Diamond Sky (Diamond Sky Trilogy Book 1) (14 page)

Chapter 14

The pub was just getting busy when
Emmy
and Charlie entered. Despite her worries, their entrance went pretty much
unnoticed. Rather than going to the bar, which was where most of the customers
were, they sat down at a table in a corner of the room. Mindy came over to take
their order and returned just moments later with their drinks.

‘It’s not often that we see you two down here in town,’ said
the landlady. ‘To what do we owe the pleasure this evening?’

‘We needed a night off,’ replied Charlie. Then looking at
Emmy
, he added; ‘it’s a little crowded up at the
observatory right now.’

Mindy nodded.

‘I met your house guests yesterday evening. They proved
quite popular actually; bought drinks for everyone.’

‘Well, they haven’t made such a good impression on us,’ said
Emmy
, ‘or Lucas. It will disappoint you to hear that
he’s placed one of his restraining orders on the pair of them. They are not
allowed within fifty feet of this place.’

Mindy smiled curtly and then returned to the bar.

‘She doesn’t like me,’ said
Emmy
.

‘You’re imagining it.’

‘If I am imagining it; why was she so short with me just
then?’

‘She wasn’t. It’s Saturday night and she has a bar to run.
If you take a look over there, you will see that she’s already serving another
customer.’

‘That may be true, but I still sensed a certain tone in her
attitude towards to me. It’s easy for you; you have no trouble fitting in here.
You’re not considered so...
different
.’

Charlie placed his drink down on the table and took a
prolonged look at his colleague to make sure that she was being serious. He
could not find a trace of irony on her face.

‘What’s up now?’ she asked.

‘Are you really so absorbed in yourself that you think you
are the only person in this town who has trouble gaining acceptance? In case
you have not noticed, there is not exactly a booming Chinese population here.’

‘What are you talking about? You come from Melbourne. You’re
as Australian as I am.’

Charlie held out his hand and moved it down his face in
indication of his oriental visage.

‘My family moved to Melbourne from Hong Kong. I was the only
one born in this country.’

‘So,’ said
Emmy
. ‘This town may be
a lot of things, but they’re not racists. Most of them would kill to try and
entice a few foreign visitors here.’

Charlie shook his head, despairingly and then returned to
his drink. Something over the other side of the bar caught his eye and he
turned back to
Emmy
.

‘Maybe attitudes have changed around here,’ he said.

‘What do you mean?’

‘Over there’, he pointed with a subtle nod of his head.
‘There’s a cute blonde checking you out.’

Emmy
followed her friend’s
prompting and saw that there was indeed a girl sat in a corner of the bar. She
guessed that the stranger was in her early to mid-twenties, seemingly on her
own and as Charlie had observed; most definitely cute. When
Emmy
looked over, the girl quickly glanced away, but it was not long before
Emmy
caught her looking over again in her peripheral
vision.

‘Who is she?’ she asked.

‘I have no idea,’ replied Charlie. ‘This place does get the
occasional tourist. Maybe she is only here for one night. How often are you
going to get this sort of an opportunity?’

Emmy
did not need to respond to
the question. They both knew that the answer was never. In her whole life, she
had only had one serious girlfriend. Of course, the relationship had ended as
soon as she brought the girl back to her home town. The resulting scandal was
made even worse by the fact that her grandfather was held in such high esteem. If
he had been more supportive then things could have turned out differently. As
it was; she ended up a virtual recluse, living in self imposed exile up at the
observatory with her only friends being Charlie and Lucas.

‘Is she still looking?’

‘She’s practically blowing kisses at you. What are you
waiting for? If you don’t go and talk to her soon, I may have to do it for
you.’

Emmy
took a deep, calming breath
to settle her nerves. She was regretting not putting any make-up on and worried
that her loose fitting jeans made her look frumpy.

‘How do I look?’

‘Like the beautiful geek you are,’ replied Charlie. ‘I’m
already having trouble trying to figure out which of you is going to be the
butch?’

If anybody else had made a remark like that it would have
bothered her, but Charlie knew her well enough to know what he could get away
with and he was well within his bounds.
Emmy
picked
up her drink and crossed the room to where the stranger sat.

‘Do you mind if I join you?’ she asked.

‘Not at all,’ the girl replied.

Emmy
noticed that the girl’s face
had reddened slightly and it relieved her that she was not the only one with
nerves. She had allowed her social life to slide for so long that she was not
quite sure where to start. Although she was technically the one making the
approach, the girl had clearly invited it, so she decided to try and allow her
to lead.

‘I saw you looking over. I’m not normally this forward, but
my friend noticed you were looking too. He sort of encouraged me to come over
and talk to you.’

The stranger shrank back in her seat.

‘Was it really that obvious?’

‘In a good way.’

Emmy
smiled as seductively as she
could. Whilst she felt a definite attraction to the stranger, small talk never
came easily to her.

‘You look so familiar,’ the stranger said. ‘I was convinced
that I knew you from somewhere. I’m sorry if I
creeped
you out. This may sound silly, but we definitely have not met before, have we?’

‘Not as far as I am aware; unless you went to
uni
in Sydney?’

The girl shook her head. ‘I guess it was just my mistake.
Perhaps you remind me of somebody, but I cannot think for the life of me who. I
am grateful that you came over, though.’

‘You are?’

The conversation had started a little awkwardly, but
Emmy
felt it was finally starting to show some promise.
Once she had a few more drinks inside of her, it may even start to flow.

‘I’m kind of new to this town, but I guess you already know
that. I arrived yesterday morning, but it feels like I’ve been here for weeks.
This is the second night I’ve spent in this bar. I even got a job working here.
I have another shift tomorrow and then I’m leaving Monday.’

‘You’re travelling on your own?’

The girl nodded.

‘That is one of the reasons that I was glad you came over. I
kind of feel like a target otherwise. Two really obnoxious Americans tried to
chat
me up last night. It was almost comical really. They
were so full of themselves, but they could not have been any farther from my
type.’

Emmy
could sense an opening.

‘So what is your type?’

‘I guess I’m looking for the same thing that anybody is; the
same thing that you are.’

This time
Emmy
was the one who
blushed.

‘You would not believe how hard it is to meet somebody in a
town like this one.’

‘I had figured that out. I mean, where do you keep all of
the eligible guys around here?’

‘Guys?’

She got a sickly feeling in the pit of her stomach.

‘Yeah, I mean, that policeman is okay, I suppose. What’s his
name; Lucas? He’s attractive and well meaning, but I’m not sure if he really
does it for me. Sometimes a guy can be a little bit too safe. Are you okay?’

Emmy
was suddenly aware that the
girl was looking at her strangely. She felt hot and clammy and sensed the
colour draining from her complexion. Then she noticed what seemed like a flash
of recognition shoot across the other girl’s face.

‘Oh God!’ the stranger said, holding her hands to her mouth.
‘You and he aren’t, I mean, I hope I haven’t offended you.’

Emmy
swallowed hard, trying her
best to stay composed and not let the humiliation show. She was well
experienced in this regard.

‘No, of course not.
He’s just a
friend of mine. There’s nothing romantic between us.’

The other girl relaxed.

‘I see now.’

‘You do?

‘You’re with that guy over there. I saw you sitting with him
earlier. I’m not keeping you, am I?’

‘No, it’s fine. He’s just a friend anyway. We work together
at the observatory.’

The girl’s eyes lit up and she leaned forward excitedly.

‘You’re from the observatory! I’ve heard all about that
place. Is it true that you’ve made contact with aliens, because today I met a
guy who told me that his chickens were abducted and he would really like them
back?’

‘Chickens?’

‘I’m sorry, I’m babbling, aren’t I? I just couldn’t resist
it. You would not believe some of the gossip I have heard working here today.
I’m Lucy, by the way.’

‘Oh, I see.’ To the contrary, she was actually quite
confused. ‘My name is
Emmy
, but I usually go by my
professional name, which is Dr Rayne.’

She extended her arm across the table and they shook hands.

‘I’ve never heard
Emmy
before. Is
that short for Emily?’

‘Not exactly; if you knew what my first name was, you would
understand why I prefer to keep it secret.’

‘Emmanuelle?’ Lucy tried, hopefully.

‘Uh-huh.’

‘
Emberline
?’

‘I don’t think that’s a name.’

‘Well, could you give me a clue?’

Emmy
shook her head, but she could
not resist smiling. She liked the girl’s persistence. This meeting may not have
the romantic end she had been hopeful of, but it was the first real
conversation she had shared with a girl in a long time. It made her think that she
may still find somebody one day. It was just a real pity that Lucy liked men.

‘You may as well give up, because I am not going to tell
you.’

Lucy let out a sigh.

‘I suppose I shall just have to call you Dr Rayne, but could
you at least confirm if the alien rumours are true?’

‘That, I can definitely do. As far as I am aware, aliens
have not abducted any chickens.’

‘But there
are
aliens?’

Emmy
laughed.

‘Do you ever give up?’

‘Do you ever give a straight answer?’

Emmy’s
heart sank once more. Lucy
had just inadvertently reminded her of the problem that existed between them.

‘Sadly, I am incapable of giving a...
straight
answer,’ she said.

‘You are such an enigma,’ said Lucy, ‘but I like it. It’s a pity
Lucas is not more like you. If he had a bit of mystique surrounding him, I may
actually start to fancy him.’

Emmy
cringed. Did this girl really
have no idea of the effect she was having on her. She wanted to come clean and
just tell Lucy the real reason why she had come over. It would be a risk, but
she did not care. Even if this girl could never return her feelings, simple
acceptance of them would be more than enough.

‘There is one thing I’d like to tell you,’ she said.

‘Can it wait?’ replied Lucy. ‘It’s just that I really need
to go and pee. I’ll only be two
secs
, I promise.’

‘I guess so.’

‘Thanks.’

Lucy stood up and as she passed
Emmy
to go to the bathroom, she placed one of her hands on
Emmy’s
shoulder. It was not a gesture that was intended to be either sensual or
romantic, but it filled
Emmy
with more confidence and
reassurance than she had felt in as long as she could remember. She knew she
was doing a really positive thing in coming out to this girl whom she had just
met and she was really glad that Charlie had pushed her into coming to the pub.
That was until her mood was broken by an all too familiar tone of voice from
behind.

‘Why don’t you leave her alone?’

Emmy
turned around to face the
speaker. It was one of the local trolls. He was stood in a huddle with three of
his pals. Each of them had the same arrogant, judgemental smirk on his face.

‘I’m just having a quiet drink and making friends,’
Emmy
told him. ‘If the girl doesn’t want to speak to me,
I’m sure she will tell me so.’

‘You’re trying to turn her,’ the man said. ‘I know how
people like you work; corrupting innocents.’

Emmy
was tempted to argue, but she
stopped herself. It was not worth the hassle. He was just a man; a very small
and ignorant man. She turned her back on him and returned to her drink whilst
she waited for Lucy to come back from the bathroom.

The seconds seemed to drag by. It was like the time dilation
from her experiments had spilled into the everyday world.

‘Don’t turn your back on me.’

His tone had changed from
lairy
to
aggressive.
Emmy
did not want any trouble and tried
her best to block him out. Once Lucy came back, he would give up. Men like this
had no trouble exposing their ugly side to
Emmy
, but
they would be careful not to show their true ignorance in front of a pretty,
straight girl. No matter how unlikely the odds, idiots like these viewed every
eligible woman as a potential root.

‘I am talking to you.
How dare you turn
your back on me - dyke.’