The Date and the Devil

Tori insisted on giving me a makeover for my meeting with Sol, even though I insisted it wasn’t a date. So I’m wearing her clothes—a white dress and gold earrings—and I feel totally out of my element.

This was a bad idea…

But then I see Sol coming down the path. He’s a little more dressed up than the first time I met him and that makes me hopeful that maybe this is a date. When he waves at me, I feel my face light up with an uncontrollable smile, and then he starts to jog over. As he gets to me, he says, “I’m glad you made this work. I’m sorry I couldn’t reschedule,” and pulls me into an unexpected hug. After a moment of surprise, I hesitantly hug him back. It feels so good to be wrapped up in his arms that I feel a pang of loss when he releases me.

“It’s no problem,” I say, even as my calendar alert pings me about the dreaded Tutoring Session with the Nerd that I’m missing. I blink the notification away so it isn’t obscuring my view of Sol. “Should we head in?”

The basic meal is free, of course, but Sol insists on getting us the premium version with extra toppings. We settle on a pizza to share, because it turns out he’s also a black olive fanatic, and when they finish printing it, we take it to an empty table by the window. The view outside is lovely, as it oversees Public Atmosphere 9, which contains the lake where people are fishing and renting swan-shaped rowboats for two. A fountain in the center adds a bit of movement to the water, oxidizing it for the imported koi that occasionally lift their orange mouths to the surface to beg for scraps.

I was just starting to think it was surprising Nico hadn’t pinged me yet—of course he would be late to his own meeting—but then he does. I think Do Not Disturb to my Linx, which pushes his call out of my eyesight. As I grab a slice of pizza and take a bite, a message from Anonymous495823 appears before my eyes.

You’re standing me up, huh? Nice.

I blink it away rapidly. Sol glances up at me and grins, his own pizza slice drooping in his hands. “Someone’s blowing up your Linx, huh?”

I let out a shaky laugh. “Just my friends filling up the group chat with random nonsense,” I lie.

He nods, then takes a bite of the pizza and sighs. “I swear the printers here are better. Or maybe it’s just the company.” His eyes meet mine and crinkle cutely as he smiles.

“I don’t know,” I mumble back, blushing like an idiot. “I think we have the same printers.”

He just laughs. “Do you like living here Petra?”

My eyes widen for a moment. Do I tell him? “I… I want to go to a university on Earth. I don’t want to stay here.”

“Really?” He tilts his head. “But Mars College is, like, top tier. My Stationer friends were going crazy trying to get in. Plus, you have the local advantage—”

I interrupt him as soon as he breathes. “I know!” I say a bit too loudly. I squeeze my pizza crust so tight a few poor olives slide off the cheese and onto the plate. I clear my throat and say more quietly, “I just want to live on Earth.” I can’t tell him the real reason why. It’ll sound too pathetic.

He just stares at me. “You know, Earth is really not that different from here. If this is a ‘grass is greener’ type of thing, you should know that the grass is about the same shade anywhere these days. The public atmospheres here are just as clean as the air on Earth. And Mars has some of the best medical teams in the universe—”

“I know all of that,” I say quietly, staring down at my lap. “That’s not why. It’s not about the grass being greener. I know my life is good. I don’t need you to tell me that.”

He grows still, both of us just holding our slices up in the air, not eating. A bird outside sings a little song as it flits by cluelessly. I look up at him finally when he says, “I’m sorry. That was presumptuous of me.” He reaches out as if to touch my hand, then pretends he was just getting another slice of pizza instead. Now he’s got two. He looks at them awkwardly and puts one down on his plate. “I really am sorry. I don’t know enough about you, or why you want what you want, but… I want to know. I want to know you. I can tell you’re smart and that you probably have good reasons for everything you do.”

My anxious heart beats a little less quickly at that. “It’s okay. It’s just… it’s personal.” I give him a weak smile. “Let’s not worry about that right now, okay?”

He nods, his expression softening. “Okay. But… whenever you’re ready, just know that you can tell me. I’m great at keeping secrets.” He gives me a lopsided grin. “I promise.”

My weak smile becomes a real one. “Thanks, Sol.”

We’re just starting to get back to eating when a shape begins to materialize behind him. I glance up, and my eyes widen as I see who it is—a holo of Nico. He looks at Sol, then at me, and scowls.

I sit up stiffly, my eyes flicking around the room to the other people eating, but it seems no one can see him but me. So I don’t say anything, though I do give him a quick glare while Sol isn’t looking. He has to be hacking again. I didn’t even get an incoming VR call…

“What, are you on a date?” Nico says, a strange look on his face. Like he thinks I’m desperate or something. “Wow.” Then he smiles. It’s a mean smile, the kind that doesn’t reach your eyes but shows off your teeth. “I didn’t think you had it in you.”

I take a bite of my pizza and try to pay attention to what Sol is saying—something about the history of terraforming the moon—but when Nico leans down over Sol, inspecting his face, I find myself losing focus.

“He’s hot,” Nico says with a nod of approval. Then he shakes his head at me with a pitying, fake little pout. “So out of your league, nerd.”

That little…

I do my best to ignore him, but then he comes over to me next and tilts his head right by mine. His black hair hangs in front of my eyes as he gets real close, and I have to squint through the holo to see Sol. “Am I distracting you?”

I take a particularly vicious bite of my pizza, which makes Nico laugh—right by my ear, of course.

“What do you think about hackers?” I ask Sol suddenly. In my peripheral vision, I see Nico raise an eyebrow and then cross his arms patiently, turning to Sol to hear his answer.

Sol pauses thoughtfully, trying not to look too taken aback by the sudden change in topic. “Well… I think they’re bound to get arrested eventually. But I don’t think there’s anything too wrong about jailbreaking your server if you don’t hurt anyone by doing it. Actually, I find it kind of impressive that people can do it at all.”

My mouth falls open, and Nico cackles loudly. “I like this guy!” he proclaims. “Now I’m not mad at you at all!”

“But… what about the Universal Moral Code?” I sputter.

Sol shrugs. “If they’re not harming anyone, I don’t think it’s a big deal. But honestly, I haven’t thought that much about it. Why do you ask?”

I blink. “No reason.”

Sol grins. “You’re not a hacker are you?”

“What?! Me? No way. I don’t even jaywalk.”

He laughs. “You’re cute, Petra.”

I flush, but before I can enjoy the compliment, Nico groans, “Nah, this guy sucks actually.” He settles in at the table beside Sol, though his dead eyes are on me. “This really works for you? Jeez. I almost feel bad.”

I don’t say anything. Why should I?

For the rest of lunch, I fight tooth and nail to ignore Nico and his cheeky comments. It takes all my focus to listen to what Sol is saying and not get distracted, but eventually we get through it and the pizza is gone.

I’m wiping up some crumbs I got on the table when Sol leans in to whisper, “Wanna go see something cool?” My mouth falls open at his closeness, and I can feel myself nodding, a nervous smile plastered across my face.

Nico leans in toward me as well and imitates Sol, but with a wicked grin on his face. “C’mon, nerd. Let’s have some fun.”