steamlands

Chapter 8: Cold Friendships

During the late evening, I prepared myself to go shopping for clothes once again before meeting with Alan later that night. After all, I hadn't finished. I put on some fresh new clothes, jumped into the elevator and out the door. This time I took my car to explore other shops that were a little further along the city. I managed to find one store that didn't give me the creeps as soon as I entered. I found some decent black pants, two pairs of shoes, a few casual dresses I could use for work, and even a handbag. After that hunt, I went back home to prepare myself for the dinner and as quick as that, it was already time to leave. That was when I heard my phone ring. It was an unknown caller.

"Hello?"

"Amanda! You ready for tonight?" It was Alan.

I was surprised he had managed to find my number.

"Yes, I'm ready, but can you give me the address?"

"Oh uh, I'm already downstairs. I'm picking you up if you don't mind"

Once again, I was left in for a surprise. Not only did he know my number, but he also knew my address. This might mean I have a stalker on my hands. This just HAD to happen! Anyways, I responded.

"No I don't mind, I'll be down there in 2 minutes" I replied back.

I thought that if I started questioning him on to how he got my information, he could get offended. I didn't want to get on anyones bad side here.

I grabbed my bag and went down the elevator. A red car was already parked in front of my apartment. I peeked inside the car. Alan wasn't alone. He rolled down the window.

"Guys, this is Amanda. Amanda, meet the gang" Alan introduced me to his friends in the car.

"Hey Amanda!" the three other people in the car responded at their own pace.

"Hi, It's nice to meet you" I quietly responded.

I had always been a bit shy when meeting new people. The passengers seat was empty, so I opened the door and went inside.

"So where exactly are we going?" I asked.

"To Les Vapeurs restaurant. As you can tell, it's French, and the food is really good there. It's my personal favorite" Alan spoke back to me, assuring me it was worth the trip.

After that, silence roamed the car.

"So tell me about yourself" One of Alan's friends in the back suddenly addressed me.

"Well, I grew up in a suburban area about 40 minutes from here"

"You're from the suburbs? No wonder you seem so quiet!" Another one of his friends responded.

"Yea, I lived a few streets away from my mother's house. She lives there with my brother. My brother is only 16 years old so he hasn't taken The Specialty Test"

"Let's just hope he passes it so he can come join us. It's much more fun around here" The girl with the brown corset responded.

I instantly dreaded that thought.

"So how about you guys? What do you work in?" I finally grabbed the courage to flip the conversation.

"Oh, them two work at ECLIPSE, this young man over here works as a manager at a clothing factory, and I work at the Gear Factory here in The Mainlands" The other girl with the red dress responded this time.

"Well we're here. So let's continue the conversation during lunch" Alan stated after having parked.

As we all got out of the car, everyone came to me and started introducing themselves.

"I'm Jessica, this is Terry, and this young lady over here is Alexandra" The girl with the brown corset said.

She was the one that worked at ECLIPSE with Alan. Each of them reached out to shake my hand.

"Well, it's very nice to meet you all"

"Same here, but we better hurry up before Alan starts making the orders without us".

For the rest of the night, I spent my time getting to know each of Alan's friends. They were all very odd people, charming but odd. But despite that, I don't think they were really attached to each other as they seemed. Individually, they seemed like pretty nice people, but together, they seemed pretty cold with each other. Maybe here in The Steamlands, strong friendships are harder to build. Then again, could anyone really trust each other? Especially knowing what each of them is capable of doing? I know I wouldn't trust anyone who has killed that many people. Anyways, I tried to ignore all that and just live in the moment. If I let myself think, I'd probably get a breakdown. Despite that however, I actually had a good time with them. Plus the food was great. I found out that Alex is a mechanical engineer, operating the machines in The Gear Factory and that Terry was in charge of coming up for clothes designs that would be distributed throughout the city. Maybe I should've asked him to change things up a bit.

After we finished eating, we went for a walk through the city park. It was clean and the benches looked very elegant. At least, there was still some beauty in this city. We walked around in silence for sometime. We then laid down on the grass for a while and then we headed back home. Jessica and Terry lived uptown, while Alexandra lived downtown as well as Alan. I lived near the center. Right when Alan was about to park his car in front of my house, he said,

"I hope you had a good time" in a cheerful voice.

"Yes, I did" I responded.

"Thanks for inviting me. My night would've been really boring if you hadn't"

"I'm glad to hear that. So, I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yes of course. Goodnight!"

"Goodnight"

I went upstairs and dropped myself on the bed. Today had been a long night. And soon enough, I found myself lost in the realms of sleep.