CHAPTER SEVEN

As Proto Zoa was boarding the flight that would take him back down to Earth, he felt more like an indiot with each step taken. The need to tell Zenon how he felt had risen again with more force than ever, but he'd pushed it back down with a determination than he hadn't known he possessed. Unfortunately, the lid wasn't as secure as the singer had hoped; he could still feel the tingles he associated with being in Zenon's company coursing through his body. Involuntarily swallowing as he did his best to keep an unexpected tear from forming, Proto Zoa made his way to his assigned seat in a daze.

Unaware of Nebula sitting in her seat next to him, he was staring in the direction he had just come from, his minds' eye replaying his last image of Zenon: her fleeing in the opposite direction than that which he had taken. Had it been something he said? Was there something wrong? Could it be, dare he hope, that she was as upset about his leaving as he was himself?

"She's really upset, isn't she?" The teenager's answer was a distracted nod. "As upset as you are," she offerred, prodding him to actually answer her verbally.

"Impossible," he answered in a distracted sigh as he blinked back the tears that still threatened.

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Zenon continued in her sprint back to the habitation module, determined to get there before ProtoZoa was in range to recieve a Zap. She slowed, nearing the maze of hallways before her destination. Ducking under some maintenance workers, sidestepping some playing children and jumping over a small box, Zenon quickly pressed the button to open the door to her humble abode.

Once inside, Zenon fled down the staircase, slipping through the banister not even 3 steps down. With a slight thud, Zenon landed on her bed, reaching for her Zap Pad immediately. Just as she was pressing in the last few buttons of his contact number, reality hit her. She began to realize that it wasn't anything, his kissing her cheek. It certainly did not signify feelings from him, even if her body was overcome by the longing for him. Her world came crashing down around her, so she placed the Zap Pad back on its holder, and proceeded to nestle her head in her pillow, preparing for the Final Exam's she had to take tomorrow, back in school. She drifted off to sleep, fully intending to forget about him.

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The ride back to Earth was relativly uneventful, he and Nebula had a conversation in which he realized that he should have told her. His mind flashbacked to the confession she had told him a few short moments ago.

***

"Zoa? Neb asked softly, trying her hardest not to pry but still find out what the deal was.

"Hmm?" was all the reply that came from the somewhat sedated man facing the window, turned away from her. He wasn't going to make this easy, but she was not one to give up.

"You didn't tell her, did you?" Neb asked, nudging him to answer the question she knew there was no need to ask. Silence was her reply, and the air around them seemed to ice over. Nebula continued to look at him, persevering attitude shining through.

Proto Zoa stared over at his companion on the flight. "That's none of your business," he snapped. Even as she drew back from him in shock he knew that he shouldn't be opening his mouth. Knowing didn't stop him frrom doing. "Being someone's friend doesn't mean you pry into their every waking thought, Nebula."

She blinked at the man she had befriended through her own B.F. The rockstar with whom she'd gone from being a nonentity with a crush to hopefully friend. "Actually," she corrected him with a carefully formal tone of voice, "that's just what it means. At least it does for us real mortals."

Proto Zoa looked at the dark teenager with an angry contempt in his normally shuttered eyes. "What do you know about the real world?"

Neb sat back in her seat and clenched her hands. She would not hit him. She would not hit him. Violence solved nothing, no matter how badly he was asking for it. "Your real world? Not a thing," she admitted. "But my real world, the world where friends are people you can lean on and people are more than stepping stones or subjects of songs, a lot. I may be young," she continued at his incredulous look, "but that doesn't mean I'm clueless."

"You're so worldly your parents had to send you down to Earth to save you froom a big bad boy," he tossed at her. His accent was getting more pronounced until he was fairly biting off each word.

Nebula's dark eyes dropped as her expression changed from defensive to defeated in a heartbeat. The hurt that only the seat cushion saw in her eyes was expressed to Proto Zoa by the quivering of her lips and teeth clenched against the impulse to say something she knew she'd regret.

"Nebula," he started before stopping and swallowing as she raised glistening eyes to his.

Mutely, she shook her head in answer or warning. She wasn't entirely sure which herself. He reached out to touch her arm, an action stopped by Nebula's drawing away from him in silent refusal. Standing up abruptly, she grabbed her bag in a tight hold and brushed past him to find another seat. Luckily, there were two in the back row of the shuttle, on either side of a military officer. She sat down in one and managed a tight smile for the man she was now sitting next to. Buckling her seatbelt, she surreptitiously wiped one hand across her eyes before focussing on the plain gray wall next to her.

ProtoZoa cast a wary glance back to Nebula's new seat, next to the rigid man. She was facing the wall, pointedly ignoring him. Inside, he felt several different feelings, one was to talk to her, another was to forget about her, and the third one was to just let her be mad for a while; but then he realized that he was as equally angry with her. Why should he feel remorse? He had done nothing wrong, she was just a moody teenager.

Moments passed with no interaction between the two sparring people, each silently reliving what had just happened. Nebula was weighing out to whom the blame was owed, and ProtoZoa was contemplating whether or not he should try to talk to her. As angry as he was, the more he thought about what he said, the more repulsed with himself he became. He didn't know the whole story behind it, and he knew very well what a jerk Orion could be, he had witnessed it himself. As much as the Brit wished he could be right, deep down, he knew he wasn't.

Another brief moment had gone by when stirring made ProtoZoa look up. Bustling past, in a rather noisy fashion, was the man that was sitting by Nebula. Once he had relocated himself to the front of the shuttle, ProtoZoa took that chance to go and talk to Nebula, assuming that she'd have him. He walked slowly and steadily, careful not to make much noise; the girl sitting next to the window was still gazing out, a tear still glistening down the side of her face. He eased into the semi soft chair, waiting for her to acknowledge his presence, which she had no intention of doing. He finally got the nerve and the patience to try and speak to her.

"Nebula, I have something to say and I hope that you will listen. I am sorry for what I said over there, it wasn't the appropriate thing to say or do and you by far did not deserve it. I don't know the whole story with that Orion guy, but I do know that I was in the wrong and I am sorry," He stated, telling her most of the truth but leaving out the part that he thought she was incredibly in the wrong too. He watched her frigid form for any signs of movement, and when he saw none, he shrank back into his seat, muttering a slightly rude but nearly inaudible comment.

"Bloody Horomonal Teenagers," He uttered, thinking it was too quiet for Nebula to hear.

"What?" She asked, the sudden tone of her voice surprising him.

"Nothing," He lied, wanting to talk with her and not create yet another discrepancy between himself and her tempremental emotions.

"No, tell me what you said," She demanded, emotions still running wild.

"Fine, I said bloody horomonal teenagers," He confessed, not sorry for it.

"One, its not my 'horomones' that made me upset back there, it was YOU and your ignorant comments. Two, the only reason I wanted to know what happened with you and Zenon is because I am sick and tired of seeing you two seperated when you like her and she likes you. This is stupid. Stupid Stupid Stupid!!" Nebula's voice raised with each word that cometh after the next. Proto Zoa's eyes grew wide at what she listed as number two, Zenon liking him. He sat stunned, and Nebula gave him another contemptous look, only slight confusion also rested on her features.

"Nebula," ProtoZoa inquired, "Did you just say, what I think you just said?"

"Umm, what do you think I just said," Nebula asked, completly confused now.

"You just said that Zenon fancied me. Does she?" He asked, his voice incredulous as is a four year olds on Christmas morn, when he sees his presents.

"Well, I uh, um, yes, I did," Nebula gave up trying cover it up. She had avoided his eyes while saying that, looking a her fidgiting hands in her lap. She finally raised her gaze to meet him at eyelevel, hoping that he was not looking at her, but alas, he was. His eyes pierced into her similar to the way hers had him on the first night of her stay.

"Nebula," ProtoZoa said, evenly. "Do she really fancy me? Like me?" He wanted answers, and he wanted them now.

"Yes she does," Nebula answered, still defeated. The look on ProtoZoa's face was only communicating one emotion: joy, while Nebula wondered what Zenon's emotions would display. Anger? Resentment? Happieness? Nebula only hoped that Zenon did not blame her for telling him.

***

He finished thinking through what had happened again and again, each time, the beaming smile plastered across his gorgeous major face only got bigger. He wanted to talk to Zenon, to Zap Pad her and tell her that he fancied her too, but he couldn't until he got off the shuttle, so not to interfere with radars and such on the shuttle.

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"Thank you, have a nice day," The woman at the counter ennunciated robotically. Zenon gave her a smile that was as equally cheesy as the one displayed forcefully across the clerks face. Zenon couldn't blame her for hating that job, but no need to be rude to her about it! She took her changed and folded it in with her left over creds.

'This time,' she thought to herself, 'I will get over that jerk if its the last thing I do.' She had just purchased a call blocking unit for her Zap Pad, and fully intended to add ProtoZoa's contact number to the list first.

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"Thank you for riding with us today, we at the company formerly known as Wyndcomm hope you will be flying with us again soon," The voice from the speakers came from overhead. ProtoZoa was fairly shaking in anticipation to get off the shuttle, which had just finished docking outside of the large buildings of the buisness formerly known as Wyndcomm. Nebula couldn't help but smile as she watched the man who would soon wisk her best friend right off her feet. Nebula put her bag down to help cover his face, she zipped his jacket up high, made him wear regular pants and ditch the snakeskin stuff, and put dark sunglasses on his well tanned face. The whole time he was bouncing off the walls to get out of the place, because he wanted to go call Zenon. Soon the doors opened and he and Nebula were the first two out of the shuttle.

If ProtoZoa was just shaking before, he was completly spasming now. His hands shook as he dialed the number, and his heart leaped when he saw his call going through. He stopped short of all emotions other than confusion when he got an automated message from Zenon, saying:

"Yeah, uh huh, I don't want to talk to you, so stop calling," The image of Zenon on the screen plastered a fake smile on and pressed the off button on her Zap pad. ProtoZoa's confused face turned towards Nebula, as if to convey 'What?' and Nebula shook her head, equally confused.

"Nebula-- what? Huh?" Not only was PZ confused, he was also saddened by this response from the girl that he loved.

"I dunno PZ," Nebula said, confirming her actions earlier. She had no clue what would have motivated Zenon's anger. Suddenly, the way that Zoa had treated her earlier came flooding back to her. He was clearly upset with something, over what, she did not know, but she was ready to ask again.

"What really happened back there after I was gone?" Nebula inquired suddenly.

"Happened where?" ProtoZoa asked.

"Back in the terminal, after I left...?" Neb prodded, determined to find out why Z would do that.

ProtoZoa sighed and told her, with a bit of releuctance.

"YOU WHAT?!?!" Neb nova'd. "Wha-- why-- ohh! Overload Major!!!" Nebula was getting over excited and began hyperventilating.

"Nebula, calm down Darling!" ProtoZoa was confused major now, and the girl that was the only one that understood him as of right now was making no sense what so ever.

"You kissed her and you didn't say anything after that?" Nebula questioned, making it seem as though everything made perfect sense.

"Yeah... I was embarrassed I guess," He said, things suddenly clicking in his mind. "Ohhh...." He finished, letting it all sink in.

"Exactly. I'll Zap her and explain it all to her. She likes you, she might be a little bit reluctant to hear it, but she should listen to me," Nebula planned. PZ nodded his head in agreement, ready to go on with the plan, which was as of right now, that Neb would Zap her and act like Zoa was already gone and talk to her about it.