Worth Fighting For (Little Blue Book 1) (2 page)

“Wow, that’s crazy. Do you know if anyone was hurt?” Juno asked.

Kaycee shrugged one shoulder. “Dunno. I know I should be looking for another job, but I thought I would take at least one day off, well, the morning anyway. I still have my waitressing job.”

The third best friend and roommate, Jeri, hummed doubtfully, “Uh-huh. You wanna tell me who keeps slapping your ass? I’ll take care of him for you.”

Kaycee laughed. “
She’s
a regular, and I can handle her. Thanks anyway, Jeri.”

Juno choked on her orange juice. “Girl? I didn’t know you were coming out,” she said teasingly.

The girls laughed at her quip, including Kaycee. “Ha ha, laugh it up, but at least I got an admirer.” She gave them a haughty look.

“I’ve got several admirers,” Benny pouted.

Jeri smirked at her. “Uh-huh, next you’ll be telling us they drool over you, too. FYI, sweetie, infants and toddlers don’t count.”

Juno checked her watch. “Crap, I’m going to miss the bus if I don’t rush.” She crammed toast in her mouth as she ran around gathering everything she needed to take to work with her. “See ya’ll later tonight. Have a good day everyone,” she called out over her shoulder as she exited the apartment.

Chapter Two

Tasid was looking over another report on the planet his officers were dubbing “Little Blue”. So far everything was just preliminary readings.

“Yebiri,” Tasid called out, “I haven’t seen any updates from you. Report.”

Yebiri looked up, his frustration apparent on his colorful face. “I’ve been running scans, but I’m unsatisfied with how inadequate the readings are. So far, I can only determine two genders: male and female. The males are stout, and the females more delicate. That is all I can determine at this time.”

Tasid shared his frustration. Everyone was eager to learn more about this species, but he wasn’t about to rush things, for fear of causing harm to the inhabitants of Little Blue by abruptly showing up in orbit. “As we approach, the scans will improve, but I don’t want to suddenly appear in their skies. I know you are eager in your curiosity, as we all are, but I plan to approach slowly, and very visibly.”

“Understandable.” Yebiri turned his attention back to the monitors that displayed various readings in front of him, and tapped in commands.

“Captain,” Burren called out, “I’ve gained access to one of their orbiters. I’m receiving images and other information.”

Everyone on the bridge swarmed the communications officer’s station. Instead of fighting through the crowd, Tasid stayed in his seat and pushed the controls to bring up the feed from the orbiters, to be displayed on all of the windows monitors. Images flashing many different things, replaced the view of the black open space they were traveling through. Everyone went instantly silent as they watched the various actions flicker through the room. Tasid saw many different creatures and many beings doing different things that he had never seen before.

“Excellent work, Burren. Use this access to learn their language. Qurriq, keep scanning the physical planet. I want everyone else to view these images, and see what we can learn from them. Errim, link these images to monitors around the ship. Share it with the crew.”

Tasid tried to study just one flashing image but another equally curious image would catch his eye.

“Unbelievable.” Errim’s voice was awed. “This is the most diverse race I have ever seen. That image up there shows them in the frigid cold snow and ice. The other scene over there shows many people lying out in the sun. Up there, see that one, he’s sailing on the water on a board of some kind. And that one over there shows some extreme battle. Oh! Did you see that? Something just exploded into that building.”

“They appear to be taking enjoyment from some of those events. I don’t know what many of the others mean.” Tasid was more intrigued than frustrated.

“Look!” Errim exclaimed excitedly. “No matter what planet you’re from, or what you call it, that’s recreational free-falling. These people love the air.” His wings behind him shook with his excitement.

“They love the water, too,” Yebiri pointed out. “Look at that one. They are wearing suits with tanks on their backs, swimming deep under the water. How peculiar. They look like they are each some kind of subspecies to each other. Their skin is many different variations, as well as the color of their hair and body types.”

“Uh, Yebiri, you might want to take a look at this one.” Sharrow pointed to a specific event playing out over a monitor near him.

Tasid followed Yebiri over to their weapons and tactical specialist. Leaning over his shoulder, Tasid looked at what had caught his attention. The scene playing out startled him at first glance. “Oh! A mating ritual.”

A female was on her hands and knees in a forest with a male holding her hips behind her, pounding his shaft into her. Her head was thrown back allowing the light to shine on her pleasure-filled face, and her breasts flopped forwards and back.

“Incredible,” Yebiri breathed out.

Errim lightly called for his attention. “Captain.”

Tasid turned, and headed back to his chair. Errim pointed to another display. “See those large furry brown creatures catching some kind of fish in a river? Don’t they resemble Torpas? I wonder if that is some kind of educational image.”

“Wow, I wonder how big that thing is, and if they are peaceful or aggressive. Look at that one, it’s white,” Tasid pointed out.

The crew engrossed themselves in watching the pictures that danced across their screens. They had seen videos before, but these were a new people. What they saw was confusing, but captivating. Battles and ceremonies, births and sports. Though some things were similar, everything was new. Tasid was starting to feel uneasy. These were truly the most diverse culture anyone had ever encountered, which meant they were more-than-likely incredibly complex. That made his job a lot more complicated, and all with his father breathing down his neck.

****

Juno flopped down on her bed.
I am so glad today is over
. She lay there for a few minutes before her cell rang. She only glanced at the screen before she answered.

“Hi, Jeri.”

“Are you all right? Ronnie just called, and told me some suit pushed you down, and didn’t even bother to slow down or utter an apology. He’d better hope I never find out who he is or I’ll show him a smack down!”

Juno’s spirits lifted, and she let a giggle escape. “It was some douche that came in for a meeting with one of the bigwigs. Doubt I’ll see him again, or at least not soon. That was sweet of Ronnie to call you. She’s a good friend.”

“She said the fall scraped your hands and knees. Are you ok? Anything broken?”

“Nothing broken, and the blood has all scabbed over.” Juno groaned. “It’s going to be torture pulling the nylons off. The blood glued it to my scrapes. It was a sucky day. I’m so glad it’s over.”

“Well it’s only Tuesday, so toughen up, buttercup. As long as nothing’s broken, you’ll be fine. Take a long, hot shower with those nylons on. My mom had to do that once when she fell and scraped her knee. It won’t be painless, but it might help.”

“I’ll be more than happy to do that. Thanks, Jeri. Ya gonna be home soon?”

“Yeah, I’m clocking out now.”

The girls said their goodbyes and disconnected. Now that Juno had some time to sit still and relax, her body began to feel the pain from the fall. She slowly made her way to the bathroom with a change of clothes, and proceeded to do just what Jeri had told her.

Once she got under the spray, she yelped and hissed. The water ran over her scrapes, causing the entire area to sting like nothing else. Her limbs felt like they were on fire, and she saw the rusty hue of blood tint the water as it covered the floor of the tub, and disappeared down the drain.

Yikes, I didn’t think they were that bad. Guess I was in too much of a hurry not to miss my bus, to notice
.

It felt weird being in the shower with her nylons still on, which also meant her undies were still on, but she appreciated the hot water when she tentatively pulled the delicate fabric away from the sticky messes.
Wow, I have more than one scrape. What an asshole that guy was. I get being in a rush and all, but even a simple “sorry”, or “excuse me” would have been nice
. She hissed and grunted with pain until the ruined nylons were completely free of her.

She was still drying off when she heard Jeri knocking on her door. “How you doin’, girl?”

“I hurt. Do we have any ibuprofen?”

“Yeah, it’s in a cupboard in the kitchen. I’ll get you some, and some of that hot peppermint tea you like.”

In her suddenly emotional state, Juno’s eyes welled up. She let out a quick cough to clear her throat. “Thanks, Jeri.”

Juno had grabbed shorts to change in to. It wasn’t warm out as it was still the tail end of winter, but she didn’t want the fabric rubbing on her scrapes. After dressing, and grabbing the first aid kit, she slowly limped into the living room and carefully sat down on the old couch, which sat in front of an older TV. The girls didn’t have enough money for anything new.

Jeri gave her an accusatory look as she brought in the pills and water. “I thought you said you were fine.”

“I was, until I tried getting back up after our call. Guess all that adrenaline wore off. I hurt. A lot.” She popped the pills into her mouth, and chased them down with the entire glass of water.

“I didn’t even know I had more than one scrape on my legs, or that it bled that much.” She leaned back and let Jeri patch her up.

“That lousy piece of shit better hope I don’t get a hold of him, and don’t even think of stopping me.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it. I wouldn’t mind you teaching him some manners. Wish I was better able to take care of myself. I hate relying on others. I mean, I love you and the girls. I just…”

“It’s all right, Juno. We all play a role in our de facto family. That’s what I love about you girls so much. I don’t mind being the chivalrous hero.” Jeri flexed her arms up and gave her a wink, causing Juno to laugh out loud.

“So if you’re the protector, what are the rest of us?”

“Kaycee’s the flirt and jokester. You know she’s going to pick on you to make you laugh. Benny is the Care Bear. In spite of her long day with toilets and screaming toddlers, she’s going to fuss over you until you go to bed. Then she’ll tuck you in and get you a glass of water.”

Juno laughed. “I’d say that will be accurate. So what am I?”

Jeri gave her a sincere look of unconditional love. All four girls were close, and considered each other sisters. “You are our gravitational center. The common link that binds us. And our anchor. We know we can rely on you to give us order when there is chaos.”

Tears filled Juno’s eyes as she leaned forward, throwing her arms around her friend in a tight hug. “Thank you, Jeri.”

“All right, all right, stop getting mushy.” In spite of her protests, Jeri squeezed back. They sat on the couch together, sharing a blanket, and flicked on the TV. That was where they were still when Benny returned.

“Unbelievable day I had. Some stupid parent decided it would be all right for their child to eat a bunch of candy before dropping him off. He was bouncing off the walls, and puking all over the place. And before that, at the hotel, in my one of my assigned rooms, someone plugged up the toilet and let it overflow. How’d your all’s day go?” She dropped her stuff on the card table they used as a dining room table, and plopped herself down next to Juno, placing her head on her shoulder.

“Some ass-wipe pushed Juno down pretty hard, scraping her up.” Jeri’s tone was surly.

Benny gasped, and her head shot up. “Oh no, are you all right?” She looked Juno over.

“I’ve got some scrapes on my legs and hands, but Jeri patched them up. I’m just in a lot of pain. I took some ibuprofen, and they’re starting to kick in.”

Benny jumped up. “I bet you haven’t eaten. You shouldn’t take that stuff on an empty stomach. I’ll go make you something to eat.”

Their apartment was pretty open, so Juno and Jeri shared a silly grin as they watched their short friend flutter around the kitchen.

“Where’s Kaycee?” Benny asked.

“She texted me, and said she was going to stay to help with closing up,” Juno answered. “She’s hoping the few extra hours will cushion the loss of income, so she won’t get home until sometime after eleven. Good thing she doesn’t have to get up before the crack of dawn anymore.”

“Yikes, that’s harsh. At least she knows no matter how tight things get, we are all a team, right?” Benny placed the sandwich in the pan and the sizzling sound filled the room as she spoke over her shoulder.

“Girl, any man who wants to be with any of us is going to have to learn to live with all of us, ‘cause we’re a family,” Juno replied.

“Maybe we can find a duplex or something.” Benny turned slightly and tilted her head up. “Do they make quadplexes?” she asked, seeming more to herself than anything.

Jeri laughed. “Not likely. But sounds ideal, girl. I think it would be a great idea to stay super close even when we get married. We’ll need to help each other with the kids, or when we get into a fight with our super sexy husbands.”

“Oh! Yes! Lots of kids. I love kids.” Benny bounced up and down on her toes.

Juno rolled her head to give Benny a muddled look. “Figures you would miss the ‘super sexy husbands’ part, and go straight to the kids. I have no idea how you can work with so many kids, and still want so many yourself.”

“When you have kids, you’ll see. It isn’t just about the drool and snot and smelly diapers. It’s the unconditional love and happy surprises and precious moments you are blessed with, that make it so wonderful.”

Later, when Juno headed for bed, sure enough, Benny tucked her in, and even though she didn’t bring a glass of water, she did offer. It made Juno smile. She was loved and cared for.
My family.