The Other Earth (4 page)

Brandon laughed, "Yeah, that's my girl!" he yelled, slapping me on the shoulder.

My heart skipped a beat as he touched me, but I tried not to let him notice that him calling me his girl had affected me. I held my breath as he rested his hand onto my shoulder after he had slapped it and was obviously in no mood to move it.

I turned to look at him and he was looking at me with an odd expression again. I raised my eyebrows, "So are you going to let me get to work, or are we going to just sit here all day?" I asked him, my voice coming out more breathy than I had anticipated.

He narrow
ed his eyes at me, no doubt catching my tone and smiled as he slid his hand down my arm. "Sure, let me know once you sign up, we can celebrate" he said, standing up.

I nodded, "Yeah sure, as long as you don't get me as drunk as the last time."

He winked, "We will see about that" he said as he walked away.

Chapter Four

I woke up the next morning itching to talk to Stacey about what had happened at work the day before. I had come home yesterday excited to tell her about the opportunity to sign up, but she was gone and when she had come home, she had brought company with her and I didn't want to interrupt, so I just stayed in bed, determined to talk to her in the morning.

I stepped out of bed and opened my door slowly, looking out into the living room, trying to judge if her guest was still there. I frowned as I saw the un
familiar purse sitting on the table next to the couch and knew that her guest had slept over. I didn't care that she had someone sleep over; I just wanted to talk to her alone and didn't want to make her guest feel unwelcome.

I walked into the living room,
thinking about making a pot of coffee and saw Stacey standing in the kitchen cooking breakfast as I turned the corner.

"Good morning Randi" she said with a smile.

"Um, good morning. You're cooking?" I asked, confused.

She nodded, "Yes, Vickie is still in
my room sleeping and I wanted to surprise her with breakfast in bed."

I looked over at this creature that had taken over the body of my roommate and saw that her eyes were shining and she looked happier than I had ever seen her before.

"Wow, you love her don't you?" I asked her.

She clapped her hands together, "I don't know. I might. She is someone special Randi, and I have asked her to be my girlfriend.
My monogamous girlfriend." She said as she flipped the pancake that was in the pan.

"Monogamous huh?
Wow, I've haven't seen you be monogamous with anyone since college and that slut Tisha broke your heart" I said.

She nodded, "I know, I just can't stand the thought of anyone else having Vickie. She is the most generous, honest, loving woman I have met in a l
ong time. It just feels different with her" she told me.

"I am so happy for you, where did you meet her?" I asked, spotting that she had already made a large pot of coffee. "Oh bless you" I told her as I walked over to make a large mug.

She smiled, "I knew you would want some when you woke up. Anyway, I actually met Vickie a few years ago at a club downtown. She was with a mutual friend and we hit it off then, but nothing really happened besides a few silly phone calls and texts. So I went to a concert last night and she was there. We recognized each other right away, but I didn't think anything would happen besides more flirty calls and such, but we ended up coming back here last night, and I'll just say that it was a really great night." She said as she slid the finished pancake onto the plate.

I smiled, "I'm so happy for you" I told her, walking up behind her and pulling her into a hug.

"What's that for?" she asked me.

"You deserve someone who will treat you like the fantastic woman I know you are" I said, kissing her cheek.

I walked with my large mug of coffee back to the bar and sat down, watching as Stacey poured another heaping helping of pancake batter into the pan.

"Why are you up so early? You don't have to work today
do you?" It's Sunday" she said.

I shook my head, "No I don't have to work, I was actually hoping to talk to you about something" I said, not looking up at her face as I said it.

"Uh oh, what happened?" she asked.

"Well, I know how you feel about this, but they offered two people to go up to this new planet and check it out and I am going to sign up to get tested to see if I'm eligible to go" I said quickly.

"I knew it. I knew it. You are going to get picked and never come back" she said, tears springing to her eyes as she was obviously remembering her dream.

"Stace, look.
This is no ordinary mission. I could really do something great to make our world a better place to live. The only thing is, Brandon found out how long we are expected to be gone on this mission, if we were to get picked" I told her.

"How long?" she asked me quietly.

"At least two years" I answered slowly, watching her face.

She shook her head, "Two years? Do you know how much could happ
en in two years?" she asked me.

"Look, I know you don't want me to go, but I have to at least try Stacey. I have a one in a million shot of actually getting picked, but even with those chances, I still have to try." I told her with a pleading look in my ey
es.

She sighed, "I know you enough to know that when it's something this important, there is no talking you out of it. Please just promise me one thing" she said.

"What? Anything."

"If you do get picked, please try as much as humanly possible to come back
to me? Don't leave me here without you forever, okay?" she asked, grabbing my hand from across the bar.

I put my other hand on top of hers, making her hand into a sandwich, "Stacey, I promise you that I will come back. There is no doubt in my mind that I
would. But, I also don't think you have anything to worry about, there are hundreds of people at that company more qualified than me" I told her.

She smiled, "Okay" she said, going back to finishing up breakfast.

"Good morning" I heard a quiet voice from behind me.

I turned in my chair and saw Vickie standing behind me, her short brown hair rumpled and knotted from sleeping, wearing only a tank top and shorts. She was looking at Stacey with a look of pure joy on her face to see her standing there in front o
f her and it was at that moment I realized something. This is true love that I am seeing from them, maybe for the first time in my entire life.

"Hey good morning babe, I was going to bring you breakfast in bed" Stacey said to her, walking around the kitche
n island to kiss her.

Vickie shook her head, "No, I would much rather sit in here with you guys" she said, pulling out the bar stool next to me. "What are guys talking about?" she asked.

I looked over at her and smiled, "It's nice to officially meet you Vickie, since your girlfriend over here has completely forgotten that her roommate for ten years even exists."

Stacey grabbed a piece of toast from the plate in front of her and threw it at me. I laughed as it soared behind me. "I was going to introduce you
, don't get your panties in a twist" she said, sticking her tongue out at me.

Vickie nodded at me, "It is good to finally meet you too, Stacey has told me a lot about you. I hope you are okay with me staying over" she said, her face taking on the quality o
f a little girl in trouble.

I shook my head, "No way, I am happy Stacey has found someone so dang sweet" I said, reaching over and pinching her pink cheeks.

She smiled, "Good. So, you guys looked like you were having a pretty serious conversation, I'm sorry if I interrupted."

"No, it's okay. Stacey here had a bad dream that I was going to leave to go and
explore this new planet that they found, and that I was never going to come back. I was telling her that they have opened up the opportunity for us to have a sort of try out to see if we are eligible to go. She is worried, but I was trying to explain to her that my job mostly consists of proof reading memos and fetching coffee for people much higher in the company than myself. I just don't think she has anything to worry about with me being chosen to go" I said, stopping to take a breath, realizing that I was talking way too fast.

Stacey set a plate of pancakes down in front of Vickie, "Sorry she gets a little winded when she gets excited" she said to Vickie, patting her on the head as she turned to walk back around the island.

Vickie looked at us both thoughtfully, "I can see why Stacey would be worried, I heard about this new planet and from what I gather, it's pretty far away. If by chance you did get chosen, do you have plans to come back?" she asked.

I nodded, "Of course I would come back. I couldn't lea
ve Stacey behind, I love her like the sister I never had" I said.

Vickie looked back over to Stacey, "I know you are worried, but you have to trust her. Has she ever gone back on her word to you before?" she asked.

Stacey looked back over to me and sighed, "No, she hasn't. She has always done what she said she was going to do. Damn it, why do you have to be so logical?" she asked, a smile on her face showing that she wasn't the least bit mad at her new girlfriend.

I took one last gulp of my coffee and looke
d at Stacey, "I like her. This one is a keeper. I am going to let you two have a wonderful day together and I am going to go into the office for a little bit."

Stacey threw the dish towel she was holding back down onto the counter, "Randi, its Sunday! Can'
t you just for once take a damn day off from that place?" she asked.

I shrugged, "I know, look I have gotten zero work done with all of this new planet drama at work and I could really use the overtime. So, I will see you guys later, don't do anything I wo
uldn't do" I smiled as I turned toward my room.

"Is there anything you wouldn't do?" I heard Stacey ask from behind me.

I turned as I reached my door, "Good point" I said as I stepped into my room and closed the door behind me.

***

I sat back in my chair,
excited about all of the work I had managed to finally get done. I was very nearly caught up with the work that had been neglected over the past week. I was just about to get up for another cup of coffee when my cell phone started to ring. I looked down at the caller id and saw that it was Brandon.

"Hello?" I asked, answering the phone.

"Hey Randi, its Brandon. I just got a call from Jessica. She wants to start the test right away and she wants me to get everyone into the office today to get started. Can you come into the office in about an hour?" he asked.

I laughed, "Well, I should be able to manage that as I have already been here for about three hours" I said.

"Damn Randi, here I thought I was the workaholic of the office, but even I'm not there on a Sunday. Why aren't you at home giving Stacey hell?" he asked.

I shrugged even though I knew this was just a voice call and he wouldn't be able to see me, "I needed to get caught up and Stacey has her new girlfriend over" I said, before realizing that they s
ort of had a hook up the past week.

"Vickie. Yeah I met her last night at the bar. She is a sweet girl and Stacey seemed happy" he said.

I let out the breath I didn't even realize I was holding, "Yeah, she is one of the good ones. Anyway, I'll be here ready when you are" I told him, hoping to avoid any awkward questions.

"Okay, I still need to call two more people and then I'll be there, see you soon" he said, hanging up the phone.

I sighed as I got back to my work, hoping to get a little more done before Brandon showed up. Though I had not wanted to see him today, my stomach was betraying me with its little crazy butterflies as if it was excited to see him. Who was I kidding, I was always excited to see him, and that pissed me off.

The next twenty minutes w
ent by fast as I was concentrating on my work and almost didn't hear Brandon try to sneak up on me. I turned around in my chair and saw him walking up behind me, a coffee in his hands.

"Hey Randi Rose" he said cheerfully.

I stood up, stretching my body after sitting in the same chair for so long without standing up. "Okay, so I'm assuming everyone else is on their way. What is our first test?" I asked.

I looked up to see Brandon staring down at my minimal chest as I was str
etching. I looked down at my blouse and saw that it was stretched against my breasts, but I didn't see what was worth even looking at.

"Um, well, actually most everyone else wasn't able to leave their families, so their testing will start tomorrow. The onl
y other person that is coming is Jessica." He said.

"Oh, okay. No big deal. So what's our first test?" I asked.

He smiled, "One of my favorites, agility" he said.

I nodded, "Okay that's good, let's go ahead and make our way to the testing center" I said as
I started to walk toward him.

I was so distracted by the thought that it was going to be mainly just me and him all day that I didn't pay attention to the corner of the chair that I had just stood up from right by my foot. I started to walk forward and as
though in slow motion, tripped over the chair and started to fall forward.

I felt myself slam into something hard, and when I looked up, I saw that it was actually Brandon's chest. I was up against his chest, his arms holding me up so that I couldn't fall
further.  I looked up into his face, already feeling my cheeks turning red. He was looking down at me and our eyes met. I stared into his eyes unmoving for what had to be a full minute when I noticed that his eyes had turned darker as he stared at me.