The Scenic Route

	It was a nice peaceful day in the city of Dublin, at the tail end of
August. The Dublin campus of the ExoFleet Academy was bursting with activity
on this late Friday afternoon.
	Cadets Kristin O'Connor and Ellie McMurtney had just finished with
their rowing practice for the day, and were heading back to their respective
rooms to get cleaned up before the evening meal. They didn't quite get there
before they ran into some of their other friends, Garret Root, Bryce Wayne,
and Aidan Matthews. The five met each other on their first day here at the
academy, and they quickly became fast friends.
	"Hey guys, what's up?" Ellie asked. Ellie was about 5'7", had
shoulder length dark brown hair, and blue eyes. She definitely wasn't lacking
in guys asking her out, when it came to her looks.
	"Oh, just being my usual brilliant self," Bryce answered. Kristin
rolled her eyes in exasperation. Bryce was a really nice guy, but he thought
quite highly of himself.
	"We can see that," Kristin said. "Where are you blokes headed?"
	"We were coming to find you two, and then head to the evening meal,"
Bryce said.
	"Well, we still need to get cleaned up, before we can head over
there," Ellie said.
	Aidan pinched his nose, as if there was a bad stench. "Yeah, we can
tell," he said. The two other guys grinned.
	"Oh, very cute," Kristin said. "Anyhow, we really have to get cleaned
up if we want to get there while the food's still warm."
	"Ok," Bryce said. "I suppose we can wait for you two. Just don't take
to long. You women take always forever." Bryce grinned.
	"Look who's talking, Mr. All-that," Ellie said. "If not for classes,
you'd probably spend all morning in the shower and then all afternoon just
combing that hair of yours." The sulky look on Bryce's face was absolutely
priceless. It also was right on the mark. Ellie grinned. "You three can wait
in my room." And with that, the five went on to the dorms.

	Twenty minutes later, the five were in the mess hall eating their
dinner. For a few minutes, it was silent, until Bryce broke the silence.
	"Anyone got any plans for tomorrow evening?" he asked, shoveling more
food into his mouth. The others were also stuffing their faces with the food
in front of them.
	"Not really," Ellie said. Kristin shrugged. Garret merely shook his
head.
	Aidan, who was actually taking a bite of his food, said, "Bryce and I
are think of going barhopping. You three want to come with us?" He had a very
big grin on his face. Bryce was sitting next to him smirking.
	"Sure. Why not?" Kristin said.
	"Sounds good." Ellie asked.
	"What the hell," Garret said. "I have nothing better to do."
	"Cool." Bryce said. "It's assured to be fun. Especially with me
around."
	"What would we do without you, Bryce?" Kristin said, quite
sarcastically.
	"Live much happier lives, I'm sure. Ok, lets say we head out around
9pm, ok?" Aidan asked.
	"Okay, cool. Sounds good." Ellie said. For the rest of the meal, the
typical things were talked about. Classes, their instructors, who Bryce
thought was pining over him at the time, and that sort of thing. The whole
time Aidan was clowning around trying to make the others laugh. Specifically
after one of them had just taken a drink. And he was usually successful.
After they were done they spent the rest of the evening studying, or doing
whatever else they needed to take care of before the day was out.

	The next morning was rather typical for the five, taken up by their
training. Their Saturday afternoons were free, and so they got together and
played some rugby for a while, then whatever else came to mind to pass the
time.
	Eventually, 9pm came around, and the five headed into town. "So where
to first, mates?" Ellie asked. The guys shrugged. They didn't plan a route.
"How about that one, then?" Ellie asked, pointing.
	"Works for me," Garret said. The others agreed. So they went on in.
They found a table and sat down. Bryce went up and got them some drinks.
About fifteen minutes later, he got back.
	"What took you so long?" Kristin asked, as Bryce set the drinks down.
"I was making fun of the bartender's leprechaun getup and the people at the
bar heard my 'accent' and started bombarding me with things like 'Are you a
Dubliner?' & wabting all the tidbits of my life story." he replied.
	"Oh, shite.....Tourist bar." the rest said all at once.
	"As soon as we're done, lets get out of here," Bryce suggested. The
rest were in complete agreement. They drank their drinks as fast as they
could, but it still took them a while as several other tourists came up to
them asking questions. They finally finished, though, and headed out.

	They were out on the street looking for another bar to go to when
Ellie asked whose idea it was to go there anyway.
	"Yours!" they all replied.
	"Oh...yeah, sorry." she chuckled a little sheepishly.
	The five walked down the street a bit until they came across another
place. Garret pointed it out, "That one looks good. How about it?" he asked.
There were no arguments.
	So they all went in. And immediately stopped. The girls' jaws dropped
open, while the guys grinned. It was a strip bar. A bare-chested young lady
came up to them.
	"May I help you cuties find a place to sit?" she asked the guys with
a smile.
	"Yes," the three guys said while at the same time the girls said,
"No." That was when the bare-chested woman first noticed Kristin and Ellie.
	"We're not staying," Ellie said.
	"Why?" Bryce asked.
	"Think about it, Bryce, after we leave," Kristin said. Garret and
Aidan, in the meantime, were being seated by the woman who greeted them at
the door. Bryce noticed, and tried to follow. Ellie and Kristin sighed, and
each grabbed an arm and dragged Bryce out.
	"Wait here," Ellie instructed to a very sulky Bryce as he sat down
on the ground. Kristin and Ellie both went back in to get the other two boys.
They spotted the table they were sitting at, which had more than drinks in
front of them. The two women walked up to their friends. They didn't notice
Kristin and Ellie walk up, as they were too into the show that was taking
place on their table.
	In an attempt to get their attention, Ellie said, "Hey you two,
Kristin's stripping." They snapped their heads around, while Kristin flushed
bright red. "Yeah, I thought that would get your attention, now, have you
paid for your drinks, yet?" The guys nodded yes, as they turned their
attention back to the woman dancing on the table. "Ok, then, we're leaving,
NOW." The guys once again paid them no heed.
	"Looks like we're going to have to do this the hard way again,"
Kristin said.
	Ellie agreed. "Ears?" Ellie asked.
	"Sounds like a plan," Kristin said. Ellie grabbed one of Aidan's ears
and pulled him up out of his seat, while Kristin grabbed one of Garret's and
started dragging him towards the door.
	"Hey, you," came a woman's voice behind them. Ellie turned around.
	"Me?" she asked. The woman who had been table dancing nodded. "Yeah.
We need another dancer, you interested?" Aidan started laughing so hard tears
came. Ellie just smiled and said, "Thanks, but....uh, no."
	After getting the other two guys outside, where Aidan was finally
calming down, they started wandering around again. After a few more bars,
they came to one that was pretty close to the campus, and was a favorite
place for cadets to hang out. They went in and spotted another friend of
theirs, Ian McKlen, and went and joined him. He was totally plastered.
	So, for the rest of the night they sat around, and tried different
kinds of drinks, making their way up the levels of intoxication. Until Ian
stood up and pointed towards one of the tables in a corner. They others
looked that way.
	"What is it, Ian?" Kristin asked.
	"Him," he slurred, not realizing that they wouldn't know who he was
referring to by saying just him. "He tried to kiss me woman back in high
school. I never did catch up to him for that." he said, walking over.
	The five watched as he walked over and they just barely heard him
say, "This is for trying to kiss Amy when she didna want to be kissed by
you!" And then he hit him as hard as he could. Well, this didn't' go over to
well with the friends the man Ian hit was drinking with, so they decided to
return the favor. Well, as these things go, this somehow ended up involving
the other nearby tables, and soon it got to where Kristin and friends were
sitting, involving them.
	The five, although pretty well hammered, still held onto a little
sense, and so when Garret said, "Lets get out of here before the cops come,"
the others weren't slow to agree. They did have to fight their way out
though.
	Once they got out they took off running down the street a ways before
they stopped. Just in time, too, for they saw the lights and sirens of
several police enforcer e-frames heading towards the bar.
	"Wow, that was close," Aidan said. "So where to next?"
	"Back to the campus." Garrett said, and the others nodded.
	"Besides, I need to get my eye taken care of, and you should do
something about that gash on your arm," Kristin said. They all had some minor
injuries. This was definitely a night they weren't going to forget anytime
soon. "We can all hang out in my room if you don't want to go home. My
roommate's gone home for the weekend." There was general consent as they
headed back to the dorms.

	The next day was a Sunday, which meant they had the entire day to
themselves. Which was a good thing, since it let them sleep off their
hangovers, and their injuries lessen. They all ended up crashing in Kristin's
dorm, so were all together when Ian came by later in the day to tell them
about how much trouble he was in. The only reason he wasn't expelled was
thanks to the influence his father had. He wasn't getting off lightly,
though, in fact, his father was the one to set the punishment. He got to stay
at the academy, although he probably wishes he didn't.
	Ian also told them that those who weren't caught in the fight,
weren't being sought after, but they should probably avoid that bar for a
while.
	And so their Sunday passed, although it seemed like an eternity to
them, thanks to their hangovers. Eventually the day came closer to an end,
and that evening, they got together for dinner. They were almost finished
with their meal when Aidan said, "So, what do you say we do that again next
weekend?" He said with a grin on his face for a whole two seconds before the
other four picked up a piece of their food and threw it at him. "I was
joking!"

End