She sighed, cradling the sweater in her hand for a moment.
“Excuse me, what do you think you’re doing?” Brooklyn asked from the bathroom doorway.
Jenny jumped and returned to folding the sweater so she could pack it in her bag.
“Packing,” Jenny said.
“You’re leaving?” Brooklyn asked, coming into Jenny’ room.
“It seems so,” she replied. “Kind of, anyway.”
“Moving to another apartment? What’s the matter? Can you hear me snoring or something? Am I a pig in the bathroom?”
Jenny chuckled. “No, nothing like that.”
“Then what, you’re just leaving?”
Jenny shrugged. “Yeah, actually. I’m going back to The Bridge.”
Brooklyn stared at her. “Why are you going back there?” She asked as she picked up one of Jenny’s shirts, folded it and laid it in her suitcase.
“Well, I’m doing another, uh, study,” she said, her cheeks warming.
“Studies don’t make you blush,” Brooklyn said.
Jenny folded more items for her suitcase, so she didn’t have to look at her friend. “It does when you’ve been selected to mate with an alien.”
“What?” Brooklyn cried out. Her eyes opened huge and her jaw slack in shock. “You’ve gotta be kidding! Who is it? Is it that Karuk guy? The one who keeps watching you?”
Jenny nodded.
“Oh my god. You have got to be kidding. Really?” Brooklyn was almost bouncing as she spoke.
Her enthusiasm was contagious, and Jenny couldn’t stop grinning. “Really. We’re going to stay at The Bridge for a while, see what we think of each other. Go on some dates and spend some time together.”
“And slam some headboards into walls, I hope,” Brooklyn said.
Jenny shrugged. “If it comes to that.”
“Wow.” She shook her head. “Talk about a plot twist.”
“I know. This is not how I expected this job to go,” Jenny said. “I mean, we’re supposed to be here and help create science and stuff. Not wind up dating the aliens!”
“Right? How did this happen? Did you like agree to something extra somewhere? Sign up for some additional work?”
Jenny sat on the bed next to Brooklyn. “No, not at all. I guess when they scanned us all in, they scanned in the construction crews as well, for a test database. Even Re-lee was shocked that a match had been made with such a small pool of Earthlings verses other humanoids.”
“Are we just that compatible?” Brooklyn muttered, shaking her head.
“You know, she didn’t really say. But regardless, they gave us the choice if we wanted to take the match, since we weren’t here for that. So after a little talking, Karuk and I decided it would be worth the risk to try and see what happens.”
“And how do you feel about it?” Brooklyn asked.
“Well, he’s super attractive and seems sincere about protecting me from my stalking ex,” Jenny said.
Brooklyn nodded. “I had a good feeling about him that first day in the cafeteria. You need a good protecter.”
Mr. F bellowed his disapproval of Brooklyn’s comment.
