by Ensign Alyssa Drake
(USS Perseids Crew)
81017.1400
During Best Days
-=Illusions Lounge=-
(USS Perseids Crew)
81017.1400
During Best Days
-=Illusions Lounge=-
The party was in full swing. Songs were sung, glasses were raised, and laughter abounded. Ensign Alyssa Drake stalked around the room like a caged animal.
Lieutenant Elliot Shay, her superior at Tactical, was never out of the corner of her eyes however, as she wore a small groove into the carpet. His dark hair, his deep, smoldering eyes. They bore through her in a way no weapon ever could, but threatened to leave just as deep of a wound.
Unfortunately seeing him meant seeing Ensign Jabez as well. She had her arm wrapped around Elliot as always. She always found some excuse. It was never an accident either that when she leaned against him she let those long strands of blonde hair fall over his cheeks.
It never failed that any time Alyssa tried to strike up a conversation with Elliot that that bitch always found any excuse to show up. It was like she was tracking their every move with the damn sensors. Maybe she was.
No matter now.
In the morning they would all be resequenced.
Maybe that process could take away the shyness that made her voice catch in her throat every time he walked into a room.
“Morning Al.” He would always say.
“Morning Elly.” She would always say back.
That was their little joke. He’d call her by a man’s name, and she’d call him back by a woman’s.
“That’s so stupid.” Jabez would always say, before rolling her eyes and beginning to tell Shay about some new incense candles she replicated that he would just love the smell of.
*Shut up you scrawny tramp.* Was what Alyssa always thought, but of course she never said. She really had no idea if Shay and Jabez were actually sleeping together, but Jabez sure acted like they were.
So as the party went on and on, and Jabez nestled up closer and closer to him, Alyssa just continued to gaze at him from across the room.
The champagne that had been ice cold when she got it was warm now from being gripped in her hand for hours, and had long since gone flat. Her emotions raged back and forth wildly from desire, to frustration, to lust, to jealousy depending on which one, Shay or Jabez, was in her line of vision at the moment.
Every once in a while someone would try to talk to her and she’d take a sip of her drink, nod politely, and just wish they’d go away. It didn’t take long for people to get the hint.
“Alyssa! Almost ready for the big day?”
“Oh, hey Todd. Yeah, should be a lot of fun.” She answered flatly, and took a sip of her drink.
“It’s been great working with you. Hopefully I’ll get to know you again.”
“Right.” She said with a fake laugh and a nod.
“Well, enjoy the evening.”
“Yeah, you too Todd.”
He made an uncomfortable retreat, and Alyssa went back to her staring.
“Oh my God Elliot you are so funny!” Jabez was laughing at his every word as if it were the funniest joke ever told, as Elliot shared stories with a few crew members gathered around. “Isn’t he so funny, and so damn cute.” She said, running her fingers over his cheek.
*I’d like to break every one of those damn...* Alyssa thought...
“Alyssa! Come on over, sit with us!"
Elliot’s voice shouting over the crowd got her attention, cutting her fantasies of inflicting pain of Jabez short. Jabez’s once jovial laughter dissolved into a lopsided frown accompanied by a flick of her hair.
“Hey, Al.” Jabez slurred the nickname as Alyssa flopped down in a chair at the table.
As much as it excited her to be this close to him, it repulsed her equally to be this close to her.
“Al, remember that time the torpedo got jammed in the tube, and you and I were up half the night with replicated butter all over our hands trying to get it lose?”
Jabez flopped back into her chair, sticking out her lower lip and wrapping her arms around herself.
Alyssa felt some satisfaction knowing if nothing else the idea of him even talking to her made Jabez jealous.
“Yeah, not just all over our hands. As I recall you flung your fair share all over my uniform, my hair, and whatever you missed me with wound up all over the walls. Which I got busted for and had to clean up by the way, Elly.”
“Yeah, sorry about that Al.” Elliot laughed, “How long did it take to get that out of your hair anyway?”
Jabez once again wrapped her arm around Shay, this time running her hands up and down his chest. The crowd around them grew weary of Jabez’s flirting and decided to seek out some alternate forms of entertainment.
Alyssa sloshed her drink around and took another sip. Maybe it was the five or six sips of alcohol talking but she suddenly felt emboldened to say what she had wanted to say for a long time. What would it matter anyway? In the morning she’d remember none of this.
“So, Alyssa, do you know anything about this ship? I was hoping to sneak this man here off for a little fun before the morning, but I don’t know where there’s a free room.” Jabez grinned and Shay shifted rather uncomfortably. “After all this is the last night before the big resequencing. After that you’ll have to fall in love with me all over again.”
Jabez let the strap on her green dress fall off her shoulder and brushed her skin against his cheek, as she hiked up her skirt a bit more.
Alyssa suddenly felt very overdressed in her form-fitting, button up black sweater and slacks. Maybe she needed to flash more skin to get his attention. *Isn’t that what guys really want?*
“I think the antimatter pods are unoccupied.” Alyssa mumbled to herself.
“What was that?” Jabez snapped. Elliot laughed out loud.
“Nothing.” Alyssa replied, and took another sip. The champagne was beyond horrible this warm and flat, but as she worked her way towards the glass being half empty, she felt more and more like either Shay or Jabez were about to find out what the quiet little Ensign had simmering beneath the surface.
“Let’s get out of here Elliot.” Jabez whined as she pulled him up out of his chair, and Alyssa felt a bolt of panic run through her as she realized if she didn’t do something now, she would never get the chance.
“But I haven’t even said goodnight to everyone,” Elliot protested, looking for an excuse to slow her down. “Just go scout for a room, and I’ll be behind you in a few minutes."
“Well all right,” She relented, “But if I don’t see you in five minutes, I’ll come find you.” The smile on her face and gleam in her eye were meant to be playful, but came across as completely psychotic.
Jabez left the room, and Elliot extended his hand to Alyssa. “See you on the other side, Al.”
“Of course, Elly.” The words were still caught in her throat, as if she literally could not control the muscles needed to form them. He paused a moment to see if she would say anything else, before finally just giving her a small wave, and leaving her side.
Elliot made his way around the room, shaking hands with his fellow crewmates, and exchanging last goodbyes before the morning. Their eyes met across the room one last time, and he nodded at her. She merely waved back and smiled. Elliot lowered his head, and walked towards the door.
He really had no intention of going to Jabez.
He was going to stand her up and just find some empty room to hopefully just fall asleep in until it was time to go.
Alyssa saw the gap between him and the door grow smaller and smaller, and suddenly, without realizing it, she was running. She grabbed his shoulder and spun him around.
“Whoa.” Elliot said, as he staggered to keep his balance.
“Sorry. Elly, can I tell you a secret before you go?”
“Yeah, go ahead Al.”
She rose up on the balls of her feet, and leaned in towards his ear. Her voice threatened to fail her again as the sweet, shy tactical officer was about to tell Elliot what she had been too afraid to ever say. Her lips were so close to the warm flesh of his face and neck that she could simply die on the spot and regret nothing, even if he did reject her.
She took a deep breath, and the desire coursing through her veins finally won out over her own self-consciousness as she whispered the words she had wanted to say for so long.
“I… want… you.” The second word was forced out through gritted teeth, betraying the intensity of the passion she had been forcing down every day for almost two years.
Elliot stepped back.
He looked around the room to see if anyone had observed the exchange, including any unwanted ensigns whom had promised to return in five minutes to look for him.
He grabbed her hand and turned towards the door.
“Let’s get out of here.”
In two steps they were in the corridor. Jabez was nowhere to be seen. Elliot took off to the left, towing Alyssa behind him. The numbers on the doors made him dizzy. How would he have any idea if they were occupied or not?
They put a great deal of distance between themselves and the lounge. Elliot stopped, looked at the all the doors, and felt the corridor spinning around him. His eyes finally focused on Alyssa. Her breathing was erratic, and he had to wonder if that was mostly from the running, or mostly from worrying about what he thought of her, now that she had finally spoken up.
Suddenly he didn’t care about rooms, he simply pushed her up against the wall and pressed his lips against hers.
“May I assist you?”
Elliot jumped at the sound of the voice. He spun around and pressed his back against the wall next to Alyssa, struggling for breath. Alyssa tried in vain to restore some semblance of order to her hair, which was now wildly disheveled.
Alyssa looked at the man before them, a Trill wearing the blue uniform of science, three pips for the rank of Commander, and a pair of earbuds for music.
“Sorry Commander, we…” Elliot began.
“Just. Just stop.” The Trill said, waving his hand. He looked around at the rooms, ticking off each number in his head, before approaching one of the doors. He input his command code, and the doors slid open. “There ya go. Unoccupied.”
“Thank you!” Alyssa ducked into the room behind Elliot, pausing only to give the Trill a peck on the cheek. Once inside the doors slid shut, and the Trill input his code again to lock the door.
For good measure, Alyssa retrieved a small sculpture that adorned the room and shattered it against the locking mechanism.
She turned around to find Elliot staring at her, awestruck.
“Why didn’t you ever say anything?”
“I thought you loved Jabez.”
“I can’t stand Jabez,” he admitted. “I spend every moment trying to keep her damn hands off me. They always told me you have to watch out for the quiet ones. I didn’t think you would ever…”
“Still waters run deep.” Whatever was left of the shy girl that didn’t know how to talk to him was melting away now. She knew she had nothing to hold back from him, since he obviously desired her as well.
“What about tomorrow?” He asked.
“Elly?”
“Yeah, Al?”
“Shut up.”
-----------------------
Ensign Alyssa Drake
Former Tactical Officer
USS Perseids
Ensign Alyssa Drake
Former Tactical Officer
USS Perseids