Dinner With a Twist

Posted on 18 Mar 2016 @ 10:14am by Ensign Xavier Hernandez & Ensign Kelly Khan & Ensign Elisha Cherno

2,386 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Outbreak
Location: Lounge

Cadet Khan finished her morning exercises and stretches and looked around the barracks. Alpha shift would just be coming off duty and she had hours before she was due, so she decided to implement her plan between Ensign Hottie Hernandez and Elisha. She got dressed in a pair of gray jeans, a white shirt and black shoes before she checked her hair out in the mirror.

Elisha returned from her shift and pulled her hair out of it's knot as soon as she walked through the door. "I'm started to regret offering to go through all the Star Charts manually," she said, shucking her uniform jacket and grabbing her brush. "It's taking far more time than I expected. That's all I did yesterday and today and I'm not even half done!"

"Elisha!" Kelly called happily when her bunkmate came in. "Get dressed! Do your hair! My god, woman, this is red alert! Don't just stand there!"

"What?" demanded Elisha, pausing in brushing her hair. "What are you talking about? I haven't got any plans tonight." In fact, she had planned on staying in and reading a new book her brother had sent her: Darkling, by E. G. Whyt. It had the sound of one that would keep her up all night, saying, 'just one more chapter!'

"I'm taking you out to dinner," Kelly said. "You need practice flirting and accepting compliments before you have a dinner with Hernandez. You can do it to me and I'll pretend to be him, then I'll tell you how you're doing. Now get dressed in something nice, woman."

"I can't flirt with a woman!" Elisha insisted, sounding horrified at the notion. "I mean, it's just not my style. It would be too weird. Besides, my brother just sent me a new book."

"Pretend I'm a guy," Kelly said. "It's not like I'm going to try to lure you into my bed. Look, I have experience with both men and women. I know what each side likes and how to respond back. You need it if you want to get with Hernandez, or at least thank him for being a gentleman."

"I'm not going to 'get with' Hernandez," insisted Elisha, adding the appropriate air quotes. "Guys like that aren't interested in girls like me. And anyway, I told you; I'm getting a cat."

"Elisha!" Kelly groaned. "Come on! I already set up the replicator order in the lounge for dinner and everything. You can at least enjoy that with me while learning some things."

Elisha sighed. "Oh, all right," she said. "But, promise me we won't talk about men the whole time."

"Does me acting like one count?" Kelly asked.

"Under no circumstances are you allowed to act like a man," said Elisha, looking for some off duty clothes to wear. "If the alternative is talking about them, fine," she added as she swapped her duty pants for some bright red ones.

"Will you at least give it a shot and accept some advice from me, then?" Kelly persisted.

"I'll listen to it," she said, pulling off her turtleneck and pulling a black peasant top over her head. "Whether or not I take it is up to what the advice is."

"I wouldn't lead you wrong," Kelly said with a feeling that Elisha would soon be trying to murder her.

Elisha gave Kelly a skeptical look as she sat to pull on some black knee-high boots. "I have my doubts about that," she said.

"I'm hurt," Kelly said. "I may have done a lot of things, but I wouldn't lead a friend wrong."

"Not on purpose, anyway," said Elisha, pulling a bit of her hair back and securing it with a clip. "But, I'm pretty sure, if I took your advice, I'd just end up with my foot in my mouth."

"Then I'll teach you how to turn that to your advantage," Kelly said. "If you do that, you make a joke out of it and laugh at yourself."

Elisha sighed. Perhaps it was best just to go along with it. "Oh, all right," she said, finally. "Let's go."

"Coolness!" Kelly said as she headed for the door. "You won't regret it." Even if I do, but it's still worth it she thought to herself.

Elisha followed her friend to the lounge. She grinned and waved at Selah as they found seats. "It's getting busier in here," she said. "Why are so many people looking at us?"

"Because you look hot," Kelly said. "That's why."

"Don't be ridiculous!" said Elisha, giving up on glancing around the room.

"It's true," Kelly said as two platters of roast beef seasoned with garlic and other herbs, baby carrots, and potatoes arrived at their table.

Xavier entered wearing a white dress shirt, a black bowtie, a pair of light gray pants, polished brown faux leather shoes and his beard and mustache were well trimmed. He carried a garment bag with him as he looked around and smiled as he saw Cadet Khan with Elisha sitting at a table on the other side of the room with Elisha's back to him.

"Oh, my gosh!" Elisha said as she eyed the food. "How in the universe are we going to eat all this?"

"One bite at a time," Kelly said. "I also ordered pineapple upside down cake for dessert." She noticed the handsome Ensign enter the room and smiled. "If you'll excuse me, I have to use the ladies facility."

"Seriously?" said Elisha as Kelly stood. "Already?"

"I have big eyes and a small stomach," Kelly said with a laugh and headed off.

Xavier took that as his cue and approached the table and came around so she could see him approach. He put a smile on as he came up to her. "As promised, one freshly cleaned shirt, Elisha," he said with a bow. "I asked the computer where you were."

"Oh!" said Elisha, surprised. "Oh, thanks! I mean, you didn't have to clean it. I could have done that."

"It's quite alright," he assured her. "Wow. You seem to have a wonderful dinner ready. I hope I'm not disturbing you."

Kelly came back at that moment. "Uh, I've been called to the flight deck, Elisha." She looked at Hernandez and smiled. "Perhaps you'd like to keep her company? I haven't touched my meal yet and it'd be a shame to go to waste."

Xavier looked at Kelly, then at Elisha. "If you don't mind?"

Elisha mouthed wordlessly for a moment, a look of terror on her face. "Uh, I-I guess not," she said weakly.

"I'll see you later, Elisha," Kelly said with an impish smile. "Enjoy dinner!" With that, she headed out before her bunkmate could vaporize her with a look.

Xavier sat down and set the garment bag on an extra chair. "It's a pleasure seeing you again," he said.

"Uh, yeah," said Elisha nervously. "I mean, likewise." But, then she was out of things to say.

"My brother Angel would say this is a fortuitous encounter," he said as he took a seat across from her.

Elisha grinned. "J-just don't b-blink," she said, not sure he would get the joke. But, that didn't matter. She often made jokes that nobody else understood.

Xavier laughed. "Blink and you're dead," he responded.

Elisha blinked, stunned. Had that been a joke right back? Only one way to tell. "N-nice bowtie," she said. "B-bowties are cool."

"So are fezzes," he quipped. "I couldn't find a replicator code for those, though."

Elisha's eyes went wide and her face broke into a huge grin. "Omigod!" she said all in one breath. "I've got the new Doctor Who holonovels! My brother sent them to me. After dinner, wanna go have an adventure in Time and Space?" she asked as she picked up her knife and fork and began cutting into the roast beef.

"You do?" Xavier asked excitedly. "I've been wanting to do that for a while. It's why I joined Starfleet, but I have yet to see a blue ship shaped like a police box."

Elisha nodded. "Yeah," she said. "Sometimes I go by myself, but it's more fun with more people. Who's your favorite? I like 4, but 9 is a close second. And 18 is... interesting."

"I'd have to go with the tenth," he said as he cut into his pot roast and took a bite. "I keep trying to find a sonic screwdriver, but I think Engineering hoardes them."

She giggled, eyes sparkling. "He's all right, but he talks a bit too fast and his accent makes him tricky to understand," she said. "But, he DOES have the best companions. Sometimes, I pick him and Donna Noble because I love Donna."

"She's absolutely amazing as a companion," Xavier agreed. "It's amazing! I never thought I'd find another Whovian in space!"

"Oh, we're definitely out here," she replied. "I've run across a few at the Academy. I think the problem is that we don't have signs. We should probably have signs. Like a great big stick-on that we can wear across our chests."

"But then one of us would still miss it as being too obvious," he laughed.

"Probably," she laughed. "Or we could just go about in bowties."

"That's an excellent idea," Xavier said. "And fezzes. Can't forget those. I just hope we don't run into any dinosaurs on a ship."

"That is my absolute favorite program!" said Elisha. "It took me forever to get it right, though. It's a tricky one. Because, of course, you think the dinosaurs are the enemy at first."

"Who wouldn't?" he asked. "They're dinosaurs. I'd run, too."

Elisha grinned, but had run out of things to say. That was okay, though, because she didn't feel the need to fill every silence. She would be happy to just sit here and eat her dinner.

When the pineapple updown down cake arrived, he smiled. "You know...if I didn't know better, I would think that Kelly set this up for us. I'm okay with that, though. I met someone that has some of the same interests that I do, and that's rare."

Elisha frowned. "Do you think she really did?" she asked. "I can't see how. How would she know you were going to come looking for me? Maybe she saw you and just thought she'd take advantage of it."

"Whatever the case, I'm glad that I came looking for you," Xavier said with a smile. "I got a free dinner out of it and great conversation."

Elisha's smile turned a bit nervous. "I-I'm glad you came, t-too," she said haltingly.

Seeing that she was getting nervous again, he gave her a goofy smile. "So when do you want to do the wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff?"

"After dinner?" she suggested, relieved that he didn't think she was silly. "If- if you don't have plans, I mean. I've got some holodeck credits saved up, so if one is free, we can snatch it."

"After dinner would be perfect," Xavier said with a smile. "I can't wait to try it out. I'll even use my holdeck credits since you're treating me to it."

"Great," said Elisha happily stabbing her cake with her fork. "I'll have to go back to my room to get the chip it's on. I didn't load it onto the holodecks."

He dug into his cake as well. "Should I wear anything special?"

"Something comfortable," she answered. "I mean, with the Doctor, there's a good chance we'll be rolling around on the ground or crawling through sewers or something equally as disgusting."

Xavier laughed, but the thought of rolling around on the ground with her appealed to him. "Okay. I'll meet you at holodeck two in twenty minutes?"

"Sounds good," she said, polishing off her cake. "It'll probably take me that long to find the chip, anyway. See you in twenty!" she added, hurrying out of the lounge and making her way back to her room again. When she got there, she found Kelly, as she suspected. "I thought you were called to the flight deck?" she said, going to her locker to search for the chip.

Kelly looked up and smiled when she saw Elisha. "I did?"

"You totally set me up," she said, digging around in her locker. "But never mind. I've gotta find my Doctor Who holonovels."

"I'm sorry, but I had too," Kelly said. "He's gorgeous as you said he was, so I arranged dinner. Please don't take it out on him. He seems like a really sweet guy."

Elisha stopped in her search. "Wait," she said. "He was in on it?"

"I only told him to be at the lounge at a certain time," Kelly said. "Elisha, please don't be upset with him. You can be as mad at me as you want, but not him. He thinks you're cute." She couldn't help adding words to what Hernandez said, but she figured if she were going to be thrown into the deep end, she may as well fill it with water.

Elisha blinked. "He... he said that?" she asked. He DID want to spend more time with her tonight, so maybe he was interested.

"Uh huh," Kelly said. "I mean, you are cute, so what do you have to lose? It's not like you ran out on him during dinner or anything, right?"

"No, we finished," she said, resuming her search. "I'm supposed to meet him at the holodeck with my Doctor Who holonovels in twenty minutes. Well, probably fifteen, now."

Kelly beamed a terawatt smile at Elisha. "Then go! Hurry up before he thinks you bailed on him! Have fun!"

"Well, I will, but I have to find it, first," said Elisha, digging through a small plastic box. "Ah, here it is!" she announced, pulling out the chip, which was TARDIS blue and said "Police Box" on it. "See you later! Don't wait up!" she said before hurrying out the door.

Kelly smiled when Elisha rushed out and sat down on her bunk. "Don't wait up...I think Miss Elisha is finally going to get her groove." With a giggle, she reached for a PADD and started to play music once again.

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