"He doesn't like to talk about the Games," I said, pointing the sugar spoon accusingly. "Leave Jude alone, or I'll kick you out of here."

  Iz grinned broadly back at me across the counter. His eyes glowed green from his NeuraKey implat. "Does he not like to talk about the Showcase, or do you not want to even consider Scarecrow and Cami being paired up this season? Besides, he works upstairs! He's probably met Cami."

  "Once or twice. Not a fan," said Jude, making Iz snort into his coffee.

  "Me either. Don't get me started, or we'll be here all night," I said. "And this isn't about Scarecrow, it's about Jude. He comes down here to get away from Vanguard and the Showcase. Also, don't call me Winnie. Only my dad calls me that."

  "Wrong place to go to get away from them," muttered Iz. I ignored him, even if he was right. There was nowhere to get away from Vanguard on the Eschelon.

  "Do you want another cup of coffee, Jude?"

  Jude nodded. He a slight, angular man who looked like he needed, bare minimum, a good meal and a hot shower. He wasn't exactly ugly, though he did have a gnarled scar that twisted from the bottom one eye down to his neck, he just seemed overworked and under-cared for. He was from the Outer Worlds. If you couldn't guess from the tell-tale dark hair and lily pale complexion, his rolling accent gave away. It made his w's sound like v's. so he'd always pronounce my name with like, 'Vinola.'

  I didn't know much about him, just that he worked on the upper decks of the Echelon ship. He worked for the games, but I had not idea what he did- he never told me. I only saw him during the night shift; I couldn't picture quite, soft-spoken Jude in the diner when it was jampacked with screaming Showcase fans during the daytime.

  "How is your father doing?" He asked as I poured his coffee- black.

  His question reminded me to check my phone. No call yet.

  "Dad's alright, still waiting for that med-tech upgrade because the last one was so messed up. Insurance is still making that basically impossible. What else is new? Oh, also I have a piece of cherry pie I couldn't sell today if you want it. On the house."

  "What is with you and trying to feed him?" Asked Iz. I flipped him off behind the coffee pot.

  What I wanted to respond with was, 'look at him." So I was only half joking when I said, "pathological need to care for people. What do you say, Jude? It's only a little stale by now."

  Jude was a thin, kinda sickly dude but he had the most intense eyes I had ever seen on anyone. His eyes were a dark, steely gray that almost burned. He also had NeuraKey, because I had seen him using it before, his fingers typing in the air on a phantom keyboard only he could see. He, however, had the decency to turn his off when he talked to you, unlike Iz. I didn't have a NeuraKey, even though Alverta had been trying to get me to install one for years.

  "Did you bake this batch?" Asked Jude.

  "Not this time."

  "Then I'll pass this time. Thank you, Winola."

  I frowned. He was looking even skinner than the last time I had seen him. It wasn't uncommon for him to not come for weeks at a time. I tried not to pry, but I liked Jude. He was probably my favorite regular. He was certainly the most polite and respectful.

  Iz was less of a regular, and more of a friend. We both lived in the underdecks of the Eschelon, and spent a lot of our off time playing video games. We even went to a few Games together during the previous Showcase season, a perk of working on the Echelon. Iz worked in the IT department of the middecks, and was way more into the Games than I was. He wasn't the only person I knew who wanted to become and Innovator, but he was the only one who had a fully fleshed out persona ready to go. He really thought SpyderByte sounded cool. I guess it's no worse than some of the real competitors.

  It's hard to remember a time before the Showcase, but Vanguard has been around for way longer. My parents both worked for Vanguard, and Dad worked for the Showcase as a maintenance supervisor on the arenas. He even helped build the original arena on our homeworld Thoronar. Before he got hurt, he would sometimes sneak me into work with him.

  I'd gotten pretty popular on HypeHyve for posting pictures from behind the scenes, but I had to stop when Dad almost got in trouble. Although, I'd thought about starting it back up more than once since transferring to the Rusty's on the Echelon. Vanguard was pretty aggressive about guarding their image, and I didn't want to be doxxed, so I'd held off.

  My phone rang- Alverta's ringtone- silencing whatever Jude had been about to say. "I've been waiting for this call all night. Could you guys cover for me if my boss comes in?"

  "Win, you know I've got this whole hall cammed up," said Iz easily. "Your boss is still asleep anyway."

  "Are you allowed to do that?" Asked Jude.

  Iz snorted again. "Yeah right, like I'm about to tell the Upper-Decker anything."

  Jude frowned as I walked away to answer my call. Thoronar and Caldrith had different hours, so it was still the middle of the day on the homeworld. Alverta Kurialacherry was my best friend since our earliest school days, and we had even lived together in Echochurn, on Thoronar. She still lived there, so did Dad.

  "Hey girlie" she said cheerfully. Her pretty face, with wheatish complexion and large, straight nose, filled the screen. She had dyed her hair dark purple again.

  The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  "Howdy." I said as I ducked into a supply closet out of view of the cameras. "Is everything alright?"

  "Yes." She said it in her 'you worry too much' voice. "He's is in excellent condition, all things considered."

  "Are you sure? Dad sounded... weird on our call the other night." He sounded like Mom had, toward the end.

  "Well he's hurting, missing his daughter, and going a little stir crazy. Let me put it this way: he's fine for now, you can rest easy, but he needs an upgrade- sooner than later."

  "That's what they keep telling me," I said with a sigh, glancing to my watch. Just because the diner was empty now, didn't mean it would stay that way. Late night VIP parties from the upperdecks had a way of stumbling their way down to Rusty's on occasion. "What are you cooking?"

  "Actually he's making us lunch today." Alverta flipped the phone around and I saw my Dad in our apartment kitchen. There was a small pang of longing at the sight inside me. "Say hi, Mr. Ringuette."

  "Hi, honey!" Dad called, waving a dirty spatula. "How's the shift going?"

  "Oh, it's going. Just a couple regulars right now. Dad, are you sure you're feeling better?"

  "I'm alright, honestly. I think I'm just tired, got a lot on my mind, you know? I'm sorry that I worried you, sweetheart."

  "Alright, Dad. Thank you for taking care of him, Verta."

  "Me?" Asked Alverta, dramatically. She moved the camera so that I could see what dad was cooking, but the steam fogged up the picture. "He's the one taking care of me."

  "Winola brings home good kids, what can I say. Now if she could just bring home a boyfriend then-"

  "Dad, stop," I cut in. There wasn't enough time on Thoronar or Caldrith's combined for this conversation. Alverta snickered. "Look I have to get back to work. I have tomorrow off, so I'll call you then."

  "Don't call me during the Showcase!" He called.

  Alverta filled my screen again. "Go get 'em, tiger," she said and I missed her very much.

  "I love you, Verta."

  "I love you too, Win. Text me later."

  "I love you, kiddo!" Yelled dad as the screen went black, and my little window to home was closed. I sighed again, stuffed my phone in the pocket of my apron, and painted on my practiced customer service smile before exiting the supply closet.

  Back in the diner proper there were still only two patrons, but Iz had moved to a booth to take a call. Jude still sat at the counter, staring down into his cup, looking anxious. I noticed, not for the first time, the bandages on his hands. Jude didn't seem to be in good health. I'd even seen him faint once, and be taken out of the diner on a stretcher by a med team.

  I didn't ask him about the incident and he had not volunteered information. He was a private man. That was why what he did next surprised me so much.

  "Everything alright?" He asked, voice soft as always.

  "Yeah. My dad..." I paused, realizing that he did not want my life story. He was polite but still mostly a stranger, and I wasn't about to flip his good manners into free therapy- even if I wanted to spiral. "Gave me a little scare, but we're ok."

  "I'm glad to hear that." His smile faded a bit and he glanced back at Iz who was still locked into his NeuraKey call. When he spoke again, it was more halting, hesitant. "Winola, I... I wanted to give you something."

  I watched with creeping disbelief- and just a touch of dread- as he slid a piece of paper across the counter to me. Please don't let there be... oh no there are the numbers. I hoped my face didn't betray the pit in my stomach. I liked Jude, but not like that; I certainly didn't want to hurt his feelings.

  "Jude I... um, I'm not really looking for... anything with anyone, right now."

  His eyes widened with surprise. "Oh that... I... that's not what I meant by this." But the dark flush, that was creeping across his angular face, said otherwise. "I'm going to, uh, be away for a while, but I might be coming into a way to help your father in the near future. I wanted... I wanted to stay in touch."

  I looked down at the slip of paper to avoid eye contact, and decided to take it. I made sure he saw me fold the paper and stuff it in my apron. "That's really nice of you. To think of my dad."

  "Pathological need to care for someone," he said with a shrug. "Guess it's contagious." Then, stiffly, he stood and yanked on his faded bomber jacket.

  "You heading out?" I asked, trying not to sound too hopeful. This wasn't the first time someone had given me their number, but it was swiftly becoming the most awkward.

  "Yeah." He spoke so quietly, almost like a sigh. "Are you watching the Showcase tomorrow?"

  "I'm hoping to be fast asleep during them." I'd catch up on Scarecrow's highlights later with Alverta, and she'd tell me all about Toroque's plays. Our weekly fangirl session.

  "Good. Well... goodnight, Winola. Stay safe." Jude dipped out of the glass front door, making the stupid little bell above the door jingle.

  "WHAT WAS THAT?!" Yelled Iz, springing up from the booth. He practically flew from his seat to the counter, slamming against it in his haste. "Winola, girl, you just broke that dude's heart!"

  "Stop, stop, stop! I don't want to talk about this!" I clutched a towel to my face to smother my yelling.

  "He just tried to ask you out and you completely shut him down! Damn girl, you're ice cold!"

  "Shut up. Shut up! Oh, Iz, do you really think I broke his heart?"

  Iz slipped into a seat, and yanked Jude's unfinished coffee over. He had a serious caffeine problem- but I wasn't much better. "Oh yeah. Big time. He's probably going to go write poetry about it now."

  "You're so mean," I said, but he was a little right and it made me laugh. "Ugh, I feel so bad. He's such a sweet guy. I hope he doesn't feel like I led him on.

  "Then why not give him a shot?"

  "He's nice and everything but he's-"

  "Ugly?"

  "No! You're terrible. He's not ugly, he's just not my type. He's kind of weird too. How do I explain it...? Like, I want to give him a haircut and a sandwich, but I don't want to date him."

  "Pity date?"

  "No, I'm not going on a pity date with him! What is your deal, why are you hounding me?"

  "I'm not hounding you. I'm in full agreement that Jude is a loser sad boy-"

  "I did not say that!"

  "Yeah but it's what you meant. Anyway, even if he is a loser sad boy, you can't just keep blowing off every halfway decent guy that tries to hit you up."

  I blushed, and turned around to pretend to clean so he couldn't see. I hated when he called me out like this. Iz and I had only known each other for a year, but it felt like we'd been friends much longer. I guess that's what happens when you live next door to one another.

  "Who are you, my dad? I'm just not interested in a relationship right now."

  "You say that, but if Scarecrow walked in here, with his mask and his muscles, and gave you his number- and I mean this even if he was a weirdo who gave you his number on a piece of paper-"

  "Who even uses paper like this anymore? So weird."

  "What I'm trying to say is that I don't think you'd care so much if it was Scarecrow. I think you have put him on such a pedestal that you'll look for any excuse to blow off a perfectly good, albeit kinda ugly, and definitely weird, but ultimately sweet guy like Jude. Just some food for thought, Winnie."

  I took the towel, twirled it up and snapped it at his cup. The drink knocked over, splashing coffee across the counter. "The last thing I need right now is another dad. Shut up, drink your coffee, and don't call me Winnie."

  Iz, who had managed to escape mostly unharmed, flicked the liquid back at me. "You're just mad because I'm right. Like always."

  In my pocket I felt the crumpled note with Jude's phone number. I couldn't throw it away.

  If he could help with Dad's upgrade, then it might be worth saving.

  Even if he was a weird guy who maybe had a thing for me.