CHAPTER 11

"So, what do you think? Wicked, huh?"

"Umm… yeah." Chloe only now took a proper look around the guest cabin from her position at the entrance. Somewhere along the way here, she had stopped paying attention to the bright tube-like corridors of silvery metal, the alien passersby, and the explanations of her two companions. She had gotten so lost in her own head that she hadn't noticed Vrixiel leaving.

Trixie, who was standing in the center of the room, let her shoulders droop. "You don't like the peonies. My decorating skills suck."

"No, no! The paper flowers are gorgeous!" There were bouquets of those in bright colors on every flat surface available, giving a homey feel to the otherwise cold interior.

Between the four walls of pale silver, there were several pieces of furniture, all gray. A desk was attached to the left wall, along with a levitating chair that looked like an open clamshell of shiny metal. The bench by the wall up front was levitating too. To the right, there was a double bed and a nightstand, both floating over the bare floor. The nightstand was shaped like a partially opened clamshell.

The bed had the shape of a regular human bed, but its surface was anything but normal. Instead of bed linen, it had jelly on top. A semi-transparent blue jelly that Chloe could not imagine sticking her finger in, let alone resting her entire body on.

"If my flowers are not the problem, then it must be the cabin," Trixie said, eyes scanning the room. "Is it the view? The vastness of space can be overwhelming, I know. The view at Jupiter is much better, you'll see when you come visit my and Vrixiel's home."

"No, the view is nice." Chloe was grateful for the long rectangular illuminator on the wall in front. The cabin was an average size but without a view to the outside, she would have felt claustrophobic. The sight of the starry darkness was also a good reminder that she was a long, long way from Earth; if she didn't put her head in the game, there would be no going back home for her.

"It's the bed, isn't it? You think the blue stuff is slimy or sticky." Trixie went to the bed and patted the pale-blue surface. "See?" She showed her palm to Chloe. "All dry and clean. Trust me, once you feel this gel under your naked ass, you'll never want to sleep on a human bed again."

"Okay…"

"The gel absorbs any vibrations, follows the curves of your body, and can be made more solid or liquid-y depending on your preferences. Gaenthians like it more on the liquid side because of their wings. You know the best part about this magical gel?"

"Hm?"

Trixie tapped the jelly twice then moved her hand over that section. The jelly rose to meet her palm. "You can raise or lower certain parts. To fit the positions you want to try." Trixie wiggled her green-dyed eyebrows.

"Sure…"

"Oh, honey." Trixie rushed to Chloe's side. Clearly, Chloe had failed to fake her smile of excitement. "Are you alright? If you desperately need to use the toilet, you don't have to hold it in because of my blabbering. The bathroom is behind the left wall; you press the blue panel by the desk, and part of the wall slides aside."

"No–I mean, yes, I do need the toilet, but not… desperately." Chloe sighed. "It's just that…"

"Yes?"

"It's–No, it's not important."

"Honey," Trixie put a reassuring hand on Chloe's, "you can confide in me. We Earth girls have to support each other up here. Whatever you tell me will stay between us, no gossiping. I may talk a lot, but my pie hole is locked shut when it comes to secrets."

Chloe smiled, and it was a genuine smile. Trixie had this way about her that made you want to pour your heart out. "There is no secret, Trixie. Just stuff that's on my mind."

"Stuff like…?"

"Like being here. It's overwhelming," Chloe admitted. "I had big plans. I was supposed to be in a meeting that had the potential to change my future, but then Subcommander Nitiel showed up and my plans went puff."

"Ah, you're a planner. Come," Trixie tugged at Chloe's hand, "let's sit here by the window."

Before Chloe could offer her help in getting on the high bench, Trixie patted the smooth gray surface and the levitating piece of furniture lowered.

Trixie snickered at the surprised look on Chloe's face. "Neat, right? Everything that's hovering over the floor can be as high or as low as you want it. You can also move it all over the place. I never thought alien furniture alone could change my life, but here we are!" Trixie sat on the bench and gave it a pat, making it rise to a height more comfortable for Chloe. "Now, I get that as a person used to planning a lot, the last-minute change must have soured your trip here. Missing that important meeting must have sucked too. But it's more than that, is it?"

Wow, Trixie was one perceptive woman. Or Chloe's face was simply too open a book. "I've more or less gotten over the fact that my plans have changed, but it's just that… I'm not supposed to be here. No offense, I see you're very happy with whom the ASI has paired you with, but I'm calling bull in my case."

"You are?" A surprised look passed across Trixie's face. "How come? You're yet to see your fated mate – niel, as the Gaenthians call it."

"It sounds stupid, I know, to question the almighty ASI. But what life with the Commander entails can only make me miserable. He might be the most perfect-looking guy out there, he might be a good person, but if being with him requires that I abandon everything that makes me, me, it just won't work. Not in the long term. And fated mates are supposed to be forever, no?"

"Honey," Trixie patted her hand, "I get you. I'm not going to try to convince you the Commander is the lid for your pot. I'll say only this: be patient and listen to your heart, not your brain. If you rush things because you want to go back to your plans, to what is familiar and makes you feel secure, you'll miss the incredible stuff that's in store for you up here. It might get scary sometimes, but it's totally worth it, girl. Trust me."

Chloe nodded. Living in the moment was something she was trying to teach herself to do. Always planning for the future and being obsessed with not wasting time on anything ‘unproductive' was not good for her mental health. But strive as she might, she kept failing. She kept thinking ahead instead of basking in the happiness of a given moment. She kept feeling guilty for something as natural as taking a 30-minute nap after a hard day at work, because those precious minutes could instead have been spent on, say, beading a bracelet. Perhaps now was a good time to try living in the present, given how she had neither plans nor a way to keep track of ‘wasted' time.

"Trixie, can I ask how your experience was? When you met Vrixiel for the first time?"

Trixie clapped her hands. "Girl, I thought you'd never ask. I love telling this story, it's so embarrassing."

"Oh. Then don't tell me, I don't want you to feel uncomfortable."

"No, no, it's embarrassing in a good way. Not that I saw it like that at the time… So," Trixie got her legs under her on the bench, sitting more comfortably, "I was ecstatic when some Gaenthians came to my workplace to tell me my niel had been found. I couldn't believe my luck; I had been single at the time and had been fantasizing about an alien hottie of my own since for-e-ver. I waved my colleagues goodbye and left straight for outer space. I didn't bother with baggage or calling my boss to tell him to find a new seamstress, since the Gaenthians would handle everything. My sole focus was getting to my fated mate. And when I got off the ship and saw that beefcake…"

"What happened?"

Trixie prolonged the dramatic pause just a bit longer before she grinned. "I fainted."

"Dang." Chloe had not expected that. Trixie seemed so confident and ready to take on the world in stride. "Were the four horns too much?"

Trixie giggled. "Horns, wings, greenness – I just couldn't handle Vrixiel's hotness level. With all the alien romance novels and fan fiction involving Gaenthians I had read, I thought myself ready, but fuck was I wrong."

"Yeah, they can be… a lot." Chloe could not but remember how she had reacted to Nitiel's impressive form and cobalt-blue gaze the first time. The handful of contemporary romance stories on her bookshelf could never have prepared her for that encounter.

"Right? I have to confess I also felt shocked at how big he was. As my niel, he was sure to want me, pocket-size babe and all. But how would it work between us? I'm a fan of the ‘would it fit' trope in romance, but what if in my case it did not fit? What if the ASI had not taken that into its calculations?"

Chloe squeezed her legs together. She did not find the idea of being split in half sexy. "Things did work out in the end, I take it?"

"They did, honey, they did. Oh, how they did…" Trixie fanned herself. "When I came about, I was in Vrixiel's arms, being flown to the medical bay. How wicked is that? I told him I was fine and we should head straight for the altar. He politely asked if I could wait a few hours, since the wedding altar was being used by another couple. I said I could wait, provided I didn't have to leave his arms. You know what he said?"

Chloe shook her head, too engrossed in the story to form words.

"I don't intend to ever let you go, my special bean," Trixie said, imitating Vrixiel's guttural voice impressively well. "A bean! How cute a nickname is that? That's me – bite-size and delicious! Beans are Vrixiel's favorite human food, by the way; there are lots of dishes from Earth delivered to the station.

"So, he took us to our home, a suite with several rooms that mated Gaenthians on the station get upon being matched. I asked for a shower, since my little tumble in the landing bay had gotten dirt in my hair, dyed pink at the time. He started to put me down but I stopped him, reminding him I was supposed to remain in his arms. It took him several seconds to get my meaning; the poor thing was not used to such a direct approach from a lady."

Trixie winked, eyes sparkling at the memory. "When he finally got it, he all but crashed in the bathroom door in his hurry to get me naked and wet. What he didn't know at the time was…"

"Yes?"

"… he had already made me wet!"

Chloe burst out laughing. She had not seen that coming. Trixie was a born storyteller.

"And the rest is history. Now," Trixie patted the bench to lower it, "we better get some food in you and get you ready for when the Subcommander shows up. I can babble about my boo bear all day if you let me."

Chloe's heart made a little summersault. "Subcommander Nitiel?"

"Yes, honey." Trixie got up quickly. "Come on, go freshen up. I'll order a tray of my fave Gaenthian delicacies delivered to us and take your dress out of the wardrobe. It's behind a wall panel to the left of the bed."

Chloe got up hesitantly. "But the Subcommander... Do you think he will be the one to escort me to the Commander?"

"Well, I can only hope." Trixie gave her an intrigued look. "Why? Excited at seeing that stud muffin again?"

Chloe chuckled nervously. "No, just wondering. He was in such a hurry to leave me in the landing bay. He also said he would be leaving for Earth very soon."

"I see… Well, whoever comes to pick you up, you should get changed. This black dress is super cute and would scandalize the locals wonderfully, but it also stinks. Sorry."

Chloe laughed. "No need to apologize. My dress went through a lot even before it left Earth's orbit. Just show me how to access the bathroom and flush, I'll be fine from there."

Trixie smiled broadly and rubbed her hands together. "Girl, you're going to love the flush system…"