Ro smiled at her. “That looks nice,” he said, nodding at her soup as they moved to look for a table.
“What’s that?” she asked in turn, nodding at Ro’s dish of… something that looked like spinach? Maybe?
She listened to Ro’s explanation, but one eye tracked Kez as he again went on ahead without acknowledging her, leaving them to follow.
They took their seats, Ro pulling out the chair beside Kez who had chosen the end of a table, while Maggie took the seat opposite Ro. She looked at Kez, but he was eating, his attention on his meal. She noticed he had two lemons on his tray.
“So, Kez,” Maggie began, deciding to go on the offensive. “How are you liking it so far? Getting on okay? Jason taking good care of you?” He didn’t have to like her, but she didn’t want him to dislike her for no reason. She wanted to get to the bottom of it.
He looked up at her, apparently in surprise at being spoken to, his mouth full. She examined his features, noticing that his eyes, like Ro’s, only appeared black, but actually had a dark brown iris. The red strokes under his eyes stood out against his dark green scales. She blew on a spoonful of soup to give him time to answer.
He swallowed. “Work is fine. I am learning. Jason is teaching me. I find it… interesting.”
“Requisitions, you mean?”
“Yes.”
“Why’s that?”
Kez seemed to cast around for the words. “Some things are allowed, and need only to be asked for. Some things are not, and we are not allowed to ask for them. Some things need special permission before we can ask for them. I don’t understand it.”
“Was it not like that on Teiss?”
Kez changed, something moved behind his eyes, an emotion she couldn’t quite read. “Where we come from, we were not given much. If you could take it, it was yours. If it could be taken from you, it was not.”
Maggie didn’t know what to say to that, swallowing another spoonful of soup to stall. She glanced at Ro, and he looked away from her quickly.
“That sounds very different to here,” she said lamely. “Would you rather I didn’t ask about Teiss?” She watched Ro for her answer.
“No, it’s alright, you may ask anything you want,” he told her politely, smiling but it didn’t show any of the white of his dental ridges so she suspected he was forcing it. She decided not to push it.
Maggie changed the subject. “I like your shirt,” she said, nodding at Kez. He had switched to Teissian clothing, and was currently wearing a white wrapped tunic that left his arms bare, black capris, and the rubbery socks. To Maggie, it looked far too casual for the office, but she readily acknowledged that any human design would not fit a Teissian body, and they were white and black at least. In contrast, Ro had stuck with the human suit and tie, and she still worried about it. If it was what he preferred, fine, but it was hard to see how, especially the shoes that couldn’t possibly be comfortable for him.
“Thank you,” he said. “You should say that to this one,” he pointed at Ro with his fork. “He wants to blend in.”
Ro frowned at him and said something quietly in Balin, and Kez’s smile turned nasty as he replied.
Maggie watched the exchange uncomfortably. “Did I just put my foot in it?”
They turned their attention back to her, both frowning in confusion.
“Heh?” Kez said, the sound harsh in his crackling rasp.
“I mean, did I say something I shouldn’t have?”
“No, don’t worry,” Ro said, but he didn’t smile. Kez grunted and went back to his lunch, spearing a forkful of the soggy green leaves aggressively. Maggie bit her lip, worried she had somehow upset their friendship. Kez had been talking to her for once too, but that seemed to be over now as Ro turned the conversation to Maggie, asking her about California and where she had lived before, how long she had worked at DETI, safe topics like that.
The rest of the hour passed with her talking about herself, answering Ro’s questions about her family life and various aspects of Earth culture. Kez was mostly silent, though Ro smiled and laughed and seemed fascinated by what she was saying, though to her it was pretty average stuff. She would have loved to hear more about him, what Teiss was like, how he used to live his life, but she didn’t want to make things awkward again. Obviously they didn’t want to talk about what they had left behind when they would never get it back.
As they walked back to Enquiries, Ro kept pace with her while Kez walked ahead, ignoring them again.
“Is he alright?” Maggie almost whispered to Ro, not wanting Kez to overhear.
Ro glanced at his friend. “Yes, of course.”
“I don’t think he likes that I came.”
Ro shrugged, and then smiled at her as if he was hoping she’d forget about it. She almost did, probably would have if he had said something, but she plugged on.
“I don’t think I should join you for lunch again. He clearly looks forward to it and, you know, I get it. He can speak his own language with you. It must be a nice break from having to speak English the rest of the day. It doesn’t feel fair to intrude when you’re both still settling in. He shouldn’t have to worry about what he says on his break.”
Ro frowned. “He has been rude to you,” he said, his voice somehow deepening, rumbling. “He has made you feel unwelcome.”
Ro looked like he was thinking about confronting Kez so Maggie stopped him with a hand on his arm, pulling him back and bringing them to a halt. “I don’t mind,” she said. “You’re his friend. I’m not. You guys should just have lunch together.”
“But I want to be your friend as well,” Ro argued, and making Maggie’s heart stutter for a moment. She ignored it. He had said he wanted to be friends, nothing more.
“I don’t want him to hate me. I don’t want to cause trouble between you two.”
“I didn’t come to Earth to spend all my time with Kez,” Ro said.
“Well, what if we just… had coffee together? Before or after work? Then you can ask me anything you want to know about Earth or work…” She realised as she said it that it sounded like she was drawing a line, asking to keep any conversation impersonal, but that wasn’t what she had meant. She had just wanted to give him an excuse, a reason to say yes, so that he wouldn’t think it was a date and turn her down. She knew she was interested in him a little too much, but he didn’t need to know that.
Ro seemed to hesitate, and she worried he’d taken her words the wrong way, but then he said “Of course,” and smiled. “I owe you, after all.”
She smiled in relief. He’d actually agreed! “Okay, good. Do you want to meet tomorrow morning?”
They started walking again, arranging a place and time. It would just be in the lobby café downstairs, but Maggie was still excited. When they sat back down at their desks, Maggie met Ro’s eyes briefly and almost blushed, feeling they had something secret now.
Chapter 7
From then on, they met for coffee and choba every morning, and Ro had lunch with Kez every day. It was only the fact that Maggie met Ro every day, somehow without really planning it, that suggested it was anything other than casual, friendly, work-related. They never talked about anything personal, never flirted, but still they snuck in twenty or thirty-minutes’ chat. Maggie told Ro all the horror stories from the office, the worst callers ever received, and they made each other laugh. She filled him in on the process of planning the office party.
Ro asked her questions about work and Earth and her family, making her think about things in a way she never had before. She didn’t ask any specific questions about Teiss, and he didn’t take any of the opportunities she gave him to tell her more. It was as if he was two weeks old, with no life before that, and it made Maggie wonder. Obviously, he was a refugee, so he might not want to remember the destruction of his home world, but didn’t he have any happy memories he could stand to share?
Inevitably it came out that she was single, but hoped to find someone to spend the rest of her l
ife with. When she turned the question back around on him, probing again into his past but trying to do it in such a way that he didn’t have to answer if he didn’t want to, he told her that no, he didn’t have anyone waiting for him. Not on Teiss, nor on Earth. He’d never had a ‘mate’, as he put it. When she asked if he wanted one, he seemed to struggle to answer, eventually settling on a shrug and that smile of his as if he hoped to dazzle her into forgetting the question.
She was quickly learning that smile meant that there was an answer, he just didn’t want to share it with her for some reason. It was starting to annoy her. The more time they spent together, the more she liked him, and she wanted to think he saw her as a friend at least… but every now and then he’d brush her off, and she’d be reminded that there were parts of him that he was keeping off-limits to her.
She found it frustrating, because she wasn’t keeping anything back from him, and she had hoped he could tell. She would tell him anything, other than the fact that she had a crush on him, which she had finally admitted to herself. It went beyond interest now. His voice was sexy, she found his smile handsome, and the way it dented the pink patches on his cheeks charming, and his dark, dark eyes almost mesmerising. Even in clothes that didn’t fit, she was attracted to him, but whenever he shut her out like that she had to wonder what they were really doing together.
When he came in on Monday to start his second week still wearing human clothes, Maggie decided to say something. He’d had the weekend to buy new clothes if he wanted to. If it was just the suit, she might leave it up to him and not say anything, but she simply couldn’t figure out how he could walk comfortably in human shoes. They must be killing him. She had paid more attention to the other Teissians in the building and none of them wore suits, and all the new hires in Enquiries had switched to the Teissian style of clothing. If he insisted she wouldn’t push, but she considered it her responsibility to make sure he knew he wouldn’t be breaking the dress code if he wore clothes that fit him. She would do it in private though, not in the office.
She waited for him in the lobby café, sitting at a table for two. Like usual, they hadn’t specifically arranged to meet, she just expected him to join her. It was an unspoken agreement between them, and Maggie wasn’t sure where it had come from, and part of her was waiting for the day he would have more important things to do, but for now she would continue to wait.
She spotted him as he walked in and watched him look around for her. When she caught his eye she stood to meet him so they could buy their drinks. Once they took their table again, she spoke first.
“I actually wanted to talk to you about something.”
Ro looked at her over the rim of his cup, his black eyes familiar to her now, but still captivating, like polished onyx.
“It’s not a criticism,” she continued. “Don’t take it the wrong way.”
His expression flickered as he clearly braced himself for what she might say, and she grew nervous too. She didn’t want to ruin their newly-fledged friendship.
“Okay. What is it?” he asked, laying his cup down.
“I just wanted to make sure you know you can wear Teissian clothes to work. You don’t have to wear human clothes,” she said as tactfully as she could.
“You don’t like it? You think I should dress differently?” he answered.
Maggie couldn’t tell if he was offended or not, relieved or not that that was what she wanted to discuss. “I just worry that you’re uncomfortable, especially wearing shoes like that. Obviously you can wear whatever you want, but if you’d rather wear Teissian clothes you can.”
“What would you prefer?” he asked her.
Maggie was taken aback. “Me? I don’t mind. It’s not up to me.”
He seemed to stare at her, holding her eyes while his expression gave nothing away, as if he was trying to find her true opinion by reading her mind. She found it confusing and kind of unsettling, as if there was some meaning she was missing.
“You wouldn’t prefer a male to look as human as possible?” he pressed.
“Um…” That was a weird question and she didn’t know how to reply. It must have been a translation error, though his English was normally perfect. “I just want you to be happy, that’s all,” she said, unable to think of anything else to say when he was staring at her like that.
He gave a quiet grunt in response as if she had said something worth considering, and looked away, releasing her from the hold of his gaze. He wasn’t smiling like he normally was.
“I’m sorry if you didn’t want to talk about it. You probably didn’t want my opinion,” she said, worrying that she had hurt his feelings.
He forced a reassuring smile then, and she felt some tension lift. “Don’t apologise. I do want your opinion. I thought I was doing the right thing. The truth is what you see Teissians wearing here are not Teissian clothes, certainly not Balin clothes. I have never seen them before. And before you say it, I would not be allowed to wear Balin clothes to work.”
He gave her a grin that she thought felt a bit cheeky, and immediately she wondered what traditional Balin clothes were like, and why he couldn’t wear them to work. Her only thought was that they must be too revealing, and she tried not to blush as she wondered what that would look like on him.
“I don’t own any of the clothes made for Teissians to wear to the office,” Ro said.
“They must be available at the dorms,” Maggie replied.
“Almost certainly. There is a well-stocked market there. But I wouldn’t know what to buy, what is appropriate.”
“I could come with you,” Maggie blurted out before thinking. She wanted to be helpful, but she instantly worried she’d overstepped. As far as she knew, humans were allowed at the dorms, and she would be with Ro, but maybe he didn’t want her that close to his home. Maybe he didn’t want to spend that much time with her outside of work. At the same time, she was curious. She desperately wanted to see the dorms now that the idea had been put in her head. She wanted to see Ro outside of the DETI building too. Going clothes shopping was something friends could do, but it was also almost like a date.
Ro smiled, a genuine one. “Thank you. I would like that,” he said.
“I mean, I can help you pick stuff out,” Maggie amended hastily, trying to recapture some ambiguity about her intentions.
“I would be grateful for your help,” Ro said, his smile not fading.
Maggie grinned back. Maybe he didn’t mind if it was almost a date. She took a sip of her coffee to try to look casual.
They arranged to meet after work and he would escort her to the dorms. The market usually traded until nightfall, so they would have time. They didn’t plan whether or not Maggie would then follow Ro back to his apartment, and she didn’t ask. She was happy to help, no matter what happened.
As it got closer to five o’clock, Maggie found herself peeking at Ro, tuning into his conversation with callers as she often did just to listen to his voice. She was excited and eager. She hadn’t been on a date in a long time, not that that was what this was necessarily. She hadn’t liked anyone, or been liked, or been in a relationship for even longer, so it was exciting for her.
Unfortunately she was on a call that turned into a long one, and she wasn’t ready to leave until ten past, but Ro waited for her. She made apologetic faces at him as the caller continued to explain a situation she already understood, but he waved her off, unoffended. Finally, the customer accepted that she would sort her problem out for her, and ended the call.
“Sorry!” Maggie said, hurrying to finish her notes and shut everything down. There were still plenty of people in the office also tying off loose ends before going home, but she felt bad for keeping Ro waiting.
“It’s alright, Maggie. You are good at your job,” he said, standing and waiting for her to make it around the desk to his side. “It’s admirable.”
She laughed. She was good at her job, but no one had ever called her admirable before. “Thank y
ou,” she said.
They walked together out of the building, then turned into territory that was unfamiliar to Maggie. She looked around, examining everything as she saw it for the first time. There were other Teissians on the same path, and other humans with them.
“Have you ever been to the dorms before?” Ro asked, looking across his shoulder at her.
“No, never.”
He gave her a humble smile. “I wish I could be a better guide, but I haven’t been here very long myself. I still find it…”
“Intimidating?”
He chuckled. “I suppose that’s right.”
“Well, don’t worry. You’re more informed than I am. You get to teach me now,” Maggie said, bumping his arm with her elbow.
She noticed they were slowing, and looked away from him to see that there was a short line to get into the compound, stopped at what looked like a military check point. “Has this always been here?” she asked.
Ro shook his head. “It wasn’t when I first came here. It has been here for about a week now.”
“Is it because of the Tiberius?”
“Yes. I believe it is because of the undocumented Teissians living in the dorms.”
“Oh, come on. What do they think they’re going to do?”
“I don’t know,” he said.
Maggie was annoyed. “They’re not just going to slip off into the night with no citizenship, housing, or employment. This planet is completely new to them. They’re probably terrified.”
“I know, Maggie.”
She glanced at his face. He didn’t seem annoyed, but she got his point. “Right. Of course you do. Sorry.”
They reached the checkpoint and they both had to show ID and go through a security scanner. It was quick and painless, but still annoying. Ro lived there, he should have the freedom to come and go as he pleased, without needing permission. And Maggie didn’t like that the officers weren’t wearing DETI uniforms, but instead looked like soldiers, and soldiers meant guns.
“Anyway, they’re not undocumented. The community officers recorded their arrivals at the dorms, and DETI have caught up with everyone by now. That’s what I heard. Intake aren’t busting their asses working overtime for this.” Maggie couldn’t let it drop yet.
The New Guy (Office Aliens Book 2) Page 5
