Page 28 of Tis the Season for Tentacles
She reaches over and takes hold of my hand, squeezing it. “I agree but what happened really was our fault. We never should have suggested poor Felix pay the price for our mistake simply because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
I narrow my eyes at her. “None of this would have happened in the first place if you all had just listened to me when I said visiting Earth again was a bad idea.”
And now we’ll still have to come back again to return Felix in a few weeks. A third time feels even riskier.
She sips her coffee and nods. “True. It wasn’t our most rational hour.” She glances around happily. “Although the ship looks festive and fantastic.”
I scowl again and she nibbles at her toast without any repentance.
“You need to find a way to make up with Felix,” she declares after swallowing a mouthful of food. “We’re going to be together for a while, and it’ll be super uncomfortable and irritating if you guys do this the whole time. No harshing on our Christmas spirit, man.”
I look away. “It’s only a couple of weeks, then we’ll send him back and won’t have anything else to do with him. Surely, you can tolerate a few weeks of awkwardness.”
Rambo beeps three times. “I am serious. And don’t call me Shirley.”
It’s Luna’s turn to cross her arms and level me with a challenging stare. “Najar Mezdel, you’re acting like a bratty little kid right now. Why can’t you just admit that you were wrong and try to mend fences with Felix?”
I bang a tentacle hard on the table, and I let a sliver of my irritability show. “I did apologize to him! I even swore the warrior’s oath, but he is avoiding me like I’m the plague—or something worse.”
Luna strokes her chin thoughtfully. “You know, humans have the expression ‘actions speak louder than words,’ and I think it’s an apt one, particularly in this case.”
My brows draw together. “What do you mean?”
She rolls her eyes at me like I’m a dumbass. “I’m saying that maybe the apology was good but it wasn’t enough. You have to put yourself in Felix’s shoes. He doesn’t know us or our ways. He was abducted against his will. Until recently, he’d never met an extraterrestrial being before, let alone traveled off his home planet. All of this has got to be really overwhelming, but he’s handling it incredibly well, all things considered.” She gives me a sad look. “Najar, you’ve been a great friend to me for decades, so don’t take this the wrong way. Dude, to those who don’t know you well? You can come off as a little… intimidating. I think Felix is still worried you might try to forcibly erase his memories.”
The very idea that Felix might think I would forcibly do something without his consent makes me nauseous.
“What can I do to get him to talk to me again?”
She lets go of me and cradles her mug in her hands. “Hmm. Let me think…”
I know Luna well and I can tell she’s trying to mess with me. “Help!”
She smirks. “Fine. You need to woo him.”
I choke on air. “W-what?”
She bats her eyelashes at me innocently. “Woo him with friendship. Make friendly overtures.”
“How? He runs away the instant he sees me.”
“That is a challenge,” she admits. “But I’ll help you out. We’re going to be arriving on Glacius Major soon. I’ll find a way to leave you two on your lonesome when we split up to explore.”
I heave a sigh of relief. “Thanks.”
“I got you, bro.” Her smile turns mischievous. “Besides, it’s in my own selfish best interest to help smooth things over with you and Felix. I’m trying to get in his sister’s good books—among other things.”
“Are you being serious right now?”
“Totally. We’ve been messaging each other daily.” Luna twirls a pigtail around a tentacle. “Gemma is amazing and so wonderfully luscious.”
Indeed, while Felix possesses a lean, tall physique, his sister appeared to have a fuller figure when we saw her on the viewscreen.
“What my tentacles could do to her…” Luna muses, licking her lips.
“You can toss that idea right out of your head. We’re returning Felix, not picking up more humans—and most certainly not his poor sister.”
“We’ll see.”
