"Your elbow is in my face," Andrea said.
"Sorry." Alina moved it.
There they were, two women, an LPI and a Navy pilot, floating in space in the one escape pod. One had been shot down and beamed aboard the other's ship before it too succumbed to the three Falcatas' punishing firepower.
Eventually a cruiser picked them up, and before long they were picking up their new ships at Riverside.
"Good thing we're both girls. Otherwise there'd be rumours going around," Andrea said.
"You obviously don't know me. Back at West Point, there were all sorts of rumours."
"That you 'batted for the other side'?"
"Hehe, yeah."
There was a long pause.
"Out of curiosity... what side DO you bat for?" Andrea asked.
"Eheh... um..." Alina blushed inside her cockpit. "I bat for both sides."
"Oh..."
"Is that a problem?"
"No, not at all."
They patrolled California for a while, getting to know each other better. Then the question was raised.
"So, Ms Berkeley... what side do you bat for?" Alina asked.
Andrea had to admit she didn't know.
"Maybe I can show you how to play... baseball."
"...What?"
"Sorry! I didn't mean to..."
"No... that's alright, I just... wasn't expecting that..."
Duty called. Several bombers buzzing Fort Bush. They headed for New York, glad of the change of subject.
"Elbow."
"Sorry."
Well, this wasn't familiar at all.
Honestly, what were the odds? Another escape pod, the same situation. Only this one seemed... more cramped, somehow. Crowded with unsaid words and embarrassment.
Awkward conversation was made, but what wasn't being said was really what was on both girls' minds.
"Oh. You two again."
The same cruiser. What WERE the odds?
"Tell you what," Andrea suggested as the captain walked away. "When we get to Manhattan, I'll buy you a drink. Celebrate the sheer lunacy of the day."
"Sounds like a plan!"
The bar was dingy and smoky, but Andrea didn't particularly mind as she ordered two Liberty Ales for some reason. "There you go." She handed Alina her drink. "Let's find somewhere a little more quiet to talk, eh?" She selected a table in the corner and sat down, inviting Alina to sit opposite her.
Alina smiled softly and slowly seated herself in the chair on the other side of the table from Andrea, letting out a soft sigh as she sat down and began to sip at her Liberty Ale.
"Well...this sure has been, one hell of a day...I tell ya, when I woke up in my room aboard the Missouri this morning...I sure didn't figure have the things that've happened today were going to happen, especially not you and me...er...me meeting you er...Eheh..." -she blushed and her sentence trailed nervously into silence, after a long pause she looked up and smiled- "Thanks for bringing me here, for this drink though"
"Don't see why you'd thank me for Liberty Ale, but you're welcome." She took a sip and grimaced. "Ugh." She put it down. "Well, there's no better way to get to know someone than to float around in space with them in a pod the size of a closet. Here's to escape pods." She raised her glass.
"To escape pods eh?.." She looked down at her glass and then raised it with a smirk. "And here's to...Baseball.." She gently tapped her glass against Andrea's, pulling it back, she quickly pounded down the bitter excuse for Alcohol that was The Liberty Ale, grimacing as she put the glass back on the table. "Ugh...Liberty Ale..." Her eyes darted around the bar and back to Andrea a few times, as if the poor quality of the drinks wasn't the only thing on her mind. "So...abou...no...nevermind" Alina let out a soft sigh as she looked up at Andrea.
"I...I don't know...all the questions and then..being so close to each other..I felt...I mean did you...?" Again her voice trailed off into silence, she brought her eyes up to meet Andrea's in nervous anticipation.
"Felt... what?" Andrea asked nervously.
"Well..I mean..." Alina looked down and then back to Andrea. "..Did you...feel anything?..like...desire?..."
A blush slowly crept up Andrea's cheeks. "Um. Well, I... that is to say..."
"W-What is it?..." Alina blushed and bit her lip nervously, shifting around in her seat.
Andrea looked in her glass. "Ugh. There's all sludge at the bottom," she said, quickly changing the subject.
"No...c'mon...tell me Andrea..." Alina blushed and looked to Andrea again.
"Seriously, how can a drink this weak have sludge...?" Andrea looked over, and sighed. "Um. I guess... maybe..."
Alina blushed a little bit and bit her lip, standing up. She walked over to Andrea's side of the table and sat on the bench next to her. "Y-Yeah?...I did...too.." She kind of looked awkwardly at Andrea and then looked down at the table.
Another round of drinks came, and Andrea accepted them. "It's just... we've only just met..."
Alina nodded slowly, looking to Andrea again. "Yeah I...I know...normally this sort of thing doesn't happen..with me.." She looked to the drink that was in front of her and picked it up with a soft sigh as she took a sip.
"Well, we did spend hours in the same escape pod... twice."
Alina laughed and sipped again at her Liberty Ale. "Yeah..ahah..that's true."
"Yeah..." Andrea took another drink.
Alina sighed a little bit and took a long sip of her Liberty Ale. "So...what...now?"
"Well, we could try something a bit stronger than Liberty Ale."
Alina laughed and then stood up. "Amen to that!" She stepped toward the aisle and shouted. "Hey Waiter! C'mere!" The waiter came over quickly. "Yes?..what is it Ma'am?" Alina looked back to Andrea, then to the Waiter. "Gimme two of whatever the strongest drink ya got is!"
The waiter mixed two drinks in cast-iron glasses. Andrea could swear that when they spilled they ate into the bar top.
"Enjoy," he said, handing them the drinks.
Alina leaned down and put her nose to her glass, sniffing the new drink. "Ohh hohoho! Now THAT smells like a strong alcie!" She picked up the glass and took a swig, grimacing and putting the glass back down. "Ohh yeah! I don't know what this is but it's MUCH better than a Liberty Ale!"
Andrea took a cautious sip and choked. "Sweet mother of..."
Alina was already taking another sip as Andrea finished her first one. "Mmnh! God, it's so bitter! But so good!"
Andrea took another sip. The more she drank, the more she liked it.
Alina only managed to down roughly a quarter of the glass before she leaned back against the bench with a sigh. "Ohh...I don't think I..should drink any more of...whatever was in that cup...I don't..feel so good.."
"I dunno what you mean, I feel jus' fine..." Andrea drank some more of whatever it was. Engine cleaner, probably.
"Oh...Oh God...Andie...do you..really think you should be...drinking more of that..?..I mean...I don't feel so good..."
"Nah, 's fine... I like it. We should come here more often..." She giggled. "Hey, you called me Andie."
She blushed and giggled a little bit. "Aha..so I did, didn't I?...I c...can't believe you're handling that drink...so well..."
"I'm good wi' alco... with al... with drinks like this, Allie."
Alina giggled and banged her hand on the table a few times. "Ahaha! I like that! You called me Allie!"
"Andie and Allie." Andrea giggled. "We're drunk, aren't we?"
"Extremely."
Andrea woke up with a pounding headache and something disgusting and furry in her mouth. It turned out to be her tongue.
Groggily peeling open her eyes, something managed to pierce the fog in her brain. Someone was lying next to her.
Dreading what she would see, she slowly turned her blonde head around to find out who it was.
Alina stirred beneath the blankets she was wrapped up in, and slowly rolled over so that she was facing Andrea, her black hair falling into her face.
"Oh..." Andrea said. There was really no need to complete the sentiment.
Alina nearly jumped as she heard the other woman's voice. Slowly, she pushed her hair out of her face and looked up to Andrea, blushing a light shade of pink.
"...How much did I have to drink last night?" Andrea asked blearily.
"I... I don't remember..."
After a quick scan of herself, Andrea determined that she was not, in fact, wearing any clothing. "Um." She blushed. "Are you naked?"
Alina blushed a little bit and bit her lip. "Y-Yeah... I am..."
There was an interminable silence. "Well, this is awkward."
Alina blushed a little more and nodded. "W-Well... we could...either embrace the moment or...we could get dressed.." She giggled a bit.
"...I'm... getting dressed," Andrea said. "Don't look."
Alina sighed a little. "A-Alright... I guess I won't..." She turned away a bit.
Andrea got out of bed and pulled on her uniform, which was scattered about the room. Her pants, she noticed with embarrassment, were hanging from the ceiling fan. When she was dressed and had her possessions in order, she crept to the door and left the room, then ran like hell for Police Plaza and her ship, her mind reeling and her heart pounding.
Alina sighed a little bit and slowly sat up, pulling the blankets up with her. "Well... that's just great..."
Andrea had hoped to avoid Alina on patrol that day, but as it turned out, fate was not on her side. No sooner had she commenced patrolling California than Alina's callsign showed up on her long-range sensors.
"Oh... hello," Andrea said reluctantly.
"Hello..."
"Um. Do you have any idea at all what happened last night? I remember we got really drunk..."
"Hehe, yeah..."
"And next thing I knew, I was waking up... next to you... and we were naked."
"Yeah... I think we might have..."
"...played a few innings?" Andrea's cheeks turned scarlet behind her breathing mask.
"If you want to put it that way..."
Andrea headed for New York, cheeks still burning.
"We could... try it again, when we're more sober?" Alina suggested shyly, after a pause.
Andrea nearly choked. "Wh-WHAT?!"
"I mean, if you're not comfortable with it, that's OK!" Alina said frantically.
"No, I... it's just... unexpected, that's all, I... have to think about it..."
From there the conversation turned to work: patrolling, heading to Illinois for upgrades, fighting criminals. But Alina's suggestion continues to bubble at the back of Andrea's mind, until eventually she blurted out: "Um. You know how you suggested trying again?"
"Yes?"
"Well, I... probably wouldn't be...unwilling, maybe..."
"Really?" Alina tried to conceal her delight.
"Um. Yeah. Meet me on Manhattan once we come off duty..."
As she returned to her patrols, Andrea wondered what she was getting herself into.
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