Rise of Refuge

Chapter 9 - Connection

Hillary sat in the living room of her apartment and did something she knew was probably not the best of ideas. More than once she had accidentally contacted her brother’s mind. Each time he had been less recognizable than the time before. It had happened without her intentional control. She knew they she would never allow her out into the field again unless she could somehow not only control it but prevent Kadin from reversing the connection.

Control over it was her goal, and her chosen route began with initiating contact. Hillary leaned back into her couch and forcibly relaxed herself, mind and body. Then she reached out her psychic fingertips to brush up against what it left of her brother within the collective. She sat that way for so long that the motion sensors in her apartment thought she had left the room, and they turned off all the electronics.

Hillary sat up in the darkness and the lights came back on. She stared at the media screen as the place holding picture came back on. It was an impressionistic landscape. She stared at it and her eyes blurred. She forced them to refocus and realized she was no longer staring at the painting, but a real living landscape. The overmind that surrounded her brother swirled into her consciousness. She could see that her brother had not only taken control of most of the collective, but that he was the driving force behind the motivations.

Seeing through Kadin’s eyes, Hillary felt a surge of loneliness. She remembered time in their youth when it seemed like they were the only two in the universe and all they would ever need was each other. Her longing for that connection echoed through Kadin’s consciousness and reflected with his own. The overmind branching out from his consciousness tamped down on the longing. Filling him with false connectedness. Hillary struggled against that and tried to lure her brother out of the collective. He closed his eyes, leaving her out of the view of his surroundings.

“Sister dear, come to me!” Kadin’s voice echoed through Hillary’s mind.

Hillary pulled away from the in-drawing sensation that came with the voice, “Kadin, pull yourself away from what you are becoming. Don’t you see what it is doing to you for you to become this Riiad Collective?”

“Riiad Collective?” The words echoed through the darkness Kadin was imposing on her mind, “Tell us more…” The voice was now almost totally alien.

“It what the factors call this thing you are becoming,” Hillary answered, compelled by her emotional connection to her brother.

“You have found shelter among the great and honorable factors? Do they know of our dishonor?” His laughter stung as much as the taunt.

Hillary swallowed hard, “I have been totally honest with them about what we did and what you are becoming.”

“So you spy for these ‘honorable’ people! They are as dishonorable as our father thinks we are!”

“I seek information that they need about what you are doing. They do not know I am doing this!”

“So, we come to it. You are as dishonorable as they come. Perhaps we should cut ties!” Kadin’s thought-voice pulled away and Hillary’s eyes rediscovered focus on the painting. She felt desolate. Her attempt left her with no recent information and had come pretty close to permanently cutting off the flow of information. She did the only thing she could think of doing. She retrieved her tablet and began typing out the details of the interaction. When she finished, she submitted the report to Erica and waited for her mentor to set a meeting.
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Erica stood in the elevator on the way to the chief’s offices at the top of Grand Central dome. Those offices benefitted from views of all the main caverns and environments of Refuge. They all met at Grand Central. Grand Central was the home base of the factors. All of their administrative, technological, and educational facilities centered there, and the Main Medical facilities for the entirety of Refuge. Erica rode the elevator to the top floor. Above the chief’s office, was the point where the rock cavern ceilings met the dome.

None of the architectural, political, or technological structure that floor represented made one difference to Erica. Hillary’s report had given her a dry mouth and terror sweat. Kadin was becoming less and less Hillary’s brother and more alien as time passed. Hillary had recounted her last telepathic interaction with him. What she didn’t share about the experience said almost as much as what she shared. Kadin had blocked Hillary’s perception of his senses. He had held her in near sensory deprivation and heartlessly pressed Hillary’s most sensitive emotional buttons. As a Kaviri, he was not technically human, but they frequently applied the use of the term humanity to post human species. This interaction spoke to Erica of him having lost his essential humanity.

The elevator reached the top level of the dome and opened. Erica almost allowed the doors to close again in her distraction. A tall, attractive man stuck his arm in between the doors, opening them up again. It stunned Erica into action. As he slid into the elevator, she slid out. He peeked his head around the elevator door and waved a flimsy goodbye at Annette. It seemed highly unprofessional. Erica crossed the open space of the office and reached Annette just before she could retreat into her office.

“Chief, may I have a few moments?” Erica asked.

Erica knew she wasn’t imagining it when she heard Annette sigh resignedly, “What’s up Erica?”

“Niri has me training Hillary Sampson, the Kaviri first contact. She has a twin named Kadin who appears to be the coalescing point around which the new Riiad Collective is forming. She has a psychic connection to him and has seen what he has been up to on several occasions.”

“I recall a report about her, wasn’t there a temporal anomaly centered on the possibility of him reuniting with her?”

Erica nodded, “A multiversal paradox. We pulled her out of the situation. Everything fixed itself after that. What I am here about is a report she made this morning. Her brother has lost most of his humanity. He is something alien to her but he keeps just enough humanity to find the sharpest way to hurt her. What frightens me more is that he appears to dominate their interactions. He can control what she sees and hears of his experiences.”

Annette blinked at that, “That might have developed as he gained dominance over the collective's perceptions. He is possibly controlling millions at this point. He must be something impressive if he has kept anything of who he was. Imagine if he had his sister at his side and she had half of what he has. The multiverse would be in extreme jeopardy. I think it would be best if Ms. Sampson did not leave Refuge until we find some way of handling her brother.”

Erica nodded, she had come to the same conclusion. She even more impressed with Annette than she had been before. It was amazing to Erica that the younger woman could hold the details of so many situations and problems in her head with such specific recall and the ability to generate such accurate conclusions. “I haven’t let her in the field since the incident.”

“Good plan, update me with the situation, but consider that there may be a point where we might have more to gain from her being in the field than safely secured here. This situation centers on her and there may be some critical role she has to play in stopping the collective aside from just not joining it,” Annette stated with a slightly unfocused look. She seemed to touch on some kind of collective subconscious, their collective “gut,” perhaps.

Erica nodded. It seemed counterintuitive to send Hillary out where her vulnerability was greatest, but intuition was exactly what Annette based her statement on. “Got it chief.”

“Keep me up to date with direct weekly reports. Don’t go through Niri, this is a factor problem, not a training issue,” Annette stated.

Erica nodded.

“Okay, I should get back to work. I let Teo distract me enough already this morning,” Annette flushed.

Erica smirked, the man from the elevator had been behaving unprofessionally. He had been here on “private” business. Erica had heard rumors that Annette was seeing someone. “No problem chief.”

Annette ducked into her office, dismissing Erica. Erica turned back to the elevator, feeling only slightly relieved by sharing her fears. This Riiad situation was more serious than even the morning meetings had revealed. Erica tapped the elevator key for her level and began the ride down to the training area. On the way, she tapped a message into her tablet informing Hillary of the official restriction from fieldwork. She had barely sent the message when she received Hillary’s frustrated response. The young woman seemed rightly concerned that the restriction would interfere with her training. Erica sighed and began running through the portions of her training regimen she could do within the confines of Refuge. Fortunately, Refuge had some advantages over its predecessor, Sanctuary.

Refuge had many environments simulated within its caverns. Erica could do some environmental training. Survival training and blending into various cultural situations was a go. There was physical training, including self-defense and combat techniques. Erica began working on an alternative course of study on her tablet.
- - - - - - - - - - - -

Lora yawned. She was always tired at this point, and her hunger cut her like a dulled knife. Her internal immune system management had proven insufficient to protect Alinet beyond the first few days. Her body seemed intent on evicting or destroying the invader. Lora had resorted to reducing the resources available to her immune system. She had cut her sleep to a few minutes per day, and she was eating less than a thousand calories every few days.

Her search for the other symbiotically inclined parasites had turned up little more than anecdotal stories held up as half myth by worlds that had thrown off the control of the parasites. Still, Lora felt optimistically hopeful that she was getting closer. The world they were currently on divided into two classes. The parasitically joined controlling class and the free people who were little more than elevated farm animals trained to the simplest of work. Actively joined to Alinet, Lora could move about freely between both groups. She had discovered the disconcerting disappearances of the lower class. They disappeared from the ranks of slaves only to reappear randomly as joined individuals of the upper class. The strange thing was that there was no ceremony of domination, which the controlling class celebrated when the lower class was thusly elevated. That implied that the joining lacked official sanction.

The only thing necessary for a sanctioned joining was the hatching of a newly pupated parasite which had passed inspection by the council of elders. Rumors were that only juvenile parasites that that felt as Alinet did didn’t pass inspection. They were quite rare, and they always made examples of them. Unsanctioned joinings were the most resent hopeful lead in Lora's search. It took her weeks, but she finally tracked down the location where the joinings were happening. Lora hid in the rafters of the old abandoned factory. She watched as the uninfected, host to be, walked fearfully, but voluntarily, in and sat in a chair.

Two hosts Lora recognized as being unusually kind to the uninfected carried in a small covered basket. They set it down on a table behind the chair. The male host walked around front, “Are you sure you are a willing partner to this child? She professes symbiotic inclinations, but instincts could take hold.”

The prospective host swallowed hard and nodded firmly.

The female host uncovered the basket, the newly matured parasite squirmed against the sudden light. The female host gingerly reached into the basket and carried the grub to the back of the new host’s neck. The joining was rather quick, as was instinctive for the parasite. The man and the woman waited for the newly joined pair to come round.

The new host’s eyes snapped open, and he blinked exaggeratedly, “We did not think this would feel so odd.”

“You must use the pronoun I! If the elders hear you two using ‘we’ it will reveal your inclinations and an example will be made,” The male said bluntly, “One of you needs to take the lead in communicating and you need to take this seriously!”

“We, I will!” The pair affirmed, rising from the chair.

That was enough proof for Lora. She teleported down in front of the chair. She arrived just a few inches above the floor and fell into the chair hard. If she didn’t find an alternate host for Alinet one or both of them would not survive.

The trio of hosts were instantly on guard, “Where did you come from?”

“We came from the rafters. We saw what you did. We need your help. We are dying. My immune system is killing Alinet,” Lora stated.

The female host examined Alinet and hissed, “Tory, I don’t think they are lying. Bring in the next volunteer!”

The man ran into the other room and returned with a young woman and a folding chair, “Mya, have a seat. This is an emergency transference. Alinet’s host is rejecting her and neither of them want her to die.”

Mya nodded, “Let’s begin!” She put the chair down with its back to Illora’s chair and she sat. Lora felt Alinet pulling away almost immediately, as circumstances required. Still, Lora felt abandoned and alone. She barely noticed that the exit wounds were not healing as they should. She vaguely heard Mya fall from the chair to the floor as the joining progressed. Lora didn’t have long to process that before she too passed out.


Illora stirred to consciousness slowly. Her hunger had deepened into an acute gnawing sensation, and she felt tired beyond measure, though she was stiff from a long sleep. “She is back with us,” A strange female voice stated from somewhere to Lora’s right side.

Lora opened her eyes. They were in a dusty former office and she was lying on a couch, hooked up to several IVs. Lora batted at the IV tubes weakly. The woman to Lora’s right came into view. It took Lora a moment to recognize her as Mya, the woman that joined with Alinet. “Alinet?”

“Yes, we are,” Mya stated.

“Remember Mya, I am, not we are…” The male host scolded from somewhere near Lora’s feet.

“I know, Tory,” Mya said.

Tory stepped up to Lora’s side, “Alinet tells us you have been mistreating yourself to keep her alive. She has also told us you are not from our world. Before you even think of leaving, you need to recuperate. You will stay with Leia and I, and pretend to be our servant, of course…”

Lora sat up and regretted it, “How will that be recuperative?”

“You will stay out of the public areas so you will not need to make a show of doing anything. You know it is not only reasonable but encouraged to keep servants of the unjoined class private. All anyone will see of you is your entering our house,” Leia, the other host coordinating the unofficial joinings answered.

Lora attempted to swing her legs off of the couch and push up. Tory placed a light hand on her shoulder, which effectively held her down. Lora sighed. It looked like she would go with their suggestions.
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Annette was a thief. She had stolen a day off. There was no legitimate reason for her to take the day off. It wasn’t a holiday. She wasn’t sick, or planning another experiment with Tina. She didn’t have a date to go on or a project to work on. She had stolen it to be an entirely free day. She dressed in out of character clothing and wore sunglasses when she left the house. She rushed to lose herself in the crowd before someone could notice her coming out of her apartment.

Annette walked through the crowds on the artificial streetscape of her living level. She headed to the elevator, down to the ground, and deeper into the travel hub of the building. The building was the size of several city blocks; it existed as a multi-leveled structure. Each level comprised a platform with a ceiling three stories above. Projected from the ceiling was an artificial sky. Two-story structures existed on the level resembling the packed buildings of a moderate city.

The lower floor of the level contained businesses. a catwalk existed a floor above leading to the facades of residential quarters held within small pockets of extra-dimensional space. The facades took up no more real estate than the businesses below but on this level many of them held palatial houses full of the finest things. They were the residences of the powerful families of Refuge.

The tower of which this was just one level, had thirty levels and was one of nine in the city of Hub. Most of Refuge’s population lived in one of those towers, and many levels were completely empty. Annette had been part of the team that designed Refuge and they had wanted to be sure there was plenty of room for the factors and their civilian citizens to increase in population.

Annette had a smile on her face when she reached the elevator. It was the size of a mid-sized room and had chairs and benches. Annette stood in line to board the elevator. She casually brushed up against the man next to her. That was when she noticed who it was. “Carl?”

“Anne-” Annette cut him off.

“I am incognito, this is my day off.”

“Sorry, Annie,” Carl stated. No one was paying either of them any attention. “What were you planing for today?”

“I am taking the day completely off and am going to be as wasteful with my time as I can be,” Annette answered.

Carl just blinked at her. “I guess I’ll do my best to keep the fires burning under control.”

“Thanks Carl, I really need this.”

“I suppose you’ll be spending your time with Teo…”

Annette cocked her head to the side at the strange tone Carl used for Teo’s name, “Actually, I wasn’t planing to.”

Carl seemed to perk up at that, “Recharge your batteries. I’ve got this.” He held up his tablet.

Annette smiled as the elevator reached the ground level. Waving, she made her way off. Then she headed for the park at its center. It was her favorite. There was a park at the center of every third level, and each had a different layout and landscaping. This one had a Japanese flair with a koi pond, teahouse, and small waterfall. Annette set course for her favorite bench near the Koi pond.

She wore several devices that somewhat deadened her senses. She found reducing their natural intensity helped her relax. The glasses dimmed the spectral glare, blinding her to all but spectrum naturally seen by humans. In her ears were noise canceling earbuds that reduced the volume of the surrounding sounds. Her scent suppression cream deadened a sense more naturally sensitive than a bloodhound. Last, a fashionably wide headband blocked the telepathic noise.

When she sat on the bench, she turned down the volume on the earbuds making herself relatively numb to the world around her, sensing only what she focused on. She teleported a bag of koi food into her left hand and began tossing bits to the fish. It was wonderful until someone laid a firm hand on her shoulder from behind.

Annette turned to see Tina eyeing her with worry. Annette tucked a finger in her ear and turned the dampening on her hearing down. “I said, what are you doing here?” Tina stated with apparent frustration and concern.

“I am trying to relax,” Annette put down the bag of fish food.

“You worried me, what with our project and all. Know I am keeping an eye out for side effects. You aren’t feeling odd, are you?” Tina sat on the bag, keeping her eyes on Annette.

“No, Tina, I’m fine. I just took a day off. I needed to get my head straight. With Teo, and our experiments, and Hillary, and everything, I have been a little distracted. I thought a day of doing nothing might help.”

“I assume from including Teo on that list that you don’t intend to spend it with him…” Tina smirked.

“No, I don’t. I think I might have gotten lost in our relationship. Carl keeps getting frustrated with my distraction. I need to reopen my mind to other things.”

“You go, girl. Remember that you are a strong independent woman, not just eye-candy for some man!” Tina smiled.

“Aren’t you one of the rare briaunti to have gotten divorced, despite a biologically reinforced pairbond? Should I really take relationship advice from you?” Annette jibbed gently.

“Ooh, ouch! It was the job. My husband couldn’t handle me being assistant chief of medical services. It was an amicable split. You should think about that. You are The Chief. Do you think you can carry on a relationship with the pressure of the job? Do you think Teo can handle being first husband?”

Annette frowned, “Thanks for harshing my buzz!”

“Really? You don’t speak stoner well Annette, but I guess love is a drug. I get what you are saying. I was on my way to work. I better get going,” Tina stood and headed for the stairway down to the train level.

Annette picked up the crumpled paper bag of fish food. If Tina spotted her here, anyone could. Annete teleported the fish food back into her cupboard and a scarf into her hands. She wrapped the scarf around her head like a hijab and teleported to the mid-level of another tower.

The surrounding shops were unfamiliar, and she didn’t know anyone that lived on that level. Theoretically no one should recognize her in her disguise. She headed into a shop offering ceramics of various designs. Most were molecular reprints of original pieces. A few of the original pieces sat in glass cases behind the store’s service counter. A master craftsperson had hand made each of them. Annette was one of many in the shop admiring the craftsmanship.

Annette especially liked a set of cereal bowls that had an impressionistic flower pattern in the cobalt glaze on each one. Only a small sequential number carved in the bottom of the molecular reprints marked them as being copied. It was a slight difference, but it made a big difference in price. The copies of the set she liked sold for a quarter of an allotment choice. Just one original cost three houseware allotment choices. The difference was that the reprints came from patterns scanned off of the originals, but each original required the time and expertise of a craftsperson.

The shopkeeper noticed Annette’s scrutiny. “Miss, if you would like I could make a mixed set, one original and five reprints for four choices.”

Annette smiled, “I was actually thinking of purchasing all six originals.”

The shopkeeper chuckled, “You must have been saving for some time.”

“Or something,” Annette tapped her remote pin and her program chirped.

“Yes, miss,” Prima was sulking again. Annette realized the program was probably unhappy at being diverted from the usual routine.

“Prima, transfer the allotment and a small gratuity to the shop. Then place instructions for them to deliver the bowls to the apartment,” Annette stated.

“Wait, I know that voice,” A familiar voice stated from behind Annette.

Annette’s shoulders slumped, “Hi, Scope. I am incognito.”

“Yes, ma’am! How have you and Carl been doing?” Annette turned to see Scope in blue jeans and a white t-shirt. Scope didn’t wear the typical color for fifth year factor trainees.

“Why aren’t you in colors?” Annette asked puzzled.

“I guess you didn’t hear. Chavez tapped me for an internship in R&D. I quit the program. I am working on experimental prototyping now. It is mostly sculpting virtual patterns for reprints, or first prints,” Scope answered.

Annette grimaced. Scope had never had the issues with Sinclair Chavez that plagued Annette’s career. “Are you happy in R&D?”

“As a clam, but what are you doing hanging in the slums like this?”

Annette raised an eyebrow. This portion of this tower had mostly studio apartments for lower-level allotments, but it was far from a slum. “The crashpads are the slums, this is firmly middle class.”

Scope pointed across the street, “My apartment’s over there and I can tell you it is lower middle class. I don’t even have half the amenities in the trainee dormitories. Again, what are you doing here?”

“I took a day off. I needed a break.”

“I can totally understand that… Want to hang out? We could shop like we used to. Or you can, I have to watch my allotments these days, but you don’t have to,” Scope verbally stumbled.

“I was actually hoping to have a day to myself,” Annette replied.

“I get it. Everybody wants your time. Have Prima call me, maybe we could do lunch,” Scope backed out of the shop, leaving Annette to face the shopkeeper again.

He was staring at her wide eyed, then he glanced back at his tablet, “Is there anything else I can get you ma’am? The artist is open for commissions.”

Annette frowned. She had hoped she would be out of the shop before the shopkeeper realized who she was. “I’ll keep that in mind.” She waved and quickly left the shop before any of the other customers caught on.

Outside on the simulated street, Annette focused on teleporting to another tower. Before she could, she recognized a familiar smell. With the impression of her sense of smell, the only type of smell that should be able to get her attention was one her entire body knew and craved on contact. She turned to see Teo standing just feet away, it looked like he had just teleported in.

That she wanted to spend the day alone blindly flew out the window as she reached for his embrace. “Whatever are you doing here?” He asked returning the embrace.

“I guess I was just killing time till you found me.” Annette released him and smiled dreamily.

Teo smiled broadly, “How about lunch?”

Annette leaned away from Teo to look him fully in the face. She wasn’t hungry, except maybe for contact with him. “Sure, where are we going?”

“I get to pick this time?”

Annette nodded, “Wherever you’d like to go.”

“Does it have to be around here?”

Annette blinked. “I guess not.” Teo teleported both of them to Room 52. Annette looked around hesitant. “You’re taking me out of Refuge?” She had only left Refuge once since she took the job as chief. It was the time that she ended up rescuing Teo and his family. “Are you sure it safe?”

“I am a multiversally renowned catalyst. That makes me even better than the secret service, CIA, FBI, and Interpol could ever think of being. You are safe with me,” He chuckled, “You remember leaving Refuge to rescue my family, don’t you?”

Annette nodded. She had spent most of her life in Refuge or its predecessor, Sanctuary. She could count her excursions into the outer multiverse on one hand. It had never been just to hang out. For her going out had always involved the element of danger. Annette clung to Teo like a lifeline, and they hadn’t actually left Refuge yet. Fear was not something Annette liked to admit to, and all things considered, she hadn’t experienced it often.

“If you don’t want to go...”

Annette shook her head and pulled away from Teo, “No, where are we going?”

Teo smiled. “I know this little restaurant...” He held out his hand.

Annette grasped his hand and felt the swirling vertigo of complex teleportation. He was taking her through time and space. Reality faded in around them, and she saw what could be a street in any town in the United States. The fragrant smell of cherry blossoms tickled Annette’s nose faintly. Teo gave Annette’s wrist a light tug toward a brick building with a large picture window. It had “Sal’s” printed on the blue canvas awning. “You are going to love this.

Annette followed slowly as his dragging of her arm allowed. It looked like the town only had two stoplights and she could see both of them. What could be so wonderful about this restaurant out of the trillions of other possibilities in the multiverse? Teo pushed open the wood-framed glass door to the restaurant. Annette followed him in. It looked more than vaguely familiar. He waved at the server behind the chrome diner counter and drug Annette to a small corner booth in the back. A server came to their table and handed them real laminated paper menus. Recognition dawned, this restaurant was identical to the restaurant in Refuge Annette had taken Teo to. Several Factor trainees had preempted that date by noticing Annette’s presence and making a big deal about it. That was highly unlikely to happen here. Annette perused the menu, it was the same. Teo smiled at his surprise.

“What can I get you kids?” the server asked, tapping her pen on her pad.

“Huevos rancheros and a chocolate shake for two,” Teo said with a smile.

Annette nodded coyly. The server wrote down their order and placed silverware in front of them. She took their order slip and tucked it through the pass to the kitchen, returning shortly with two glasses of water. The server then made the rounds of the other occupied tables, refilling coffee or water.

“So what do you think?”

Annette sighed and looked around the room. The fifties kitsch was complete. Annette couldn’t tell whether this place was current or retro. “It’s sweet and romantic.”

“I have been planning this since they assigned me to this world to prevent an assassination. I couldn’t save JJFK, but I saved Jackie.” Teo stated.

That told Annette that the restaurant was retro or clinging to decades past. “I never thought to ask the man who runs Sal’s in Refuge where he came from. He is probably an alternate of this restaurant’s owner.

“He’s Sal’s son. They killed his father in a dark incursion and Niel designed the restaurant in Refuge as a tribute,” Teo stated.

Annette suddenly realized with a near physical jerk that Teo had a life separate from her. He knew people in Refuge she did not. He could know other women... What if he didn’t feel about her the way she felt about him? How did she feel about him? Her body would have her lose herself to him. Instincts pulled them together. Was it love though? Annette let her eyes wander back from the kitsch to Teo’s face. The baby-smooth face she had rescued not that long ago now had the slightest bit of stubble. He looked older. He was older. Catalysts patrolled the timelines, looking for intentional damage. Most likely he was decades if not centuries older than she was at this point. Examining his face like a piece of art, she saw fine lines marking laughter and tears gone by without her. “Teo, where are we going with this?”

“What do you mean? We’re having lunch.”

“I mean, do your guts turn to jelly when you think about life without me?” Annette asked, with guts full of jelly.

“Why would I think of life without you?” Teo’s brows furrowed along fine lines that marked it as a common expression, “What’s wrong?”

“Is this all physical addiction between us? Is it just because the man who engineered our species added in the extra burden of pair-bonding for life? Do you even like me?” Annette fretted.

Teo laughed and smiled, then like he could sense how serious Annette was, he spoke, “Yes, part of why we are together is because our bodies resonate with each other. If I thought that was all this was about, I wouldn’t have brought you here. I would have rested on my laurels you had to love me. I know you lust me, but I want you to love me too. This isn’t just biology to me. Is it to you?”

Annette noticed he said he wanted her to love him, but carefully skirted saying he loved her. “What about me?” Teo’s eyebrows rose in confusion. “Do you love me?”

“I don’t know... this is just the beginning of our relationship...” Teo answered.

An elephant sat on Annette's chest, she couldn't breathe. He didn't love her? Teo placed his hands on each of her cheeks and pulled her closer. He kissed her on the lips, drawing concern from her like venom from a snakebite. Annette hung in the moment wanting more yet part of her questioned whether the tingling sensation on her lips was just the physical manifestation of biology. Teo pulled back slowly and Annette gasped in relief. His mouth might say no but his lips said boy howdy! "So where do we go from here?"

Teo shrugged. The server arrived with their order. She placed the milkshake between them and a plate of food in front of each of them. Annette stared at her plate for a moment. Then her eyes found their way back to Teo. She watched him eat until he noticed her watching him. “Do I have something on my face?”

Annette shook her head and forced herself to lift a forkful of food to her dry mouth. She chewed until she had no more saliva. Then she dipped her head towards the milkshake. Teo had chosen that moment to bend towards it too. Their foreheads collided. Both recoiled and rubbed the points of impact. Annette found Teo’s eyes just as he found hers. Minutes passed as she stared into the icy blue puddles of love.

“Kids your food’s gonna get cold,” The server placed a check on the corner of the table. Annette looked around. All the other patrons had left. The busboy swept up near the kitchen door. Palpable impatience echoed from the server’s expression.

Teo sighed, “I forgot. This place closes at one-thirty and doesn’t open again until four-thirty. Can we get to-go boxes?”

The server nodded and rushed over to the counter to retrieve them. Teo laid a hundred-dollar bill on the check and was quick to accept the styrofoam boxes. Annette watched him scrape their food into the boxes and wondered where the time had gone. He poured the rest of their shake into the styrofoam cup the server had brought, poking the two straws through the hole in the lid.

“I’ll bring back your change,” The server said, picking up the check and the money.

“Keep it,” Teo said dismissively as he slid from the booth. He collected their food and gestured for Annette to come with him.

The server blinked almost loudly, “Thank you.”

Annette slid out of the booth. Teo’s hand seized hers. They walked together to the door which Annette opened. Outside, Teo smiled at her. The sun shone down on them from a cloudless sky but it was that smile that illuminated Annette’s world. “What now?”

“Let’s see where the afternoon takes us.”
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