Page 5 of Vawn
“He was cocky.” Ret shrugged. “Still is.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that.” I reached across and squeezed Ojokun’s biceps. “You were awfully nice to me when I first arrived. And now you seem kind of shy. Why would my brother think you are cocky?”
He took a deep breath and stared at the set place in front of him. “I don’t know.”
Ret snorted. “Every time you won a race during the tryouts, you told your opponents that they were slower than a retired satellite.”
“They were.” Genj rolled his eyes and shook his head. “He won every single race well ahead of the rest of the competitors. Even the time he made a pit stop and ended up being chased by an angry phalagump.”
“Oh, that’s a story I want to hear.” My brothers always made their jobs seem easy and completely safe, probably to ease our parents’ minds, but I knew different.
“It’s going to have to wait.” Qé nodded toward the servers who’d arrived at our table with the first course of our meal, Niorbian seaweed soup.
The arrival of food seemed to signal the end of conversation throughout the room. And before the main course of niprit skewers and spiced yats, the head of the Universal Space Racer Association made introductions, followed by announcements about the rest of the weekend events. Though I wasn’t sure how many I’d attend, I definitely planned to hit the club later in the evening. It had been a long time since I’d been on a dance floor. Busting moves in my kitchen with my child and best friend didn’t count. I looked forward to seeing how well these space racers could grind.
“So….” Qé put their napkin down. “You still want to hear the story about Ojokun being chased by a phalagump?”
“Definitely!” I laughed as the youngest member of ORIXA groaned and tucked his head into his elbow on the table.
“It was funny, really.” Xac laughed to themself. “Completely unexpected, but something I will never forget.”
Ojokun glanced up. “I had to pee, okay?”
“And you decided to land near one of those large creatures?” I didn’t think anyone was that foolhardy.
“No,” he sighed. “I checked to make sure there was nothing around.”
“What he didn’t know,” Genj continued, “was that inside the rock he decided to piss on was a den of baby phalagumps.”
“Their mother must have smelled him wherever she was and came barreling for him.” Xac shook with laughter.
Qé snorted. “He ran back to his racer with his dick hanging out of his suit.”
“Aww.” I rubbed Ojokun’s shoulder. “Afraid you were going to get trampled?”
“Yeah.” His eyes were wide. “Wouldn’t you be?”
“I wouldn’t have left the racer.” I chuckled. “Don’t you have equipment in there allowing you to pee while flying?”
“Not the ones used during tryouts.” Ret pointed at Ojokun. “But he was close enough to the finish line, he could have waited. He was just being cocky.”
“Whatever.” Ojokun stood and tossed his napkin onto the table. “I’ll be at the club tonight. I’ll see you there if you go.”
He didn’t look at me as he left, but I hoped that comment was for me. I wanted to see him later without my brothers around. But I had a feeling they’d accompany me to stop me from having any fun. Especially Ret since he now wore a pleased smirk.
“We had to do a lot of convincing to get your brother to agree to get Ojokun on our team.” Xac rested their forearms on the table and leaned forward. “We still needed a fifth member, and there was no one else with the same skills.”
“No, you went behind my back to get him on our team.” Ret glared at the other members.
Genj swatted him. “That’s a lie, and you know it. You had already talked to the team coordinator before we met with her. She told us that.”
Ret crossed his arms and tilted his head to the side. “I don’t recall any such meeting.”
Ugh!My brother was so frustrating. I really didn’t understand how his teammates put up with him. Thankfully, I no longer had to live with him. And, after this weekend, it would be a while before I saw him in person again. I could get through the rest of my time on Eurebly without starting a fight like I did when I was younger.
Chapter Four
Ojokun
