Allison closed her eyes and squeezed the sand between her toes, she took a deep breath and inhaled the ocean air. Oozie looked up at her chosen human. She had a play list from the late twentieth century playing through her translator. It would be called the eighties. Allison let her breath out slowly. She could already feel the tension seeping out of her. She could hear the laughter of children over her music. She smiled. She opened her eyes and looked down at Oozie. She motioned to her.
“Come on, let’s go track down Winter Wolf 21.”
They walked along the path that bordered the public beach. They passed other people with pets. It was dark so it was hard to tell Oozie was anything but a large white dog. Most had theirs on leashes. Allison could never put a collar or leash on Oozie. It was unthinkable to her. Oozie was very well behaved. They could see the glow of the bonfire approaching. Children were laughing. Allison paused and watched as the children roasted marshmallows on sticks. The fire was real. It surprised her slightly. She realized that for most people in the System’s Alliance having a real fire was something unheard of. Wood was expensive and fireplaces were highly restricted, so the domes processors were not overwhelmed. Oozie watched the flames. In truth Allison had never seen a bonfire before. She was transfixed. Eventually Oozie nudged her along. She looked down at the nargle.
“Hungry, are we?”
Oozie barked. Allison rolled her eyes.
“Sorry, it was pretty. Alright, alright, food.”
They carried on. She hadn’t bothered to turn on her night vision optics. There was something to be said about enjoying the atmosphere the night had brought to Pleasure Dome 3. They saw many bars as they walked. One had a singer. Another had a fire juggler. Eventually they reached the Winter Wolf 21 franchise. It had an open-air deck, an interior sit-down area, and a walk-up counter. She looked between the options and decided on the walk-up counter. She was going to sit on the beach and eat. She smiled at the cashier and ordered a meal and three plain burgers. She swiped her holo-tablet. Her order was delivered shortly afterwards.
Allison took the bag and her drink, then walked out onto the nearby beach. She pulled the food out of the bag, flattened it out and put the three plain burgers down for Oozie. She let the sound of the waves flow over her. Oozie gobbled down the burgers quickly and curled up beside Allison seemingly satisfied. Allison took her time with her own food. They did not have a Winter Wolf franchise on Eden Prime. This was a very rare treat for her. She was finishing her drink off when she heard laughter nearby. A group of people appeared in the direction of the boardwalk. There were five of them. It was mixed company. When they got closer Allison realized they were her age. One of the boys noticed her first. He called out.
“Hey!”
Allison held up her hand in greeting, she smiled.
“Hello.”
The group, led by the boy who had spoken to her first approached. Oozie opened her blue eyes and inspected the group of teenagers with feigned disinterest. The group were all in bathing suits. Allison packed up the containers for her meal and stood to meet the group. Details were fuzzy out on the dark beach. That suited Allison fine, they’d be hard pressed to figure out who she was, once people figured out her name that quickly changed how they behaved around her. Especially kids her age. The boy knelt down and let Oozie sniff his hand. Oozie glanced at Allison who was enjoying the view of three teenage boys with very defined muscles. The two girls were talking amongst themselves. Oozie didn’t react when the teenage boy scratched her head. Allison heard the distinct sound of a UK dome accent.
“Wow, is this a husky?”
Allison glanced down at Oozie, while biting her lower lip.
“Ah, yea, something like that. She just ate it always makes her lazy.”
The boy stood up.
“I’m Edward.”
Allison blushed at the attention, she decided to go with Kennedy’s nickname for her.
“Uh, Allie. My name is Allie.”
Edward motioned to his friends.
“We were going to go night swimming, want to join us?”
Allison looked at the group. She really did want to join them, but she had no bathing suit.
“Umm, I would, but I have no bathing suit.”
He laughed.
“Hey, no problem. You look like you’re the same size as Wendy.”
He sent a message on his holo-phone, he received an immediate response.
“Wendy said you could use one of hers. Her and Deacon are running late.”
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Allison was pretty sure she was blushing so much she was probably glowing. She shrugged.
“If she doesn’t mind. Sounds like fun.”
Edward grinned.
“Awesome! More the merrier.”
Soon a pair of teenagers came running across the beach to the group. Wendy had red hair and was extremely pale. Her skin reflected the light from Saturn. She was indeed about Allison’s size. She laughed and offered a bikini to Allison.
“Hey, Allie! Eddie demanded I bring you this.”
Allison smiled.
“I’ll get changed.”
She looked down at Oozie.
“You behave.”
She rushed off and changed quickly before returning. She left her clothes in a locker near the beach. The group were still waiting for her when she got back. They started walking on. Edward stuck close to Allison.
“So, Allie, where are you from?”
Allison bit her lower lip.
“My apartment is in New Amazon.”
Edward grinned.
“We’re all from UK dome. You know who Deacon and Wendy are, the blonde one is George, the quiet one is Robert, and those two are the Fairington Twins. Don’t ask me, which is which, especially in the dark.”
Allison looked around and waved to each.
“Did you all come here together?”
Edward nodded.
“Yes, we did. Family-business-thing with our parents. How about you? Did you come with anyone?”
Allison nodded.
“Yea, my mom and my sister.”
He looked around.
“Is your sister near our age? Does she want to come?”
Allison imagined the prim and proper Aryna night swimming with a bunch of rambunctious teenagers and it made her laugh.
“No, she’s uh, too good for stuff like this. So how old is everyone?”
Edward gave the ages of everyone there. He was sixteen. The rest fell into a range between fifteen and eighteen. They arrived at their destination, which was a beautiful section of water that reflected Saturn’s yellow light. Edward was the first to dive in. Everyone followed. Oozie sat on the beach. Allison was not surprised. The nargle seemed to hate water of any volume larger than a water dish. She was glad for that because she would have hated having to clean salt water residue out of Oozie’s fur. The group splashed each other and laughed as they swam around. Eventually Allison pushed herself up and floated on her back staring up at Saturn and its rings. She felt a pang of guilt because she would have loved to be floating beside Tyler. This was a view she would have loved to share with him. Edward jolted Allison out of her bout of self-pity.
“It’s a beautiful view, isn’t it?”
Allison shifted so she was treading water.
“Yea, it is. Do… do you come out here often?”
He laughed.
“We do. Stay until we get too cold. Then we go thaw out by the bonfire. Gives time for the kids to leave. You want to come with us Allie?”
Allison bit her lower lip.
“Sure. Why not?”
Allison hadn’t got a great look at Edward’s face but if his silhouette was any indication he was a gorgeous specimen of teenage boyhood. His accent was also driving her nuts in the best way possible. Eventually everyone agreed they were cold, so they made their way across the beach to the bonfire. As Edward had predicted, children had given way to older teenagers and adults. Oozie gave Allison some distance until the fire started to dry the latter off. The bright fire revealed that Edward was indeed just as cute as she’d pictured. The shadows also helped define his very nice physique. She was getting the crush butterflies. From the looks he was giving her the feeling was mutual. Even in the firelight no one had recognized Allison. She realized her golden eyes were a dead giveaway, so she blinked a few times to change them to blue. Using the vampire trick Eyre had taught her.
Edward looked at her.
“How long are you here for Allie?”
She finished the marshmallow she’d just put into her mouth before responding.
“Three more days.”
He grinned.
“Same as us. We’re going to get a game of beach volleyball going tomorrow afternoon, you want to come?”
Allison bit her lower lip. Daylight would reveal her identity easily. She shook her head.
“No, sorry, I promised my mom I’d spend all day with her. But I will come out after supper to hang out if you want me to.”
He looked at her.
“Of course we do. Right, everyone?”
The entire group agreed. Allison looked down at the bikini.
“I should go get changed so I can give this back to Wendy.”
Wendy shoved Allison’s shoulder gently.
“Give it back to me tomorrow, Allie.”
Allison felt her wrist buzz. She looked at her AR HUD. It was her mother asking where she was. She sighed.
“I have to go. Mom is going to call out security to track me down if I don’t.”
Edward stood up.
“Let me walk you to your room. It’s the thing a gentleman would do.”
Allison blushed as she stood up and dusted the sand off of herself.
“It’s alright, really, I have Oozie.”
Edward looked at what appeared to be a passive ball of white fur.
“Come on, that dog would not hurt a fly.”
Allison looked at Oozie.
“Well… she’s actually quite protective.”
Allison pushed her hair behind her ears. She was desperate to spend more time with Edward but she did not want anyone to know she was staying on the so-called rich side of the dome.
“Sure, I guess.”
Edward rubbed his hands together and the pair walked off down the path along the boardwalk then towards the interior where the actual hotels were after picking up her clothes. Allison found one close to where she could cross to the other side of the resort. She paused and motioned at it.
“So, this is me. Umm, I should kind of go alone now, my mom is super suspicious of boys.”
Edward laughed.
“I get it.”
He flicked his contact info from his holo-phone. Allison accepted the contact and flicked her own contact at him, though she modified it to say Allie.
“Just send me a message when you can get away, I’ll tell you where we’re at.”
Allison blushed and waved. She walked towards the hotel. Once Edward vanished out of sight she moved to walk down the path to the VIP side of the dome. She realized too late that she was still wearing Wendy’s bikini when she got back to the suite. Her mother was watching a holo-movie. She looked Allison up and down.
“What is that supposed to be?”
Allison looked down at the bikini.
“A bikini.”
Apiyo paused the holo and stood up. She put her hands on her hips.
“In what universe do you think you’re allowed to wear… barely wear something like that? Do you have no sense of modesty?”
Allison blushed.
“Mom, it’s not a big deal.”
Apiyo narrowed her eyes.
“Not a big deal? If I ever see you in anything like that again I swear you’ll regret it for the rest of your life. Get changed!”
Allison retreated into her private room. She showered and rinsed the bikini out to get rid of the salt water. She sighed. Her mother was a product of a very catholic household from the twenty-first century. Hence a certain level of modesty was expected from her daughter. It rarely caused a clash because Allison rarely cared. Tonight, though she was pretty upset. Oozie snuggled up next to her on the bed. Allison wrapped her arm around the nargle before drifting off to sleep.