Note: Thanks to KillerRomance for her careful edits
"You're better off without him," said Sophia, slinging back her cider.
Lindsey took a smaller, tentative sip. If one of her friends had gotten drunk on cider after getting dumped she would have never let them hear the end of it. But here she was, nursing a bruised ego, and she wanted cider. Besides, she was pretty sure this cider was at least ten percent. Lindsey figured if it was ten percent she wasn't being a lightweight.
Lindsey heard a laugh and looked up. Two greys were sitting a few tables over from them, one was laughing at some joke the other made. They were touching the tips of their fingers above the table. Lindsey knew that was a pretty bold sign of affection for greys. They were probably going to have a fun night.
Lindsey looked around the bar. It was built out of the prefab materials every alliance space station used. A mix of smooth off white paneling and abstract decorative shapes that implied it was futuristic even though the greys had been using the style for centuries. The bar owner, an ixion apex who rumor had it used to be a pirate, had given the place some flair with a space pirate theme. The lighting was dim, there were rusty model freighters in bottles, videos of lean looking ships hiding in nebulas, and the drinks came with little packets of flavor powder that was a fake version of the spice space pirates were always stealing. The bar was full of humans, greys, ixions, apsara, and even some myrmidons. All the races of the alliance, all having a good time in a kitschy bar. Most of them looked like they were having a better time than Lindsey.
Dany nodded in agreement. "Of course she's better off without him! He's an asshole."
"No, no, he wasn't," said Lindsey. She winced at the words coming out of her mouth. Even she thought that sounded pathetic. "I mean the part at the end was bad..."
"The part at the end? That's what you're calling it? He was great, right up till that part where he cheated on you?" said Dany.
"I know, I know," said Lindsey, "But before that, he was great. He was..."
"No, Lindsey, that's not how it works," said Dany, "If he cheated on you, it means he was an asshole the whole time and you just didn't realize it. Besides it's not even true. It wasn't that good. It was so obvious you were more into him than he was into you. Every time you called him, he sounded annoyed. How many times did he blow you off to hang out with his dickbag friends?"
"He just liked his space," said Lindsey.
"And that's fine, but he obviously wanted more space than you did. There was no way it was going to work," said Dany.
"Stop browbeating her!" snapped Sophia, "You can't just assume you know what their relationship was like. We just got little glimpses, but maybe he was nice when they were alone. And besides, tonight is supposed to be about healing, about moving forward. No regrets," said Sophia. Then she took a big swig of her cider.
Dany gave Sophia another of her glares, then nodded slowly.
"Yeah, you're right. No regrets." said Dany. She took a bigger swig of her cider.
Lindsey looked down at her drink. She thought about the last vacation she had taken with Chris. It had been to a beach on Magus II. It was everything she had wanted out of a vacation on an alien planet. The sand had been orange, the tides had been gentle since the moon was farther away than Earth's, and there was no dangerous sea life. It hadn't even been crowded because Magus II had twice the coastline in its temperate zone compared to Earth's. She and Chris had sat on the beach and talked for hours, played and swam in the lake calm salt water, and after the sun went down, everyone on the beach, including them, had shot off fireworks for the colony's Founding Day. They could see the fireworks for miles.
She had looked at Chris and wanted to be with him forever, had imagined a whole life with him. And now it was all gone. It was a lie that never existed.
"No regrets," said Lindsey, and finished her cider.
Then she slammed down the empty glass, suddenly furious, "You know what gets to me? He cheated on me with an ixion!"
Dany looked at the ceiling, "I fucking know!"
"I mean I work with plenty of ixion women and they're great with other women," said Lindsey, "But when they talk to guys, they're so..."
"Demure," said Sophia.
"That's one way to put it," said Lindsey.
"Submissive," said Dany.
"That's more accurate," said Lindsey.
"It's part of their culture. Having an extra gender has led to their gender roles being more restrictive," said Sophia. She always liked to quote the xenoculture courses she took as part of her medical degree.
"I know, I know," said Lindsey, "But they act so submissive around guys and they're all so skinny..."
"...and blond," said Dany as she handed Lindsey another cider.
"...And blond," said Lindsey. She took a swallow of her new cider, "And I'm just like..." She took another swallow, "That's what he wants? That's what he wanted me to be this whole time? A tall skinny blond..."
"Bimbo?" Said Dany.
"That's a little mean," Said Sophia.
"I calls it like I sees it. But anyway, you're right, Lindsey. He's an asshole and he's not worth missing," said Dany.
"I'm so sorry Lindsey," said Sophia. Then she reached out to squeeze Lindsey's hand.
Lindsey squeezed her back. When she did, her sadness dissipated a little. Sophia had a knack for that.
"I know you're hurting, but the best thing for you to do is move on," said Sophia. Then she glanced over Lindsey's shoulder and pointed with her chin.
Lindsey turned and saw a man sitting by the bar. He was tall and well-muscled, with a shock of black hair and really nice cheekbones.
"Barry, from accounting? All he does is talk about building model ships. And besides, he's married."
"What? No! Three to his left."
Lindsey looked past Barry to a group of blue skinned women, drinking and laughing together.
"The one with the brighter purple hair. She's been stealing glances for the last thirty minutes," said Sophia.
Lindsey turned back to Sophia, "An apsara?"
Dany burst out laughing. She had a very loud laugh, not just when she was drunk.
Sophia tried to look innocent, "What? She's very cute."
"Sophia, I'm from Earth. We don't do that."
"You don't think she's cute?"
Lindsey looked at the apsara again. She was very cute. She was short and curvy, with a broad face and big violet eyes. Lindsey's gaze lingered on her ass for a moment. It was a very nice ass. As soon as she had the thought the bottom dropped out of her stomach and she looked away quickly. She had never thought about a woman that way before.
Lindsey turned back to Sophia, her face heating. "Of course I think she's cute. She is objectively extremely cute. But I don't... there are no... what is it called again?"
"Lesbians!" said Dany.
"Yes, there are no lesbians on Earth. Not anymore."
"You're not on Earth anymore," said Sophia, using her most reasonable voice. Sometimes Lindsey forgot Sophia grew up on a colony founded by religious dissidents. Politicians and the press on Earth loved to rail about the immorality of the dissident colonies. The group marriages, the orgies, the furries. When Lindsey had asked Sophia if the propaganda was true, she had shrugged and said what people did behind closed doors wasn't her business. Sophia's colonist background meant she treated things that Lindsey found shocking as if they were totally normal. Things like hitting on an apsara.
"Besides, apsara aren't technically female," continued Sophia. she was using her xenopsychology voice again, "They're mono gendered so they don't really fit in our conception of gender. They actually refer to themselves in gender neutral terms but the earth diplomatic corps insisted the universal translators present them as female. Because Earth is run by bigots."
"I have no idea what you just said. What does 'present female' mean?" Said Lindsey.
"Never mind."
"I don't know, she looks female to me," said Dany, giving the apsara a leer. Sophia rubbed her temple and sighed in response.
That was the thing about apsaras. The normal rules of attraction didn't apply to them. Human women, or men for that matter, who weren't attracted to human women still found apsaras attractive. Apparently, they gave off some sort of pheromone that biologists were still trying to get a handle on. It wasn't that apsaras were irresistible. The pheromones just made all apsaras register as if they were a member of whatever gender you were attracted to.
Apsara's universal appeal had led to a lot of awkward interactions when humans had first made contact with them. There had even been some diplomatic tension. Earth had become more conservative in the past few decades, and the apsaras were at first viewed as deviant and threatening. But the combination of apsaras generally being friendly and outgoing and having a much bigger and more advanced military than Earth kept things from getting violent. In the last decade, humans had gradually gotten used to apsaras and things had calmed down.
Lindsey had to deal with apsaras on a regular basis while working on a space station at the major trade hub between Earth and the species to the galactic south. When she had been with Chris she had treated attractive apsaras the same way she treated the attractive men she worked with: she ignored her attraction as much as possible.
But now Chris was out of the picture, she wasn't at work, and there was a very attractive apsara sitting at a bar looking at her and licking her dark purple lips. When the blue skinned woman spotted Lindsey looking back, she looked away and hid a smile. The apsara's two friends saw it and started laughing.
Lindsey turned back to her friends. Dany had broken out in a smirk. Sophia looked more serious, but there was a light in her eyes.
"There's no way," said Lindsey.
"I think this would be a good way for you to broaden your horizons," said Sophia.
"By having a one-night-stand with an alien? That is literally the opposite of what you're supposed to do when you get dumped."
"When you say it like that it sounds like an even better idea," said Dany.
"Be serious for once,"
"Oh, you're right. I'm sorry, I'm just joking. I know you'd never really do it,"
Lindsey gave Dany a glare. It annoyed her because Dany was right. Her idea of a wild night was doing crosswords on the couch with her boyfriend. And she was an Earth girl. She could just imagine what her college friends would say if they saw her checking out an apsara. About how hanging out with aliens and colonists had corrupted her. She decided Sophia was right. She didn't want to be that person anymore.
She took a big swig of the cider, draining half the glass, and stood up. She swayed a little, wondering once again how strong it was, then steadied herself and turned to face the apsara. The apsara's friends must have seen it, because they suddenly engaged in the time honored, cross species tradition of leaving their friend to go to the bathroom.
"Lindsey?" said Dany, sounding excited.
"Don't wait up for me,"
