Page 25 of Yorix

Once we reached the closest elevator at our destination, Yorix consulted the directions Xeranos had provided us for reaching Chris’s new place.

“Deck seven,” he requested, and the elevator began to move. “Hello Yorix!” Xeranos greeted him. “Going to visit Chris, Oshar, and Korah?”

“Yes,” Yorix replied. “This is the time we agreed upon.”

“I’ll take you to the nearest exit point this transport unit can reach. You’ll have to take a right when you get out. His is the fourth unit on the opposite wall.”

“Thank you,” I piped up.

“You're most welcome, Lynn. Enjoy your evening!”

The elevator changed direction twice before coming to a stop. As promised, Yorix found the quarters marked as theirs just where Xeranos had told him. Yorix placed his palm on the scanner, which, since we were guests, caused a doorbell to chime rather than open the door to admit us.

We stood waiting expectantly, only for no one to answer the door, though we could hear Daisy barking. Yorix frowned slightly.

“Let me try. Maybe they didn’t hear it the first time for some reason," I said, reaching across and pressing my own hand against the scanner.

“Hi, guys!” Xeranos called out. “They asked me to let you know they are on their way. They’re running a tad behind.”

Mere moments later, the door opened, revealing Chris.

“Hi!” he said, sounding out of breath.

I eyed him suspiciously, taking in his flushed appearance and the very fresh hickey mark I could see peeking out, plus the state of his dress, I decided to play it cool.

“Hi!” I replied enthusiastically. “Um, did we interrupt something?”

He turned as red as a ripe tomato.

“Huh? No, no, why would you ask that?”

“Um, because your shirt is on inside out and backward?”

He grew an almost impossibly deeper shade of red at this, glancing down to see that I was right. “Oops. I wasn’t wearing a shirt, like these guys, haha. Just grabbed it to answer the door and didn't notice,” I babbled. “Um, why don’t you come inside?”

We stepped in just as Korah emerged from what must be their bedroom, calling out for Daisy, admonishing her for her barking. Oshar soon made an appearance and after we'd completed our greetings and agreed upon drinks, I was racking my brain figuring out what to say next. Glancing around the space, I said, “Your place looks different than ours. We have a big eat in kitchen separated from the living room by a wall. It’s just as nice, though. I like your furniture!”

“Thanks,” Chris replied, taking one of the caramel lattes that appeared on a small tray as Korah held it out. “None of us knew what to get, really, so Xero showed us some room ideas and we just got that.”

I laughed, thinking how grateful I’d been to find our place furnished already in a style we both like. “I used to go to Ikea and imagine making only little changes and setting my house up the way they had their room displays set up,” I admitted. “My aunt works at the one in West Chester, so I felt disloyal to buy stuff from anywhere else.” Shit! I should have added that it was when I went to shop for new bedroom furniture my freshman year of high school and Mama took me shopping, because then I could have gone on to explain that my roommates were actually my parents and brother and that I’d paid a nominal rent after graduation to them. I took a sip of my coffee, trying to figure out if my pause had made it too late to do so, only for Chris to gesture towards the dining room table.

“Shall we sit there, or would you prefer the living room? Seeing as we have couches and chairs and the nice things we’ve just been talking about.”

I giggled nervously. Yep, I’d missed the boat. I’d have to try to find a way to broach the subject again. “The table’s fine,” I assured him, and we all quickly took our seats there.

We bantered about how gentlemanly our mates were for holding our chairs out and Chris joked about nearly passing out when he’d found he had not one, but two mates. So what did I do next? Did I say, “Look, I feel like I need to clear something up. I told you I was living on Earth with roommates. That’s sort of true, as I paid a bit of rent, but my roommates were my parents and brother.” No, I did not. Instead, my big mouth brought up our wedding plans, which, so far, we did not have any of. Nothing concrete, yet anyway.

“So, we were at Gyros without Capes, this cute little Greek place on the main rec deck over on the flagship, and that's a total pun by the way! It’s gyros like the food, g-y-r-o-s.” I giggled, nerves jangling. “Anyway, we were talking about our wedding plans and then I came up with the greatest idea!”

“You decided my mates and I should go,” Chris concluded.

“Not just that, silly! We should have a double wedding!” I replied excitedly. Oh, shit. He was staring at me now. He hated the idea. “Don’t say no just yet. Promise me you’ll think about it. I mean, it’s kismet, really. You ended up at my appointment, and then we got matched at the same exact time!” I pleaded.

He kept staring at me for another long moment. “What did you have in mind?” he asked finally. “White dress, tuxedos, on the beach in Hawaii, and all that?”

Oh, thank God! He didn’t think I was a loon for suggesting this.

“Well, yes. Xero showed us this package with the Hilton in Waikiki. We can have an archway facing the water and say our vows with all our family and friends - I know you probably don’t want to invite your family,” I hurried to cut him off before he could do more than open his mouth to interrupt me, “but I’m only having my roommates and my parents and sister and aunt and uncle.”