her footsteps, almost as if it thought she was its new friend...or plaything?
She wasn't about to forget the way she'd been knocked backward by the animal. If it had wanted to shake her in its mouth like a chew toy, it could have.
With that thought, she hastened her pace to catch up with the blue alien.
He still hadn't said anything to her. He seemed to be ignoring her, actually. Or, at least, trying his best to do so. The rigid set of his shoulders told her he was all too aware of her presence.
She wasn't usually one to fill awkward silences, but she felt the need to say something.
Maybe that need stemmed from not having anyone to talk to for a whole year.
“You know, these look like peaches back where I'm from, though smaller,” she said, her eyes on his back as she trailed behind him. “And without the fur.”
No response.
“I can’t think of any fruit that had fur. Sure, we had fruit with weird outer skin.” She paused. “Like dragon fruit…that was kinda strange.”
No response.
"Did you plant these?"
With a grunt, he glanced back at her, his brows dipped behind his dark glasses.
Okay, maybe she was talking too much.
Moving over to the other row of trees, but careful she wouldn't lose sight of the alien, Lauren reached up and touched one of the fruits.
The fur was unbelievably smooth. She could imagine this would make great bedding or mats of some sort.
The fruit was hard when she squeezed it so she moved to the another tree down the line and did the same thing, following the actions of the alien in the row next to her.
As they worked in silence, she could almost feel his eyes on her, but she kept her gaze on her task...whatever this task was.
She assumed he was checking if any of the fruit was ripe and by ripe, she assumed the fruit would be soft when squeezed.
It didn't take long before she found one that her fingers sunk into without breaking the skin.
Elated, she squeezed the fruit again. "Hey! I think I found one."
The death-dog, Grot he'd called it, came closer and bumped her with its nose and she was sure she heard a grumble in the next row.
Looking his way, she found the alien was still moving down the row, ignoring her.
"Uh, I think I found one?" Her voice waned and her smile fell.
She wasn’t getting through to him.
She could almost laugh at her circumstances.
First, she’d been stuck behind a glass barrier with no one to speak to.
Now, she was outside that barrier and she still had no one to speak to because the one being in her presence didn’t want her there.
Beside her, a loud boom vibrated through the air as Grot...barked? It was such a deep sound, she stared at the animal, unable to comprehend how that sound could come from a living thing.
Yea, this was no chihuahua.
But the sound caught the alien's attention.
With a grumble underneath his breath, he moved over to where she stood, his blue hand grasping the fruit she was holding, barely brushing over her fingers before she let go.
He paused as he squeezed the fruit before snapping it from the tree and walking away.
"Why, thank you, Lauren. You're welcome, sir," she murmured low as she followed him, but he continued on, either ignoring her or deciding not to respond.
She was pretty sure he heard her, even if he couldn’t understand what she’d said.
As they left the field, her bare feet treading in the path he made through the grass with his boots, the death-dog followed behind.
A yawn made her mouth spread wide.
She didn’t know how she was tired when she’d spent the day doing nothing.
She was more tired than she'd realized actually.
Maybe finally sleeping properly for two nights in a row had her body wanting to catch up on months of lost sleep.
Looking upward, the sun was still high in the sky, though.
Stifling back another yawn, she followed Riv.
He headed to the enclosure with the cow-hippos next, closing the gate behind him. When he turned to face her, his brows were still beneath his shades.
Lauren fought back a smile.
He was so grumpy. There was no reason to be irritable, especially in such good weather.
He had no idea how lucky he was, living out on such a beautiful farm, free from aliens who wanted to rape or eat him.
Compared to where she’d been, this was paradise.
Leaning against the enclosure fence, the death-dog settled by her and she watched Riv