The Pike: Ships In The Night (10 page)

She didn't mean she would have been constipated, no matter how that sounded.  It was just a modifier to her statement that she would be afraid.  She just uses lots of nonstandard adjectives like that.

I told her as she hooked her cane to her shoulder bag and took my arm for support as we walked the few blocks to Pike Place Market. She used the stairs there every day as a way to strengthen her leg.

“I tend not to allow emotions to guide me.  They are chaotic and don't often make any sense.  Even to the point of being counter-intuitive given any dataset.  I don't like chaos, the world is supposed to have structure so that we can quantify it.”

She paused and pulled me to a stop, I got lost in the sudden intensity in her eyes as she said in a serious tone, “Sometimes you just have to embrace the chaos, Imme.”

Embrace the chaos?  Didn't she know that... wait.  Embrace the chaos?  I started mumbling, “Embrace the chaos?”  I scrambled to open my bag and pull out my calculations.  I sifted through the pages as I said louder, “Embrace the chaos.”  I stopped at the page that had vexed my team and me for weeks.  I started laughing, and my smile actually hurt my cheeks it was so intense.

I couldn't identify the look on Allison's face beyond confusion, but she was grinning, another contradiction I'd probably never grasp.  I shook the papers at her and said through that aching smile on my face, “You're a genius, Allie!  Embrace the chaos!  We've been looking at this all wrong the whole time.  We could apply recurrence plots using relativistic chaos theory!”

She was grinning fully now as she said, “I don't know what you're talking about, but it sounds exciting.”  She winked at me.  I felt suddenly self-conscious as I realized I had just called her Allie for the first time.

I tucked some hair behind my ear as my cheeks heated.  I calmed myself as I stuffed my calculations back in my bag, feeling flush.  I could identify this emotion just fine, I was on the upper end of the happiness bell curve.  I chuckled. “Embrace the chaos.”  Then I looked at the woman as she took my arm again and dragged me toward the seemingly endless steps to the main arcade level of Pike Place.

I confided in her. “You may have just given us the breakthrough we've needed for so long.”

She tilted her head down to study me as she said with a lilt in her voice, “Well then, you're just going to have to accompany me to this barbecue I can't get out of on Sunday so we can celebrate.”

I looked down at my shoes as we climbed the stairs and said, “O-ok.”  I smiled.

She almost chirped as she said, “Great, it's a date.”

Date?  Was it a date?  I didn't know the social conventions for that.  They were usually part of courting, weren't they?  Was this courting?  I knew that the most common couplings were binary, but there were non-binary pairings as well.  I looked down at her hand on my arm, and I instinctively pulled her hand in just a little tighter to me in acknowledgment as I just nodded like I had lost a hundred points off my IQ.  I couldn't find my voice.

I had never been on a date before.

I needed more data on social conventions and what was expected on a date.  I'd have to use my lunch hour to research.  Maybe the guys in the lab could give me valid input based on firsthand knowledge.  Why was I smiling?

I glanced up and tried to identify the look on her face as she made a point not to look down at me.  I narrowed my eyes at her.  I knew that one.  She was smug.  I crossed a leg behind me to kick her butt like dad did to me sometimes.  This just got her to look even smugger, and she seemed to have a bit more spring in her step as she didn't rely on my support as much on her bad leg.

The looks on Eve and her sister's faces when Allison and I stepped into The Pike together, gave me the irrational feeling that they were up to something sneaky, but I had no empirical data to back that up.

I almost kicked myself when I told Imme that it was a date.  What the hell was I thinking?  Just what I needed to do was to scare her away.  The more I learned about her, the more amazing I thought she was.  She didn't think she felt emotions like the rest of us, but just listening to her descriptions of her experiences, I don't think she could hear the emotion and excitement behind them.

She just didn't process them like we did, it didn't mean she didn't experience them.  She just needs a frame of reference.  Once she has that, she absorbed it like any other information in that super brain of hers.  And since they were so illogical at times, she still had a problem categorizing them properly at times.

But just one look at her eyes when she smiled, or better yet, giggled, and you could see the depth of emotion in her, especially joy.  She seemed so flipping innocent to me, and that drew me to her like a moth to a flame.  I wanted to wrap my arms around her and protect her from the world.  And I had an obsession with her lips, especially when she smiled.

To my surprise, though, she seemed ok with a woman asking her out.  I knew she probably went through hundreds of things in her head faster than any of us people with normal intelligence could blink.  She had blushed and smiled and hugged my hand to her.

I was in such a fucking good mood after that as we went to the Pike.  I stood patiently for her at the door as I waited for her to count down the proper time to keep her exact schedule.  I absently wondered how badly the barbecue was going to mess with her structured world.

We stepped in and Eve did a double-take from where she was helping a customer.  Then she just reached back behind her and blindly knocked on the kitchen door.  Zoey poked her head out a moment later, her cheek covered in flour, and the two sported shit eating grins on their faces as they watched us sit at one of the little expanded metal tables.

I just knew the two evil redheads had something to do with Liya and me, but I couldn't for the life of me figure out why I felt that way.  The shorter of the evil pair waved at Liya who just waved back shyly.  I don't think she knew just how easily she made friends.

She turned to me and asked, “What do you get here?  Eve knows my order.”

I shrugged, giving her a sly look as I said, “Dunno.  I just eat whatever Zoey and Eve bring me.  I've never really even looked at the menu since the first day I came here, they won't let me.”

She looked shocked, here eyes widening a bit, she said with a tone of disbelief, “But that's so... random.”

I nodded and countered, “Remember?  Embrace the chaos.  You never know what surprising things you might find.”  I looked at her deep brown eyes with the last remark.  God, you could seriously drown in those things.

She grinned at that then I cocked my head and asked, “Your mother has been feeding us something different every night.  Do you have specific dishes on any given night?”

She shook her head. “There is a corollary between Mom and Zoey and Eve in this aspect.  She won't allow me to set a specific routine for my caloric intake.  She put forth that it is an experiment in EWIGY.”

I narrowed my eyes, and she looked down at her hands on the table as she absently rubbed the sides of them while she blushed while clarifying, “Eat what I give you.”  Then she looked up and explained in earnest, “It falls under the mother's prerogative subset of accepted social protocols.”

I nodded and tried not to bark out a burst of laughter as I agreed, “Yes, I suppose it does.”

Eve motored over with coffee, and we both slid her our thermal mugs.  She said as she collected them, “Zo is whipping something up for ya, Sparky.”  She made a show of placing a single cube of sugar on the saucer by Liya's coffee cup and said, “And your onion bagel with butter, not margarine, and apricot jam, not strawberry, is coming right up.”

I placed a hand on her arm to stop her from leaving then looked at Liya, “What say you live on the wild side a bit and try something new, Imme?”

She blushed cutely and nodded as she stopped rubbing her hands and started wringing them, I could see her discomfort with change.  I gave her a reassuring smile and said to Eve, “Surprise her.”

Eve was all smiles at that and nodded once.  She winked at Liya and then headed to the kitchen.  The Filipino woman pulled her hair back over her shoulders with both hands to get it to fall down her behind her.  Then she leaned forward and whispered with a grin, “I feel like a rebel.”

I had to smile at that, how could I not?

She asked, “What do you think they'll bring us?”

I shrugged and reached almost hesitantly over to take her hands in mine to stop her from fidgeting.  I caught her sparkling eyes and said, “I don't know, that's what makes surprises so exciting.”

Then I asked, “And apricot jam on an onion bagel?  Eww.”

She surprised me with a cute, out of character, “Shut up.” She blushed brightly.

I barked out a burst of laughter at that.

She seemed pleased that she caused my amusement, and she leaned in like she was sharing a secret.  “I like the dichotomy of sweet and salty, and how the various textures compliment the tastes.  It makes the meal an experience.”

I said tongue in cheek, “Translation, shut up, you like it.”

She nodded and gave me a toothy grin that I didn't see enough of from her.  She looked down at our hands, I still had hers in mine.  She looked so shy and bashful.  Then she shared, “It is what I had had for breakfast since my first day of college when I was twelve.  Except on weekends of course, when mother subjects me to her EWIGY experiment.”

I was going to mention it wasn't much of a breakfast when Zoey arrived at our table and set a tray down.  I let go of Imme's hands and sat back.  Zoey had an evil glint in her eye.  If I were a vampire slayer, I would have staked her right there.  She was up to no good, just like her sis, I just knew it, but I couldn't figure out why I felt that way.  Besides of course the blatant fact that they were mischief personified.

She placed what looked like puff pastries in front of us, and little bowls of what looked like fresh fruit salad.  She wiggled her eyebrows and blew some errant strands of her rich red hair out of her eyes, “Congratulations you two, you get to be my guinea pigs for my new creation.”

I chuckled at the woman and pointed out to take some wind out of her sails. “You have some flour on your cheek again, wench.”

She wiped the wrong cheek with her sleeve, leaving a trail of flour on the opposite cheek.  Did she just throw the stuff around back in the kitchen or something?  It was far too cute and funny.  She presented her face to me cheek first with a questioning look on her face.  I glanced over at Liya then back as I said, “Much better.”

Liya opened her mouth to contradict me, I had to teach her about humor and mischief.  I said quickly to her before she could speak,  “Shall we guinea up?”  I picked up my fork and gave her a smile.

Liya picked hers up in response and then paused and looked hesitantly up to the taller redhead.  “This is an experimental dish?”  She sounded nervous.

I said, “Just eat, it isn't going to kill you.  Zo isn't that bad a cook... mostly.”

From the elder sister, this got a “Hey!”

I crinkled my nose at her then cut into the pastry.  The aroma of fresh baked bread was killing me before, but now the smells of the cheeses, fluffy eggs and bits of bacon that trailed out of the pastry were added to it, and I heard my stomach growl in protest.

Long streamers of cheese trailed behind, and I took a bite.  Oh dear lord in heaven, it was like the bread bowls only with a light and flaky pastry like a croissant.  I rolled my eyes and savored the bite.

Then as I chewed, we both looked at Liya who was timidly cutting into hers.  It looked to be the same except with ham instead of bacon.  She looked timidly at both of us, then raised a bite halfway to her mouth.  Looked at us again then took a bite.  Cheese stringers hanging off her lower lip.

She chewed and closed her eyes.  She looked almost, I don't know, peaceful?  Then she opened her eyes and smiled. “When compared to other dishes with similar components as a baseline data set, I would conclude that your experiment is a success.”  Then she added, looking like she was brimming with mischief of her own, “In technical terms, yum.”  Then she giggled at her perceived joke.  It was too cute.

Zoey pulled on a strap on her shoulder and smiled back at Imme and pulled up the Polaroid camera and snapped a shot of her, the flash making my companion blink as Zo said, “For our wall.”

The cheese stringers on Liya's lips were driving me crazy.  I already had a problem not obsessing over them without something else drawing attention to them.  I reached out before I realized I was doing it and held her chin lightly between my fingers as I looked into her eyes, then ran my thumb along her lip to wipe away the offending cheese.  I swear she shivered.  I removed my hand from her chin, and she swallowed visibly, her cheeks reddening as I said, “You had some cheese stringers.”

Then she exhaled and started working on the pastry with her fork.  I looked up at Zoey who looked pleased with herself.  Ok, now I got it.  I shot a poisonous look over to Eve.  Liya really hadn't left the papers behind, had she?  I poked Zo lightly in the gut with my fork and used her own word she threw at Eve from time to time, “Meddling?”

She threw her hand towel over her shoulder indignantly as she grinned like a loon when she almost sauntered away. “I have no clue what you are talking about.  Shut up and eat, Allie.”

Liya coked her head in question as she started shoveling food into her mouth.  I took another bite then pointed my fork at Eve where she was helping another table. “That one.  Most likely stole your notes so I would have to find you with them.”  I stabbed my fork toward Zoey as she disappeared into the kitchen. “And that one was assisting in some way.”

Her brow furrowed, and I could see a million thoughts and calculations flashing through her eyes, she wasn't coming up with two plus two, so she asked, “To what end?”

I smiled and took another bite, studying her, her expression held that innocence I was drawn to.  I washed the bite down with some coffee and supplied, “On the off chance that I'd like you as much as I do, most likely.”

She looked like she was formulating an equation so I just supplied her the answer I wasn't entirely sure she would come up with, “They're playing matchmaker.”

It seemed like it took a three count for her to grasp what I was saying.  In some ways, I think that her intelligence can be a handicap for her.  She expects the world to be logical, and follow certain rules and parameters, and when it doesn't, it confuses her.

But after the three beat, I saw comprehension dawn on her, and she blushed again, scrunched her head to her shoulders as she smiled shyly and said in a tiny voice, “I like you too.”  Then she quickly took another bite of her meal so she wouldn't have to talk or look up at me.  I just gave her a beaming smile and took another bite in satisfaction.

She derailed me with a smile of her own as she asked, “Sparky?”