The Other Earth

by Amber LaShell

  "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 of 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 kitchen 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 of 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 leave 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 looked 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 wouldn'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 sort 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 went 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 stretching. 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 only 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.

  "That's not a good way to start an ag
ility test" he said, obviously trying to lighten the mood.

  I could do nothing more than smile at him as I felt his arms lifting me up, trying to help me stand back on my own feet. I slid my arms up from his chest, trying not to feel the hard muscle beneath my hand and up to his shoulders, hoping to use them as leverage.

  I felt his heart start to beat faster against my chest and I looked back up into his face. He slowly leaned in and his mouth was only centimeters from my lips when I heard someone clearing their throat behind me.

  I quickly jumped back onto my feet and pushed myself away from Brandon and turned around. Standing right behind me was none other than the head of the SSE and both of our bosses. Jessica stood there looking at us with an amused expression on her face.

  "I seem to be interrupting something" she said.

  I shook my head as Brandon finally let go of my waist, "It's not what it looks like. Randi fell and I was helping her to get back up" he said quickly.

  Jessica smiled, "Sure, okay. None of my business. Let's get this test started so we can all get back to what we were um, previously doing" she said with a wink.

  I groaned and put my head in my hands, following Jessica and Brandon out of the room and down the hall, determined not to fall again.

  Once the testing got started, I was able to forget about all of the tension and the almost kiss that had happened with Brandon earlier. I had been only seconds away from kissing him and I was relieved and disappointed at the same time that we were interrupted by Jessica. Even though what he and Stacey had was obviously just a one night thing, I couldn't forget that they were both my friends and I didn't want anything to be awkward.

  Besides, Jessica had no idea that I had been crushing on him from the moment he had walked toward me in those tight fitting baseball pants, all covered in sweat. I shook my head to get that image out, the last thing I needed was to get distracted from the test I was on.

  "Randi! I need you over here please" I heard Jessica yell at me.

  Eager to show her my good side, I hurriedly walked over to the machine she was at, "Yes ma'am" I told her, knowing my nose was just a little brown after that.

  She rolled her eyes at me, "Cut the ma'am shit okay. I need you to run down to the deli and get some lunch. Brandon still has about ten minutes left in his machine or I would have sent him. I have already called in our order, I just need you to pick it up" she said, handing me her company credit card.

  I nodded, "Yes M..." I started to say, catching myself before I called her ma'am again. "Uh, no problem Jessica" I said quickly before turning and practically running away from her.

  "Randi, make sure they give you plenty of napkins" she yelled at me as I was running, or rather walking quickly away. I put my hand up to let her know that I had heard her as I went to run the errands I had become sadly very good at lately. I sighed, hoping that someday I wouldn't just be a gopher at this company.

  Chapter Five

  I gripped the arm rests of the chair I was sitting in, trying to hold in my breakfast as the machine I was in spun me. I closed my eyes and tried to imagine that I was just on a crazy fun and fast roller coaster. The same ones that I had loved as a teenager, before they had shut them all down because it was deemed unsafe to be outside for the length of time it took to wait in line for one of those rides.

  Thinking about the horrible air quality was just what I needed to give me the push to finish this last test. This was for a good cause, to study a planet that had not only close to zero pollution, but a completely intact ozone layer. Just thinking of how this could help out our own planet gave me the strength to open my eyes and focus, completely losing all queasiness.

  "Okay Randi, you are at maximum speed. Now I need you to input the exact code we gave you to study on the keypad in front of you please" I heard Jessica say in the microphone next to my ear.

  I looked down and saw the different colored buttons laid out in front of me. I thought back to the memo that they had given me on my first day of tests and remembered clearly the color combination. I pushed the red button first, then the orange, then green, back to red, and then lastly the large black button. Instantly the machine started to slow down, coming to a stop within just a few seconds.

  I sat in the chair not moving as my body felt as though it was still moving, and realized that I was dizzy. I hadn't been dizzy in so many years I had forgotten what it felt like.

  "Good job Randi. Once your dizziness subsides, pull the yellow release lever by your head and it will let you out of the pod. Come to the main station room once you are out" Jessica said into my ear again.

  I sat in the pod for a few more minutes until I felt like I could walk without hurting myself. I looked up and pulled the yellow lever and smiled as the lid of pod lifted up. I unbuckled my belt and stepped out of the pod, looking around to see which way I was turned and saw the control booth right ahead of me.

  I walked up and opened the door, smiling as Jessica looked over at me. "Great Job Randi." She said, motioning for me to come and sit next to her.

  "Thanks. What was this test measuring?" I asked.

  "This test shows how you would react to a very bad situation. If for some reason the ship was to careen out of control, there are sets of buttons you can push to right it again. This test was to see if you could focus and concentrate enough to push a studied set of buttons while the ship was out of control. You did very good, remembered a set of instructions given to you over two weeks ago, and on the first try." She said, patting me on the back.

  I smiled, "Thanks. So, this one was the last one for me. Is that correct?" I asked her.

  She nodded, "Yes you are officially done. We won't be able to make a decision on who is going to be actually going, seeing as that you and Brandon had an early start and are therefore finished a day early. But, I can confirm that you have passed all of the tests satisfactorily and will be included in the list of candidates to choose from." She said.

  I clapped my hand over my mouth as it gaped open, "Oh that is such good news, thank you!" I said a little too loudly.

  Jessica smiled, "It's good to see someone so excited about all of this. We will start to announce who we choose next week. Enjoy your weekend Randi. Also, I have been watching you and you haven't taken a day off in over a month. Please take the whole weekend off okay? Your body has been put through some really tough tests these last couple of weeks."

  I opened my mouth to protest, "But..."

  "No, that is an order Randi" Jessica interrupted, turning back over to the computer.

  I smiled, "Okay I promise, no working. See you Monday" I told her and left the control room to head back to my desk and finish up a few things before heading home for the weekend.

  As I walked back up to my desk, I plopped down onto my desk chair, happy that my tests were over. Even though I would never admit it to anyone, my body was sore from everything they had put me through. It was worth it though, even though I didn't think that I would ever be chosen, I was happy to know that the person who did would be qualified after all of that.

  "Penny for your thoughts Randi Rose" Brandon said behind me.

  I turned and looked at him, "Honestly I was just picturing a long hot bubble bath and a good sleep after today's test" she said.

  He nodded, "Yeah I know what you mean. It was pretty brutal huh?"

  "Yeah, that's for sure. I think I'm still dizzy from that last one" I said, grabbing my head as though it was spinning.

  He laughed, "Yeah, me too. So listen, we are both now completely done with tests. Did they tell you if you were eligible?" he asked me, pulling up a chair besides me.

  I nodded, "Yes, Jessica told me I would be in the running" I said.

  He clapped his hands together, "Great! I was hoping you would say that. They told me I am in the running too. This means we have got to celebrate. What do you say you go home, take a shower, get dressed, and meet me at the bar? The drinks will be on me. Hell, invite Stacey and Vickie too, I'm in a good mood"
he said, winking.

  I frowned, wondering if he was going to try to hook up with Stacey again. I didn't know if Stacey had told him that she and Vickie were now monogamous. I shrugged, figuring he was just happy we were done like I was.

  "Okay, I will invite them, under one condition" I said.

  He turned his head slightly, "And what is that?" he asked.

  "Under no circumstances can you let me get as drunk as I did the last time we went out to celebrate" I said.

  He laughed, "We will just have to see about that. Meet me there in two hours, is that enough time?" he asked me.

  I nodded and he turned and walked away. I sighed, wondering how I would manage to keep my distance once a little liquid courage was in my system. After our almost kiss two weeks before, I had managed to keep my distance enough, never letting things get too awkward. I could only hope I would be able to keep it that way after a little vodka.

  ***

  I walked into the bar with Stacey and Vickie close behind me, holding on to each other as though they would never see each other again. I smiled at how happy Stacey had been the last few weeks, happier than I had ever seen her, which was a welcome surprise.

  I looked around until I spotted Brandon over by the pool tables, sitting at a large table by himself and looking down at his phone. My phone buzzed in my pocket and I quickly pulled it out and saw that Brandon had texted me. "Are you coming?" It asked.

  I laughed as I replied back, "Look up you idiot."

  I watched as his phone lit up and he read his message. His head snapped up quickly and saw me standing just a couple of feet from him. He smiled and held out his hands, welcoming us to his table.

  Once we walked over, Stacey reached over and gave him a big hug, stepping back slightly to let Vickie say hello. I couldn't really hear what was being said as the music was too loud, but as I sat down next to Brandon a waitress came up and handed me a Vodka on the rocks.

  I looked over at Brandon and he winked. I shrugged and downed the drink, determined to have a good time, hopefully without any awkwardness. My heart jumped a beat when he leaned over and put his arm around my shoulders. This was something that he had done since we were kids, and it had never seemed to bother me before, but it seemed that after almost kissing him, it meant something different.