"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.

He looked over at the digital clock and saw that it was already midnight.  He couldn’t believe that in less that five and a half hours he would have to get up and go to work, but he was at least glad that his quarters were clean.

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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