THE MOMENT
"That wasn't what I expected from a place called Paradise...," Rodney chuckled as he plopped down on the couch. He chuckled next to Victoria. They'd been dating for a little more than a week; and, so far, every day had been amazing. She was something called a Unique Soul and she had the ability to travel between universes. He wasn’t Unique and something called a Zero. In their time together Rodney had seen dinosaurs, mages, cyborgs, unicorns, and most recently, zombies. Victoria giggled at his joke; he'd been waiting for the perfect time to drop it.
He was excited when Victoria invited him to an Earth named, 'Paradise'. He imagined a beach with an eternal sunset and endless alcohol next to a bikini-clad Victoria. Instead, they arrived in the middle of a nighttime neon cityscape dominated by zombies. They spent some time questing and killing zombies together until Victoria said it was time to end. They returned to Rodney's box-filled apartment. He was in the process of packing up to move to a different Earth now that he had that option. He leaned back and draped his arm around Victoria. But, she sat up straighter and turned to face him.
"So, you've got a pretty good handle on the multiverse, and you've got your AlterNet character picked out," she said. "I think you're good to go," she patted him on the knee, then stood up. Rodney gave her a curious look and stood up too.
"Where are we going?" he asked. "I thought we were coming back here...," he grabbed her hands and his voice took on a deeper tone. "...so I can, you know... chill with my girlfriend," he winked. Victoria stepped back sharply.
"Girlfriend?" she asked and shook her head. "We never talked about a deeper relationship, this was just fun," she said.
"But... you said you're always dating. You're looking for someone to start a relationship with," Rodney said. His mind was trying to deal with the sudden heartache while also coming up with ways to salvage the relationship he thought he had. Hope flickered when Victoria nodded.
"I am," she said; but, she shook her head again. "When I find the person I'm going to be with, I'll have that conversation with them. You're cute, and I didn't want to be alone on Valentine's day, so I gave you a personal tour of the multiverse. I'm sorry if you thought it was more," Victoria shrugged. A black portal appeared next to her.
"Wait!" Rodney spoke up as she stepped into the portal. Luckily, she stopped to listen.
"Why not? You think I'm attractive, and we had fun together! Why not date me?"
"You're not my type," Victoria replied.
"What? How am I not your type?" Rodney asked. He was trying not to sound outraged; he was genuinely curious. If it was something he could change, he wanted to try.
"Don't take it personally, Rod. It's a preference...," Victoria said as she fully disappeared into the portal. It closed behind her, but Rodney still heard her final words to him. He understood the context; but, the words she used still stung. "I don't date Zeros."