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Primed And Ready |
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By: M. J. Cogburn and C. E. Krawiec |
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"Okay,"
Andy conceded in the spirit of the moment.
As he stepped past Max, he paused beside Tala's chair to look down
into her eyes. "May I call you tomorrow...or some other time this
week?"
Tala
looked up at Andy and smiled at him before she nodded.
She looked down at the paper and wrote her number down on the paper
and handed it to him. She knew
that he already had it, but she also recognized the "show" that he
had wanted to put on for Max, and she didn't mind it one bit that Andy was
at least showing his interest in front of his best friend.
Watching Andy as he folded the paper, she motioned for him to bend
down to her and she gently kissed his cheek.
"Night, 'ndy," she said.
Andy
didn't think twice and after Tala's lips gently brushed his cheek, he turned
his head slightly and returned the friendly little kiss in kind then
straightened up. Stepping back, he glanced at his friend and said,
"Night, Max. I'll see you
in the morning," then made his exit without further comment. PART
ONE
By
the time that he had gotten to the elevator outside of the cafeteria, Andrew
Stockard couldn’t help but grin. He
had handled that situation in the best way that he could.
He had in essence let Maxwell Robinson, a very good friend know that
he was vying for the same vivacious young redhead.
He felt steadily secure in the fact that he was up in the running to
catch the young woman’s attention. For
the last couple of weeks while the others were in correction, he had caught
her eye, kept her out of trouble and had found her irresistible. He
stepped into the elevator and leaned forward to press the button to go to
the men’s quarters. He
wasn’t quite ready for bed, but he knew that he needed to straighten up
his quarters. If he was going to
have Tala come over to his quarters to watch another movie, he wanted to
make sure that it was at least straightened enough so that she didn’t
screw up her nose at the stench of a bachelor’s pad.
Leaning
against the wall of the elevator, he couldn’t help but picture the lovely
woman in his mind’s eye. The
way that her eyes sparkled when she smiled, the way that her hair fell about
her shoulders so soft and sexy… there wasn’t a single thing that he
couldn’t find wrong with Tala Lothoman.
Letting
out a soft sigh, Andy exited the elevator and headed down the hallway toward
his quarters. He was halfway
down the hallway when he heard a voice call out his name.
Andy turned back toward the left to see Larry Ames, one of the
project’s security officers heading his way.
“Hey, Larry. What’s
up?” “I
just dropped off Nurse Davisen off at her quarters.
First date, ya know. I
don’t know how things are going to…hey, you sure are bright and smiley.
What’s…” Larry stopped and pointed a knowing finger at the
young gardener. “Who’s
got you all bright and cheery this time of the evening?” Andy
couldn’t help but smile even brighter at his friend’s words.
“You got it right that it’s a who,” Andy responded.
“Let’s just say that it’s a young woman that I’d like to get
to know a whole lot better.” Larry’s
eyebrow lifted slightly with curiosity.
“Does she have a name?” “Oh
yeah, she has a name.” Andy
looked at his friend and neighbor with a grin for a moment before he was
prompted yet again for her name. “Come
on, Andy, tell me her name. I’m
sure that I know her.” “I’m
sure that you do, Larry. It’s
just that one of your security buddies also has a thought of getting on her
good side and I just don’t want to ruin any chances that I have with her
by throwing her name around and having it get back to her.
Ya know what I mean, right?” Andy said as he patted Larry on the
shoulder as they started to walk down the hallway together. “Yeah,”
Larry said simply. “Things
went okay with Sharla this evening? I
mean for a first date?” Andy
asked trying to keep the conversation going between the two of them without
sounding like he’d like to drop the subject all together. “Oh
yeah,” Larry responded with a smile. Andy
stuck his elbow into Larry’s side and thumped it lightly.
“Judging by the look on your face, it went a little bit better than
what you’re saying.” Larry
took the ribbing with a grin and a shake of his head.
“All right, Stockard. You’ve
made your point.” Stepping
past the gardener, Larry offered his hand to his neighbor and shook his
hand. “You have a good
night.” “You
too, Larry,” Andy smiled knowing that the security officer was now going
to do everything in his power to find out who the ‘mystery’ woman was.
He waited for a moment in the hallway before he put his hand on the
security plate of his quarters and entered. What
he saw inside made him sigh. Clothes,
shoes, used dishes located in different areas of the room and several pizza
boxes thrown haphazardly into the corner greeted him; that was only the
living room. He knew that the
rest of his quarters held a few more dishes; more clothes and everything
needed a thorough once over with a duster.
Knowing
that he had to pick up his quarters if he was going to invite Tala over for
dinner and a movie, he had to straighten it and he had to do it now.
If he didn’t do it now, he knew that he would procrastinate and put
it off until the last minute and then, he’d have to take her out to an
informal dinner and a movie at the theatre in the complex or worse yet,
he’d have to cancel. He
didn’t want that. He knew he
had plenty of time before he had to get to bed.
He just had to pick a place and start.
The question was where. Deciding
that he was going to start in the kitchen, he went back to his bedroom and
looked for any discarded dishes that had followed him there.
Picking up a saucer and two cups, he continued to move through the
quarters, picking up the dishes and took them to the kitchen.
Once he had that goal accomplished, he began washing the dishes.
After he had a nice clean stack of dishes, he straightened up the
counters in the kitchenette and wiped them off before he swept the floor. As
he did the tedious chores, he wondered if he should just go ahead and call
the cleaning service to do the work, but even as the thought crossed his
mind, he didn’t want Tala to think that he couldn’t do the chores
himself. Sighing, he swept up
the mess then put the broom and dustpan away. Heading
into the living room, he began to straighten it by picking up the clothes
that had been scattered here, there and yonder.
Just the effort of picking up the clothes helped tremendously and
putting them in the appropriate dirty clothes bin to wash them later was
only going to help him in the long run.
He continued the same mind-numbing task of picking up clothes around
the quarters. He was so intense
in his housecleaning that he stripped his bed and put the bedding in the
dirty clothes hamper, then remade the bed.
Grabbing
the vacuum from the closet that he rarely used, he utilized it and was
amazed at how much it helped the look of his quarters. By
the time that Andy was done with the main parts of his quarters, he turned
to look at the one part of his apartment that seemed to get dirty as soon as
you cleaned it: the bathroom.
It took him another hour to get it clean, but by the time that he was
finished with it, he was more than ready to take a shower and go to bed. Stripping
out of his musty, sweaty clothes Andy placed them in the laundry basket not
wanting to have to pick them up in the morning.
Strolling back into the bathroom, he looked at himself in the mirror.
Grabbing his toothbrush, he brushed his teeth then gargled with some
mint mouthwash. It was only a
few minutes later that he turned on the spray in the shower and stepped into
it. As
he lathered up the soap, his thoughts went back to the evening with the
lovely redhead. From the moment that he had met her at her door, telling her
that he hadn’t made any dessert, he found her extremely stunning.
He didn’t know how many times he had just stared at her and enjoyed
her beauty as well as her intelligence.
Even before Max showed up, he had thoroughly enjoyed her presence.
He felt honored and darned lucky that she would spend the evening
with him. He
finished his shower and grabbed the clean towel that he had put on the towel
rod and began to dry off. His
thoughts continued to go back to the dinner.
It had been wonderful until Max turned up and it had turned then into
a different scenario. It had
turned into a job fest as he and Max started talking about what Ralph Bauman
was going to ask them to do for the next two weeks up in the gardens.
He had noticed how Tala had smiled and listened in to their
conversation, giving only a little input and their jokes that Bud Williams
had told them at one point or another. It
was when Quinton Sylvane showed up that the tension in the air had grown and
continued to grow until Max had put his foot directly into his mouth.
Once he had helped the moment to pass by making a small joke, the
rest of the dinner went past smoothly. It
was seeing Tala look over at Quinton Sylvane at the other table that Andy
knew that she wanted to talk with him. The
far off look in her eyes was his second clue that her thoughts had gone off
with the other man as well. Knowing
that he had to work in the morning, he came up with the first excuse that he
could and excused himself with the sly way of announcing publicly that he
wanted to date her. He was glad
that Tala had played along and gave him her telephone number. Hanging
up the towel, he headed back into his bedroom and grabbed a clean pair of
boxers from his chest of drawers then climbed in between the sheets and
sighed tiredly.
Smiling
up at the ceiling, Andy couldn’t stop the small smile that spread into a
broad smile. He put his hands
behind his head and took in a long deep breath then let it out just as
slowly. “Mama
always said to be prepared for anything,” Andy said in a whimsical way.
“I’m prepared… willing… and able.” Turning
over onto his side, he put his arm under the pillow and yawned sleepily.
Shifting slightly under the covers, he closed his eyes, relaxed and
let slumber take him.
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