Pandora Mech

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

  He looked guilty again.  Dude always looked guilty whenever he laid his eyes on Teak.  What was that little rat up to anyway?  Trub walked behind Sumo as the team made their way over to the Hangar after breakfast – which was sadly, Oatmeal and fruit, again.  Man, what he wouldn’t give for some Cap ‘n’ Crunch or Honey Nut Cheerios swimming in a bowl of thick creamy whole milk.  But no, Peeler got them all on some health kick of his and the only breakfast he’d be eating for a while would be runny oatmeal and some watery skim milk.

Donuts.  God, what he wouldn’t do for a donut.

  Just the thought of going without a donut for three months pissed him off and for right now the main target of his anger was the little skinny rat walking in front of him.  He hated how he walked.  He took steps too big for his size and wore Doc Martins that were too heavy which gave his walk a particularly comical bounce accompanied by the loud clumping noised that his feet made when they hit the gravel.

Trub barely resisted the urge to give him a little kick to the back of his knee which would have made his leg to give out.  But out of the corner of his eye, a little bit behind him, he could see Teak and he knew she wouldn’t approve.

  He didn’t try to pretend he didn’t have a huge crush on her.  He did.  She was tall for a girl, but athletic, funny, smart and could take care of herself when she had to.  Despite always having been shadowed by her cousin Pepe at the tourney’s most of the pro gamer’s knew her well enough to respect her as a player and individual.  But that didn’t stop some of the more immature players (Sumo) from saying some particularly nasty things to her to get in her head.  He understood why Pepe insisted of chaperoning her to most of the events when she was still in high school.  But now that she was out and was an adult she had a right to do what she felt was best for her career. 

  For some reason, Trub always caught himself trying to find her in every room they were in.  As if seeing her there, or knowing where she was gave him a sense of comfort. 

She had an exotic beauty about her face that constantly drew his eyes in her direction.  She had dark expressive eyebrows that would arch whenever she heard something that sounded like bullshit – which happened to be almost half the stories or jokes he tried to tell her.  Sometimes he’d just say things to get her eyebrows to arch.

  Underneath her eyebrows were eyes big and brown, framed with thick lashes.  She had full, expressive lips, but not too pouty.  Her nose was from her Polynesian side, wide and long, with a small crook at the bridge.  A slight flaw, but one that contrasted with well with the nearly flawless features of the rest of her face,  revealing an asymmetrical beauty that made the eyes of those who glanced at her go back over her face a second time and third time to figure out the intangible beauty that drew them in.

  Trub was confident enough to ask her out if he wanted.  He could tell she liked him enough to consider such a proposition and knowing she had recently broken up with her long-term high school boyfriend, now would be the perfect opportunity.  Except, it wasn’t.  Since they were working together on the mech’s it would only be an unnecessary complication.  However, that didn’t stop him from making sure that when their three months were up, he be the first to ask her out. 

  Suddenly, Sumo’s clumping footsteps stopped and Trub smashed right into him, knocking him forward.

“Watch it, dumb ah—“  Sumo snarled as he picked himself up off the ground.

“Dumb what?”  Trub asked, standing over him.

“You think I’m afraid to call you a dumb ASS to your face?”