Fears and Tears

It was Nina's job to get her to the party, and Nina had her work cut out for her. Zalika did not want to go. "A Halloween party? What are we, 12?" Nina responded "No, we're grown-ups and we're going to go to a grown-up party and have fun!" Zalika just wished that Nina would quit bugging her about it.

Nina did not give up. She said to her friend "I hate to bring up the past, but remember when you used to bug the hell out of me until I would give in and go out with you?" Zalika said "How many years ago was that? Besides, I HAD to do something. You were so sad all the time, and all you ever did was work." Nina silently glared at Zalika until Zalika sighed and said "I see your point." Nina said "You owe me!" Zalika reluctantly agreed to go.

Nina told Zalika "You need to wear a sexy costume, like a sexy nurse or something. Don't come dressed as Quasimodo or some kind of monster." Zalika told her that she didn't know what she would be able to find with such short notice. Nina told her "Just so you know, I plan on being the sexiest woman at the party, so you need to try to give me a little competition." Zalika laughed a little and said "We'll see."

When Nina arrived to pick Zalika up for the party, she was impressed with her friend's costume. She asked "So what are you supposed to be?" Zalika said "Some kind of cat." Nina said "You're a sexy pussycat, that's what you are." Zalika turned around and said "Check this out: as impressive as my tail is, you're showing much more tail than me in that short dress!" Nina said "Shut. Tup."  They both laughed. Zalika said "I can't believe your husband is letting you out of his sight dressed like this."

When they arrived at their destination, Zalika looked at the house, looked at Nina, shook her head and said "Take me home RIGHT NOW." Zalika recognized the house that Palmer's adviser William shared with his wife Mallory.

Nina:  We're here now. Let's just go inside.
Zalika:  What are you doing?
Nina:  Going to a Halloween party with my friend.
Zalika:  You don't even really know them. Did Palmer put you up to this?
Nina:  Palmer asked me to bring you, and I agreed.
Zalika:  But why? Why would you agree to that? I told Palmer that I would call him when I'm ready. I'm not ready! And you never really had anything good to say about our relationship anyway!
Nina:  Well, I just didn't agree with all the secrecy. If I was a guy and I had someone great like you, I'd want to shout it from the rooftops. Anyway, we're here, we're dressed, let's just go in.

After talking about it for a few more minutes, Zalika agreed to go in for a while. Mallory greeted Zalika with a hug and said "It's so good to see you again! It's been months! Thanks for coming to my little party." Zalika said "It's really good to see you again too, Mallory." William waved from across the room and nodded at Zalika.

Nina and Zalika found seats. Nina was immediately approached by one of the partygoers, who wanted to know her name. She told him "My name is Mrs. Nina So-and-so." He asked if she wanted a "drank", and she said no thanks. He said "Naw really, I'ma go get you a drank." She told him no thank you, and that if at some point she wanted a drink, she would get one for herself.

As soon as the man was out of earshot, Zalika began imitating him. "Mrs. Nina So-and-so, I'ma go get you a drank. Naw, I won't take no for an answer, I'ma get you that drank!" They both laughed. Nina was glad to hear her friend laughing and joking again. Prior to this evening, it had been a while.

Zalika said "Seriously though, let's go and see what they have to drink." So they made their way to the dining area. They had drinks and mingled with the other guests, when suddenly Nina got a horrified look on her face. Zalika said "What is it? What's wrong?" Nina whispered "Behind you..."

Zalika turned around very slowly, wondering what horror awaited her. When she saw Palmer standing there decked out in MC Hammer attire, she was stunned for a few seconds, and then she laughed so hard that tears came to her eyes.

Zalika:  Nice costume!
Palmer:  Thank you, and you look lovely in your costume.
Zalika:  Oh this? Well it was either this or Quasimodo.
Palmer (after a brief pause):  Well you certainly made the right decision!

Zalika teased Palmer about dressing like MC Hammer, when he has none of his dance moves. Palmer protested and said that he can do some of the dances. Zalika said that she'd have to see it to believe it. Palmer said that they could go to one of the other rooms and he would show her his moves. Zalika narrowed her eyes and looked at him sideways. Palmer said "The dance moves! I will show you the dance moves." Zalika asked why he couldn't just dance right there, and Palmer said he'd only show her privately. He said that anyone could just whip out their phone and take a video. He said "I don't want to end up on YouTube!"

So Zalika followed Palmer to a room where they would have some privacy, and she laughed at Palmer's little boom box. Palmer said "You know I like to be prepared." Palmer started  the music and made feeble attempts to dance to MC Hammer's You Can't Touch This. She cracked up when he said "Stop! Palmer time!"

Zalika told him that if he was going to be MC Hammer, he needed to do the Running Man. Palmer said "Well let's see you do it." So Zalika did the dance, punctuated with her own exclamations "Yeah! What you know about that! Unh! Unh!"

When the song got to the part that says "Just for a minute let's all do the bump (bump..bump...bump...), they did the bump together.

When the song was over, Zalika said that they should get back to the others. Palmer asked her if she would call him the next day, and Zalika shook her head. She said that nothing had changed, and that she would call when she's ready, and she's not ready. Palmer told her not to be mad at Nina, because he's the one who asked Nina to bring her there. Zalika told him that she wasn't angry at anyone.

In the next room, the song Monster Mash was blaring from the speakers and the guests were doing the dance. Zalika recognized that they were really just doing the Electric Slide with their hands posed in front of them like claws. She joined in and motioned for Palmer to join. He hesitated at first, but he also joined the dance. Nina danced at first, but then stopped halfway through the song, saying that she was tired.

William and Mallory came in and told the other guests that they were going to show them how it's done, and they danced enthusiastically. 

After the dancing, Zalika went in search of Nina and found that her husband Terrence was now at the party. It didn't surprise Zalika that Terrence had showed up unexpectedly. In fact, she had come to expect his unexpected appearances.

"Make room..." Zalika said, as she squeezed onto the couch with the others. Zalika greeted Terrence, and said "You know, your uniforms are from 2 different series." Terrence said "Only a Star Trek geek like you would even notice." Zalika shrugged her shoulders and said "It was a good show." Zalika thought about mentioning the fact that based on their uniforms, Terrence would be Nina's commanding officer, but she decided not to mention it.

After a couple of minutes, Terrence said "Well, it seems like the party is winding down, are we ready to go? Nina said that she was ready. Zalika glanced around looking for Palmer, and when she didn't see him, she said that she was ready also. Nina took Zalika home in the same car that they had arrived in, while Terrence drove home alone.

The ladies listened to music and did not speak much on the way back to Zalika's house. Upon their arrival, Nina said that she wanted to come in, just for a minute. Zalika said that she was really tired, but Nina stressed that it would be very brief. Once inside, Nina asked Zalika what it had been like to see Palmer again, and Zalika responded that it had been "Ok". Nina just stood there, waiting for more. Zalika said "In all honesty..." and her eyes welled up with tears.  She continued "...it was pretty great, and it just reminds me of what I don't have anymore!" Zalika cried.

"Crap!" Nina exclaimed, as she put her arm around Zalka's shoulders. "Please don't cry! Please don't cry! I'm sorry I meddled. I won't do it again." Zalika wiped away her tears, straightened up and said "It's okay, I'm done. I'm really really done. I'm okay." She managed to give a weak and unconvincing smile. Zalika said "I actually did have fun tonight, which is something that I haven't done in a while, so thank you for that." Nina said "It was good to hear you laugh, and so good to spend time with you!" Zalika said "We'll do it again soon."