Chapter Text
The thrumming of the elevator picked up as it reached the station.
"Here's to another boring night," Laura muttered under her breath as she stood up in preparation, hefting her backpack onto her shoulder. She remembered when she used to get excited at the sound; once, it symbolized freedom. She almost rolled her eyes at the thought now.
Laura had practically begged her dad to let her apply to the diner-- it had seemed exciting at the time, working on one of Styria's moons. And it was, at first. But she soon realized that while she may not have been stuck on the main planet, there was no way she'd leave orbit. Distance wasn't really freedom when you could only take one route.
It got to Laura sometimes, staring out of the clear elevator windows to the distant stars and planets out there and having to be confined to such a small place. She'd been to another planet once, on a school field trip in sixth grade. Her dad had, of course, been one of the parent chaperons and kept an overly watchful eye on her there like he does when they're on Styria, so it wasn't much of an adventure. Especially considering wandering from the group or tour was expressly forbidden.
So that didn't really count.
She closed her eyes at the puff of air the doors let out when they open at the station and stepped off, swiping her id card to get through the gates. It usually took her under a minute to get to work, but with the construction for a new fuel stop the time had risen to a couple of minutes. She'd purposefully left out the information about the construction when talking to her dad; he'd probably demand she stop going to work if he didn't have a heart attack at her being so close to potential dangers first.
As boring as Laura's job was, it was still the only bit of freedom she had. She wasn't about to give it up.
"Hollis!" A familiar wave of red hair greeted her at the back entrance and Laura couldn't resist the urge to smile. She'd known Danny since middle school-- high school, really, since Danny was two grades above of her. Practically two feet above her, too. She tried not to be bitter.
(Even though she could admit she found taller girls to be, well, attractive, Laura still wasn't exactly happy with her height).
The two had bonded over an enthusiasm for Earth literature. As a freshman, Laura spent most of her time in the school library reading. Danny had been the assistant librarian at the time and had stuck up a conversation one day. They'd been friends ever since.
Well, sort-of-friends. Laura wasn't exactly sure, but lately it kind of felt like they were dating. Maybe. She was a bit too nervous to ask.
"Hi, Danny," Laura answered, beaming up at her. Whatever their relationship status was, she still enjoyed being around her. She glanced over Danny's appearance and noticed she wasn't wearing her uniform. "You going somewhere?"
"Yeah, the Summer Society has a football match tonight. Cochrane let me off early by some miracle." Danny said and Laura's stomach dropped in disappointment. She wasn't looking forward to spending the night alone in the diner, especially with the grumpy manager and cook.
"Oh. Well, have fun!" Laura smiled again and stepped around the taller girl, her head snapping up when she felt an arm on her shoulder. "Was there... something else?" Danny wasn't one for lingering when there was any activity by the Summer Society going on.
"Are you doing anything after your shift?" Danny looked down at her, a slightly nervous grin on her face.
"Sleeping," Laura replied honestly. It was ten at night now and she was scheduled to go until four in the morning. She didn't mind the late shifts that much; there weren't many customers and on especially slow nights she was able to read an entire book. "Why? Is there something going on?"
"Well, after the game me and some of the Summer Society girls were planning on hanging out at Elsie's house. I was wondering if maybe you'd want to come by?"
"Sure!" She could probably use some fun after being stuck alone in the diner for six hours.
"I'll see you then?" Danny smiled and Laura realized that maybe this was more than 'hanging out'.
"Yeah. Bye, Danny!" She called out as the redhead sprinted away.
Was it a date? At least they would be in a group. Laura didn't know why she was so nervous; it suddenly felt like she was a freshman in high school with a massive crush all over again.
Laura shook her head, a small grin plastered on her face as she entered the diner.
Laura was halfway through Dracula when the door jingled, signaling the arrival of a customer. Laura’s head shot up in surprise; the stretch between 1 and 3 am was usually completely static and clients were rare. Sure, you’d get the occasional college student during exam week, but that had been months ago.
“I’ll be with you in a second, seat yourself!” Laura called out, shoving a discarded receipt into her novel as a makeshift bookmark and hurriedly putting her apron back on.
The apron, which was part of the uniform, was, frankly, hideous and Laura took it off whenever she had a break.
“Welcome to Styria’s Moon Diner,” Laura said once she had made it over to the table. It was getting harder to stay cheerful when saying ‘Styria’s Moon Diner.’ She’s not sure if she could come up with a more uncreative name if she tried.
“My name is Laura Hollis and I’ll be your waitress this… morning,” she fumbled, sneaking a glance at the clock to check the time. Who even came to diners at 2AM? Maybe it was more popular in other solar systems. Maybe she needed to get out of here, she thought for most likely the millionth time that hour.
Laura definitely needed to get out of here.
She glanced up and finally got a look at the customer, her eyes widening slightly.
Who came to diners at 2AM? Apparently creepy people wearing questionable bandanas so you couldn’t see their face. And took too long to answer.
Seriously, what was this woman wearing on her face? There was some sort of veil covering her head and eyes accompanying the suspicious bandana.
“Are you ready to order?” Laura finally said, the silence stretching out far too long for her liking. Especially when she couldn’t see any of the facial expressions the customer could be making.
All she got was a slight shake of the head, which she took to mean a ‘no’. Okay then.
“Well, I’ll be over at the counter, so just uh-- wave me down when you are ready.” Laura quickly scurried back. Yeah, so maybe she was a little bit freaked out at the absence of verbal communication and the whole concealed identity thing at 2 in the morning.
There was also a tugging of curiosity in her gut. The kind that made her want to pursue journalism and go on adventures. That made staying on Styria even more unbearable. But she wasn’t about to bombard Ms. Creepy Customer with questions.
Laura stopped by the kitchen and rapped on the door lightly to alert Cochrane that they had a customer. She didn’t expect any response from the grumpy old woman and she got none.
She’d settled down back behind the counter and had gotten through six more pages (they were just about to kill Lucy) when a clear “Cutie,” rang out into the room. It took Laura a few seconds to register that the stranger was calling her over.
“Are you ready to order now?” Laura asked, quickly returning to the table.
“I am,” the woman answered. Her voice was low and raspy and… Laura really need to be paying attention to what she was ordering instead of getting caught up in her voice.
“I’ll have the ‘Papa Pisces’ Perihelion Pancake Platter,’” the stranger drawled out. Laura winced at sympathy at the ridiculous name; the names of the other items on the menu weren’t much better. But it gave their small diner personality, Cochrane would growl out threateningly, and besides, the locals liked them. It was nice having someone other than her friends to share in the cringe-worthiness of the weird names.
“Anything else I can get you? Something to drink?”
“You got any alcohol here?”
Laura blinked at the question. Pancakes and alcohol? Well, she supposed, it was two in the morning and she was wearing a bandana. “The bar’s closed, sorry.”
“Just water then,” the woman sighed as she put the plastic menu back on the table, leaning back against the booth.
Laura nodded and returned to the counter, slipping a small order form for the platter under the kitchen window to Cochrane. She picked up a glass and filled it at the tap before going back to the table.
“Your order will be right out for you in a few minutes,” Laura said as she put the glass down in front of the woman.
“Thanks, cutie.” Laura was once again caught off guard at the attractiveness of her voice. And the pet name.
Laura really wished she could see the stranger’s face. To at least get a sense of age, maybe. ‘Cutie’ coming from someone around Laura’s age had a very different effect than coming from someone, say, Cochrane’s age.
But Laura was skeptic there was any living being even close to Cochrane’s age.
“Sure,” was all she came up with in return before returning to the counter.
“One Perihelion Platter,” Laura said as she slid the plate onto the table. “Anything else I can get for you?”
“Why don’t you sit down?”
The question startled Laura and she frowned, considering. “I don’t think I’m really--”
“Look, it’s not like there’s anyone else here, you look bored out of your mind in that little corner over there, and I could use some company,” the stranger cut her off. Laura assumed from her tone of voice that her eyebrows were raised. If she even had eyebrows.
“Fine.” Laura surprised herself by sitting down opposite her, crossing her arms awkwardly. She couldn’t deny that she was intrigued by the stranger. Or that she could use some company herself other than dear Jonathan Harker. Laura watched her eat for a minute before attempting to start a conversation. “Aren’t bandanas a little outdated?”
Of course that was what came out of her mouth. She had obviously mastered the art of being smooth. But it was something Laura was curious about and wanted to know the answer to.
“Maybe,” the stranger shrugged, shoving a piece of pancake into her mouth. Or at least, that’s what Laura assumed she was doing. Though she couldn’t see her mouth underneath the fabric, it was perfectly reasonable to assume she was actually eating the food she had ordered.
Unless she didn't have a mouth, in which case, why would she be eating at all? Her voice sounded too human to be another species-- and while androids were making progress in mimicking the human voice all the time, they weren't that good yet.
Laura stopped thinking about it before her thoughts could take her any further. Plus, it was probably rude to speculate on whether or not someone had a mouth or not. Or eyebrows.
But it would explain the whole bandana-veil-mask thing going on. Maybe.
“So why are you wearing one, then?” It might be nice to know if the person she was talking to had a mouth or not.
“Have you heard of fashion, cutie?”
Laura tilted her head, narrowing her eyes. That would be an acceptable answer, but… “You just said it was outdated!”
“I said maybe,” the stranger put her fork down and picked up her water. “Why are you so interested?”
“It’s not everyday you see people wearing bandanas. Certainly not people who come into this diner. Or to Styria,” Laura defended herself. It was true; almost all of her customers were either locals or regulars stopping by before continuing on to the trading markets.
“Maybe I’m going to a place where bandanas are fashionable,” the stranger countered playfully before taking a sip of water. She had to lift her bandanna slightly to do so and Laura caught a glimpse of lips-- so she did have a mouth.
“Where are you going?”
The woman shrugged. “Not anywhere in particular. I drift, mostly. What about you, creampuff? You going anywhere?”
Laura’s face scrunched briefly at the nickname. Creampuff? Really? “Nope,” Laura sighed resentfully at the sore topic.
“Do you want to? Travel, I mean.”
“Of course,” Laura nodded eagerly, her cheeks reddening slightly at the quickness of her response.
“Where do you want to go?”
“Anywhere that’s not here.” She’d been waiting to get out of Styria since she was born, practically.
“Hmm.” The stranger seemed to consider her words, putting the glass back on the table. “Why haven’t you left?”
“I don’t exactly have a license to travel the galaxy.” Laura looked down awkwardly. That, and her dad would probably have an aneurysm. “Or any means of getting out of here.”
“You should come with me.”
Laura laughed incredulously. “What?”
“I’m serious. I could use some company travelling as well as here.” The stranger was leaning forward slightly and Laura’s heartbeat sped up. Is she serious?
“All I know about you is that you think bandanas are fashionable,” Laura protested. Wait, was she actually considering this? Flying off Styria with a complete stranger?
Her desperation was reaching new extremes.
“Tell you what. I’ll be back here in a week; you can give me your answer then.” The stranger stood up, pulling out a couple credits out of her pocket to put on the table.
Sensible Laura Hollis would have had an answer for her then and there. No. What was she, a helpless heroine waiting to be swept off into the galactic sunset by some sort of savior?
Future Journalist Laura Hollis also had an answer. Get the hell out of here as soon as you can.
Regular Laura Hollis was left standing speechless watching the back of the stranger disappear out of the diner.
She’d definitely need that week to think about it.