Fiction Fragment Friday
This story was written for the final collaboration episode of Bite Size Tales Book 4. The stories in the episode used the same character names and a few other elements, but told stories in vastly different genres. Despite not being my typical story I am very pleased with mine and it was a conscious effort to stay light and not allow the story to skew darker like so many lately have.
The scout ship “I found it first” had been docked less than fifteen minutes when the call bell went off. Becca had configured the alert to be heard anywhere in the tiny vessel which meant it was particularly loud by the airlock where she happened to be standing. This caused her to jump, spilling her very hot coffee across her chest. “Gah, computer mute call signal.”
“Acknowledged” came the toneless response over the speaker system.
Becca hit the intercom button next to her airlock. “Hey sorry to keep you waiting, but I’ll be just a couple more minutes. I need to take care of something.”
“No problem,” came the response from the speaker.
She grabbed a spare ship suit from the locker just to the right of the airlock. Normally this was for embargoed goods, but as a scout ship she had never really found a need to have embargoed goods. Instead, since she had been known to spill or occasionally puke on her shipsuit after a night of heavy drinking on the docks, she kept spare suits in multiple lockers around the ship. Without a second thought she stripped out of the coffee stained suit and put on the fresh one. It was only after she was done that she noticed the intercom camera was on. The man on the screen looked to be in his twenties like her, but his face was blushing a bright red and he was trying to look anywhere except the screen.
Resigned to have this interaction be about as awkward for both of them as it could be Becca hit the button to cycle the airlock and stepped out onto the docks to meet her unexpected visitor. The smell of disinfectant chemicals assaulted her nose. Most people imagine the docks to be dirty industrial areas, but with ships coming in from so many different planets the threat of contamination is taken very seriously.
At the bottom of the ramp next to the intercom screen stood what Becca now realized was a delivery man. She couldn’t help but think that the way he was looking at anything but her was one of the cutest things she had seen in a long time. Any sense of embarrassment slipped from her mind, but it left her with a dilemma. She couldn’t decide if she wanted to ease his discomfort or to find ways to mercilessly toy with him.
“Uhm, I’ve got a package for a Miss Rebecca Lee Chambers.” His voice stumbled and sounded unsure as he spoke. It was so quiet with him looking down at the deck that Becca could barely hear him.
“That’s me. Only please call me Becca. Only my mom and an ex I would rather forget have ever called me Rebecca and you aren’t either one of those.” She tried to smile hoping to put him at ease, but he would have to look up at her face to see it. Starting to actually get annoyed she reached down and touched his chin with two fingers planning on lifting it up.
At her touch Trevor was so startled that he stumbled back and fell to the deck dropping the package he was supposed to deliver. What is wrong with me, he wondered. Then his eyes met here and there was a mirth in them that he had never seen before. Her smile transformed into a look of concern before his eyes.
“Are you ok?” She leaned down and held her hand out to him.
“I’m fine. Only my pride seems to have taken a bruising.” He let her help him stand and then reached down to pick up her package. The corner of the box was dented and he just hoped the contents weren’t damaged.
She made a point of looking at his nametag before speaking again. “Come on Trevor I’ve had guys fall for me pretty quickly, but this might be a new record. Surely this isn’t the first time you’ve accidentally seen a spacer changing a ship suit.”
“Pretty sure it is. No wait there was that one time with uncle Hank, but trust me he isn’t anywhere near as cute as you are.” Trevor chuckled a bit nervously, but internally he was panicking. That came out all wrong. Please don’t be offended, please don’t be offended. His inner monologue was screaming, but thankfully Becca started laughing as well.
Points for calling me cute, but are they enough to make up for the awkwardness, she asked herself. “Well then let’s get this delivery finished before you get that image of Uncle Hank stuck in your head.”
“Ugh, too late. Just need you to sign here that you got the package,” he said, holding out a tablet to her. “Oh, and warning whoever sent this didn’t pay for shipping so it’s gonna charge you five credits.” She touched the pad with her index finger letting it read the fingerprint as her signature. Once the tablet beeped he held out the box.
Becca took the box and stared at the label for a moment. Trevor watched as her smirk faded and a much more guarded expression came over her face. “That bastard. I should have known when you used my full name. Really should have known when he couldn’t even bother to pay for delivery.” She ripped the box open and pulled out a bouquet of Baby’s Breath flowers.
Trevor couldn’t help but notice that the flowers looked wilted and dying. There was a tag hanging off them declaring in big red letters that they were deep frozen clearance.
“Trevor, has anyone ever sent you an apology bouquet of a flower you hate and then charged you for the privilege of receiving it?”
“No, but I did get a breakup video once that a girl recorded while on the toilet. It was a pretty crappy breakup.”
That earned him a laugh and he thought it was the most beautiful sound he had ever heard. “This is from Xan. He’s that ex I wanted to forget. King of the grand gestures as long as they’re on clearance.”
“What a moron,” Trevor said, surprising both of them with his outburst. “I mean not just for filler flowers and charging you for the delivery. If I did something to lose someone like you, not that I could ever have someone like you, but if I did I would personally come down here to make it right.”
Becca felt herself blush for a moment before she could compose herself. “Well Trevor, if there is one thing I enjoy talking about it’s how much of an idiot my ex is and how great I am. How about when you get off work you meet me back here and I’ll take you out for a drink?”
Trevor tried to hold back his excitement to seem cool, but it came out in his tone. “I’d love to.” Too desperate he thought. “Do you think we could skip the ex talk though? I’d much rather focus on things that make you smile.” Yes nailed it he thought to himself.
“It’s a date,” Becca said with a genuine smile. She turned to walk back up the ramp but stopped half way to look back at him. “Strange. The first time a guy has seen me get undressed before the first date.”
When the lock closed Trevor finally relaxed. “So much better than Uncle Hank.”
The speaker hissed for a moment before Becca’s voice came out. “This time you left the intercom on.”
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