The Saffron Malformation (72 page)

             
“I’m not hungry,” she said simply.

             
“Oh, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be good company,” Rain interjected.  Ryla looked at her, eyes slightly wide.

             
“Wise words,” Quey added.

             
Ryla seemed cornered.  “Maybe in a little bit,” she said.  “I want to run a program that’ll map the Blue Moon Network.”

             
Quey smiled and tapped the desk with his knuckles, “Right.  And you know, I’ve been at the ping pong table all morning.  Might antae up and beat you this time.”

             
“No you won’t.”

             
He laughed at her bluntness.  “Mighty certain of yourself.”

             
“In order for you to win you would have to practice a minimum of five months and with opponents near to or above my skill level.  Since you’ve done neither it is a reasonable conclusion that you will not win.  Playing for a wager doesn’t serve a reasonable function for you at this juncture.”

             
Quey looked stung.  “Alright.  Well I’ll be downstairs, you two ladies feel free to join me if you’d like.”  He started away.

             
Rain stared at Ryla for a moment, watching as she worked on the computer in front of her.  “Ouch,” she finally said and Ryla looked to her.

             
“What?”

             
“I guess you don’t break balls so much as rip them off.”

             
Ryla cocked her head at her.  “I don’t understand.”

             
“You don’t see the function in playing him again?”

             
Ryla shook her head.

             
“What about the function being that it might be fun?”

             
“Why would it be fun?” she asked.

             
“Because you like him.”

             
“Something happened earlier and I believe I do not like him.”

             
Rain laughed.  “Of course you do.”

             
“No,” she said plainly.  “I don’t think I do.  I feel strange when he talks to me and looks at me.  And I don’t like it.”

             
“Strange?” She asked.  “Strange how?”

             
“Like I’d like to be something else.”

             
Rain laughed.  “Like you want to be better?”  Ryla looked at her.  “Oh, but that’s how you know you like him.”

             
“No.  It’s not that,” she trailed off and Rain waited, watching her until she continued.  “It’s that I don’t know what to do.  They don’t like me, I know that.”

             
“They like you,” Rain assured her.

             
“No.  They like me for a robot.  When they look at me that’s what they see.  That’s what they expect.”

             
Rain reached out and touched her shoulder, “They don’t care,” she said tenderly, then added, “He doesn’t care.”

             
“It’s not about whether he cares or not,” she protested.  She looked at Rain, her eyes pleading, “They look at me and that’s what they see and I don’t want them to see a robot.  I don’t want to be parts.  I want them to see a girl.”

             
Rain nodded slowly and said, “Okay.  Well then we should start with your date.”

             
Ryla looked at her and after a moment she said, “I have a boyfriend.”

             
Rain shook her head, “No you don’t.”

             
“Yes I do,” she snapped defensively.

             
“It’s not the same.”

             
“He performs all the necessary functions to satisfy my desires in that area.”

             
“No he doesn’t.” Rain said.

             
Ryla peered at her.  “Of course he does.  That’s what he’s programmed to do.”

“But it’s not the same.”

              Ryla stared hard at her.  “You don’t know.”

             
Rain smiled and caressed her arm.  “You’re right.  I don’t know how he makes you feel, but I know it’s different with someone who’s not programmed to be with you.”

             
“The program mimics, that’s what it does, that’s its function.  I don’t understand how it could be not the same.”

             
Rain took a breath.  “Okay, well what’s he doing right now?”

             
“Boyfriend?  He’s waiting for me.  Soon he’ll come to check on me.”

             
“Why?”

             
Ryla shrugged, “He’s programmed to.”

             
Rain sighed.  “See?”

             
“No.”

             
Rain thought for a moment then asked, “You know why I love Arnie?”  Ryla shook her head.  Rain spun Ryla’s chair so they were facing one another.  “It’s because he considers me.  I occur to him.  And he occurs to me.  Just like you occurred to Quey.  He could have went to the first floor, eaten dinner and continued about, but he came here specifically to ask you to join him.”

             
“Us,” Ryla corrected.

             
Rain smiled and shook her head.  “No, that was politeness.  He doesn’t really want me to come.  He wants to see you,” she said giving Ryla a slight poke.

             
“How do you know?”

             
“Because he couldn’t take his eyes off you.  Because he recognized me as an after thought.”

             
“I still don’t understand.  Why do you love Arnie?”

             
“Okay,” Rain said, gathering her thoughts.  “It’s like this.  Arnie and I spent a lot of time on the road, and we made a lot of stops, right?”  Ryla nodded.  “Well, say Arnie went into a store to get something.  If he happened to see something I would like while he was inside he’d get it for me.”

             
“So it’s because he buys you things?”

             
“No,” Rain said, shaking her head.  “It’s not that.  It’s that he takes me into account, as I do him.  It’s like in how he knows I like long hot showers so he always lets me go first, and how I always keep them shorter than I’d like so he doesn’t run out of hot water himself.  It’s how if I get ice cream I always get vanilla because I never finish it all and he doesn’t like chocolate.  And how he can’t walk past a candy isle without looking for a truffle.  That’s what makes it so that even if we’re not together we’re not really alone, because the other is always there, inside our thoughts.  And neither of us is sitting around waiting for it to become time to consider the other.  It’s special because of that.  Like its special that Quey came down here to ask for your company or that he brought you breakfast.  He wanted to see you.  He was sitting around, doing his own thing and then suddenly he felt a desire for your presence.”

             
Ryla looked from her lap to Rain and said softly, “I think I’m scared.”

             
Rain smiled at her and took her hand.  “Of course you are.  It’s scary to do that, to let someone occur to you.  One day they may not want to anymore but that’s not a switch that just clicks off.  It takes time.  And it hurts.”

             
Ryla sat thinking for a long moment.  Finally she asked, “What’s it like?”

             
“What?”

             
“I mean… you were with him.”

             
Rain nodded and smiled sly.  “Oh, that… well in that there’s only one way for you to know.  Cause I can’t tell you.”  Ryla looked away and Rain added, “Except to say that it was very nice.”

             
“You enjoyed it?”

             
Rain nodded and answered with simple honesty, “Yes.”

             
“Like you enjoy Arnie?”

             
“Differently.  That’s the other thing.”  Ryla looked at her and she continued.  “You may enjoy your boyfriend, but does he enjoy you?”

             
Ryla was quiet for so long Rain thought the conversation over when she finally asked, “So how did you know which to choose?  If you enjoyed them both, I mean, why not Quey instead of Arnie?”

             
Rain chewed her lip slightly and sighed.  “I admit that I could have chosen one as easily as the other but what it came to was that I tried to push them both away.  Living the way I was it was hard enough to have Leone to worry about losing, I didn’t want someone else.  So I pushed and when I did Quey let me go.”  She shrugged, “Arnie didn’t.”

             
Ryla sat for a moment, thinking.

             
“Come on,” Rain said, standing and extending her hand.

             
“Where?”

             
“We’re going to make you lovely.”

             
Ryla looked up at her and said, “I don’t think it’s really a date.”

             
Rain smiled with a hint of a laugh and agreed, “Not officially, but a girl never lets a chance to dress pretty pass her by.”

             
They spent an hour in Ryla’s room, give or take, where Rain helped her with her makeup, just a touch here and there as an accent.  After that Ryla sat on the bed while Rain’s fingers danced through her hair, braiding the strands around the crown of her head and then hanging them down in the back and at her temples making her look like a princess.  They kept the outfit simple, a slinky black dress with a V-neck that hugged her curves.  Rain looked Ryla over thoughtfully for a moment then reached out and adjusted her breasts until they sat high and close on her chest.

             
“What I wouldn’t give to manage a bit of cleavage,” Rain said, looking from Ryla’s chest to her own reflection in the mirror.

             
“Why?” Ryla asked.

             
Rain looked at her and shrugged.  “I suppose because I don’t have any.”

             
“I could make you some,” Ryla offered.

             
Rain laughed a bit.  “I’m sure you could, but that sort of thing isn’t for me.  I have what I have.”

             
Ryla looked at herself in the mirror.  “I don’t have much, maybe I should make some for me.”

             
“You’re fine,” Rain assured her.  “More than.”  Ryla decided to trust her in this matter and let it go.

             
They returned to the elevator and pressed 1.  It was a short ride and when they stepped out Rain spotted Quey sitting alone in the Restaurant with a plate of meat, potatoes and vegetables in front of him.  She took Ryla’s hand and walked with her to where Quey was sitting.  He looked up as they approached and his eyes widened as he scanned Ryla.  He swallowed and said, “Wow, look at you.”

             
Ryla smiled slightly.

             
“She wanted to play a bit of dress up,” Rain said and she gave him a look as she said, “You know, like girls do?”

             
He nodded to her, understanding her meaning and took a sip of his ice tea.  His eyes scanned her again, tracing the line of her hips and lingering on the swells of flesh peeking out from her low neckline.  “Well I do believe you did a fine job.  So you two lovely ladies gunna join me or you gunna leave me to eat here all by my lonesome?”

             
“Actually,” Rain said, “I’m looking for Arnie.”

             
“He’s in the game room with Reggie and Nat, last I saw.  How about you?” he asked Ryla.  “You should try some of this,” he slid his plate closer to her.

             
“No,” she said.  “But I’ll sit.”

             
“Good,” he answered simply.

             
Rain left Ryla sitting across from Quey and smiled as she hurried into the other room where she found Arnie, Reggie and Natalie shooting pool.  She took Arnie's hand and tugged.

             
“What?” he asked and when he looked at her she gave him a sly smile, her eyes saying everything in a single look.  “I think I must take my leave,” he said to the others and let her lead him away.

             
She wouldn’t say a word on the elevator ride to the third floor, or as they passed through the main room and down the hall to their bed.  She closed the door and slipped off her clothes.

             
“Whatever I did right, you’ll have to let me know so I can do it again tomorrow.”