That day I woke up excited about my date with Aaron. It wasn't what I had planned, taking him to a restaurant, creating a romantic atmosphere, walking together and holding his hand, but that was a start.
The day before, coming out of school, there was part of the money that my manager had given me to buy me a good change of clothes, I had to represent Aaron. A pair of synthetic leather pants fresh from the factory with a blue lycra shirt that made my muscles stand out.
I looked in the mirror and started to comb my hair. I hated my curly hair at that moment, it hid part of my forehead and it was hard to arrange, actually, what was the last time I combed my hair? I just played with my curly hair for a little while thinking that Aaron might like it.
I left my apartment, turned on my slider and headed to the shrimp store. After buying them I turned on the screen and dialed Aaron's number, I had no idea how to get to his shop.
"I got the shrimp" I said as our eyes met on the screens, pointing to a white colored bag that I placed on my chest.
Aaron looked tired, his eyes barely open, hidden by his dark circles under his eyes. Still he looked imposing as he held a screwdriver in his hand.
"about that" said Aaron as he let out a yawn, " come to district 5, entering you will see a mechanical and appliance shop."
Aaron hung up without even saying goodbye or wishing me a good trip, although it was something I expected, it wasn't part of his personality, I couldn't blame him as I was the crazy one who had fallen in love with him.
I started my glider and began to ride through the different streets of the city, joining the endless rows of flying cars.
The advantage of riding in a glider is that it was easy for me to overtake and get out of the flight line from time to time to get ahead of my target, the disadvantage is that I had to get to district 5.
District 5 was known as one of the most popular shopping districts in the city because it was cheap. Many people went there to save some money looking for the best items, but also many knew that they would not find quality items or could be robbed if they were unsuspecting.
The area was supposed to be patrolled by police and robots, but there were always blind spots that were best avoided.
My eyes widened with excitement when I saw Aaron's mechanic shop, a two-story shop that stood on the first street of the district. The problem was that it was a long way off.
There were a dozen cars ahead of me, clumsily advancing to get in. I wanted to get out of the flight line, but I shook my head, good things were slow in coming.
It was the longest ten minutes of my existence until I was able to park in front of Aaron's shop. As I walked in, I saw the love of my life behind a stool as he conserved with a customer, a woman who must have been in her sixties. As I approached, I noticed that he was holding a coffee pot and explaining to the lady how it worked.
"that's all Mrs. Luisa, if you have any problems you know I give you six months warranty" said Aaron with a smile.
"you are a good boy" said Mrs. Luisa with a kind gesture, taking out of her bag a thousand Jolts bill and leaving it on the shelf.
Mrs. Luisa turned around, looked at me with a horrified expression and started walking in a greater hurry. I hated that, I always hated it when they flinched at the sight of me without giving me a chance to get to know me.
"you need to leave quickly or you'll leave me without customers" said Aaron mocking me.
"so I'll have you all to myself" I said, following his joke.
I lifted the bag where I had the shrimp and Aaron opened a hidden door in the stool to let me pass.
We uncovered the shrimp and started eating them. Breaded shrimp accompanied by a fresh salad that was hard to come by.
Most of the food tasted like plastic and preservatives because it was difficult to harvest due to infertile fields.
"this is too good" said Aaron giving off a smile that seemed all too sincere" it must have cost you a fortune".
"not much, my manager is a partner of the restaurant and I am allowed good discounts, I could take you one day to get to know the whole menu" I said with a smile, trying to think that we would create a romantic moment and I could finally hold his hand.
"you know that won't happen, Carter" said Aaron bringing me back to stark reality " and if you suppose you'll be able to pay me with food, let me tell you that I won't give you any discount."
"of course not, I said I'll pay you, I'm already working on it."
"I'll trust you Carter" said Aaron after devouring a shrimp.
I felt happy, in his face I could see a face of happiness to be able to enjoy a good meal.
"by the way, when you fought with trainer Dolph you looked like a pro, I've never seen someone move like that, you looked like a ninja" I said trying to change the subject.
"I had to learn to fight, I grew up in the 11th district, it was learn to fight to the death... in the orphanage...".
My memories went back to my childhood, when I was six years old. I had grown up in District 11 until I was sold into slavery to a powerful family. I had been used as a punching bag until I had to learn to fight and defend myself. Since then I had always been in the fighting rings putting on shows.
"the Douglas orphanage" I said at the same time as Aaron. My face reddened as our thoughts crossed, I could barely remember anything about that orphanage, but I could remember that it was all hell living in that place.
It was natural to fight for food or a place to sleep, many children died within a year, it was my understanding that only the lucky ones who were sold had a chance to live.
"wait" said Aaron with a smile on his face" there was a boy with your same skin tone, kind of a bully, he kept fighting with the other kids for food so he could keep his disgusting pig body, potato face is what we used to call him".
I turned to the side out of my discomfort at remembering my old nickname, I didn't want Aaron to call me that, I didn't want to remember that time in my life when I was unattractive.
"Master Aaron" suddenly said a robotic voice coming from the back room. Soon after a cleaning robot came out painting orange showing a sense of urgency.
"shit Bill, I told you to stay away from here" said Aaron looking annoyed towards the robot.
"I'm sorry master Aaron, it's just that I heard voices and the master laughing, I thought it might be something serious, but I see you just brought another one of your friends."
"you're a stupid Bill, laughing is not a symptom of being sick, go back to your work and stop messing around" said Aaron with some discomfort.
The robot turned around and started to leave calmly, at that moment something crossed my mind.
"Wait Bill, what do you mean another friend? What did he look like?" I asked, hoping the robot would listen to me.
"he was a boy, 5'7" tall, orange hair, fine clothes, came in a Kat 77 color..." began Bill describing Wallace's appearance to me, until Aaron interrupted him.
"shit Bill, I've told you to stop being a gossipy piece of shit and concentrate on working" said Aaron. He grabbed a screwdriver off his shelf and before he could throw it, the robot turned and ran off in an untold direction.
"I thought you were going to fix his car, not bring it to your shop" I said, unable to hide my jealousy.
"What I do with Wallace shouldn't matter to you" Aaron said making me feel worse than I already did.
"you know you can do whatever you want with me, you don't have to look for Wallace" I said.
"listen you idiot, stop behaving like a sicko" Aaron said emitting a smile of malice on his face, something that made me shudder at that moment.
Aaron had done nothing wrong with Wallace, he was just messing with me.
I wanted to spend the rest of the afternoon with Aaron when we finished eating, I didn't even notice when a couple of hours went by without us saying anything. He was just working on his equipment as if he was in some kind of trance.
"Fifty thousand Jolts is what it takes to repair the engine of a slider, if you don't believe me, you can ask in any workshop. For being you and the trouble of putting up with you you will owe me fifty-five thousand Jolts, I hope you keep your word to pay me" said Aaron pulling me out of my trance.
"I will pay you," I said. My manager had promised to give me the money.