The Other Earth (5 page)

"Th
at's not a good way to start an agility test" he said, obviously trying to lighten the mood.

I could do nothing more than smile at him as I felt his arms lifting me up, trying to help me stand back on my own feet. I slid my arms up from his chest, trying n
ot to feel the hard muscle beneath my hand and up to his shoulders, hoping to use them as leverage.

I felt his heart start to beat faster against my chest and I looked back up into his face. He slowly leaned in and his mouth was only centimeters from my li
ps when I heard someone clearing their throat behind me.

I quickly jumped back onto my feet and pushed myself away from Brandon and turned around. Standing right behind me was none other than the head of the SSE and both of our bosses. Jessica stood there
looking at us with an amused expression on her face.

"I seem to be interrupting something" she said.

I shook my head as Brandon finally let go of my waist, "It's not what it looks like. Randi fell and I was helping her to get back up" he said quickly.

Jess
ica smiled, "Sure, okay. None of my business. Let's get this test started so we can all get back to what we were um, previously doing" she said with a wink.

I groaned and put my head in my hands, following Jessica and Brandon out of the room and down the h
all, determined not to fall again.

Once the testing got started, I was able to forget about all of the tension and the almost kiss that had happened with Brandon earlier. I had been only seconds away from kissing him and I was relieved and disappointed at
the same time that we were interrupted by Jessica. Even though what he and Stacey had was obviously just a one night thing, I couldn't forget that they were both my friends and I didn't want anything to be awkward.

Besides, Jessica had no idea that I had b
een crushing on him from the moment he had walked toward me in those tight fitting baseball pants, all covered in sweat. I shook my head to get that image out, the last thing I needed was to get distracted from the test I was on.

"Randi! I need you over he
re please" I heard Jessica yell at me.

Eager to show her my good side, I hurriedly walked over to the machine she was at, "Yes ma'am" I told her, knowing my nose was just a little brown after that.

She rolled her eyes at me, "Cut the ma'am shit okay. I need you to run down to the deli and get some lunch. Brandon still has about ten minutes left in his machine or I would have sent him. I have already called in our order, I just need you to pick it up" she said, handing me her company credit card.

I nodded, "
Yes M..." I started to say, catching myself before I called her ma'am again. "Uh, no problem Jessica" I said quickly before turning and practically running away from her.

"Randi, make sure they give you plenty of napkins" she yelled at me as I was running,
or rather walking quickly away. I put my hand up to let her know that I had heard her as I went to run the errands I had become sadly very good at lately. I sighed, hoping that someday I wouldn't just be a gopher at this company.

Chapter Five

I gripped the arm rests of the chair I was sitting in, trying to hold in my breakfast as the machine I was in spun me. I closed my eyes and tried to imagine that I was just on a crazy fun and fast roller coaster. The same ones that I had love
d as a teenager, before they had shut them all down because it was deemed unsafe to be outside for the length of time it took to wait in line for one of those rides.

Thinking about the horrible air quality was just what I needed to give me the push to fini
sh this last test. This was for a good cause, to study a planet that had not only close to zero pollution, but a completely intact ozone layer. Just thinking of how this could help out our own planet gave me the strength to open my eyes and focus, completely losing all queasiness.

"Okay Randi, you are at maximum speed. Now I need you to input the exact code we gave you to study on the keypad in front of you please" I heard Jessica say in the microphone next to my ear.

I looked down and saw the different colored buttons laid out in front of me. I thought back to the memo that they had given me on my first day of tests and remembered clearly the color combination. I pushed the red button first, then the orange, then green, back to red, and then lastly the large black button. Instantly the machine started to slow down, coming to a stop within just a few seconds.

I sat in the chair not moving as my body felt as though it was still moving, and realized that I was dizzy. I hadn't been dizzy in so many years I had f
orgotten what it felt like.

"Good job Randi. Once your dizziness subsides, pull the yellow release lever by your head and it will let you out of the pod. Come to the main station room once you are out" Jessica said into my ear again.

I sat in the pod for a few more minutes until I felt like I could walk without hurting myself. I looked up and pulled the yellow lever and smiled as the lid of pod lifted up. I unbuckled my belt and stepped out of the pod, looking around to see which way I was turned and saw the control booth right ahead of me.

I walked up and opened the door, smiling as Jessica looked over at me.
"Great Job Randi." She said, motioning for me to come and sit next to her.

"Thanks. What was this test measuring?" I asked.

"This test shows how you would react to a very bad situation. If for some reason the ship was to careen out of control, there are sets of buttons you can push to right it again. This test was to see if you could focus and concentrate enough to push a studied set of buttons while the ship was out of control. You did very good, remembered a set of instructions given to you over two weeks ago, and on the first try." She said, patting me on the back.

I smiled, "Thanks. So, this one was the last one for me. Is that
correct?" I asked her.

She nodded, "Yes you are officially done. We won't be able to make a decision on who is going to be actually going, seeing as that you and Brandon had an early start and are therefore finished a day early. But, I can confirm that you
have passed all of the tests satisfactorily and will be included in the list of candidates to choose from." She said.

I clapped my hand over my mouth as it gaped open, "Oh that is such good news, thank you!" I said a little too loudly.

Jessica smiled, "It's good to see someone so excited about all of this. We will start to announce who we choose next week. Enjoy your weekend Randi. Also, I have been watching you and you haven't taken a day off in over a month. Please take the whole weekend off okay? Your body has been put through some really tough tests these last couple of weeks."

I opened my mouth to protest, "But..."

"No, that is an order Randi" Jessica interrupted, turning back over to the computer.

I smiled, "Okay I promise, no working. See you Monday
" I told her and left the control room to head back to my desk and finish up a few things before heading home for the weekend.

As I walked back up to my desk, I plopped down onto my desk chair, happy that my tests were over. Even though I would never admit
it to anyone, my body was sore from everything they had put me through. It was worth it though, even though I didn't think that I would ever be chosen, I was happy to know that the person who did would be qualified after all of that.

"Penny for your thoug
hts Randi Rose" Brandon said behind me.

I turned and looked at him, "Honestly I was just picturing a long hot bubble bath and a good sleep after today's test" she said.

He nodded, "Yeah I know what you mean. It was pretty brutal huh?"

"Yeah, that's for sur
e. I think I'm still dizzy from that last one" I said, grabbing my head as though it was spinning.

He laughed, "Yeah, me too. So listen, we are both now completely done with tests. Did they tell you if you were eligible?" he asked me, pulling up a chair be
sides me.

I nodded, "Yes, Jessica told me I would be in the running" I said.

He clapped his hands together, "Great! I was hoping you would say that. They told me I am in the running too. This means we have got to celebrate. What do you say you go home, take a shower, get dressed, and meet me at the bar? The drinks will be on me. Hell, invite Stacey and Vickie too, I'm in a good mood" he said, winking.

I frowned, wondering if he was going to try to hook up with Stacey again. I didn't know if Stacey had told
him that she and Vickie were now monogamous. I shrugged, figuring he was just happy we were done like I was.

"Okay, I will invite them, under one condition" I said.

He turned his head slightly, "And what is that?" he asked.

"Under no circumstances can you
let me get as drunk as I did the last time we went out to celebrate" I said.

He laughed, "We will just have to see about that. Meet me there in two hours, is that enough time?" he asked me.

I nodded and he turned and walked away. I sighed, wondering how I would manage to keep my distance once a little liquid courage was in my system. After our almost kiss two weeks before, I had managed to keep my distance enough, never letting things get too awkward. I could only hope I would be able to keep it that way after a little vodka.

***

I walked into the bar with Stacey and Vickie close behind me, holding on to each other as though they would never see each other again. I smiled at how happy Stacey had been the last few weeks, happier than I had ever seen her, which was a welcome surprise
.

I looked around until I spotted Brandon over by the pool tables, sitting at a large table by himself and looking down at his phone. My phone buzzed in my pocket and I quickly pulled it out and saw that Brandon had texted me. "Are you coming?" It asked.

I laughed as I replied back, "Look up you idiot."

I watched as his phone lit up and he read his message. His head snapped up quickly and saw me standing just a couple of feet from him. He smiled and held out his hands, welcoming us to his table.

Once we walked over, Stacey reached over and gave him a big hug, stepping back slightly to let Vickie say hello. I couldn't really hear what was being said as the music was too loud, but as I sat down next to Brandon a waitress came up and handed me a Vodka on the rocks.

I looked over at Brandon and he winked. I shrugged and downed the drink, determined to have a good time, hopefully without any awkwardness. My heart jumped a beat when he leaned over and put his arm around my shoulders. This was something that he had
done since we were kids, and it had never seemed to bother me before, but it seemed that after almost kissing him, it meant something different.

I tried not to show any emotion as I waited for another drink to come around and watched as Stacey pulled Vick
ie into a slow dance. Stacey's face was lit up and she was smiling in a way I couldn't ever remember her smiling before. She looked truly happy, and I hoped that Vickie would be as good to her as she deserved.

"Here you go" Brandon said next to me sliding
the glass of vodka the waitress had just sat down in front of him.

I smiled as I pulled it toward me, determined to drink this one a little slower. "Thanks!" I yelled to him over the loud music.

Two hours and about four drinks later, I felt myself start to relax and enjoy myself. The awkwardness forgotten, I had already beaten Brandon in a grueling game of pool, which I had suspicions that he threw. I looked around the room to check on Stacey and saw her and Vickie sitting in a dark corner kissing as though nobody else was around.

I smiled as I turned my head to give them privacy, "Dance with me" Brandon yelled to me, holding his hand out.

At this point I was relaxed enough to agree, thinking that we would do one of our silly dances we had invented together over the years. Once he pulled me out to the dance floor and pulled me to him, I for the first time noticed that the song playing was a slow love song.

I didn't know how to get out of the dance without looking like an idiot, so I let him pull me close and
started to sway with the music. He wrapped his arms around my waist, and I tucked my arms under his, leaning my head onto his broad chest. My stomach flopped as I realized how comfortable the position was to me, and how he held me tighter than he ever had before.

He leaned in, and with his mouth right next to my right ear whispered, "By the way. I forgot to tell you how great you look tonight" he said.

I stiffened my body, not completely hating the shivers that ran down my body as his lips grazed my ear. "Um. Thanks" I replied.

I had worn my new dress that Stacey had picked out for me during our shopping trip, and I was slowly regretting that decision. I wanted to tell Brandon that he was my friend and that nothing else would ever happen, especially since h
e had now been with my other best friend, but a part of me wanted to just enjoy the moment.

"Hey, are you guys ready to head home?" Stacey said to me.

I quickly jumped away from Brandon, feeling like the kid that got caught with her hand in the cookie jar. I looked up at Brandon and saw that he was looking at me with a confused look in his eyes.

"Yeah sure."
I said, untangling myself from Brandon's arms.

"You're going to crash over at our place okay? There is no way you're driving home tonight, even if it's
not very far. We can just walk across the street and you can sleep on the couch" Stacey said to Brandon. She looked over at me and smiled, "Or wherever" she said.

I felt my face go red as I realized she thought I would let him sleep with me. I didn't say
a word as I grabbed my coat and headed toward the door.

Once we were back over at my apartment, I quickly said good night and headed to my room, softly closing the door behind me and quickly getting into my pajamas, letting Stacey deal with Brandon since s
he had been the one to invite him to stay.

I sighed as I crawled into bed and turned my light off, feeling the alcohol started to take effect as I become drowsy. I had only been laying there for a few minutes, picturing Brandon lying on my lumpy couch when
I heard my door squeak open.

I looked over and saw Brandon come into my room and close the door behind him, "Randi are you still awake?" he whispered.

"Yes, what's wrong?" I whispered back, my heart pounding in my throat.

"Look your couch is really uncomfortable, can I crash in here with you?" he asked, standing over my bed.

I sighed and slid over, patting the bed next to me. "Come on you big baby" I told him, trying to sound nonchalant, as though the idea didn't make me want to run away screaming, and rip all of his clothes off at the same time.

He slid into bed next to me and it was at this point that I realized how small my bed actually was, even though it was actually quite large.

"Good night Randi" he whispered into my ear.

"Night" I managed to choke out, shivers rolling through my body.