Editing Venus' Burn (section)

==The Sixth Part==

Well, as you can imagine, I was sort of persona non grata around the homestead after that.  Dad nearly blew a blood vessel.  Less than an hour later, as I was ass-deep in my homework, I got a vox from Venus, saying that I had been added accidentally, when Vulkan had pulled a string to get us added to the Emperor’s Museum listing.  She said he would get it cleared up, but added that maybe we shouldn’t rush to get off of it.

“It’s a privilege,” she said coyly.  “You could walk up to the Palace and join more or less any tour you wanted.”

“Sounds more like an excuse for the Custodes to bother us, to Dad’s jaundiced ears,” I grumbled, looking up from the brain-putrefying Warp Travels homework.  “He thinks Enforcers are annoying enough as it is.”

“Well, I’ll tell Dad.”  Venus went quiet for a moment.  “Hey, do you have a sec?”

“Sure,” I said, dropping my stylus and plugging the earpiece in.

“I talked to Angela.  She was really upset over what happened.”

I stared at the ceiling for a moment.  “Well…OK.  Tell her I’m not going to hold it against her.”

“Will you?” Venus asked pointedly.  I shrugged.

“What good would it do?  I can’t undo it, and I see her every day.”

“Good to hear,” Venus said.  “I’ll let her know.  We still on for tomorrow?”

I froze for a moment, trying to figure out what she meant.  “Uh, the swim meet?”

“The meet’s next week.  Tomorrow’s the dinner.”  What fucking dinner?

“Uh…”

“At your house?” she prompted.  Of course; I had invited her over for dinner the other day without even thinking.  This would prove interesting.

“Of course, baby, I’ll see you then.”

Well, the day came.  I had considered dressing up, but decided against it.  Vulkan and Misja weren’t coming, citing pressing needs, and Venus had met my parents before.  I had gone to pains to ensure Dad’s resentment over the whole Security thing wouldn’t cause too much friction.

I would have felt bad if I hadn’t done something to help get ready for a dinner I proposed, but I kind of suck at the whole ‘domestic goddess’ thing.  Which is just as well; the only thing available to eat in my hab is soylens.  Still, there are things you can do that make it taste like something other than dead people.

When five o’clock rolled around, I was sitting in front of the holo, nervous as hell.  It hadn’t even been that bad the first time she had come over.  Of course, that wasn’t for more than a few minutes…

When the bell rang, I nearly jumped from the seat and ran over to the door.  Venus was waiting, beaming at me.  “Hi, Jake,” she said, pecking me on the cheek as she walked in.

“Hi, hon.”  She was as casually dressed as me, thankfully.  Dad walked into the room and started to bow before remembering how much she hated that.
“Hello, Venus.”

“Hello,” she said, waving from the door.  “Thanks for having me over.”

“It’s our hono…pleasure,” Dad said, eyeballing me as I started to correct him.

As I may have said before, Venus is more socially conscious than I am.  At no point did the, by her standards, awful meal seem to put her off.  She was actually pretty animated during the meal itself, and my parents did a credible job of not staring at her phenotype.

“No thanks,” Venus said, waving off seconds.  “So, the meet should be for Divisionals, but because we’re also hosting the Sectionals, we’ll be holding both on the same day.”

“Won’t you be tired?” Dad asked.  Venus shrugged.

“Same day, different timeslot.  The races are like two hours apart.”  She swirled the ice in her glass for a second, smirking.  “I won’t need it.  One race that short gets me going for the next.”

“How many racers in each event?” Mom asked, cleaning up the plates.  I jumped to my feet to help.

“Seven lanes, six swimmers.  The middle lane’s for the holocam and the laser wire.  For photo finishes, you know,” Venus said.  I followed Mom into the tiny kitchen, setting the plates down on the counter.  Before I could go back around the partition, though, she grabbed my arm and jerked her head at the hall.  Venus’s voice faded a bit as Mom closed the door of her room.

“So, do I get to know what has your father walking on thumbtacks?” Mom asked pointedly.  I had no idea what she meant, and told her.  “Don’t you play dumb with me,” she said angrily.  “Your father was white as a sheet when I came home the other day, and he’s still angry now.  What did you say to him?”

“Dad told you about the VIP security detail?” I asked.

“Of course he did.”

“Well, all I did was call Lord Vulkan and ask about it,” I said.  “He didn’t like what he heard.  Venus said she was going to tell me more about it tonight.”  I opened the door and walked out, or tried.  Mom put her hand on the door to stop me, glaring at me.

“Jake, you don’t get to keep things like that from us.”

“I honestly don’t know why we’re on the list, Mom, and stop this,” I said, pushing the door open and heading back into the dining corner.
Venus quirked an eyebrow at me when I sat down, but didn’t ask.  But like I said, she’s got a good head on her shoulders.

“I imagine you want to know why your family wound up on the VIP list,” she said as my mother sat back down.

“Well, I can wait,” I said laconically, knowing full well I was going to pay for that later.

“Yeah.  Well, I asked around, and it turns out I was wrong,” Venus said.  “I thought my dad put you guys on the list, but he didn’t.  Grandpa did.”

I managed to conceal my shock pretty well, I think.  Mom and Dad didn’t.  “The Emperor put us on the list?” Dad managed to say.  “Why?”

“Well, Dad pulled a string to get Jake here put on the list for the Museum gallery opening, and I guess Grandpa came away from that with the wrong impression,” she said apologetically.  “Also, I guess they hit it off?  I dunno.”

“Well, I mean, I know your father and I get along well enough, but…” I said, shrugging.

“No, you and the Emperor,” Venus corrected me.

If Dad’s eyes got any wider they were going to get up and leave.  “But I only talked to him for like forty seconds!” I exclaimed.

“Well, he’s  a perceptive kinda guy,” Venus said, shrugging.  “You’re off the list though.  So…yeah.  Sorry about that.”

“Well, no problem,” I said, grabbing the rest of the dishes.  “Right?  Mom, Dad, no problem?”

“No problem,” Mom said, apparently done with being thrown curveballs.  I walked out into the kitchen to hide my grin.

After dinner, the two of us decided to go out to the hab rec zone, which Venus had never been to.  The zone in our hab is shitty, of course, but it’s better than our hive tier would suggest, even if it can’t live up to the places they have outside.  I drove us out to the edge, slowing while we considered the options.

“What’s Samsa like?  Any good?” Venus asked, glancing over the list I had given her.

“Yeah, but it’s just a restaurant.  A Soylens restaurant; the most unnecessary thing in the world.  We could go to Hydro,” I suggested.

“A rave?  Ew,” she said, making a face at the thought.

“It’s not a RAVE, it’s just a club,” I said, protesting.  “Besides, I know the DJ.”

“Eh…maybe.  I was more thinking sightseeing,” she said.  “I haven’t been here, you know.”

“Yeah…not much to see, so much, really, just…walls and some…walls,” I said, trailing off.  “Your house has TREES.”

“Well, yeah, but they’re familiar trees,” she said.

“Which would be a great name for an alternative metal band or something,” I opined.  Venus giggled, and suddenly shoved my list back in my face.

“OK, I want this one.”

“Uh…” I looked over the list.  “Really?  Makro’s?  Uh…it’s kind of a dive, but if you say so.”

“Wait, a dive?  How is it a dive?” she asked.  The car’s engine hummed a little as I dropped us down to the deck.

“Well, I’m being mean, but the owner’s a complete douchenozzle and cover is kind of…pricey.  Music’s ok, though,” I conceded.

“Well, shit, I can cover it, if you want,” Venus said.  I shook my head and glanced over at her as the car swooped down.

“That’s sweet of you, baby, but I couldn’t ask you to do that,” I said.  I stopped cold when I saw the card Venus was pulling out of her pocket: a 10,000 card.

“I’m offering, though,” she said.

“Well…if you insist,” I allowed.

The car settled down on the pad outside the building.  It looked different, I noted.  “Well, that’s new.”

“What is?” Venus asked.  She slid her purse under the seat of the car and tucked the card into her inside pocket.

“The building’s different.  There wasn’t a patio before.”  That wasn’t all that had changed, either; the skylight was gone.  One too many light complaint from the neighbors?

When we got up to the bouncer, I thought we were out of luck, but one look at Venus got us in.  I know it’s just because she’s a celebrity, but I like to think she just glared at him.  The cover was absurd, but I averted my eyes while Venus paid.

“So, did this place get bought out or something?” I asked.

“Yeah, a month back.  Place just reopened,” he said, waving us in.

I could tell.  The shitty old sunken dance floor was gone.  The new one was a multi-level thing, with hollow plastic tube railing and platforms by the edges that looked like they could be raised and lowered.  The DJ was trying his best to drain the hearing of everyone near the speakers, so we drifted over to the booths.  Of course, neither of us could pass for 21, but the floor wasn’t looking to fill up any time soon.

The stairs up to the top floor were roped off, too.  Construction, maybe.  We stayed near the bottom level, while the DJ kept trying to kill us.  
Finally, after nearly ten minutes and my seriously considering just bailing, someone more competent took over at the tables, and people drifted onto the floor.  I can barely dance, to be honest, but somehow I forgot that little tidbit that night.

Well, it couldn’t last.  I had promised to be home by 2300, so after a few hours, we headed back out of the rec zone.

“Well, I have to admit, that was a lot of fun,” I admitted.

“ ‘Dive,’ you said,” Venus poked, leaning her head on the window.

“Well, it was, last time I was there.”  I tapped her house’s code into the autopilot and we pulled out, gliding into the lanes.

“Mmm…actually, can we stop by your place?” Venus asked, glancing at the autopilot.

“Sure, did you forget something?” I asked, changing the address to home.

“No, I just feel really shitty.  Home is too long a drive,” she said, rubbing her eyes.

“Really?  I’m sorry,” I said, looking her over.

“I have a screaming headache, and I’m…kinda dizzy,” she said, screwing her eyes shut and massaging her temples.  “I didn’t drink anything, though…probably just a bug.”

“Of course, baby,” I said.  The car drifted along the airlanes until we got home.  On the way, Venus had called her house and told her parents where she’d be, but I was busy thinking about how this was going to work.  I was…fairly sure my parents wouldn’t mind.  One hundred percent certain?  Nope.

When we pulled in, she had already ended her call.  “Well, Mom says it’s all right as long as I check in tomorrow morning.”

“All right.  I’m sure Mom and Dad won’t mind either,” I said, popping the doors.

“Why didn’t you just call and ask them?” Venus asked, leaning on the door for support as she got up.

I didn’t answer.  I looked over the front of our apartment, trying to figure how I was going to phrase this.

“Well…I don’t think my parents are going to say no, but I honestly don’t know how they’ll take it.”  I pushed the door open to see my dad still sitting at the counter, reading over something.

“Hey, Jake, hi Venus.  How was it?”

“Pretty good, but, uh,-”

“Excuse me, but do you mind if I just stay here tonight?” Venus interrupted.  Dad glanced over in surprise.  “I feel absolutely terrible and this is closer than home.”

“Uh…sure, that’s fine,” Dad said, standing up.  “I can set up the-” he trailed off when he saw me vigorously eyeballing the hallway to my room.  “I don’t think it would be a problem,” he finished.  “Do you need anything?”

“No, I’m just really dizzy,” Venus said, pretending not to have noticed Dad’s foot in his mouth.  She squeezed her eyes shut and rubbed her forehead.  “Though…do you have a thermometer in your bathroom?  I think I’m running a fever.”

“Yeah,” I said, leading her down the hallway.  I grabbed it and handed it off to her, then hurried into my room so I could strip all the extraneous junk off my tiny bed and hoped the room didn’t look or smell too bad.

After several minutes of frantic cleaning, Venus walked in, shaking her head.  “Yep, fever.  49C.”

I thought that number over for a minute.  “Uh…wouldn’t that make you clinically dead?”

“If I were human, maybe,” Venus said with a weak grin.  “Salamander, remember?  ‘Normal’ for me is around…eh, 46.1-ish?”

“Oh.  That explains…things.  Must be closed-door disease.  Hives are self-contained planetary populations, you know, so diseases get passed around really fast,” I explained at her look of confusion.  “Closed doors.  There’s always something you’re not immune to, so when you come in from the outside, you’re not ready for it.”

“Right.  Though I’m supposed to be proofed against that sort of thing,” she grumped, as I replaced her in the bathroom.  When I was finished, she was already in bed, covers pulled over her head.  “Argh, this is the worst,” she said as I undressed.  “How can people live like this?”

“Nobody WANTS to,” I said, climbing in next to her.  She wasn’t kidding, her skin was red hot.  I slid my arm under her and pulled myself up against her back, and kissed the top of her head.  “Feel better tomorrow, OK?”

“I’m gonna try,” she said gamely.  After less than five minutes, though, I could tell this wasn’t going to work.  Her body was so hot that I couldn’t share my tiny bed with her.  I tried to shift the sheets around to insulate me, but the bed was just too small.

“Uh…listen, baby, I, ah…this isn’t working,” I said, turning the light back on.

“Huh?” she asked, blocking the light with her hand.

“I’m just too hot,” I said, pulling the covers back and climbing out.

“Shit…I’m sorry,” she said miserably, dropping her head back on the pillow with a groan.

“Don’t be,” I said, pulling my bathrobe on.  “I’ll just use the futon in the sitting room.  It’s no biggie, really,” I said.  She started to get up, reaching for her bra and panties on the floor next to the mattress, but I gently grabbed her hand to forestall her.  “Hey, you’re the sick one, and I’ve probably beat whatever you have already, so you get the bed.  I mean it,” I said as she started to protest.  “You catch some Zs.  It’s only a Friday, I don’t need to get up early.  Sleep.  Doctor’s orders, again.”

She smirked as memories of the previous night – hard to believe it was only a day ago! – came back to us both.  “Are you sure?” she asked, just to be nice.

“Completely,” I said, turning the alarm clock off.  “See you tomorrow, OK?”

“OK.  Good night.”

“G’night,” I said, walking back down the hall to where Dad was still sitting at the counter.

“What are you still doing up?” he asked in surprise.

“I need your help setting up the damn futon,” I grumbled.

“Bed too small?” Dad asked with an innocent smirk.  I glared at him, trying not to grin.

“Durr hurr hurr, funny.  She’s got a fever and I don’t feel like sharing a bed that small with a girl whose body temperature runs to spontaneous combustion levels at the best of times.”  I walked the few steps it took to cross the sitting room and yanked the pillows off the futon, grabbing one side and lifting.  Dad pulled the tray out from under the seat and I lowered the seat into place, still talking.  “I can’t blame her, though.  Poor thing.  Hell of a fever.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.  49.”

Dad did a double-take.  “What?  We need to get her to a hospital, then!”

“Salamander,” I offered.  “She’s always hot.”  Dad shook his head at that.

“That’s just…not natural.”

“Can’t say I care too much, to be honest, most of the time,” I said, grabbing the sheets from the box under the tray and making the fold-out mattress.  “But that bed is way too small to be sharing it with a heating element.”

“Right.”  Dad shook his head again and grabbed his magazine, heading into his own room.  “Well…I’ll try to turn in soon.  Night.”

“Thanks,” I said, clambering into the bed and shucking the robe.  I hate sleeping in the living room; it’s so much closer to the outside of the apartment that the noise is unbearable during commuting time.  I had grabbed a pair of earplugs from my room before I left, and used them.  I settled down on the bed as the noise faded away to an acceptable level, and blacked out almost immediately, exhausted from the night’s activities.

I woke up to an unusual sight.  Venus was sitting at the counter, just four meters away, fully dressed and looking completely miserable.  My Dad was drumming his fingers on the other side of the counter, trying not to look angry and failing completely.  Mom was staring at the kitchen sink, looking incredibly frustrated.  I pulled the earplugs out and took in the scene.  “Uh…morning?”

Venus looked over as I pulled my robe on and fastened it, managing a tiny smile.  “Hi.”

I walked over to the counter, glancing back and forth between my parents and girlfriend.  “Did I miss something?”

“I used your entire day’s water ration in my shower,” Venus said, her shoulders sagging as she said it.

I looked over at the sink, and noticed that it was bone-dry, with none of the usual detritus from prepping breakfast, and Venus was the only one who looked like she had bathed.  “Oh…that’s not good,” I said lamely, turning that unpleasant bit of news over in my head.

“I can’t believe it,” Venus said, rubbing her eyes.  “I didn’t even stop to think about it.”

“Well, I didn’t tell you,” I said, “but…yeah, rationing.  When you’re raised with it, you just don’t even notice.”  I looked around desperately, trying to change the subject.  “How are you feeling?”

“Good as new, more or less,” Venus said unironically, with an anemic grin.  “My head’s fine.  Back’s OK.”

“Good.  Good.  Um, if you’re all set to go, let me get dressed and I can drive you home,” I said.  I couldn’t resist looking over at Dad and Mom when I said it.  If they chose to make an issue of this…

“How much does one day’s water rationing cost?” Venus suddenly asked.

Dad stared at her.  “‘Cost?’  There is no cost.  You can’t buy more tickets.  You get what you’re given.”

“Oh.  I was…I mean, I could…cover one day, I thought, but if you can’t get more…” Venus trailed off awkwardly.

Mom sighed shortly, opening the fridge and pulling a pitcher of water out.  “It’s happened before.  We’ll be fine.  We bottle water from days when we’re not all here.  Usually use it for cooking, but we can just clean up with it.”  Venus winced.

“I’m really sorry,” she said demurely.  “If I had known I would have just waited until I went home.”

“I’m sure you would,” Dad allowed.  Not the most graceful way it could have ended, but there you have it.  I walked back into my room and got dressed, wondering if it would be totally graceless to ask Venus if I could shower at her place.  I certainly had before…

Well, best to get it over with.  As soon as I was dressed, I grabbed my wallet and headed out, Venus trailing behind me, still doing the puppy eyes.  The way back to her house was quiet.  We only talked a little, mostly just trying to find some safer topic.  When we pulled into her drive, she stopped me from getting out with a hand on my arm.  “Jake…wait a minute.”

I closed the door again, as she tried to find words.  “If you want, I think I could try and get your apartment cleared for another ration,” she said.  I thought that over.

“No, thank you.”

“You’re sure?”

“I’m sure.  I don’t want to get in the habit of asking you for favors.”  Venus nodded, but pressed on.

“I’m offering.”

“And I’m grateful, but no thanks,” I said.  She nodded again.

“Then at least use my bath before you head out?” she asked.

“See, that, that I’ll do,” I said, climbing out.  She popped her own door and nearly tripped over her dog, who had been going berserk outside the car the entire time.