Tears of Glass (The Jana Darren Saga Book 1) (12 page)

Aeronth refused to let her move the stuff herself, instructing her to sit on the bed and wait. He scooped up his two black duffel bags and disappeared into the hallway. When he returned with her luggage, she was sprawled out and staring at the ceiling.

“Are you hungry?”

Is he asking me out to dinner?
Jana bolted upright and narrowed her eyes at him. “What?”

“The others were asking if we all wanted to go have dinner. I told them I’d ask you.” He crossed his arms and waited for her response.

If I say no, would he go with them and leave me here alone? Or would he skip out, too, and stay here?
Jana was too mortified to ask him. Her best bet was to just go along with it. They had a whole week; at some point, she’d find a way to get time alone with him.

“I’m starving. Let’s go with them.”

He shrugged. “Alright, I’ll let them know. David said they were leaving in an hour. I’ll catch you later.”

The bed was excruciatingly comfortable, an enormous four-poster draped with sage green fabric. A mural of the universe dotted the walls and ceiling of the dark room, an explosion of color. It took a lot of inner conflict for Jana to get out of bed. She splashed water on her face, and it felt wonderful. She opened the glass door to the shower and clapped her hands together. It was gigantic, with an overhead sprayer and tiled bench. If nothing else, this room was worth the stress of being where they were.

Not wanting to look like a bedraggled poodle, she towel-dried her hair after the shower. With no idea of where they were going, Jana donned a clean unmarked uniform and tied her long hair into a braid.

Her bed was calling to her, and within minutes, she was already dozing off. The door buzzed loudly. Aeronth came in. “We’ve been waiting for you. What were you doing?”

Jana yawned. “I fell asleep. How did you get in here?”

“Sorry, I forgot to give you the key.” He averted her gaze. David appeared behind him. “Is that how you get dressed up?” he grinned.

She rolled herself off the bed. “What can I say, I’m low maintenance.”

David chuckled. “Alright, let’s get going.”

Everyone else had changed into more comfortable clothing. Aeronth was in his usual jeans and black t-shirt, his hair unkempt as ever. The group left the hotel.

The walk to the restaurant was short, but not as short as Lexi’s dress. It looked like it’d been painted on with a roller, and barely covered her...
assets.
Half a block from the hotel, she was already complaining about her feet hurting. The shoes she wore looked like weapons, and with them on she towered over Jana. Lexi beelined for Jana and pulled her to the side, clutching at her arm.

“Are you honestly using me to support your weight right now?” Jana raised her brows.

“Shh. Beauty is painful. If I’d have known you were coming out like this, I’d have saved you. You’re itty-bitty, but I think I have a few things that might work for you. Just like playing dress-up with a doll.”

Jana frowned and gestured to her uniform. “What’s wrong with this?”

Lexi glared at Jana and ignored the question. “I’d kill for your bone structure and skin tone, kiddo. You don’t even know how lucky you are, do you?” Jana shrugged and Lexi looked positively disgusted. “Ugh. What a travesty.”

Jana glanced down at Lexi’s green dress.
How the hell does that even stay down when she walks?
Lexi caught her looking. “Spray glue on the thighs and ass. There’s nothing sadder than an insecure girl who spends all night pulling her dress back down. Oh honey, there are so many things I could teach you if you’d let me.”

Gordon held the door open for them all when they entered. Jana was the last one seated at the table, and ended up between Aeronth and Lexi. She couldn’t decide whether that was a stroke of luck or a bad omen. When the waitress came a few minutes later, they ordered. Aeronth was still trying to decide what to drink. The waitress began flirting with him, joking and touching his arm, laughing and smiling. Frankly, it made Jana sick. When she tried to ignore it and order her food, it took her three tries to get the girl to notice she was speaking.

“By the way, I’m Michelle,” she told Aeronth.

“Yes, that’s wonderful,” Jana stated. “Now, I’d like...”

“Are you from around here?” she asked him, ignoring Jana entirely.

“No, he’s not. But if you would please—“

“What’s your name?” Jana’s face began to turn red. The others were looking on amusedly, waiting for someone to make a move. It must have looked like a badly written soap opera. Jana felt hot anger welling inside her. When Michelle finally took notice of her, she actually seemed surprised, as if Jana hadn’t been talking to her for nearly five minutes. “Yeah?”

“Finally,” she snapped.

“Woah, chill out. There’s no need to throw a tantrum.”

“Just do your job and take our orders.
Then
, I wouldn’t have a problem.”

“You can’t talk to me like that,” Michelle replied defensively.

“Watch me,” Jana spat. “I can’t deal with this. You guys go ahead and eat. I’m not hungry.” Jana pushed herself back from the table, but Lexi put a hand on her back to stop her.

“No, Jana, don’t leave,” she began. “Excuse me,” Lexi turned her attention to the waitress, “we’d like to see your manager, please.”

“What?” Michelle asked stupidly.

“Now,” Lexi ordered.

The waitress had no choice. They got a new server, ordered, and the food arrived promptly. Michelle was taken into the kitchen, and before the door had swished closed, the group heard her getting an earful from the manager. No establishment wanted a reputation for being rude to military personnel.

“Did you see her face when her boss came over?” Lexi laughed. The dinner talk continued, but Jana took no part in it. She was embarrassed, and it made her feel awkward and uncomfortable.

“What the hell are you doing?” Lexi asked, leaning over Jana’s plate. The beautifully plated chicken dish was now ripped apart—the green beans in one pile, chicken in another, rice in a third.

“I don’t like it when my food touches.” Jana said, biting her lower lip and carefully moving each grain of rice into the neat pile. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Aeronth smirking behind the glass he was drinking from. Without thinking about it, Jana kicked him in the shin. He sputtered, beer dribbling down his chin.
Oh my god, what did I just do? You IDIOT!
She awaited his anger, but he laughed and reached an arm around her. Before she knew what was happening, he used her shoulder as a napkin to wipe the alcohol off his face.

“What are you, five?!” Jana giggled, shoving him away.
Damn him. I can’t even brood when I want to.
As much as she hated the display from the waitress, her heart soared at the attention from him. He obviously cared enough to show that he
didn’t
care if someone else saw his affection.

I could get used to this.

The Universal Clock ticked away the hours, but time on colonies melded into one endless day. The sun never rose nor set, the seasons never changed, and the night was everlasting. To Jana, it had always been a paradise. But now, after having been to a real planet, she wasn’t so sure. She understood why the Government didn’t allow planets to be colonized. Humans had proven incapable of taking care of the things given to them. It was their fault that E-1 had become uninhabitable.

Now, they were paying the price.

Jana’s concentration was broken by the others standing up to leave. They’d been drinking, and Lexi looked like she was going to fall over as soon as she stood. It was going to be a long walk back. She let the others pass her, and smiled up at Aeronth waiting for her. He held out an arm, and she giddily took it. “Do you want to go find something to do? Just the two of us?” he asked.
I’ve died. Or I’m dreaming. This can’t be happening.

“Absolutely.”

Three steps out the door, Lexi stumbled and twisted her ankle. The other two weren’t exactly in a position to be helping her, so Aeronth slung her arm around his neck and lifted her.

“Fucking fuck fuck fuck, that
hurts!
” Lexi cried out. They stopped under the closest street lamp and Gordon took a look at it.

“Broken. She’s gonna have to go to the medical center and be treated.”

David had way too much to alcohol in him. He kept shaking his head and blinking. Jana grimaced. Aeronth was the only relatively sober person aside from her. “Get those two back to the hotel. There’s a med center a few blocks down that I saw a sign for. I’ll take her over there, they’ll patch her up in no time and we’ll come back.”
Of course it was too good to be true.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered. And damn him, he looked it. Jana sighed and corralled the two men to get them back to the hotel and watched Aeronth walking the opposite direction with a sobbing Lexi hobbling along next to him.

Never again.
Jana grabbed David’s collar for the fifth time and yanked him back onto the sidewalk. It was a challenge to get them back in one piece. David liked to wander, and Gordon kept stopping to talk to passerby and ramble on about medical procedures.

Finally back at the hotel, Jana brought her two friends to their rooms and flopped back down on her bed. There was a little digital alarm clock on the wall. It shouldn’t take more than an hour, even with any potential wait to see the doctor. She sat and waited.

And waited.

After three hours, she fell asleep. When Jana woke up again, it was another four hours later.
He must have seen me sleeping and didn’t want to disturb me. He still has my room key.
She’d had to ask the staff to give her another. When she knocked on his door, there was no response. Confused, Jana tried Lexi’s. She opened the door after a moment, eye makeup smeared around her face, hair disheveled.

“Oh, hi.” She said groggily. “Thanks for checking up. I’m fine. I’m never drinking againnn. Do you want to come in?” She stepped aside and Jana went in. Lexi’s ‘dress’ from the night before was thrown on the floor, and there were clothes everywhere.

“When did you guys get back?”

“There was no wait, so we were in and out super quick.”

“So where’s Aeronth? He wasn’t answering his door.”

“Your guess is as good as mine. When we left the hospital, he grabbed me a transport car and sent me back to the hotel alone. He called the staff at the hotel ahead of time to have them meet me when I got here to help me up to my room. I wouldn’t have even found it afterwards.”

Called her a cab and sent her back alone. They had plans, and he disappeared. He left her waiting around all night. Jana was beyond furious.

Where was he?

She returned to her room and a while later Gordon asked if she wanted to come with him to visit his family. Thankful for anything to get her out of here and hopefully take her mind off Aeronth, she graciously accepted his offer. They journeyed to the Residential District, stopping for coffee on the way so Jana could caffeinate herself into alertness. She clung to her hot chocolate and vanilla coffee concoction. Apparently, there had been a malfunction in the heating system, and they had to reboot it. It was actually cold in the colony, something that neither of them were used to.

“This sucks,” Gordon stated as he rubbed his hands together. “It’s got to be four degrees.”

“You’re not kidding,” Jana said, warming her hands on the hot paper cup. Any malfunction on a colony was a huge problem. If the wrong system went out, the whole colony might be lost. There were backup generators for the power, but if the whole thing ever shut down, the colony would freeze, incinerate, or become a ghost satellite when the atmosphere bled out. It was important that everything ran smoothly. If something happened, it was everyone’s problem. Many of the people who lived on the colonies also worked on the crews that kept it going, and were paid highly for it.

Gordon’s family lived in a nice building. When they knocked on the door, a middle-aged woman answered it. She squealed and reached out, hugging Gordon fiercely. When she finally released him, she also took notice of Jana standing there.

“And you’ve brought a GIRL home!” she squealed, beaming from ear to ear. Her short graying hair was styled up, and she wore pretty silver teardrop earrings.

“No mum, she’s just a friend,” he mumbled. His mother still smiled, but her eyes lost a bit of their gleam.

“Well, come in! We’ve got the heat on. Dreadful cold out, isn’t it?” she said, pushing them both into the room. “Dana will be glad to see you.”

“I bet.”

“Aren’t you going to introduce me?” she asked unabashedly.

“Mum, this is Jana. Jana, this is my mother.”

“Helen,” said the woman.

“Pleased to meet you,” Jana said, holding out her hand. Helen ignored this gesture, and instead squeezed her tightly in a hug. Gordon looked at the sight, shrugging.

“Dana!” Helen called out.

“What?” A little girl’s voice echoed through the white halls, covered in framed family photos spanning decades.

“Someone’s here to see you!” she answered. Turning to Gordon and Jana, she led them into the living room. It was cozy, with beige carpeting and chocolate colored couch. End tables on both sides of the couch, with small lamps on each one. In the center of the room was an oval table. At the back of the room was the way to the kitchen. A half wall stretched most of the way from one side of the room to the other, giving them a clear view of the white and yellow kitchen behind it.

A young girl, no more than three or four years old, came waddling out to greet them. Upon seeing her brother, she squeaked and threw herself at him, latching onto his leg. Jana smiled. The girl was adorable; she had short red hair with a bow on the side, and like Jana, a spattering of freckles along her cheeks. Gordon picked her up and held her close.

“Dana, this is a friend of mine. Her name is Jana.”

“That’s my name with a J,” said the little girl.

Jana laughed. “Yes, you’re right. You’re a smart little girl,” she told her.

“Thank you
very
much.”

“You are very welcome.”

Dana stayed about half an hour to play and talk before starting to rub her eyes. Worn out from the excitement, she tottered off to take her nap.

“She is so sweet,” Jana smiled.

“Thank you,” said Helen. “I’ll tell my husband you said so. He spoils that girl rotten. He’s working now, trying to get the heating system running again.”

They sat on the couch. Helen offered Jana something to drink, and brought her a nearly transparent green liquid called Zone. Released a few years prior, it quickly became popular. It was nonalcoholic and tasted like berries, but had a big kick to it.

“Thank you.” She sipped it slightly and set it back down on the table.

“So, Jana, where are you from?” Helen asked.

“She’s actually from here, I think,” Gordon chimed in.

Jana’s hands tightened reflexively around the glass. “Oh, that’s splendid! Have you visited your family yet?”

“No, we only got in last night,” she answered quickly.
Please, please drop the subject.
Her knuckles were turning white, and she realized she was holding her breath.

“Well, make sure that you go visit them before you head back to the station. I know that for us, whenever we get to see our son is a blessing. He’s hardly ever able to make it home.”

The thought made her cringe.