It was Maria. She was coming into town and wanted to know if they could meet up. Zas smiled, finally familiar territory. They made plans for the weekend before he to work. Life was starting to look up.

The Roadstead Realtors was a place that Zas never would have thought of visiting. It had just about everything in it you could need. Clothing, furniture, little knickknacks, etc. Zas was amazed by it all. Maria however didn’t give him much time to take it all in.

“Hey, what do you think?” She asked striking a pose in front of him. She was in a blue summer dress with a floppy hat and strappy heels. Oh, he liked it a lot. Smiling he took her hands and kissed them.

“Beautiful.” He said. Maria blushed and giggled. Swaying her hips from side to side she looked up at Zas. Looking into his eyes, she saw him blush faintly and that’s when she bounced up and kissed his cheek.

“Thank you. It’s a little out of my price range though.” She turned and started heading back towards the change rooms. Zas stopped her and offered to pay as long as she wore it for him. She grabbed his hand in happiness and then ran off to find a sales clerk.

“She’s pretty.”

Zas turned around in surprise. Mila stood behind him smiling. Beside her stood the closest thing to perfect that Zas had seen on this planet. Tall, red-headed and busty, Zas was in love.
“Good to see you Mila,” He said. ” Maria is very pretty, and a good friend.”

“I wish I had friends who bought me clothes like that.” The woman said smiling. By the Mates! She’s gorgeous and sounds like velvet. Trying to gain control of his thoughts he held his hand out towards the woman.

“Zas Vajjer. You are?” He asked. At first she let his outstretched hand hang there, but eventually shook it. Her skin was soft and pleasant to the touch. Her long fingers lightly grasped his, and almost as soon as she touched him she pulled her hand back.

“Katrina Caliente.” She said smiling at him. Caliente, that sounded familiar. Looking a bit puzzled he shifted his gaze over to Mila.

“Oh, where are my manners? Sorry Zas. Katrina is the older sister of Dina at work. Katrina is an entertainer at Limelight. Katrina, Zas works at Make A Dish with Dina and I. He and his friend Ezza are now our head dishwashers since Ralph screwed up so royally.” Mila said giving more introductions.

The three of them struck up a conversation and soon were joined by Maria, and a man named Mortimer Goth that Katrina and Mila seemed to know. They chatted for a while about Katrina’s shows and other entertainers until they noticed the looks the staff were giving them. Waving goodbye Mila and Katrina set out with Mortimer for another store.

“She was pretty.” Maria said linking her arm with Zas’s. Yes, she was. Zas thought. He just wasn’t stupid enough to admit it.

“I suppose. If you’re into that kind of thing.” Zas said. Maria smiled up at him, pleased by his answer. She asked if there was anywhere he felt like going. Thinking about it for a moment, he told her what he wanted to do. Smiling she nodded her head and started tugging him along from department to department.

Ezza was sitting by the fire when a large truck pulled up in front of the house. Zas stepped out of the cab with another man. As the other man went to the back of the truck, Zas came over to Ezza with a huge grin on his face.

“What have you done?” Ezza asked.

“I fixed our home. Well, sort of. I will be fixing it.” Zas said. He seemed over joyed with whatever he had done. Ezza was watching the man as he placed a woodworking bench on the lawn, cans of paint, long planks of wood, something wrapped in foam and gently handled. Boxes of tools, and bowl with a castle. Next came what looked like a treasure chest, then two chairs and a table, on it a tall box labelled Don’t Wake the Llama, and then a smattering of metal parts like screws, and hinges. After the last bag of spare parts was placed on the lawn, the man got back in his truck and left.

“Well?” Ezza asked again.

“I’m going to make this place our home. It’s not much, but it’s ours for now and we need to look the part. Plus now that I have a workbench, I can start to slowly make things that will allow us to get home.” Zas smiled. He had just given Ezza his best it’s-going-to-be-ok speech ever, and yet Ezza looked ticked.

“Where did you get all of it?” Ezza asked. He was starting to get a little angry. After all Zas wouldn’t have done what Ezza thought he just did.

“I bought it.” Zas said. He gestured to everything now sitting on their lawn. He looked happy the stupid fool.

“With what?” Ezza asked. He already knew the answer of course, but he just had to hear it for himself.

“Our money of course. Don’t worry, Maria and I managed to get the best deals. You’ll love it, at least I hope you will. You should I think.” Zas was starting to sound a little unsure of himself in front of Ezza’s glare.

“Did you leave us any money?” Ezza practically hissed. Whoa! Zas hadn’t seen Ezza this mad since a classmate in the Academy had ignored the warnings the Instructor had given them and deviated off course during a practice flight. His mistake had cost a ship and the life of his Tech. The idiot had at least waited until after the funeral and then started telling everyone how worthless his Tech had been, a dime a dozen. Not worth the life of a Pilot such as himself. Zas had a hard time holding Ezza back, he looked skinny but was wiry and actually quite strong. Ezza had never been the violent sort, but that night even Zas found a new respect for him. It was when he had first started keeping his eyes on Ezza as a potential Pairing.

“Yeah a little bit.” He said quieter and with less enthusiasm than he had started with.

“I hope it’s enough to pay our bills! We’re barely making it as it is.” Ezza said in a cold tone. Then he turned on his heel and marched into the house.

Over the next week, they avoided each other at home and at work. Zas worked like a dog, rearranging furniture, painting walls, putting down the flooring. He even mangled to craft a new toilet that was easier on their water bill. He built garden boxes, and statues among other things. The people from work would purchase some of them. Ezza kept to his garden and brewing his ointments. The tension continued even at work. Zas couldn’t concentrate and ended up slacking off, Ezza put his nose to the grindstone.

Bob Pancakes came over at one point for a visit and to make sure they were ok. He left shortly afterwards saying it was too awkward to be there long. Only Summer Holiday seemed to want to cut the tension with them. She invited them over to her house on the weekend. Both of them went even though they didn’t really want to. She greeted them at the door and brought them inside. She BBQ’d hotdogs and served drinks from the bar in her house. Slowly they opened up and relaxed around her. After giving them a tour of the house and yard, Ezza stayed out back. Gardening had become a passion with him and she had empty garden boxes. Taking out a few leftover seeds he planted and watered them. Zas was inside playing on their computer. So Ezza explored a bit and discovered a community garden just behind the house. He harvested a few of the plants they didn’t have at home, and some crystals and metals on the ground. He lost himself at the river where he met a man named Emmett Medina. Lending Ezza a pole they fished in silent comradeship.

Inside Zas sat at the computer and played a game. One of Summer’s roommates had come home and she had gone to greet him. The more Zas played on her computer, the more something about it seemed off. Sticking his head out the door and looking around to make sure no one was coming, he closed it quietly and went back to the computer. He started dismantling it slowly. It all seemed normal at first glance, it just felt off. The way he had been playing it had felt like the computers they had back on his home world. Not seeing anything out of the ordinary he started putting it back together, snagging a few pieces here and there for later use.

He had just come out of the room when Summer nabbed him and gave him a set at the bar. Travis was there and she introduced the two of them. Travis was an odd man. He told jokes with every other breath, but most of them were so dirty and perverted they even made Zas blush. Finally Ezza came walking back in and it gave Zas an excuse to leave Travis.

Both men thanked Summer and headed home. Asking each other about their day, some of their anger melted away. The next day Zas started building Ezza more gardening planters, Ezza even purchased some seeds. They now had more than ever. Ezza managed to catch a fish. It didn’t look like it would live very long, but they put it in the fishbowl and Ezza studied it everyday.

At the end of their shifts the next day Clara had walked over and offered Zas the job of Caterer, and a coffee pot.

“I’m sorry to put you on the spot like this. It’s just Ezza is floundering a bit.” She said.

“Ezza is?” Zas asked.
“Don’t get me wrong. He’s a numbers man. He keeps this up he’ll go very far. I can see him in business. However he’s a caterer now. That means he has to be good at the numbers and with people; which he’s not.” She said fidgeting a little bit.

Ah Zas thought. He smiled knowingly at Clara.

“You’re more of a people person Zas. I can see why you two made such a great team, and I was an idiot for breaking it up. I’m promoting you to caterer as well. I’m just hoping you’ll tow the line now.” She said.

It’s my own fault, I did all that slacking off. Finally at home he got ready and then crawled into the bed. Tomorrow he would prove he was Caterer material.