Purple Eyes

Chapter 6

Samantha was avoiding Jeremy's gaze. After many complaints, protesting and reluctant flattery, we had brought her along to see if she could get answers out of Jeremy. Samantha, although trying her best, was stumped. Jeremy seemed to be ignoring Samantha, but looking at her, with normal coloured eyes. He swallowed hard. 'Look, I'm sorry about yesterday. I just got so...' He faltered. 'Angry. I was so frustrated at everything. Y'know hot-headed and-'

'We get it.' Jessica said calmly. 'Us girls are used to the whole, anger thing.' Jessica carelessly looked at her before returning to Jeremy. 'Did you get into trouble?' She asked. 'What do you think?' Jeremy asked; grimacing. 'I got the boot.' My jaw dropped. 'You mean sacked?' Jessica asked incredulously. Jeremy nodded and smiled. 'Yeah. Who knew shoving your boss was a bad thing, huh? So, they've got a new replacement and all that jazz.' There was a small pause. 'But, hey, I'm feeling better, so I suppose if I come crawling back and grovel, that could work?' I nodded but was unconvinced. Samantha slammed her cup down. 'Y'know if I left, I don't think there'd be any difference!' She cried, getting up and storming out. I got up to run after her. 'Don't.' Said Jessica, grabbing my arm. 'She'll calm down.' Nodding, I sat back down. Jeremy was gazing after her. 'Dunno what's got her so worked up.' He said, sucking his straw again. There was a small pause. Jeremy spoke. 'So, how'd you all want to come over...' He faltered. 'Or something? Maybe watch a film?' He nervously glanced at us. We nodded. Jeremy broke into a smile. 'Excellent.' A small family I recognised came up to us. This was the family of the child Jeremy had freaked out the other day. 'Right.' Said the father, a blonde-haired, middle-aged man, anger flashing in his blue eyes. 'We don't know what your game is, but if you kids ever scare us again, we'll be-'

'Listen, I didn't mean to, I was just having a weird phase.' Jeremy interrupted him, his light eyes, now gently resting on the man. His voice was calm, yet had a certain steely tone about it. 'You know how it all goes. I didn't mean to, I'm sorry.' The man was lost for words. He seemed to have expected a rude comeback, not this. 'O-oh.' He said, stuttering. 'But don't do it again. Or we'll be phoning the police.' Jeremy raised his eyebrows. 'I won't do it again.' He said calmly. The family walked off, throwing suspicious looks in our direction. Jeremy watched them go, then let out a large sigh. 'Guess I'm unemployed now.' He said, sadness appearing in his eyes. After a few seconds, he seemed to have pulled himself together. 'Right.' He said, standing up. 'How'd you feel about that film?'

Laser pistols rang out, as the huge roar of a spaceship left a loud ringing in the air. I clutched the popcorn tighter to my chest. It had never occurred to me what taste Jeremy had in films. I glanced over to him, his mouth stuffed full of popcorn and liquorice all sorts. 'Sci-fi?, really?' I thought. As though I had spoken, he looked at me, his mouth resembling one of a guinea pigs. He swallowed. 'You alright with this?' He asked. I nodded. Sci-fi wasn't really my go to genre of film, but it was better than most. Suddenly, the sound of a phone went bouncing off the walls of the cream coloured room. We all jumped. 'That's me.' Jeremy said, apologetically, standing up and hurrying out the room. Jessica was staring at the screen. 'So, tell me again. What's going on?' She peered closer at the flashing lights. 'So, there's 2 Picards now? And that guy is like, evil Picard?' I nodded. 'Yeah, that's pretty much it. Kinda like a Picard in an alternate universe. But now he's not.' Jessica didn't look from the screen. 'This is confusing.' She said, as Jeremy slid into view. 'It's not confusing.' He said, standing behind Jessica, who was sat on the sofa. 'It's just...complex.' Jessica tipped her head back to stare at Jeremy. 'Isn't that the same thing?' Jeremy shrugged. 'Depends.' With that, he made his way back to his spot on the sofa, and grabbed his popcorn again. 'Who was that?' I asked. 'Oh...someone I know.' He said, not looking at either of us. 'Would I know her?' Jessica asked. Jeremy shrugged again. 'Well, she is a Beta-Tester, so...maybe?' He still wasn't looking at us. Jessica leaned over. 'Alright, what's the deal? What's her name?' Jeremy opened his mouth. 'It's Vanessa.'

'Vanessa?'

'Yeah.'

'That bitch who Luis always sucks up to?'

'Yeah. And she's not that bad when you get to know her.'

'I find that hard to believe.' She put on a high, false voice. 'Ooh, ooh, I don't know what to do. Ooh, ooh, I'm so pathetic, I don't know what a computer is, I-'

'Oh come on, that's not fair.' Jeremy said, glancing at Jessica. 'She's had a hard past, and she's real shy, and that's no reason to mock her. And besides, I invited her over.' Jessica glared at Jeremy. Feeling left out, I wanted to say something, but as I had no inkling who this "Vanessa" person was, I decided to keep quiet.

After a few minutes, Jessica started to speak again. 'So, they're like, brothers?' She asked, pointing to the screen. Jeremy nodded. 'Yeah.'

'But they're androids.'

'They're made in pairs.'

'Oh. Why?'

'I don't know.'

'How many of these Star Trek films have you watched?'

'Quite a few.'

'And you don't think they're confusing?'

'No.'

'Not even a bit?'

'No.' Jeremy turned to her. 'They're really not when you watch a few.' Jessica raised her eyebrows. 'I don't like complicated stuff.' Jeremy waved his hands around. 'You've made that clear. Can't you shush for 5 minutes?' Jessica retaliated. 'Ok then, I'll be quiet.'