Page 19 of Uprooted
I set the new samples aside. I chastise myself for not asking her about a job after the program. I’ve been waiting for this chance to bring it up, and this was the perfect moment.
My eyes are tired from squinting all day. I need to look at something larger than a micrometer for a while.
Down the hall I see Andi and Dr. Lee walking toward the mess for dinner. I’ve been given a second chance to talk about my future. This is even better—now I can talk to both program directors at the same time.
I turn on my heel and follow them rather than going straight to my room. I’ll get their attention, charm them with my intellect, and drop some hints about a job at the University when we return to Earth. I can play it cool. I got that awkwardness out of my system earlier. I’m totally normal now.
By the time I get my noodles the dining room is mostly empty. It would look suspicious if I sat too close to them. I’m strategic about where I’m going to eat. Close enough to engage with them and far enough to not make it too obvious.
Andi is speaking quietly to Dr. Lee. I look down at my dinner. I’m trying to emit a casual confident aura when a tray of food slides right in front of me and a big blue shape blocks my view. Aro sits behind the tray and grabs his chopsticks.
“Hey,” he says with that same infuriatingly adorable smile.
“Hey,” I echo back at him, distracted by the people he’s blocking from view. He takes an oversized mouthful of noodles.
“I’ve been trying to think of an answer to your friend’s question,” Aro says with a crooked grin.
I’m completely transfixed by the way his mouth moves. Why does that work for him? Why is that hot? Any other time, I would be grossed out by someone talking with their mouth full. I watch him take another bite. That’s when I notice how he holds his chopsticks. I watch him swallow. He notices me staring and quirks his head slightly and smiles again.
Something is definitely wrong with me.
I clear my throat before trying to speak. “Huh?”
“Yeah, she wanted to know how to get approval to leave the dome.” Aro lightly drags his teeth over his lower lip.
He knows this is doing something for me.
“Oh, yeah. Don’t mind Bri. She’s bitter about being stuck in the dome. She’s never lived like this before. She’ll get used to it.”
I lean to the side to look over Aro’s shoulder at Andi and Dr. Lee. They're still eating. They are one table over, but they might as well be in another galaxy with this giant blue alien between us.
“If you weren’t human, which species would you want to be?” he asks.
“Hm, I like that question. Where did you get it—sensitivity training?” We must have taken the same module. I can’t help but tease himabout actually using the corny exercises they gave us so we could imagine being in each other’s shoes.
He laughs. It's consuming and immediately addictive. “Got me.”
“Those classes can be pretty boring. I’m impressed that you were paying attention,” I tell him.
I had found myself dozing off during my cultural sensitivity module. It’s an important message with an awful delivery. The scenarios in the training were not realistic at all. To make matters worse, it seemed like the genAI character had never spoken the universal language before. Bri and I spent the rest of that day entertaining ourselves by speaking like the old AI in the vid with stilted speech and awkward hand gestures.
“I wanted to make sure I didn’t say the wrong thing the first time I talked to a human. You know, like… tell a bad joke or something.” As if I need a reminder of my earlier awkwardness.
“Admittedly, that was a low point.”
“It’s not too late to bring it back around. I believe in you,” he says with a smirk.
“Don’t get your hopes up.”
“Don’t sell yourself short! You seem to have a pretty good grasp on the subtleties of comedy.”
I swirl some noodles on my chopsticks and right before I take a bite, he asks a question that makes me drop them back into the bowl.
“Is your boyfriend disappointed to be left behind?” he asks.
“Did you just ask if I’m single? I ask, surprised he would be interested.
“Are you? Single?” he asks as he slurps a mouthful of noodles.
