~
The state had organized the dinner some months ago, and to Karina it had always felt one of those things that seemed like it would never arrive, but that it was also something she wasn’t meant to attend in the first place.
How very wrong she was, she thought ruefully, fixing the backs onto her earrings. Not only had the day arrived, but she was going with Vance Travato.
That alone was kind of mind boggling.
She spritzed perfume onto her wrists and neck. Part of her wanted to crawl into her bed and never come out. She’d told everyone, everyone that she wasn’t going to this stupid dinner. She’d be dealing with the flack for all eternity.
The warning chime for the shuttle sounded. So much for not taking two hours, she thought, leaving the bathroom. She shimmied into her dress and took one last look in the mirror.
Passable, she supposed.
The hallway in her dorm was blessedly empty. The shuttle platform, however, was decidedly not.
People milled about everywhere, clustering in small groups before boarding the shuttle. Karina hung back, feeling self conscious in her dress. She wished she’d chosen something different to wear, or different shoes and that her hair was still long so that she could do something with it other than let it curl around her ears in a ridiculous halo.
This is why she preferred technology. The androids didn’t give a crap what you looked like.
Eyeing all the the boarding passengers, beginning to have serious doubts about this. She couldn’t just waltz over there and join them, she’d look like a fool. And Vance, he’d seemed sincere when he’d asked her (or, rather, she thought grimly, when he’d practically conned her), but how was she to know if he really meant it?
This wasn't worth the trouble. Karina decided just to return to her dorm. She was heading back to the building when she received a tap on the shoulder. She jumped, then turned to see one of her dorm-mates.
“Oh! Hi, Milly.”
“Wowzah.” Milly grinned, looking Karina over head to toe. “I thought you weren’t coming. What made you change your mind? Did someone convince you?”
“Um.” Karina held off for time, holding her clutch in front of her like a shield. She dared a glance behind her, and to her complete horror, spotted Vance, craning his neck in her direction. When he spotted her, he beckoned her forward, a smug look on his face.
“Oh my God,” Milly gasped, following Karina’s line of vision. “Did Travato ask you to come?”
“What is this, high school?” Karina snapped, now seriously having second thoughts. “He’s not making me do anything. In fact—“
“Ladies and Gentlemen, if you could make your way to the platform, the shuttle will be leaving momentarily.”
“Oh God,” Karina moaned, now truly moments away from a panic attack. “This isn’t a good idea.”
“Don’t back out now, Karina!” She began pushing Karina towards the shuttle. “You look fantastic, your date is the hottest guy on base—“
“In your opinion!” Karina tried to brace her feet on the ground, but this was significantly harder to do in heels. She began to teeter forward under the pressure of Milly’s hands on her back.
“Everything’s perfect, now go!” Milly hissed, and gave Karina one final shove that nearly catapulted her onto the shuttle track. By this time, they’d managed to attract quite a bit of attention. The few stragglers left on the platform were giving her and Milly inquisitive stares. Giving Karina a pointed look along with a gesture indicating her to go, Milly got onto the shuttle along with everyone else.
If she hadn’t wanted attention before, Karina was certainly getting it now. Heat crawled up her neck and settled onto her cheeks. Everything was wrong—wrong dress, wrong shoes, and her hair was too short.
The shuttle was pulling out, and Vance was coming towards her with an expression so full of mingled concern and pity that it was really quite revolting. He didn’t even have the decency to be a snarky bastard.
“I’m sorry,” she blurted out as the shuttle disappeared from sight.
~
Karina kicked off her heels and bunched her dress up in her fists. She strode down the hallway until she came to the spacious hangar they used for work space. She slid her employee card through the slot by the door, and moments later was granted access. Completely disregarding that she was dressed all wrong and would probably end up ruining her dress, she flopped in front of her work station and picked up her wrench.
“Stupid dinner,” she muttered, dropping the wrench back into her tool box. “Just a stupid excuse for stupid people to get together and act…stupid!” she grabbed another tool and flung it into the box after the wrench. “And to think that I actually wanted to go.” A cold wave of disappointment flooded over her. She sighed and rubbed her hands over her face, trying to convince herself that the blurry vision was simply watery eyes.
Behind her, footsteps echoed in the hall outside the hangar. She ignored it, praying furiously that it was one of the night janitors. Nevertheless, she stood, wiping her eyes and turned to leave.
Vance leaned against the open door, dangling her shoes by the straps.
“So, Blondie,” he said conversationally, loosening his tie a bit. “Is this like leaving a trail of breadcrumbs? Except with, uh, shoes?”
Karina wiped her hand on her dress, glad that the black cloth wouldn’t show stains. “Sorry,” she sniffed, coming towards him with her hand outstretched. “I’ll take those back.” She slipped them on, halfheartedly praying that he’d only discovered them lying on the ground because he’d tripped over them.
“You shouldn’t walk around her without shoes,” he told her, a slight teasing note of reproach in his voice. “Kinda dangerous.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” she replied, smiling slightly. “I’m gonna go to bed now. I’m sorry I made you miss the shuttle.” She went to walk past, but he grabbed her wrist.
“Hold on a minute, Blondie,” he said, pulling her back to look at him. Even with her in heels, he still stood a good deal taller than her. She craned her neck up to look at him. “Didn’t you promise me a date?”
“You aren’t honestly holding me to that, are you?”
Karina wanted to groan, stamp her feet, anything to get him to let go of her and leave her in peace. A hot, frustrated feeling began spreading behind her eyes.
“And,” he continued, disregarding her question and standing up straighter, apparently oblivious to her unhappiness, “if we do it now, you’ll also make it up to me for making me miss the shuttle and on the only steak dinner I’ll have for a very long time.”
Oh, this was not fair.
“You still could have gone,” she muttered, glaring at him. “I certainly wasn't stopping you—“
“And you think I don’t know that? I'm pulling your leg, Blondie. I don't care about any stupid dinner."
Well that was a relief, if he was telling the truth, at least.
"I'll go get changed," she said.
“Nah,” Vance said, leading her out of the hangar and down the hall. “You look fine. Great, even.”
She looked away, feeling the blush creeping its way back up her neck, and she could have sworn that she heard the ghost of a chuckle. Part of her wished that he would not be so charming.
When Vance flipped on the lights in the kitchen, the glare off all the industrial steel made Karina squint her eyes.
“Now,” he went to the fridge and pulled it open. “it’s not a steak dinner, but I’m almost positive that I saw some roast beef sandwiches in here…” He reached into the far back and pulled out several sandwiches wrapped in plastic.
“Uh, those look like someone’s lunch,” Karina said.
“He won’t notice,” he assured her, dropping them on the counter. He then sorted through the bottles in the fridge door.
“Damn. I was almost positive there was a bottle of wine in here. Guess not.” He reached for a couple cans of beer instead. “I’m assuming you’re legal, right?” He grinned at her.
Karina couldn't help snorting. “Yeah, for a few years now.”
“Perfect,” he said, grinning. “if you will follow me, Madame.” Out of the kitchen and down the hall to the main entrance. Here, he put down the things he was holding. Before Karina could ask if they were having their date here, Vance shrugged off his suit jacket and handed it to her.
“It can get really cold out there,” he explained, picking up their things. “Have you ever been out here at night before?”
Karina shook her head. “I’ve usually been involved in other projects.”
“I see,” he said, with just a trace of something she couldn’t quite detect. “Then I’m glad I’ll be the first you’ll get to see it with.” He pushed open the door and beckoned for her to go first.
The desert stretched out before them, seemingly miles and miles of it, the illusion only being broken by the concrete wall holding off the outside. The stars blazed in the sky, not dampened in the least by several floodlights.
“This way,” he said, leading the way to a gate in a fence several feet high. He took a key from his pocket and unlocked the padlock on the latch.
“Is that allowed?” she asked, hanging back as he stepped through.
“Sure,” he said, grinning as he beckoned her to follow. “After all, we’re trying to keep things out, not in.” Karina’s heart began to race and she took a step back.
“Relax, Blondie,” he said, pulling her gently through the gate. “Don’t forget, there’s still that massive concrete wall.”
They walked over the flat expanse until they reached a small hill. At the top, Vance dropped to the ground. Patting the ground beside him, he reached into the bag and pulled out the sandwiches.
Karina slowly sat on the ground at what she felt was a reasonable distance.
“Oh for Pete’s sake,” he scoffed, raising his eyebrow at the distance between them. “I’m not going to bite or anything,” A grin split his face in two. “Not unless you want me to.”
Karina scooted a bit closer and accepted the sandwich and can of beer he held out to her. “Thank you,” she said, balancing the can on her knee and unwrapping the sandwich.
“So,” Vance said, after about a minute of silence. “Tell me something about the impenetrable Karina.”
Hearing him say her name ignited something deep within her stomach. She fought to contain the blush, though it was probably too dark for him to see. “Like what?” she watched his outline out of the corner of her eye. “I didn’t think you’d be all that interested in what I have to say.”
“That’s not true—“
“Oh, please.” Karina interrupted. “Like you weren’t just planning to dump me somewhere at that dinner and go off with someone else.”
“Hey, that isn’t fair—“
And then I’d have to deal with that insufferable Abbi, asking about how our “date” was, so when she gets back I’ll just cut right to the chase and tell her, mission accomplished, I’ve been good and humiliated, so now you and your goonies can go and laugh it up!”
There were a few beats of silence, during which Karina realized that at some point during her tirade she’d stood up, can of beer clutched in one hand, sandwich in the other. She could feel the spots of color on her cheeks, and the hot spot between her eyes only seemed to increase. Her legs were trembling. When Vance didn’t say anything for another minute, she began to wonder if she possibly could have been mistaken about the situation.
“Okay,” he said finally, and he stood. Karina realized again just how tall he was. He practically loomed over her. “Consider this me backing off. Didn’t realize you needed to feel poor and picked on all the time.” The words cut through her like a dull saw.
“I-“
“You should probably go back to your dorm now.” His voice, which had been animated moments before, had taken on a significantly cooler tone. Without a word, Karina did as she was asked and began the trek back to her dorm. When she looked back at the door, he stood with his back to her, his face up to the sky, and that was when she realized that she was still wearing his suit jacket.
~
Karina spent the next few weeks studiously avoiding Vance. The day after the disastrous dinner, when Milly asked her what had happened, Karina gave her such a look that the subject was immediately dropped. She didn’t say that she had a feeling she’d been completely In the wrong about everything.
It was surprisingly easy to avoid him, actually. They worked in completely different departments. Occasionally they’d run into each other in the mess hall, but each occasion he’d merely give her a chilled smile and move out of her way.
It was when there were no whispers behind her back that Karina decided she had been a complete and utter idiot.
After dinner nearly a month and a half after what Karina had begun referring to (in her mind, at least) as “the Shuttle Incident”, she raided the kitchen. There wasn’t much, as the supply trucks were several days late, but she did manage to come up with a few cans of beer and several hunks of cheddar cheese. It’d have to do. She stuck the lot of it in a plastic bag and, after deliberating for a minute, went to find the Rec Room. As she’d hoped (along with hoping that it wouldn’t be true) she found Vance and most of his department lounging on the worn out sofas. Fantastic.
Taking a deep breath and leaving her bribery items behind the door, she stepped inside and knocked no the wall.
“Excuse me, Officer Travato,” She said, ignoring the smirks of the other officers. “May I have a word?”
He gave her one of the cool smiles that she’d grown used to lately and pushed himself off the couch. “Of course, Miss Boise. If you’ll excuse me, gentlemen.” He followed Karina out into the hall, where she scooped up the bag containing her food and led the way to an empty room several corridors away from the Rec Room. After they’d both entered she shut the door for privacy. When she turned back, he’d already seated himself into one of the metal folding chairs.
They stared at each other for a minute, both taking the other in. Karina suddenly wished that she’d thought to change out of her oil stained jumpsuit.
“Uh, I brought beer,” she said, rather lamely, gesturing to the bag. He raised one eyebrow a fraction of an inch. She felt that she’d better continue. “Er, and cheese.”
Now both eyebrows were up. “Fancy, aren’t we?”
Cursing her easy ability to blush, Karina sat down in one of the other chairs opposite.
“I wanted to apologize,” she blurted out. “I seriously overreacted to what you obviously meant as a nice gesture. I’ve been overly about everything since I got here, and it just seemed like the icing on the cake. So…I’m sorry.” Her blush deepened and she looked away.
To her surprise, he gave a short chuckle. She quickly glanced at him. He was cracking the tab on a can of beer. He slid it over to her and opened a second one for himself. He crammed a piece of cheese into his mouth and leaned back in his chair. After swallowing, he looked her right in the eye and said, “Miss Boise, if you would allow me to impart a bit of knowledge onto you?”
He still sounded detached. Foolishly enough, she missed him calling her Blondie. Biting the inside of her cheek, she nodded.
“Okay, right. This is not high school. No one in this facility could honestly give a damn about your social life, unless it’s seriously interfering with your ability to cope in your professional. No one wakes up in the morning and thinks, 'gee, how could I fuck over so and so today?' it’s honestly just not that important. We are fighting a war in case you’d forgotten. . .” He trailed off, then seemed to regain his train of thought. “So I suggest that you knock yourself down a few pegs. It’ll save you a lot of pain and bullshit in the long run.” He continued to stare her in the eye, and again, the red hot itching feeling appeared behind Karina’s eyes. She took a deep breath, counted to ten and held it.
“That said,” he continued, before she had a chance to say anything, and his features softened a bit to allow a small smile. “I was a bit of a prick.” He downed the rest of his beer and stood, offering her his hand, well worn and covered in shrapnel scars. “Come on, Blondie. I bet you could kick my ass at billiards.”
She couldn’t help it; she broke into a ridiculous grin. She grabbed his hand and allowed him to help her up. She dumped the rest of the food in the bag, and they left together, Karina swinging the bag by its plastic handle.
“Oh, by the way,” Vance said casually, as they walked down the corridor. “You still owe me a date.”
Spoiler! :
Things you could easily catch on your own, knowing brilliant you. I'd love to read more of this, see where it's going. 
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