The Worst Of Times

Posted on Tue Dec 18th, 2012 @ 11:41pm by Lieutenant Riley Sukotav & Petty Officer 1st Class Drusilla Dupree

Riley’s Quarters

Riley had unpacked the few things he’d had in his bag. The rest would be delivered as soon as they had time. He’d read up on current events on the station and he was both concerned over the disappearance of the CO and XO through a rift, and curious about it too. He sent a message on to Commander Leroy offering his help and now, he was reclined back in his sofa with a glass of wine. The bottle had been a gift upon his departure from the Evariste and he had to admit it was quite good.

So now, he was settled in, doing little more than letting his mind wander. And of course, that night rose in his thoughts. It had to be the worst blind date in the history of the universe. She was the sister of his Academy roommate. She was in San Francisco on vacation and Riley was persuaded to step up, show her the city. Nothing romantic they said, just being polite. They knew his shortcoming with women. They hoped to take the pressure off. No big deal they said.

Riley groaned aloud and took another sip as the memory of that day began to replay....and refused to stop.

San Francisco, 2378

Riley arrived at the hotel right on time, looking spiffy in his cadet uniform. At the main desk, a young woman waited, slender and blonde. She was decidedly pretty, he thought. Then gave himself a stern talking too as he crossed the lobby. Don’t get wound up. She’s here for the day, just needs someone to show her around. That’s all. Piece of cake. Yeah...

Looking up from the floor, where her eyes spent most of their time, Drusilla Dupree saw the young cadet walking purposefully toward her. “Must be him,” she said to herself. She’d been told he was a Starfleet cadet, she was to meet him here. A quick look around told her no other cadets were there so, all things being equal...

She smiled at him. He stopped close to her. “Hi,” she said.

“Miss Dupree?” Riley offered his hand to her. “Cadet Second Class Riley Sukotav. Beren’s description didn’t do you justice.”

“Thank you,” she said, taking his hand and shaking it lightly before letting go quickly. “I’m sorry that you’ve been lashed with me for the night, but I appreciate it. It’s my first time in San Francisco.”

“I’m happy to do it. Beren has a warp theory exam in the morning and he was all but tearing his hair out at the roots when I left him. Shall we? I made dinner reservations for 1900 hours.” He smiled a bit sheepishly. “Seven o’clock.”

“I’m familiar with 24-hour time, but thank you.” She took the offered arm and walked with him. “So, how are you liking the Academy? I’ve often thought about joining Starfleet myself, if nothing else but to be able to see all kinds of new places.” While it looked like she was at ease talking to him, she’d have much rather preferred not to speak at all. She was a bit of an introvert but since this Cadet Sukotav was doing someone a favor, it wasn’t fair to treat him poorly.

“It’s been better than I imagined, to be honest. I’ll finish up next fall and then ship out.” He led her out of the hotel and soon they were being ferried off to the restaurant. “What field are you interested in, if I may ask?”

“I’ve always had my eye on counseling. I like helping people.” She spoke somewhat quietly. “Where are we headed tonight?”

“Spruce. It was always one of the best and still around even after all this time. Rather amazing and....” he felt a sudden deep dismay. “C-Counseling?”

A small smile curled her lips. “Yes, counseling. It doesn’t take a doctor to see that you’re not entirely comfortable with that.” She left her words hanging, hoping he would elaborate.

Riley started to speak, stopped and swallowed and tried again. “Sorry. Just caught me off guard is all.” Her smile enchanted him, he realized. And groaned inwardly. That meant trouble, at least for him and the evening was going so well. So far.

She let it slip for now, but made a mental note to follow up later. Why was everyone so worried about the counselors? “So, tell me about this Spruce place. Dining? Dancing? A theater? I’ve not heard of it until now.”

“Some of the...best food in the city. And dancing now too. That is, if you’re so inclined?” He was caught suddenly by her eyes. They were a color impossible to describe. Most called it hazel but it didn’t do them justice. They were green, gold, and hints of velvet brown and grey all at once. It was like watching a kaleidoscope and Riley was fascinated. And realized he’d fallen silent and was staring.

The small smile was still there but she squinted her eyes a bit, wondering what was going on with him suddenly. “Uh, yeah, dancing is fine,” she said. “I don’t think I asked you--what department are you going into?”

“Science. Plasma dynamics specialty.” The shuttle slowed and landed,mercifully. The hatch was opened and Riley jumped out and then offered his hand to help her out as well.

She smiled again, trying her best to be polite, and took his hand. “Thank you. So, plasma dynamics? You seemed a bit concerned about me being in the counseling field, but that level of science? That whole field just make me nervous. I guess I get a little concerned that I won’t be able to keep up with the conversation.”

They walked up to the door and were let in. Riley’s thought as they were led to a table was that she should have no trouble. It was easy to follow sentences that only had two or three stuttered words in them.

* * *

Dinner had been excellent and thankfully the food had somewhat covered the fact that Riley was having trouble talking now. The more he watched her, her hypnotic eyes, her shy smile, the worse it became. Finally, after dessert, he’d managed to ask her to dance and here they were, with her in his arms. One thing he could do was dance. And given the noise from the music and those around them, his lack of conversation wasn’t so bad. He hoped.

He could dance, that was for sure. She’d not been out in a long time just to have some fun. If he would open up more, she thought that he might have been a good catch for some lucky girl. They danced through two songs and after the second she excused herself to the ‘powder room’. When she returned he was sitting at their table staring blankly.

“So...Riley? You with me?”

“What? Oh...yes.” He smiled, watching her intently. “More wine?”

“Sure, but just half.” She sipped at the glass of water while he poured the wine. “So, where are we going next? This was fun but I was hoping to see a bit more of the city tonight.”

“We have several places to see ...when we leave here...” He lifted the bottle and poured her half a glass. As he moved the bottle away, it tipped the glass over and red wine splashed the front of her dress. “Oh...no...oh...hell...” Any more words just wouldn’t come now.

She froze when the wine splashed down her front. With the damage already done there was no point in standing and spreading it even further down her dress. With an exasperated sigh she took her napkin, and his, and began trying to soak up the spill. It had begun to soak through the front and was actually cold, which made her catch her breath quickly.

He stood and came around, apparently trying to help. “No, no..” she said. “I’ll manage, thanks.”

Despite the mess, she knew that he didn’t mean to do it on purpose. Despite waving him off she still smiled gently. As he moved further from his chair, it suddenly became tragically apparent (and too late) that the edge of the tablecloth was snagged on his belt. as the two of them watched, horrified, the cloth shifted with Riley’s sudden movement and Drusilla’s dinner ended up in her lap. Riley stood horrified, now completely speechless.

Swallowing hard and trying desperately not to scream out in frustration, she now stood, her food falling to the floor. She was humiliated as all eyes were now solely on her and the entire meal that stained the front of her dress. “I need to go. Now,” she said, as she grabbed her purse and began walking to the door. Some of the patrons felt bad for her, she could see on their faces, but others were laughing. She was normally fairly reserved with her feelings, but as she caught more and more people staring and chuckling, she felt her face getting red hot with embarrassment and even her eyes began to mist a bit. She desperately looked for a hole to fall into to get out of that place.

Riley took care of the check and apologized to the busboys that had hurried over, then ran after Drusilla. He didn’t catch up to her until they were outside and she was already halfway into a shuttle.

“Drusilla? I....I’m so...sorry. “ Of all the times to get too nervous to get his point across, this wasn’t it.

“I just want to go home, Riley,” she said. She couldn’t get out of the public eye fast enough at this point. “Can we just do that?” Her smile was gone now. Her face was etched with pure embarrassment and having to stand in front of the place with wine and food on her dress did nothing to help.

“Yes...sure...” He climbed in beside her and they were soon underway. “I promise not to make the shuttle crash.” His tone was glum. A nice girl and this had to happen. Beren would never let him live this down, and Drusilla would likely never speak to him again. Assuming he ever say her, which was unlikely.

She said nothing as the small shuttle lifted and started on their way back to her hotel. When they got just over fifty feet in the air, the door on her side of the shuttle came unlatched. She grabbed it quickly and pulled it back to secure it. “For the love of--” she cut herself off. Had they been in a bigger shuttle this might not have been an issue, but their shuttle was just big enough for two people and was very cozy. She exhaled sharply through her nose and stared straight ahead for the rest of the ride.

Riley eyes the offending door and shook his head. the universe clearly hated him. He had nothing more to say either, and soon, Drusilla had been delivered to her hotel and he was on his way home.

Riley’s Quarters - The Present

He sighed and took one last sip of his wine, then examined the glass. “What a hell of a night...or more correctly, the night from hell.” Even all these years later, it was as fresh as if it were yesterday. Setting the wine aside, he rose and departed. He had some personnel files to deliver and now seemed as good a time as any.

Counselor Swift’s Office

This was Riley’s last stop and then he had decided to hit the Nexus, have a good dinner, enjoy the music. The doors slid opened and he stepped inside.

Dru sat at the desk of the office working on scheduling plans and reading a new Psychiatrist’s Monthly magazine on her PADD. It took her a moment to look up, but when she did, the PADD fell to the floor and she shot up out of her seat, her eyes half-expecting to see something coming at her to stain her uniform.

“What....are you....doing....here,” she said nervously and pointing down at the deck in her office.

“Oh holy hell.” Riley stared at her and just shook his head. “I mean...i saw you were on station but...here?” He realized now he should have taken the time to read and see what her position was. Frankly, her picture had surprised him so much he’d forgotten to read the particulars at all.

And here she thought she had been the one who would have blocked their entire date from memory. With a sweeping gesture around the room she said, “Counseling?” She said it as if he was supposed to know what that meant.

“How was I supposed to know you actually did it? We haven't spoken since that night, remember?” He stepped forward to leave a paddon her desk, then backed away, his hands up. “This is all I needed to give you, I swear.”

“You saw me on the station and thought, what--I was a marine?” She rolled her eyes and took what he’d handed her. “Looks like this won’t explode or spill all over me, so it should be safe enough. Is it for Doctor Swift?”

“Y-Yes.” He frowned a moment. “You could have been anywhere, Dru.” He watched her warily in case she threw the padd at him.

Looking at his rank she returned to her own seat behind the desk. “Looks as if I should be calling you ‘sir’.” She actually smiled again. “You’ve moved up quite a way since the cadet days.”

He smiled finally. “And I promise I don’t spill things on women anymore either.” The moment the words left his mouth he groaned. That sounded so very wrong.

A flush of embarrassment ran across her face again as her cheeks went hot. “Phrasing, Lieutenant,” she said prompting him to not say that again. Ever. “I see your spectacular ability to speak to women hasn’t improved.”

“Is there anything else you need, Dru? I’ve been transferred in as Chief Science Officer on the Hammond. That,” he indicated the padd, “is just a file. Nothing to spill, stain, explode, come unlatched..you get the idea.”

“You came to see me. So, as long as you don’t have anything else, I believe you would be free to go.” She gave him a knowing wink and tried to get back to her business. Besides, it was a really good magazine.

Riley was only too happy to hurry out of the office, thankfully without incident.

Once he’d gone, she picked the PADD up with her forefinger and thumb, just to make sure it wasn’t on a time-release to blow up in her face. “I wouldn’t put it past him,” she grumbled as she went back to her reading.

******************
Lt. Riley Sukotav
Hoping For Better Times

Petty Officer 2nd Drusilla Dupree
Hoping to Stay Dry