Public Lashes, Lies & Low Frequencies

[Sommer Dai]

The upper lounge of the Gilded Veil, Nar Shaddaa. The music below pulses like a heartbeat. The lighting above the club floor flickers low gold and bruised violet, catching on the chrome edges of the suspended catwalks. A velvet booth tucked into a curved wall offers temporary isolation—but only just.
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Sommer Dai leaned back in the booth, one heel balanced on the edge of the seat, her silhouette half-lit by the shifting lights of the club floor below. She held a low glass of spiced Zeltron brandy, but hadn't taken a sip. Her lipstick was perfect. So was the silence.​

 

[Andrew Lonek]

Across from her, Andrew Lonek sat like someone who hadn't slept—or had been pretending too well. His fingers drummed against the table, metallic and arrhythmic. He wasn't in his suit, not tonight. Just a charcoal vest over a dark shirt, sleeves rolled to the elbows. There was sweat at his collarbone.

"You could've just asked," he said, voice low, biting off the edge of the sentence. "Instead of slicing into secured archives and reviewing classified internal footage."

 

[Sommer Dai]

Sommer blinked, slow. Then smiled, thinner than a vibro-blade.

"Don't get all self-righteous now, tech boy. You tagged her with a biometric tether in your HUD. You let her straddle your lap twice—in a booth I personally had sound-shielded for discretion."

 

[Andrew Lonek]

"She wasn't you," he snapped.

 

[Sommer Dai]

"Funny," she replied, swirling the brandy, "You sure didn't seem to notice that while her tongue was in your ear, Andrew."

 

[Andrew Lonek]

He exhaled, then leaned forward. His voice dropped to a rough hush. "You disappeared for days after the Zori attack. You shut everyone out—including me. When you finally crawl out of that hellhole temple half-possessed, looking like you saw a god blink... I thought maybe you'd want me gone."

 

[Sommer Dai]

"I didn't," Sommer said sharply, gaze catching his. "I just needed time."

 

[Andrew Lonek]

"You always need time," he bit. "And you sure didn't need time before you hooked up with that security ops splicer. The one with the red braids and the back tattoos."

 

[Sommer Dai]

Sommer's mouth opened, shut. Her jaw flexed.

"That was different."

 

[Andrew Lonek]

"Was it?" Andrew laughed once—bitter, hollow. "Because from where I'm sitting, it looks the same. Right down to how we both tried to hurt each other without saying it out loud."

 

[Sommer Dai]

Sommer finally took a sip of the drink, staring past him at nothing.

"You know what made me override those cams?" she asked softly. "Wasn't jealousy. It was that I needed to see if you looked like you meant it. If you were as far gone as I thought you might be. I thought maybe Azis had twisted your mind too. That maybe neither of us were... ourselves anymore."

 

[Andrew Lonek]

Andrew went quiet.


Then he uttered..... "And what did you see?"

 

[Sommer Dai]

She looked at him. "I saw you hesitate. Once. When she kissed your jaw. Your hands didn't move for a second. Like you were waiting for a reason to stop."

 

[Andrew Lonek]

He shifted, guilt pinching behind his eyes.

 

[Sommer Dai]

Sommer leaned forward, arms on the table, her voice lowering into something fragile and flammable.

"I wanted you to stop."

 

[Andrew Lonek]

"Then why didn't you say something?" he growled.

 

[Sommer Dai]

"I was afraid," she hissed. "Afraid if I asked, you'd say no. That I wasn't enough after all of it. That you looked at me and saw a cracked relic of what Zori left behind."

 

[Andrew Lonek]

Andrew blinked, as if she'd hit him.

"Sommer…"

 

[Sommer Dai]

Her eyes glistened, but she didn't cry. Not here.

"I'm tired of power plays. Of guessing games and spiked drinks and glances that make my stomach twist. I've killed for this club. Bled on that stage. Survived Azis. I just wanted one thing that didn't feel like a negotiation."

 

[Andrew Lonek]

He nodded slowly, jaw tight.

"I'm sorry," he said. And he meant it.