About Wanting

Ten years had treated the boy she used to know well. He entered the Blue Moon just as the shift she covered came to an end. She decided to stay on and serve him anyway. Would he still recognize her? They’d long since left the orphanage of their youth. He was only a month older than her and no longer the lanky teen he’d been when she last saw him.

Managing a diner kept her fed and covered the cost of her living expenses. She looked healthy now when she hadn’t a decade ago. Had her appearance changed so much as to make her unrecognizable? His boyish face looked much the same despite him now having a man’s body.

The cafe’s namesake glowed a deep cerulean today. The moon’s rays cast a blue tint through the window, giving the diner a galactic ambiance customers often praised. He noticed it, too, taking a few moments to scan the area.

She watched as the hostess sat him at an empty table in a corner designed for two. No tables were behind him. He faced the door. With her work tablet to take his order in hand, she walked over to his table.

He seemed shocked to see another living person. The larger universal restaurants had robots and a lack of moonlight. Small mom and pop shops like the Blue Moon was one of the few still employing humans and offering benefits. While the servers were humans, no one save celebrity chefs cooked nowadays.

“Torrance wasn’t it?” he asked.

“Yes,” she said. The name the orphanage assigned to her by a random drawing. “You’re Reinhard?” She recalled him accepting the name after switching it with someone else. Their caretakers had not approved but relented when she and all the other children began referring to him by his chosen name.

So he recognized her after all. She hadn’t kept in touch with anyone from their shared past. Perhaps he did. Or maybe he simply remembered her. She told herself not to feel flattered. His recollection of her didn’t necessarily mean anything. It wasn’t like he’d returned her childhood crush.

“Red,” he stated.

“You’re a color?” she inquired.

There were faint lines around his eyes, making him distinguished at the still tender age of twenty-eight. “So I’ve been told and the crew insists.”

He looked her up and down in the same manner of the most annoying customers. Why was it so different when he did it? Of course she’d not been attracted to any of the rowdy people who often patronized the Blue Moon to hit on the wait staff.

His clothes were made for regulating the body temperature in deep space out of more durable material than the fabric comprising her navy dress and apron. She’d never complained about the shapeless uniform before. There hadn’t been anybody she’d wanted to take notice of her. As usual when she went to work, she wore no makeup. Today she wished she had. At least she was having a good hair day even if it was pulled back in a ponytail.

“The crew?” she asked.

“The people I work with,” he said without any other explanation.

“What do you do exactly?”

“Work,” he said, tone nonchalant to the point of being dismissive.

Torrance got the hint. He didn’t want to talk about labor. She took his order.

Red ordered a slice of chocolate cake and a glass of water. And then he asked her to join him.

The owner napped in the back. He’d likely ask her about chatting up a customer later while reviewing the security footage. She’d tell him the truth. Red was an old friend.

The remaining servers were busy with a sudden influx of customers. All men in similar clothes to Red’s. Something about them set Torrance on edge, but she ignored it. Crowds had always made her uncomfortable. Running an eatery for a living had not changed her reservations about people; it just made dealing with them a little easier.

Torrance brought Red’s order out from the kitchen along with a pitcher of water.

“How’ve you been?” he asked after he took a sip.

"Ok, I guess,” she said. “I got hired on here full time and worked my way up. I’ve been managing this place for the last two years. What about you?”

Red took a bite of his cake. He ate slowly. The man was not in a hurry, taking time to enjoy the sweet. So different from when she’d watched him hide away food. There’d been times he’d shared some with her or other kids who hadn’t been able to grab any for themselves. He didn’t look like a man who overindulged in sugar. He was fit like an athlete.

“I like to drift,” he said.

“Like travel?”

He grinned. “Of course. What other kind of life is there?”

She shrugged. “I get by just fine.”

“Have you ever thought about doing better than just fine?”

“What do you mean?” she asked. Her sip of recycled water had no taste.

Red savored it as if it were wine.

A band encompassed his right wrist. She recognized the tech she couldn’t afford. Red’s profession paid very well if he had his own spaceship. Even the small ones for day to day travel cost a fortune. Those with a living area included were usually regulated to the military and the ultra-wealthy. To get to work daily Torrance used the reasonably priced rocket transport to take her from the planet Starvexx to its blue moon, Sapphire. Named for both the jewel and the orbital satellite’s color.

“Traveling,” Red said. “Have you ever considered it?’

“No,” Torrance stated. “I’m fine with my simple life.”

Red took another drink of water. Torrance was glad she’d left the pitcher on the table. While he didn’t look dehydrated, he enjoyed the necessity.

“Hmm…,” he said as if in contemplation. “I can’t do simple any longer. Does it work for you or have you just gotten used to it?”

“Things could be worse,” she said. “I’m not hungry or homeless. I might not have much but I’ve got all I need.”

“You’re also allowed to want.”

Torrance hadn’t thought so much about wanting. It was easier not to think of what she missed out on. She was curious enough to ask about his travels and discovered he’d been to galaxies she’d never even heard of. Maybe traveling wouldn’t be so bad. She had some savings. With her next round of vacation leave, she’d find somewhere to go and take in new sights.

“So you won’t be around here often?” Torrance asked.

Red sat down his fork after eating the last bite. “I don’t like staying in one place too long.”

“Oh,” Torrance said, hoping her disappointment didn’t show. She wasn’t desperate. Didn’t want to leave the impression she was. What did it matter if he wouldn’t be around?

“It’s been years since I’ve been back here,” he said, looking to the door behind her back.

No one walked in.

“Another slice of cake?’ she inquired. A better tactic than intimating the possibility of something between them.

“I would. Thank you.”

She retreated into the kitchen.

Collecting her feelings, she bypassed the orders awaiting delivery by other staffers and headed for the desserts. Only three slices of chocolate cake were left for the day. The rest were either carrot or sponge. None of the popular apple or cherry pies remained.

With a plate of cake in hand, she turned to the dining area.

When she got to the kitchen door, something hot pressed against her side. A laser pistol with a full charge? The soft hum of a loaded chamber confirmed her fears.

Her grip on the plate tightened. She wouldn’t give in to panic. “Um…sorry I took so long,” she said. The following breath caught in her throat. “You don’t have to leave a tip.”

A hand fell in her hair, then left it, taking the elastic tie holding it in place.

“You should show off your curls more often,” Red said.

Torrance looked back up at him, unsure of what to think. She hadn’t seen or heard him. He’d snuck up beside her with a stealth she attributed to invisibility tech and silent footsteps.

His brown eyes were hidden behind a pair of shades designed to equip night vision.

“Walk to the freezer,” Red said, tone no longer as light as when she sat across from him.

Torrance obeyed, heart pounding in her chest. A cramp assaulted her stomach as nausea fought to the surface.

The few steps backwards were some of the longest she’d ever taken.

“Open the door,” Red stated.

With a shaking hand, Torrance twisted to do as he commanded. A blast of regulated air chilled her front. She walked inside at his prompting. Her drubbing heart kept hammering.

The gun left her side. He turned her around. Took the plate from her hands. His shades lightened to reveal his eyes.

“Well, it was nice talking to you, Torrance. We really ought to catch up properly sometime,” Red said. “Oh, and thanks for the great service. You should ask for a raise.”

He gave her a smile and a wink.

The tech in his suit activated, forming a helmet.

The heavy door closed.

She ran for it.

The metallic click of the outside lock prevented her escape.

In the span of one blink, the lights went out. The emergency system did not activate leaving the restaurant in complete darkness. Wintry air stayed trapped in the freezer with her along with much of the business’s food supply.

The momentary silence lifted with a strange hissing sound coming from outside of the freezer’s confines. Gas of some kind she concluded. She prayed to all the stars that the icebox’s seals held up and kept it away from her.

Torrance took off her apron and tied it around her nose and mouth. It might not be much help but she had to try.

Nothing seeped under the closed entrance and exit before her.

The screams outside died quickly.

She thought she heard the zing of a laser pistol being fired.

More strange noises she couldn’t place. Silence followed.

A new fright set in. She’d never liked the cold. Freezing in a tiny diner on a moon in outer space was not the way she’d planned on dying. It wasn’t all that cold she kept telling herself. The chill wouldn’t overtake her immediately. With the power out no additional frigid air was being pumped into the facility. The rational thoughts helped reinstate the calm a lingering layer of adrenaline and fear had taken.

With a deep breath, Torrance removed the makeshift mask, letting it fall to the floor.

The quiet dragged on. No matter how hard she pounded, the door stayed shut.

Alone in the dark, Torrance lost track of time until the familiar sound of police sirens grew louder.

She banged on the door again as soon as the wails ended.

The lights flickered back on.

A rush of warmer air greeted her when the freezer door swung open.