“Hey, what’s Brian up to?” Normally Poppy could hear background noise when talking to her sister but this call had been surprisingly quiet. Brian was the type of guy who tended to make noise when he was simply sitting down doing nothing, so she could tell when he wasn’t around.
“Well, he decided to go in to the office today. Architecture apparently waits for no man…or alien,” Pixie deadpanned then started giggling. “He actually sat on our porch last night and stared at the ships for a bit.”
“Ummm…why?”
“Because he said that the curves and engine placement on them were ‘fascinating’. I swear he’s such a goofball sometimes. He went in to mock up some drawings apparently and left me here.”
“Hey, is he still acting weird?” Propping her feet up on the table, Poppy twirled a curl that had managed to escape from her bun.
“Yeah…a little. Since we’ve been hermits this last week, he hasn’t disappeared on me but he seems nervous about something.”
“You mean, other than aliens?”
“I don’t know. Before all this happened he was really secretive about where he was. For a minute I thought he was cheating but then Becky said she’d seen him browsing through rings downtown at a jewelry store…”
“You mean engagement rings?” Poppy took pride in needling her sister. Pixie was the type of person who was superstitious when it came to anything and everything.
“Don’t say that! You’re going to jinx it!” Pixie interrupted quickly.
“So, not to say he is going to propose, but if he did, would you say yes?”
Poppy already knew the answer even before she asked the question. Pixie was nothing if not predictable. While Poppy had floundered with school majors and then entering the workforce, it seemed Pixie’d planned everything out from the time she was in high school. The next step for her would obviously be marriage and then the two-point-five kids complete with a white picket fence and perfectly blooming flower boxes.
“Of course I would. We’ve been dating for two years and living together for one. Why wouldn’t I?” By her tone, Pixie obviously had no doubt that her life plan was a sound one.
“Well…do you luuuuurve him?” Poppy sang obnoxiously into the phone.
“Yes, why would you ask that?” Pixie was starting to sound offended at the questions.
Poppy thought for a moment and decided to go for broke. It wasn’t that she didn’t like Brian. He seemed like a great guy: stable job, stable salary, stable sense of humor. That was the one thing that bothered her. He was plain toast when she had always imagined her lovable sister with someone who had a little more spice.
“I like Brian. I really do.” Pausing to try to make this as gentle as possible, she chose her words carefully. “When you’re together…you seem different. You don’t laugh as much or crack jokes. When we are alone, we say ‘fuck’ about a million times and laugh so hard we snort. It’s sad when my sister seems to lose a little bit of her spunk when her boyfriend is around.”
There, she’d said it. Now she was full-on twisting the curl in her hand as she waited for Pixie to say something. Anything.
“Poppy…Brian is a great guy. He’s loyal and sweet. And he has a great job and would make a wonderful father. We aren’t getting any younger, you know. Plus, we’ve been dating for two years.”
“I know. I just don’t want you to settle for someone because he’s comfortable, Pixie. I want you to have some passion in your life. Are you passionate about Brian? I know when you first started dating you seemed so happy and then it seemed as though the more you settled in, the more boring it got.”
Poppy sat quietly while waiting for her sister to absorb what she was saying. Pixie was obviously doing the same thing since there was silence on her end as well. After a few moments with neither of them talking, Poppy decided to let it go.
“I just want you to be happy. And if you love him, then you’re happy and I’m happy for you.”
“Great. So let’s all be happy and drop the subject, okay?” Pixie had apparently had enough of the Brian discussion so Poppy changed it quickly.
“So, the big question is…toilet paper at Mega Mart or across town? The bonus is that I can stop for food across town on the drive back and not have to eat canned ravioli again.” She pulled on a light jacket. Florida weather was a little chilly in January so her winter gear consisted of a thin jacket and a scarf.
“Well, hell, if we’re basing your decision on a repeat of canned ravioli then by all means go across town and get alien-napped. Just don’t call me when they pull out the probes.” Teasing Poppy for her ability to make decisions based on her stomach, she added, “But I do want you to call me first thing when you get home. Okay?”
“Of course, sister dear. Hey, by the way, when are you going to go back in to work?” Zipping up her jacket, she made sure she had her wallet in her purse before heading out the door.
“The restaurant reopened this afternoon with a bare-bones staff. I’ll need to go in tomorrow and figure out payroll in the morning but today I’m taking the day off. Brenda is there acting as manager on duty so I don’t have to worry too much.”
After scanning the stairwell to make sure everything was quiet and no little green men were hiding, Poppy jogged down the steps to her late-model Honda. “Isn’t Brenda the chick who’s been causing problems lately?”
“Yeah, but it seems we only have issues when she tries to do paperwork. I swear, I spend more time fixing her fuck-ups than it would have taken me just to do whatever it is myself to begin with.”
By this point, Poppy had reached her car and climbed in. “Okay, Pix, I’m in my car and I’ll call you when I get back.”
“Gotcha. Drive carefully. Brian said people are still watching the ships more than the road, so pay attention.”
Poppy ended the call with their customary air-kissing noises and started the car.
“What the fuck?”
According to her gauge, someone had managed to steal most of her once-full tank of gas. Seriously? Poppy couldn’t believe it. Breathe in and breathe out, Poppy. Fuck breathing! she thought, banging her hands on her steering wheel. She leaned forward and rested her head against the car horn. There went fifty dollars and hello, side trip she hadn’t anticipated. Poppy ran through a list of the gas stations on her route and figured she had enough to get to one at least.
What a bunch of assholes.
Chapter Three
Two miles into her drive across town quickly changed Poppy’s destination. All four lanes of traffic had come to a standstill due to an accident that had Poppy cursing and smacking her steering wheel. Poppy made a quick U-turn. Praying she had enough gas to hit the station next to Mega Mart, she crossed her fingers.
The gas station was packed with what appeared to be a bunch of crazy doomsday preppers who seemed intent on emptying the station tanks. “Who needs ten cans of gasoline?” Talking to herself seemed like better entertainment than anything since the radio had turned into nothing but more news. Recognizing the ten-can gasoline man as her gun-toting neighbor made Poppy flinch.
“Yeahhhhh… I might want to stay at Pixie’s for a while.”
Once Poppy had finished as quickly as possible, she headed for the store. The parking lot resembled a reenactment of Black Friday. There wasn’t a space for what seemed like a mile away from the doors and figuring it was faster to just park than to try to stalk someone walking to their car, she pulled in and hopped out.
If she’d thought the parking lot was full, then she was shocked to see how busy the store was. There wasn’t a free cart in sight and most of the shoppers were leading multiple carts around on squeaky wheels. She picked up the biggest bundle of toilet paper she could see and walked to the frozen food to check out her options. Obviously no part of the store had gone untouched by the people who were creating their own stockpiles.
She suddenly felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up. Someone was watching her. Juggling the large sq
uare of toilet rolls in her arms, she turned to scan her surroundings. The men standing at the edge of the frozen food section were the only ones paying attention to her. The distance between them was far enough for Poppy to tell they were pretty big in stature, but she couldn’t make out any details. They seemed clean and were all wearing leather pants and plain tops. All four men seemed to have similar shoulder-length hair but one wore his hair longer than the others, in dreadlocks pulled into a low ponytail on the back of his head. Maybe a rock band’s tour bus had broken down or stopped for supplies? Now wanting to see if they were anyone famous, Poppy moved down the freezers until she was in front of the cases with desserts.
Trying not to stare, she took in the gorgeous men in front of her. She saw one of them whisper to the other three, who nodded at him. The whisperer turned to face the others, his back now to Poppy, giving her the chance to take in what was a totally magnificent ass. Too far away still to see what color their eyes were, she nevertheless figured the guys must all be related. Upon closer inspection, the men all had similar features and two had tattoos on their temples. Definitely a rock group. That bad-boy hair, leather pants and now tattoos could only point to that. They also seemed not to be calling attention to themselves, keeping out of the way of anyone shopping but also checking out the crowd.
As Poppy was bumped by another shopper, her grip on the toilet paper loosened enough for it to fall out of her hands. At the sound of it hitting the floor, the men all glanced over to where she was standing and the closest smiled at her. Her stomach tightened at the bright white teeth that were flashed at her. Her cheeks were bright red when she smiled back stupidly at the leader of the group. Turning away to face the freezer, she rolled her eyes to the heavens. That’s just great. Getting the attention of a hot guy by dropping an extra-large bundle of toilet paper.
Poppy had wasted enough time and snagged a pint of ice cream from the case in front of her to go with the sad-looking frozen dinner she was juggling. Damn. Just her luck that the men had left while she’d had her head stuck in the freezer case. On her journey to the front of the store she kept her eyes peeled but didn’t catch another glimpse of the group.
During the trek to the checkout lanes she had a feeling she was being watched, but didn’t spot the men from earlier, so brushed it off. She’d been in her apartment too long. Obviously she had cabin fever if she was this paranoid. If there was anything she needed to worry about right now, it wasn’t some fine-looking men at the store. She really needed to focus her worries on her crazy neighbors. In particular the one who liked to stockpile not only guns but cans of gasoline. Yep, mind made up, Poppy was going to pack a bag and head to Pixie’s tonight come hell or high water.
Getting home was easier said than done. People were so concerned about the ships there seemed to have been an accident that then had led to more, until it was like a life-sized version of bumper cars on the main roads. It was afternoon by the time she reached the safety of her apartment.
Poppy called her sister and left a message. “Hey, Pixie, I’m home. I think I’m going to come over to your place in a bit. I saw my neighbor at the gas station earlier and with the amount of gas he’s hoarding, I figure it might be safer there than here. I would rather be cautious than be the next news story. I can already see it now. Boring, single, lonely woman dies in explosion due to Florida idiots. Anyways, I’m heading your way as soon as I pack a bag. See ya in a bit.”
She was on the road again when her phone rang.
“Hey, sis, I’m on my way now.” Hating to talk while she was driving, especially with all the morons on the road, she wanted to hang up quick.
“I got called in to work. Go ahead and use your key. I’ll be home in a bit after I fix whatever Brenda managed to fuck up in the ten minutes I left her in charge.”
“Mkay, love you.”
Within an hour she was pulling into Pixie’s neighborhood in a subdivision on the other side of Jax. Pixie lived in a nice residential area where she and Brian rented a house. Brian’s car was in the driveway. What the hell was he doing home early?
Not bothering to knock, she used her key and walked in. Dropping her bag by the front door, she heard footsteps behind her.
“Pixie, what are you doing home?” Brian’s deep voice sounded confused.
Poppy and Pixie resembled each other quite a bit. Both had the same rounded figure, even though Pixie had two inches on Poppy in height. The sisters also shared the same hair color, cut and length, except Pixie’s curls tended to be better behaved than her own. Poppy and Pixie always joked about the humidity of Florida, using levels in their “hairdicator”. Poppy liked to think she was normally at stage “fluffy” when Pixie referred to it as “fuzzy”.
Turning around to make a face at Brian, she teased, “Brian, you can’t even tell the woman you love from her sister. Tsk-tsk.”
Brian stood before her red-faced, wearing only his boxers. Poppy had to admit that he was attractive. Plain, but still attractive. His dark-blond hair always seemed to be combed perfectly and he had a nice smile. Standing at five foot ten, he was well-built, which Poppy knew came from using the gym at the local health club. Scanning Brian up and down, Poppy noticed even his boxers were boring.
“Pixie said I could come over and stay for a bit. It’s a long story that deals with a man wearing a wifebeater, and a barrel of gas. Enough about me though.” With one hand propped on her hip, she gestured to him with the other. “What are you doing home? Pix said you went in to work today.”
Brian ran a hand through his blond hair, which of course fell back into place perfectly, then smiled uncomfortably.
“I haven’t been sleeping well, so I took a half day to come home and catch up on some z’s.” He hefted her bag from the floor. “Let me take this to the guest room and get some clothes on.”
Pixie took the bag from him, nodding her head in the direction of the master bedroom he’d come from. “No no no, if you came home to sleep, then go back to bed. I’ll just read or watch TV until Pixie gets off.”
“I can keep you company, seriously.” Brian snagged his phone off the kitchen counter as Poppy ushered him back to his room.
“I’m a big girl, Brian. Seriously. You are tired anyways. Plus, I didn’t mean to bother you. Do what you planned on doing today and get some sleep.” Poppy detoured to the guest room to drop off her stuff after making sure he had followed her advice.
As she walked back by the master bedroom, she heard Brian on the phone.
“Yeah, Poppy just got here.”
He must be calling Pixie for her. Poppy proceeded to get comfortable on their big and relaxing couch. Stroking the empty space next to her, she thought, Hell, yeah, I need one of these. Smiling at the thought of fitting this gigantic couch into her tiny one-bedroom apartment, she kicked up her feet and lay back. As she drifted off to sleep, she wondered when Pixie would be home.
A few hours later, Poppy jolted awake to the feeling of someone tickling her feet.
“Goddammit, Pix!” Poppy kicked out a foot and caught Pixie on the leg. She giggled as she avoided another hit.
“Hey, at first I was just trying to move your legs over. Then I figured your lazy ass needed to be woken up.” Pixie laughed, plopping down on the couch next to Poppy, and pushed her hair back off her face with a tired sigh.
“What are you doing home so early?” Poppy glanced at the clock on the DVR. “I thought you’d be longer.”
“There was a news alert saying a press conference is scheduled for six o’clock today so I wanted to get home in case the roads got bad again.” She punched Pixie lightly on the shoulder. “Plus, Brian called me and said that you came home and caught him in his boxers. He was worried about his virtue.”
Leering at her sister, Poppy cackled dramatically, “I want your boring boyfriend…and your fluffy couch too.”
Pixie giggled at Poppy’s witch impression and then reached over to take her hand. “I’ve missed you this week, Pops. I was worri
ed about you alone at your apartment.”
“Awww shucks, sis, so nice of you to care about little ol’ me. I worried about me too after witnessing the idiocy that the entire state’s seemed to subscribe to recently. On a serious note though, I missed you too.”
“C’mon now, let’s figure out what’s for dinner before we glue ourselves to the TV.”
The sisters worked together seamlessly in the kitchen. Spinning around each other to get to the fridge and the sink, they fell right into the routine they’d perfected when they were younger. Soon the smells of Mexican food roused a groggy Brian from the bedroom. This time he happened to be wearing clothes.
“Hey, that smells really good,” Brian greeted them, kissing the top of Pixie’s head. He stole a slice of avocado off a plate as he watched them finish up.
Swatting his hand away, Pixie chastised, “Stop sneaking food. I was lucky they had this at the store today. That place was almost bare. You wouldn’t believe how crazy people are acting. Shelves were cleared through the entire store.” She moved the plate and lined it up with the rest of the fajita mixings Poppy had already arranged.
Poppy set some dishes down on the counter. “C’mon, guys, the news is about to cut to the press conference,” she said, motioning for everyone to make up their plates.
The three of them filled plates and shuffled to the living room to eat on the couch.
The President cleared his throat before speaking. “My fellow Americans, we appreciate your patience during this last week. I know many of you have questions and I will do my best to answer them. We have met with the aliens’ leaders and have new information for you. They are called Phaeton Warriors. This race is highly advanced and was able to clearly communicate the reason they have come here. First, I want to assure you that they are not here to do us harm. The State Department has deemed them not a threat, and in actuality, we have discussed how they can help our country. They have not only been willing but eager to come up with ideas for our future that will impact not only our generation, but the generations to come. Our scientists and engineers are currently meeting with the Phaeton Council. Their technology is astounding and so advanced we have no doubt that we can solve our current energy crisis as well as implement new medical advancements that may end the spread of AIDS and some cancers. We are negotiating with them now and will continue to do so until we reach an agreement for their assistance in dealing with these issues that are currently costing millions of people their lives every day.”
Brida Pact Page 2
