All our lives

Chapter 15

Jon hoped a long hot shower would be enough to reduce the buzz in his brain to a level that would allow him to fall asleep quickly but, to his desperation, that didn't happen. The effect of the beers had been swept away by his encounter with Denbora and his plan to not think too much of her or their discussion had been blown away by David. They hadn't got in the car yet when the keyboardist had dropped the question that, more or less, was on everybody's minds.

"So, did you sign her?"

Jon had initially blinked confused by the question - sign who and for what? - but when he turned to face Dave, the twinkle in the man's eyes and the smirk he didn't even try to hide hadn't left room for any interpretation. Moreover, the other guys had failed, or maybe they hadn't even tried, to muffle their giggles and to pretend they hadn't intensively discussed where the hell he had disappeared for so long.

"I don't know what you're talking about," had been his flat response, but all the way back to the hotel, David had continued with his less than evident hints, exasperating Jon with his insistence. At some point he had wondered how Dave would react if he told him the truth about the talented and apparently inoffensive woman. How would he react if he let him know she wasn't human? How would he react if he told him in another universe he had met another one of her kind and he had considered her too worthy of his, of their interest? Would he run as far and as fast as he could from her or would he raise both hands to put his name on the list of brave volunteers for experiencing sex with another species? Jon had had to bite his lips at this thought to stop himself from bursting into laughter.

He could totally imagine Dave shouting 'Pick me! Pick me!' from a bunch of terrified or only reluctant men who didn't know how to better hide one behind another. Truth to be told, Richie would have done the same. When they were young at least, if the woman was good looking, she could be Satan itself and Richie wouldn't have cared. Maybe none of them would have cared. What did they know at that age? In a tacit battle for a derisory supremacy, they were driven by instincts and hormones, all agreeing that nailing a sexy multidimensional being was the best idea ever.

Maybe in his twenties, he wouldn't have cared either but now was not the case anymore. His instincts had shouted 'Danger!' way before he knew it was something strange about them. From the moment Denbora had confirmed they were only human shaped, he had stopped considering even Amser as being sexually interesting and that was impressive because she looked like she was straight out of his fantasies. Whether it had been intentional or not, and Jon was more inclined towards the first option, Amser had shaped herself to his liking. The sardonic blue-haired barely legal girl was not his type and he was absolutely sure the dislike was mutual. The only sparks that could fly between them were the ones provoked by a verbal fight. He was grateful he had met her because she had offered him some answers, but God, he was even more grateful he was not going to see her ever again.

So just like that, with a simple question fueled only by his sneaky curiosity, Dave had shattered Jon's attempt to give his brain a short break and a chance for all the new information to sink in.

By the time they had reached the hotel, his brain was on fire trying to put the newfound bits of knowledge in order. Mission impossible! Half of what Denbora had told him he had barely understood. Maybe she was right and it would have been better if he hadn't asked so many questions. Or simpler. "Or you could have taken some fucking notes, how about that?" he scolded himself as he poured a glass of whiskey. He looked at the amber liquid and thought he would never drink it again once this adventure would be over, but for now it seemed to help him relax a bit and, according to Denbora, he really needed to do that.

He paced the apartment, barefoot and sipping from the glass from time to time, trying to organize in an understandable way all the facts he had learned. What gave him a sense of relief and held him back from attempting to turn back to a point that probably couldn't change much was that Denbora had assured him Richie was indeed fine and that it was possible to go back. He was not conditioned by a date or by some event, there was no impossible tight deadline hanging over his head. Today, tomorrow, next week, it was only up to him.