Pixie moved from the coffee table to the couch beside Poppy.“You won’t really apply, will you?”
Poppy shook her head. “I was just thinking out loud, Pix.But you have to admit, what they can do is amazing.”
“Yeah, it is.”
Watching the news broadcast for a while longer, the womentalked about ideas for lunch before settling on going out for Chinese food.
Once Brian was ready to head out, they all piled intoPixie’s SUV. The Chinese place Brian preferred was close by and only took aboutten minutes to get to.
Getting a table was fairly easy even though the place wascrowded. A quick five-minute wait and they were sitting down with menus whilegroups of people were talking loudly around them. Every once in a while, Poppywould hear “aliens” or “bride” pop up but she didn’t want to eavesdrop toomuch.
Brian dominated the conversation over lunch, talking abouthis work as if he were a heart surgeon saving lives. That was one thing Poppyhad never liked about him. Everything he did was crucial. Every meeting he tookwas with important people. Blah blah blah. It was all too much for Poppy totake sometimes.
Pixie was quiet through almost the entire meal, and Poppyknew she herself was the reason. She hadn’t meant to worry her big sister whenshe’d mentioned applying for the Bridal Pact. Poppy wasn’t even sure what theseguys looked like, for goodness’ sake. They could be two feet tall with greenskin and bulging heads.
Trying to come back to the present, Poppy listened to Briandrone on and on about work. She’d have to go back to her apartment soon. Therewas only so much of him she could take. Unlike Pixie, she had a limit on howlong she could listen to him and not think he was a total douche. Throughoutlunch, she tried to participate in the conversation, or at least Pixie’sportion of it, but for some reason, she couldn’t get the thought of the BridalPact out of her head.
Chapter Five
Poppy ended up moving back to her apartment after stayingwith her sister another week. It was either go home or smother Brian in hissleep. She figured that might piss off her sister for some reason. Getting backinto a routine seemed to be what everyone else in the world was doing. In thetwo weeks that had passed since the last presidential press conference, peoplewere once again going to work, mowing their lawns and pretty much ignoring thespaceships.
Major cities had opened Intake Centers in previously vacantoffice buildings to gather applications for the Bridal Pact. The first timePoppy had seen a government commercial asking women to apply, she’d beenshocked. It played out like a political campaign ad, pointing out all thereasons to apply. It seemed to be working though since the news had shown a fewladies being interviewed on their way into the Intake Centers.
The only thing that Poppy wasn’t able to get back into theroutine of was work. She’d been fired shortly after the office reopened.Apparently being late too often had pissed off the higher-ups and while they’dbeen closed with all the alien hubbub they’d reorganized the office toeliminate her position.
Searching the classifieds didn’t give her much hope either.Poppy was told she was overqualified for most positions or needed a betterdegree for others. Damn history major. It was getting her nowhere fast.Deciding to call Pixie and see if she wanted to get together for dinner seemedlike the way to cheer herself up.
“Hey, Pix, wanna come over and veg? Maybe order a pizza?”Poppy hoped Pixie said yes since she hadn’t seen her sister since moving backto her place. Apparently Bonehead Brenda couldn’t do anything right and Pixiehad ended up working late nights fixing problems that she’d created.
“Sure. It actually figures that my one night off Brian endsup working late. Do I need to stop for a movie?” Pixie asked, sounding as ifshe were shuffling papers around.
“Nah, I have the newest Simon Pegg one already. Pizza okayor would you rather order something else?”
“Pizza sounds good. I can be there in…thirty minutes?”
“Great, bish. Drive carefully.” Hanging up the phone, sheflipped on the news to see another presidential speech was going to betelevised in an hour. Poppy wondered what bomb the man would drop on theAmerican public this time.
Studying her feet propped up on the small table, Poppydecided to paint her toenails while waiting for her sister and listening to thenews. A few minutes later, while blowing on her now hot-pink toenails, sheglanced up to see her doorknob jiggle. Hopefully that was her sister and notGas-Can-Man, which was what she now called her crazy neighbor. When the dooropened to show her frazzled-looking sister, she stopped blowing and smiled atPixie.
“You seem stressed. You okay?” Poppy waddled with her toesup to the door to give Pixie a hug.
“Yeah, just tired. Work has sucked balls. Big, big, bigballs.” Pixie pulled a hard cider out of the fridge, cracked it open and took ahuge gulp.
“Nice of you to complain about your job while I don’t haveone,” Poppy teased. Humor generally helped knock Pixie out of a funk.
“You know I could get you a job, right? Just let me know andI can get some hostess hours for you,” Pixie offered in between gulps of hernow almost empty drink.
“Yeah…no. Can you imagine us working together? We woulddefinitely move from bish to bitch pretty quickly. Plus, I’m pretty sure withmy tendency to say ‘fuck’, you’d have to fire me the first day.” Shuddering atthe thought of having her sister as her boss, Poppy shuffled past her to get abottle for herself.
“You have a point. But maybe I can help you check around. Ihave some connections with our vendors. Maybe one of them is hiring.”
Both women headed into the living room to collapse onto thetiny loveseat.
Pixie tipped her bottle at the TV. “What are we watching?”
“Oh, there’s supposed to be another presidential address ina little bit. I
