Re: The Produce Aisle (DA XO, UC, Mature) Ch11- 11/9/08
Posted: Sun Nov 09, 2008 7:52 pm
Ask and you shall receive.
Chapter 11
Two years later
The city is cloudy. Rain threatens to fall. I breathe in and inhale that before-storm smell that I grew to love. This part of Seattle has remained the same, and it seems to be the only thing.
No familiar faces await me as I enter Crash. Whereas a year before I might have received a more lively greeting. Then again, I’m not exactly a face one would recognize in these parts.
Living for so long closer to the equator has darkened my skin and had the opposite effect on my hair. The red that I would have received from my mother makes itself more known leaving my grown out hair brown with shades of auburn. No make up sits upon my face, an oddity in eyeliner driven Seattle.
Not 48 hours ago I was waking up to a mosquito net in Uganda. A Six month mission to Haiti turned into a three month trip to India followed by a year and change in Africa. Uganda was the last stop. The night before I had been offered a permanent position on a federal funded research team in New York, discovering better more efficient ways to distribute clean, disease free water to those who are in need. An opportunity, considering I had and still have no college degree to show, a person would be crazy to pass up. When the big city had been mentioned my thoughts fell on a sandy brown haired man almost immediately. A vice that, as much as I tried to deny, has held me almost every day I’d been gone.
Call it stupid and girlie, but being a hopeless romantic is a part of who I am.
Setting down an empty beer mug, I rise out of my stool and throw cash to the table, nodding at the bartender.
The cool air hits my skin, small bumps form along my arms, I’ll need to buy a coat.
“Liz? Liz Parker?” I spin on my heels to be met with a brunette male with spiky hair.
“Logan Cale.” A smile erupts from my face.
“I thought that was you. What are you doing in Seattle?”
I’d be lying if I said I didn’t come back to see him. But I figure I can pretend for at least a little while. “I desperately missed the weather. That and real, honest to goodness coffee.”
He laughs heartily before enveloping me in a hug. “It’s great to see you, Max will be thrilled you’re here.”
“Speaking of, I stopped by Jam Pony. Seems its not transgenic underground railroad anymore?”
“Not so much, no. Shit has pretty much hit the fan. Ames White has all but started a lynching movement against all those genetically altered. Its been all over the news. Most of them are holed up in Terminal City, the only safe haven for Transgenics. They’ve built a fortress slash community within the walls. The toxins seem to keep the bigots at bay, so to speak. Max and Alec have been a pretty integral part in all of this.”
“Wow…Shows what you miss without a Television. I wish I had known sooner, I would have come back, tried to help.”
“They’ve been doing well. Gotten things pretty under control, it’s a pretty well-oiled machine.”
“How…uh…How is Alec?”
Logan smiles knowingly which only makes my face turn red. “Good. Different, but good. He helps a lot in T.C. much to Max’s chagrin, he’s taken away almost all her reasons to dislike him, slutty and irresponsible being her old favorite topics. He’d…he’d love to see you, Liz. So would Max.”
I grin widely. “I’d love to see the both of them”
“Great! Listen I’m making a pick up real fast then heading over. Where are you staying?”
“You know, I just got in, haven’t had the opportunity to check in yet.”
“You’ll stay with me then. No arguments.”
“Thanks, Logan. If its not too much trouble, at least.”
I change when we get to Logan’s, my nerve’s starting to get the best of me. I know better than to expect anything. I’ve only been gone two years, but I’ve seen things and done things and become an entire different person. Better, I like to believe, but different all the same. I’m not the Liz Parker Alec was in love with, I’ve told myself numerous times. But I guess it’ll take seeing him one more time, maybe to give me closure. I like who I am and wouldn’t have changed the experience for anything. This doesn’t stop me from changing my outfit twice. Okay, three times.
I compare the entry to T.C. to that of Fort Knox. Although I’m sure when you get into Fort Knox, they don’t sniff at you and stare like they’d been burned. A girl could get a complex.
We find Max in a training room. A stuffy room with wrestling mats lining the floor. Its hot in the room and although many of the people are sparring enthusiastically not a one has broken a sweat.
Max has a male twice her size pinned before Logan interrupts.
“Look what I found wandering around the concrete jungle.”
Her head spins quickly and her eyes go wide when they meet mine. “Liz! What are you doing here girl!” She grabs me into a hug that I eagerly return.
“Oh you know, you stand on a street giving puppy eyes, and you’re bound to get picked up sooner or later”
“Listen, I’m almost at my quota for TC for the day, so I’ll let you two catch up. Give me a call when you’re ready to be picked up, alright Liz?”
“Yeah, absolutely. Thanks Logan!” With a smile, he’s off. “How bout a tour, so I can see what you’ve been up to while I’ve been gone? How are Cindy and Sketch?”
“They aiight. Don’t get to see them much as I’d like but they happy, healthy. Doin what they can to help the cause and all. You gonna ask about him, or were you just waitin on me to bring him up?”
I laugh. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, Maxine.”
“Alec’s good. Don’t let him hear it, but he does good work here. People look up to him. Although, It took me a good two months to finally force his ass outta bed after you left.”
I halt her speech there. “Two months? Are you kidding?”
“He’ll try to say it was just one. Nope. Two whole months and he was doing nothing but converting Oxygen into carbon dioxide in a very Emo fashion. When the shit with the witch hunt started, Biggs was killed. He snapped out of it after that. Took control. He’s mellowed some”
“Has he…been seeing anyone?” I fear the answer as much as the question.
“Couple dates now and again. Nothin serious, hasn’t really had time. Nothings really held his interest. What about you?”
“Uh…pretty much the same. So…what about you and Logan. Have you stepped out of ‘are we or aren’t we’ land?”
“Me and Logan…we’re friends.”
“Mhmm.” I raise my eyebrows.
“Look, Logan’s special, you know. But nothings changed. The virus is still an issue so as long as it is, we aren’t. So you wanna avoid it some more? Or we gonna nip this in the butt, because I’m pretty sure Alec’s in the control room right through there.”
I run a hand through my hair and straighten my clothes out “I guess no time like the present, huh?”
Chapter 11
Two years later
The city is cloudy. Rain threatens to fall. I breathe in and inhale that before-storm smell that I grew to love. This part of Seattle has remained the same, and it seems to be the only thing.
No familiar faces await me as I enter Crash. Whereas a year before I might have received a more lively greeting. Then again, I’m not exactly a face one would recognize in these parts.
Living for so long closer to the equator has darkened my skin and had the opposite effect on my hair. The red that I would have received from my mother makes itself more known leaving my grown out hair brown with shades of auburn. No make up sits upon my face, an oddity in eyeliner driven Seattle.
Not 48 hours ago I was waking up to a mosquito net in Uganda. A Six month mission to Haiti turned into a three month trip to India followed by a year and change in Africa. Uganda was the last stop. The night before I had been offered a permanent position on a federal funded research team in New York, discovering better more efficient ways to distribute clean, disease free water to those who are in need. An opportunity, considering I had and still have no college degree to show, a person would be crazy to pass up. When the big city had been mentioned my thoughts fell on a sandy brown haired man almost immediately. A vice that, as much as I tried to deny, has held me almost every day I’d been gone.
Call it stupid and girlie, but being a hopeless romantic is a part of who I am.
Setting down an empty beer mug, I rise out of my stool and throw cash to the table, nodding at the bartender.
The cool air hits my skin, small bumps form along my arms, I’ll need to buy a coat.
“Liz? Liz Parker?” I spin on my heels to be met with a brunette male with spiky hair.
“Logan Cale.” A smile erupts from my face.
“I thought that was you. What are you doing in Seattle?”
I’d be lying if I said I didn’t come back to see him. But I figure I can pretend for at least a little while. “I desperately missed the weather. That and real, honest to goodness coffee.”
He laughs heartily before enveloping me in a hug. “It’s great to see you, Max will be thrilled you’re here.”
“Speaking of, I stopped by Jam Pony. Seems its not transgenic underground railroad anymore?”
“Not so much, no. Shit has pretty much hit the fan. Ames White has all but started a lynching movement against all those genetically altered. Its been all over the news. Most of them are holed up in Terminal City, the only safe haven for Transgenics. They’ve built a fortress slash community within the walls. The toxins seem to keep the bigots at bay, so to speak. Max and Alec have been a pretty integral part in all of this.”
“Wow…Shows what you miss without a Television. I wish I had known sooner, I would have come back, tried to help.”
“They’ve been doing well. Gotten things pretty under control, it’s a pretty well-oiled machine.”
“How…uh…How is Alec?”
Logan smiles knowingly which only makes my face turn red. “Good. Different, but good. He helps a lot in T.C. much to Max’s chagrin, he’s taken away almost all her reasons to dislike him, slutty and irresponsible being her old favorite topics. He’d…he’d love to see you, Liz. So would Max.”
I grin widely. “I’d love to see the both of them”
“Great! Listen I’m making a pick up real fast then heading over. Where are you staying?”
“You know, I just got in, haven’t had the opportunity to check in yet.”
“You’ll stay with me then. No arguments.”
“Thanks, Logan. If its not too much trouble, at least.”
I change when we get to Logan’s, my nerve’s starting to get the best of me. I know better than to expect anything. I’ve only been gone two years, but I’ve seen things and done things and become an entire different person. Better, I like to believe, but different all the same. I’m not the Liz Parker Alec was in love with, I’ve told myself numerous times. But I guess it’ll take seeing him one more time, maybe to give me closure. I like who I am and wouldn’t have changed the experience for anything. This doesn’t stop me from changing my outfit twice. Okay, three times.
I compare the entry to T.C. to that of Fort Knox. Although I’m sure when you get into Fort Knox, they don’t sniff at you and stare like they’d been burned. A girl could get a complex.
We find Max in a training room. A stuffy room with wrestling mats lining the floor. Its hot in the room and although many of the people are sparring enthusiastically not a one has broken a sweat.
Max has a male twice her size pinned before Logan interrupts.
“Look what I found wandering around the concrete jungle.”
Her head spins quickly and her eyes go wide when they meet mine. “Liz! What are you doing here girl!” She grabs me into a hug that I eagerly return.
“Oh you know, you stand on a street giving puppy eyes, and you’re bound to get picked up sooner or later”
“Listen, I’m almost at my quota for TC for the day, so I’ll let you two catch up. Give me a call when you’re ready to be picked up, alright Liz?”
“Yeah, absolutely. Thanks Logan!” With a smile, he’s off. “How bout a tour, so I can see what you’ve been up to while I’ve been gone? How are Cindy and Sketch?”
“They aiight. Don’t get to see them much as I’d like but they happy, healthy. Doin what they can to help the cause and all. You gonna ask about him, or were you just waitin on me to bring him up?”
I laugh. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, Maxine.”
“Alec’s good. Don’t let him hear it, but he does good work here. People look up to him. Although, It took me a good two months to finally force his ass outta bed after you left.”
I halt her speech there. “Two months? Are you kidding?”
“He’ll try to say it was just one. Nope. Two whole months and he was doing nothing but converting Oxygen into carbon dioxide in a very Emo fashion. When the shit with the witch hunt started, Biggs was killed. He snapped out of it after that. Took control. He’s mellowed some”
“Has he…been seeing anyone?” I fear the answer as much as the question.
“Couple dates now and again. Nothin serious, hasn’t really had time. Nothings really held his interest. What about you?”
“Uh…pretty much the same. So…what about you and Logan. Have you stepped out of ‘are we or aren’t we’ land?”
“Me and Logan…we’re friends.”
“Mhmm.” I raise my eyebrows.
“Look, Logan’s special, you know. But nothings changed. The virus is still an issue so as long as it is, we aren’t. So you wanna avoid it some more? Or we gonna nip this in the butt, because I’m pretty sure Alec’s in the control room right through there.”
I run a hand through my hair and straighten my clothes out “I guess no time like the present, huh?”