Page 12 of Laugh

“You said–”

She interrupts me. “So, tomorrow then. I’ll await your spaceship, Captain. Talk to you then. Bye!” The phone disconnects.

I’m left frozen on the couch, staring at my phone that shows me our phone call was a little over ten minutes. Unsure of what just happened at the end of our conversation, I shake my head and set it down on the cushion next to me.

I don’t know what to make of Haddie Byer, but tomorrow’sspaceshipride should be interesting, to say the least.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The moment Haddie slides into the passenger seat, she’s got her hand covering her mouth as she tries to hold in her laughter. Face turning pink, her shoulders shaking, and her eyes are beginning to water as she runs her eyes over the dashboard.

“What?” I ask her, looking around for any indication of what has her about to lose her shit.

Snorting, she shakes her head. “Nothing, nothing. Sorry.” She tucks her light pink lips between her teeth in an obvious attempt to stop laughing.What the hell is so funny?

“Seriously, why are you laughing?” Looking down at myself, I study my clothes and determine I’m not dressed weirdly. I don’t have any food stains on my shirt, and a quick look in the rearview mirror shows there’s nothing on my face.

I scowl at her when she snorts out a laugh again, and claps her hands over her mouth. “I’msorry. I’m not… not laughing at you. Promise.”

“I doubt that,” I grumble as I put the car in drive. My phone is connected to my GPS, and it directs me to make a U-turn so we can head in the other direction.

Apparently, that’s enough for Haddie to lose it, and she bursts out laughing. “Oh God. Your car is an actualspaceship!” She looks around her and then eyes the center display again, grinning from ear to ear. “What kind of car is this?”

“What in the hell are you talking about? It’s an Infiniti SUV. Why?”I’m so goddamn confused right now.

“It’s just… come on, Captain, this thing has dials and displays and gauges. It’s freaking awesome. You have your own space craft that talks to you! Do you go to places where no man has gone before? We should go explore. Go boldly where no man has gone before!” Her giggling is lighthearted, and I know she doesn’t mean any harm. I just don’t know how to react, which means I end up sounding like a dick when I respond.

“Are you always this weird?” I want to take it back almost immediately when those words escape my mouth.

Her smile falters, and the light in her eyes dims slightly. “Yeah, sorry. I’m one of those people that lets their mouth run away from them before their brain catches up. So… How was practice?”

“I didn’t mean–” The wave of her hand cuts me off.

“No worries. Thank you for picking me up. Truly, the bus would have been fine, but I appreciate not having to use it.” Still feeling guilty for hurting the feelings of the person who’s doing me a huge favor, I let her change the subject.

“It’s no problem. So, why don’t you have a car?” I ask, curious because even though we live in a bigger city, things are pretty spread out. Most people have access to some sort of vehicle. I imagine she makes decent money where she works.

Shrugging, she looks out the window to watch the buildings as we fly past them. “Cars are expensive. Gas, maintenance, buying the vehicle itself, tires. When I need to gohomehome, I just borrow my friend’s car.”

“Where’s home?”

“It’s about a half an hour north. I suppose it’s not reallymy home anymore, but my dad and stepmom live there. Are you from this area originally?”

“Sort of, a couple of hours from here.” I don’t say anything else. It’s not that I mind talking about my home, but inevitably, talk of family follows and it’s not always my favorite topic.

I glance over at her and see that she’s chewing on her lip. The silence is a little awkward and I try to think of something to say to alleviate it. I swear, I’ve never felt this awkward talking to someone before.

“So, do you have any sib–”

“Do you ever wonder if transformers are real?”

My mouth snaps shut.What?“Uhh…”

Letting out a nervous laugh, she continues on the most bizarre train of thought. “I mean, if you think about it, it’s not out of the realm of possibilities. I’m not saying that they could be aliens or anything, although I won’t throw that idea out because who knows? It’s a huge universe. But you know that, Captain. All I mean is… well, robots, right? Technology has come so far, so who knows if they’ve been able to create that level of artificial intelligence? Then, that leads one to consider the possibility that they’ve become self-aware. I don’t know about you, but I would think that the first thing on their minds would be how to feel more human.”

She trails off a moment before shocking me. “I bet they’d want to have sex. Can’t get much more human than that.”

“I’m, umm, not sure… Where are you going with this?” I’m not uncomfortable with the fact that this woman I barely know is talking about sex. It’s the fact that she’s encased it in so much random shit that I don’t know if she’s joking or not.

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