Next thing I know, the elevator doors swing open, I walk a few steps, another door opens, and I am staring into a huge apartment, with floor-to-ceiling windows, black walls, white furniture with gold accents (kind of like those headphones that Zayn gave to me) and hints of neon here and there. This space is incredible.
"This is one of our most popular designs," exclaims Shilpi. "We've been designing and testing various combinations of colors, furniture pieces, layouts, etc. and this one is very highly-rated among early testers."
I am bottling in extreme excitement, and I glance over at Eva who I suspect is doing the same thing as me.
"You two ladies will be sharing this apartment during your first few weeks as GS Cadets in training," continues Shilpi. "There's also a Senior Cadet who's responsible for monitoring a handful of floors, to ensure that the rules are upheld and none of you are getting into too much trouble."
"Who is our floor's Cadet?" inquires Eva.
"Her name is Rex," answers Shilpi. "She's not here at the moment, but I'm sure she'll stop by and introduce herself a bit later this evening."
"Boys are not allowed after 10pm on this floor," warns Shilpi. "Curfew is at 11pm. And if you get caught breaking a rule, there are serious consequences. Your safety and well being is the Squad's top priority. So use your heads."
Eva and I glance at each other and she sort of rolls her eyes in gest. We nod yes to Shilpi.
Shilpi quickly gives us a tour of the apartment, showing us the bedrooms, the kitchen, the work station area, the small exercise room that doubles as a meditation space, as well as how to use the fire pit and the other devices.
"I need to head out now," announces Shilpi. "If you need anything else from me, you can say 'contact Shilpi Sen' into your cell, and go from there."
"Thank you," I say and Eva echoes me, "Yes - thanks so, so much Ms. Sen!"
"You are very welcome, girls!" she responds. "By the way - call me Shilpi. And remember, Rex is your main POC. Have fun, but work hard and don't be irresponsible."
And with that Shilpi turns around and walks out of the apartment. As soon as Eva and I hear the door click, we look at each other and grin big.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" she asks me.
"Umm...I'm not sure..." I answer. What is she talking about?
"Let's do this," she asserts.
She runs over to the music player in the middle of the living room and looks up a station that plays the current top pop hits. She cranks up the volume and clicks the button that forces the music to blast through all of the speakers in the entire apartment.
"And next up," blares the man on the station, "is the one and only, Iggy, with her new single Outer Space Love!"
Eva screams, "I LOVE IGGY!!"
"Wait, who is Iggy," I ask.
"Ugh, Karina!" she responds. "Iggy's only the most famous singer in like, the entire Galaxy! And it's her Elixir that everyone loves!!"
"I don't get it - how have you even heard of her?" I say.
"I discovered her on the ship," Eva answers. "After I saw - and drank - the Elixir. I got super-curious. Coooooome oooooon! This song is SO awesome!"
The beat is pretty perfect, so I join Eva, and we run around the apartment, dancing like fools, jumping all over the beds and couches and screaming made-up words as we begin to learn the real ones.
Pop song after pop song blares and after we are both completely exhausted, we fall to the floor and break out into laughter.
"That was epic," Eva says.
"For sure," I agree.
"This place is unreal," she adds.
Pound. Pound. Pound. Someone is at the door.
Eva shuts the music off, and we both approach the door.
I hope it's not Rex and that we're not already in trouble, I think to myself. I can't afford to do anything that will make Xeno anymore suspicious of me.
There's a monitor on the door that shows us who it is. Zayn and Max.
Eva runs to the bathroom.
I open the door.
"Yo what are you two doing?" he exclaims, barging in, Max following behind him and nodding in agreement. "We've been knocking for like ten minutes!"
"Nothing," I respond.
Zayn looks at me suspiciously and then asks, "Where's Eva?"
I just stare at him, unable to form a response.
"Oh, I'm right here," answers Eva, emerging from the bathroom with new clothes and some light make-up on. She's also wearing a hat, I guess to try and hide her bald head.
"Well, Max and I want to know if you two want to join us as we walk around the city," Zayn concludes.
"Sure," I say, coolly. "It'll be nice to see the city on foot."
"Just give us a few minutes," adds Eva. "We'll meet you downstairs."
Zayn and Max leave, and I quickly change clothes while Eva touches up her make-up a bit more and grabs us both jackets.
"By the way, is there something going on between you and Zayn?" Eva nudges me as we head out of the apartment and toward the elevator. "My spidey senses sense something."
"Absolutely nothing," I lie, smiling. "We are just friends."
"Hmmm, okay," Eva concedes. "Whatever you say."
We enter the elevator and hit "L" for lobby.
We are just friends, I remind myself. Just friends.