by Tasha Black
“No, no,” Addy said. “It was fine.”
Nikki and Indiana squished into the backseat next to Kitt and when Addy heard all the seat belts click she headed out of the lot.
The rain was coming down hard enough that the windshield wipers could barely keep up. She drove slowly and carefully, even though she was worried about the bridge flooding over before they made it back. Her mom had spent years working in ER and she knew way too much about car accidents to risk one. It would be better to be stranded than injured, or worse.
They followed the curve of the road, past the endless pines, toward Maxwell’s.
“You’re an excellent driver,” Remington said.
“Thank you.” She smiled, but didn’t take her eyes off the road. “My dad taught me.”
“That’s lovely,” Remington said. “Do you see him often?”
“Um, well.” She wondered if she should lie to keep things light, but opted for the truth instead. “He died when I was seventeen.”
“I’m so sorry,” Remington said quietly.
“Are you close with your parents?” Addy asked.
Addy tried to change the subject whenever her father’s death came up. No one ever knew what to say to her about it. And what could they say? Nothing that could bring him back, nothing that could fill the hollow ache he’d left behind in her heart and her mother’s.
“I, uh, well…” he struggled.
“We don’t have parents,” Indiana chimed in from the backseat.
“What do you mean?” Addy asked.
“On Aerie, we are born into the atmosphere and float freely,” Indiana explained. “We don’t have a family relationship with those who formed us. Or, in another way of looking at it, our whole civilization is our family. At any rate, it’s not like here, where a young one’s direct creators nourish and shelter them.”
Addy stole a sideways glance at Remington, suddenly feeling deeply sorry for him. Even if she had lost her dad, at least she had known him, loved him. And she still had her mom. He had no one.
“Now that we are human we feel loneliness,” Remington explained as if he had heard her thought. “But we were at peace before.”
She nodded.
Though it was odd to think of emotions being so tied to a physical form, she understood it viscerally. Her own strong body dragged at her emotions when she wasn’t able to swim and lifted her spirits when it was worked and fed.
The road twisted again and Addy let the conversation in the car fade from her consciousness as she focused on the road. The rain was coming down in sheets. If it got any worse, she would try to find a place to pull over.
At last they reached the one-lane bridge that crossed the creek to Maxwell’s.
The creek was muddy and swollen deep. It hadn’t risen far enough yet to flood the bridge, but little waves lapped the sides of the curb and sluiced over onto the pavement.
“Quiet, please,” she said.
Everyone stopped talking immediately.
Addy took a deep breath and then drove very slowly across the wet bridge.
When they reached the other side, Nikki and Honey cheered from the backseat.
“Don’t celebrate yet,” she said. But of course the going was easier from that point.
When they pulled into the gravel of the staff parking lot, she breathed a sigh of relief.
They all scrambled out into the puddly gravel.
Remington moved to her, touched her shoulder.
“Thank you for experiencing a rain storm with me,” he told her.
“Anytime,” she smiled and blinked up at him through the fat drops that still fell.
“Addy, let’s go,” Nikki grabbed her arm and dragged her toward the cabins. “See you later,” she yelled over her shoulder to Indiana.
Addy waved goodbye and they dashed off after Honey, who was already ahead of them.
The deluge enhanced the lush emerald of the lawn in front of the big stone resort house. And the dark surface of the lake beyond appeared to be boiling under the torrent of rain.
They ran past the pavilion, the pool, the dance studio where Honey spent her days, and the larger staff cabins.
A fine mist rose off the muddy path to the senior women’s staff cabin, but the trees took the brunt of the rain here in the woods. Addy could see the triangular roofline of the little cabin just ahead. It would be so cozy to curl up in the screened living room and look out at the rain with her two best friends.
Maybe they could distract her from thoughts of what she had wanted to do to Remington back in the car.
Addy
Once all three women were in dry clothes, Addy sat with Honey on the little sectional sofa while Nikki put on a pot of tea in the kitchenette.
The cabin was tiny, a square with a living room taking up most of the center and front, and a tiny nook of a bedroom for each of the women against the side and back walls. The kitchenette was in one corner and there was a small bathroom in the other. The front wall was just a screen, so the whole thing was a bit like camping out. But it was home for the summer and compared to living in the crowded main staff cabin, as Honey and Addy had last year, they considered themselves to be in the lap of luxury this summer.
“So what’s the deal?” Honey was wearing a smug smile. She knew Addy too well to believe the delay back at the diner was a coincidence.
Addy sighed.
“That bad?” Honey grinned.
“No, he’s not bad at all, he’s… he’s… amazing,” Addy admitted.
“So what’s the problem?”
Addy bit her lip and gazed out at the rain on the evergreens.
“It’s complicated,” she said at last.
“He’s gorgeous and he seems like such a nice guy,” Honey said. “You’re single and awesome and my best friend. I’m already marrying his brother…”
“Are you really serious about that?” Addy turned to her friend. But she knew Honey was all-in. She had known her too long not to recognize how happy Honey was.
“Yes,” Honey said dreamily. “We’re very serious. And I know it’s going to be interesting combining our cultures. But at the end of the day, is this really any different from your friend Bjorn last year?”
Oh, god, Bjorn.
The exchange student from Sweden had been Addy’s boy toy last summer at Maxwell’s.
“Yeah, this is different,” Addy said. “Bjorn was just looking for a summer hook-up, same as me. Remington is looking for…”
“The real deal,” Honey said softly.
Addy nodded.
“Yeah, he’s looking for the real deal. And I’m not ready for that.”
“Why not?” Honey’s tone wasn’t accusatory, only curious.
“What do you mean why not?” Addy demanded. “Do you even know me at all?”
“I know you’re a great friend and a hard worker, and you deserve a real relationship instead of these endless summertime hook-ups,” Honey said.
“I don’t have time,” Addy said. “You know what it’s like during the school year - studying, working, I barely have time to sleep.”
“So make time,” Honey shrugged.
“If I could make time I’d be rich,” Addy said with a smile. “Seriously though, he needs someone who can love him, spend time with him, introduce him to the world. Besides, they’re supposed to have babies right away. No way can I start a family now.”
“Tea’s on,” Nikki announced as she walked slowly in, balancing a tray, then placed it carefully on the little table at the center of the sectional.
“What did I miss?” she asked, grabbing her own mug and curling up in her usual spot.
“Oh, Addy’s too school-crazy to have a boyfriend,” Honey joked.
“It’s not just school,” Addy said. “He’s in danger of becoming famous at any minute, right?”
“I guess so,” Honey said.
“Yes,” Nikki agreed.
“If I get involved with him and he winds up in the spotlig
ht, my life will be under a microscope too. And… well, I haven’t exactly been a girl scout during my summers here,” Addy said. “All of a sudden my personal life could get splashed all over the place.”
“Would that really be so bad?” Honey shrugged.
“I want to get into medical school,” Addy said. “Anything that makes me look like a party girl instead of a straight-A student could be really bad.”
“You’re definitely going to get into med school,” Honey laughed. “You’re the top of the class.”
“Fifty-nine percent of med school applicants don’t get in,” Addy said. “And most applicants are at the top of their class.”
“Wow,” Nikki said.
“This was all my dad ever wanted for me,” Addy said softly, looking down at her hands, afraid that if she saw sympathy in her friends’ eyes she would cry. “And it’s what I want for myself. I won’t let my family down.”
It was strange.
In the eyes of her friends, Addy was always making sacrifices with the goal of getting into med school. But Addy enjoyed hard work, and the wild summers at Maxwell’s had been more than enough to keep her spirits high. She had never felt deprived because of her studies.
But tonight, thinking of Remington’s warm arms, she finally felt the loss of something real, something she couldn’t put off for later.
She hugged her knees to her chest and took a sip of the peppermint tea in her chipped mug.
Honey wrapped an arm around her shoulder, and Nikki patted her knee.
At least there were some relationships that didn’t have to be sacrificed.
With good friends at her side, Addy knew she’d feel better in the morning.
She always did.
Remington
Remington woke at the first hint of dawn.
He’d been dreaming about Addy, dreaming that he was tangling his fist in her long blonde hair and kissing her, gently at first, then owning her mouth with all the pent-up passion he had.
But he woke up with nothing more than a handful of sheets and the stiff, pulsing demand of his penis.
All around him the other male staff members still slept.
He eased himself off the bed, holding his towel in front of him to cover his groin, hoping that by some miracle he could make it to the shared bathroom and let some pressure off before anyone woke up.
But, as usual, the creak of his bunk when his big body left it woke the man in the bunk below.
“You’re up early, too, huh?” Tim Belvins sounded wide-awake.
Remington stifled a scream and instead smiled politely.
“Good morning, Tim.”
“Morning, Rem,” Tim said.
Remington had never been called by a nickname before. He decided he liked it very much.
So that was one good thing.
He headed for the showers with Tim close behind. As it turned out a few of the guys were in there already, so he would not have had any privacy anyway.
The showers were just a big open tiled room with showerheads coming out of the walls. Remington had not occupied a body for long, so he had no hang-ups about baring it. But he came to understand that this was an awkward situation for some of the other men, so there wasn’t much talking in the showers and what talking there was generally turned into an endless barrage of insults and friendly teasing.
This morning it was silent and he relished the feel of the hot water on his skin.
A few minutes later, showered and dressed, Remington stepped out of the cabin and surveyed the grassy lawn of the resort.
It was early in the morning and the rotation of the Earth had turned the lake a vivid pink.
His Earth friends would have called it a sunrise, and Remington tried to think of it that way too, but he had a hard time blaming the condition on the movements of a giant star when it was clearly the spin of this tiny satellite that caused the lake to look like it was on fire.
Almost no one was outside yet, but soon the lawn would be covered with people - large and small, old and young. Until Stargazer, Remington had never seen a human created on Earth, outside of the movies of course.
He had always felt he and his brothers looked quite different from one another, but now that he had met enough native humans, he could see that the Stargazer men truly had been built taller, stronger, more symmetrically.
They were designed precisely to attract human females.
Remington had already found himself pursued by several of his co-workers at the restaurant. The design was clearly effective.
But it was not effective enough.
It had not worked on Addy.
His physique was not going to be enough to win her. And he wasn’t sure what else he had to offer.
His hand went to the bit of his home world he wore around his neck.
On Aerie, he was known to be smart and skilled.
But here on this new planet, he was more like a youngling - without wisdom or sophistication.
They all were.
Except Indiana, who seemed to have an inexplicable gift for understanding humans.
What did Remington have that Addy wanted or needed if his body wasn’t enough?
It was a difficult problem and maybe it did not have a solution.
Raised voices from the pool area brought him out of his own thoughts.
“You have to be kidding me.”
It was Addy, her voice pitched a bit higher than usual, indicating some sort of distress.
Remington headed toward the pool.
“Sorry, Addy,” a man’s voice was saying. “We can’t work for a place that would support her over Wade Travers.”
“Wade Travers is a maniac,” Addy retorted. “He was stalking Honey and he tried to set our cabin on fire.”
“That’s her side of the story,” another man’s voice said.
Remington turned the corner just in time to see Addy standing near the diving board in a confrontation with three men.
“That’s the story, period,” Addy said, tilting her chin up in a way that reminded Remington slightly of the famous John Wayne. “You know what? Go ahead. Get out. I can’t have jerks like you working with my kids’ classes. Just go.”
“Whatever.” One guy turned and left.
“Good luck finding anyone else,” another laughed.
Remington walked straight over to Addy and stood by her side. He didn’t like the men’s sarcasm and he certainly didn’t like the hostility it masked.
The third man opened his mouth like he was going to say something, then looked at Remington and seemed to think better of it. He turned on his heel and left without comment.
As soon as he was out of sight Addy sank into a lounge chair with her head in her hands.
Remington knelt beside her. Instinct told him not to speak or touch her. So he waited patiently.
“I can’t believe it,” she said into her hands at last.
“What was that about?” he asked.
“Those creeps are friends of Wade’s,” she said.
Remington felt a shiver of revulsion travel up his spine. Wade Travers had been Honey’s dance partner before Kitt came along. Wade had wanted to be Honey’s boyfriend too. And when she refused him, he had spied on her and tried to set her cabin on fire.
Remington was glad that Wade was now in jail.
“It is a good thing you made them leave,” Remington told her.
She laughed, but it was a bitter sound.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“I’m glad I made them leave too, but I might just lose my own job,” she said, shaking her head.
“Why?”
“Because those guys were half of my lifeguards,” she said. “And they were my swim coaches too. I can’t do it all myself. And I don’t have time to train or hire anyone else.”
“I will help you,” Remington offered.
“Do you know how to swim?”
“No,” he said, shaking his head. “But I will learn.”
<
br /> Remington loved the water, the way it changed color under the sun and stars, the way it sparkled and moved. The idea of immersing himself in it was enchanting.
“I can’t teach you how to swim in a day,” Addy said. “But thanks for the offer.”
“You’re a very good teacher,” he said. “Would you give me one lesson?”
“I’ve got to find Mr. Abrams and tell him what’s going on,” Addy said apologetically.
That was not good. She would tell Mr. Abrams and Mr. Abrams would fire her.
He had no choice.
“I think I’m going to need that lesson right away,” Remington said as he peeled his t-shirt off over his head and flung himself heedlessly into the pool.
“Remington,” he heard her shout. “I’m not coming in after…”
After that there was nothing but the rush of water, cold and refreshing.
He looked around.
The water stung his eyes. He hadn’t expected that. But after a moment he grew used to it.
He could see the lines in the concrete bottom of the pool, and the place, far ahead of him, where the floor rose up to the shallow section.
It was quiet in the water, cool and peaceful.
Then there was an explosion of bubbles.
Addy.
She swam straight for him, her hair swirling around her like golden ribbons.
Although she appeared to be making a serious effort to get to him quickly, she moved as if in slow motion.
She was beautiful in the water, maybe more beautiful than usual. Her fierce expression made him think of a super hero. Tiny bubbles issued from her nose and raced each other to the surface, sparkling like diamonds.
He opened his arms to her, ready to embrace her, there in her natural habitat.
She wrapped her arms around him, warm and strong.
Then she tugged him to the surface of the water and with a strength he hadn’t suspected, dragged him out of the pool and onto the tiles.
His heart pounded when she straddled his big body.
It was all so unexpected, although not unwelcome.
He closed his eyes to accept the kiss she was leaning down to give him.
Addy
