Page 3 of Devin
"It's been a long day, and there were a few drama llamas."
"I told you I wanted to be out by noon!"
"You'll make it. Besides, today I got a bit on the side."
"Shit. Which one?"
"The blonde with the hot pink ass."
Val eyed the group of women. One of them had on a tight wrap around pink skirt that could be mistaken for a wad of chewing gum. It was not a flattering look, but apparently the soldier thought otherwise.
"You know the drill."
Doug nodded and gave him a wink.
Val was nervous, but then everyone was nervous. It was natural if you were looking at the possibility of being shipped out into space.
"Okay, ladies. Sit tight and we'll call you one by one," Doug announced as the video was ending.
In quick succession, each woman was called and each returned with a relieved look on her face.
"I amsogetting drunk!" The woman who had given her the evil eye stated as she emerged. She paused to stare down at Val. "If for some miracle of modern science, you don't get chosen and pimped out to the aliens, you better not step one foot into my space. The Purple Leprechaun is mine!"
The woman whipped around and stomped off, and Val tried hard to suppress a smile. It was comical. The Purple Leprechaun was a trendy bar on the other side of town that Val would have never chosen to frequent, mainly because she'd heard the manager was fond of sleeping with his waitresses. The drinks were diluted and too expensive for her tastes anyway. It was the one day of the year that she could probably get away with it, though, considering the local bars tended to offer alien specials if not rounds of free drinks for women who had just escaped the lottery. Free clothes, free bags, free drinks, and if it weren't for the knot in her stomach, this would be a pretty good deal.
Drinks. Val suddenly realized the vial in her purse that she was supposed to drink. Shit. She reached around in the purseand felt the little bottle. She eyed the room. They were down to the last two women, the one in the pink skirt and herself. Pinky looked really nervous too, and it wasn't the waiting-for-the lottery nervous either. The guard was still busy imagining himself under that skirt. Surely no one would think twice about a girl taking a nip, and if they did, they'd keep to themselves.
Val steeled herself, quickly brought it out of her bag and downed it like a shot. She was expecting something nasty, but it was indiscernible from water. Another wave of fear ran through the system. What if it was just water and she got matched? She shook off the fear as the next woman reappeared with her blinding smile.
"Esmerelda!" It took longer than it should have for Val to recognize he was calling her. She stood and walked, a little wobblier than she would have liked toward Doug and his little testing room.
"Do you have anything else you'd like to add to your previous plan?" He flashed it up on the screen. Women got to choose who their marriage benefits went to, what charities got money. It didn't take looking to know that none of Esmeralda's money would go to charity. Val didn't want to mess with any of it, tempting as it would be to screw the woman over.
"No."
"Good, let's get started now."
Val was familiar with the machine. She put her hand in, and it would prick a random finger, yet another safeguard against the people trying to cheat the system. It pricked her index finger this time, and she felt a bit like Sleeping Beauty, touching the spindle. It was still tingly, a bit after, which was unusual. The computer beeped, and then started blinking.
"Huh." Doug honestly looked perplexed.
"Huh?" Val asked nervously.
"It's never done that before."
"Done what?"
"That." Inconclusive, it read. He eyed her over. Val started to get antsy. Perhaps it was time to pull some of the Esmeralda privilege.
"Well, it doesn't say that I'm matched. That means I can go, right?"
"I, uh... Why don't you go out to the waiting room while we sort this all out?" His tone told her he had no idea what was wrong or how to fix it.
"Can't I go?"
"I'm sure the system just needs a minute to reboot," he said, making a few mad swipes on his tablet.
"That’s not a no," Val said, standing up. It was time to summon Esmeralda, entitled bitch queen.
