“Then they’ll be relieved to know you’re here instead!”
Orlando peered at his friend. “Eager for another slumber party?”
“Just thinking about what’d be better for you, man. You don’t have to accept my generous offer to give you an excuse to not go home. I know how much you hate it there. It’s not a big secret,” JD countered.
“I don’t hate being home,” Orlando mumbled. He appreciated the invite all the same. “Thanks, I’ll take the floor.”
“We’ve got an air mattress around here somewhere. Like I said, got a study thing with my friend Miranda, but it shouldn’t take long,” he said.
“Who’s Miranda?” Orlando raised an eyebrow. A new name. He couldn’t remember any Miranda’s at Morningtide either. Had JD moved on from Cadence already? He swore he wouldn’t, but the guy was known to be fickle with his emotions.
JD shrugged. “Some girl in my Lit class.”
“Some girl…” Orlando echoed. It didn’t sit well with him. “Whatever, let me go get my stuff. So long as you’re sure I’m not barging in. Your family did order pizza and everything.”
“The more the merrier. Dad picked the movie for the night, and he’s got pretty good taste. You’ll be well entertained while I do my thing. It’ll be an hour at the most. Promise. I’d cancel, but I already had to do that once this week and she’ll be pretty mad at me if I ditch her again. She needs the grade boost.” JD made some space on his floor.
Laughing, Orlando opened the door. “She must if she’s asking you for help.”
JD only rolled his eyes.
Orlando went out to the car, making brief eye contact with Angela as he did so. He risked giving her a smile. A smile she reciprocated. It was a start. Perhaps it wouldn’t take too long for him to win her over again.
Epilogue
Alan sucked in a deep breath and knocked on Cadence’s door. I shouldn’t be doing this. It isn’t right. Or is it? I don’t know anymore. Keeping secrets from the rest of the group doesn’t seem like a good idea. We just finally started connecting and trusting one another. Continuing to see Cadence on my own might change that. By the time he’d thought about possibly going back to his ship, the door opened.
To make it worse, she was laughing. He loved her laugh. It was possibly his favorite thing about her. How could he leave when she did something so beautiful?
“You’re kind of scaring me.” She folded her arms across her chest and leaned against her doorway, the smile never fading from her face.
He took in a deep breath. “I didn’t realize I was being frightening by coming to your door. Is that because of those horror movies your people like to watch? Should I not come by?”
“No, what I’m trying to say is you’re acting out of character. You’ve never been so respectful or traditional before. I’m not actually afraid of you, but it’s a figure of speech we use sometimes when people aren’t themselves. It could mean something is going on that I need to worry about,” she explained.
“Oh,” he said and chuckled, hoping his nerves didn’t come through. It was more of an awkward laugh than anything else. Just tell her and she’ll understand. “Because I…er…here.” He held out the flowers he’d been hiding behind his back and handed them to her, choosing to let the gesture do all of the talking for him.
Cadence lowered her gaze to the many different blooms in her hands. He had tried to find as many colors and types as possible, liking the contrast and variety of all the flowers put together. When she frowned, he worried.
“What…what’s this?” she asked.
“Courting by means of a more normal method. Flowers.” He tried to not let her lack of reaction discourage him. I have to try. He bit his lip, and continued, searching for the right words and hoping if he just kept talking they’d find their way out. “I picked them myself.” That sounds so juvenile, and I probably shouldn’t add I teleported all over to get them. That’ll sound desperate. “I thought they suited you.”
She continued to gaze down at them, nodding slowly, clearly deep in thought. Alan wouldn’t rush her into answering, either. Finally, she lifted her dark eyes to meet his gaze. “You’re…courting me?”
“Perhaps you’ll think it’s stupid,” he said, trying to speak at an even pace so as not to bombard her with his word vomit of emotions. Once he started, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to hold back. And she needs a real explanation. “The more time we spend together, the more I find I care for you. Not just as a part of my team or as a friend. As something deeper that I don’t understand. When I think of Jaes coming to do the same thing, I find myself jealous. My feelings may be one-sided, and if they are, that is fine and I respect that. We can pretend I never came here, just like we pretend that you didn’t kiss me.”
“We agreed it meant nothing,” she whispered. “That it was just a bad moment.”
“We did,” he said. “And then I wanted it to happen again. If you choose to not to accept my advancements, I hope you will at least take one thing from this experience. How captivating you are. Not just your physical beauty, but your kind soul and wisdom. I appreciate you and everything you do.” He paused. “You’re an amazing young woman, and those are the things I am drawn to the most whenever we’re together. I promise, if you reject my advancements, it won’t impact what we do. Thank you for hearing me out and giving me the chance to say my piece.”
She gazed up at him for a long, agonizing, moment. Her expression was almost impossible to read. “I’ve been having a hard time ignoring all of those things about you. There’s still so much I don’t know about you, though. So much I want to learn. If this doesn’t work…”
“If we take it slow enough, do it right, then if we get to that bridge, it will not be as devastating of a crossing. And if we never arrive to it, then we wouldn’t have missed something good because of fear.” He couldn’t believe he was trying to persuade her. All of her concerns were completely justified. Because if things didn’t work, there might be the chance of awkward tension, regardless of how mature he claimed to attempt to be. We do barely know one another. Well, I know more about her than she does about me. I’ll have to fix that. I need to open up to her more or I’ll risk losing her forever. Ignorance destroyed my relationship with Alona…
Cadence closed her eyes for a moment. “I’m crazy for saying this, but…yeah. I’ll let you ‘court’ me.” She giggled. “Sorry, we just don’t do things so formally here.”
He couldn’t help but smile. “Then I think I’m already on the right track.”
“We…can’t say anything. Not until…” Her smile faded.
“I know, not until we’re sure it’s working. JD won’t understand.” And neither will Jaes.
She let out a soft sigh of relief. “Come in. I’m just about to watch some TV. Not exciting, but…you can join me.”
“TV is always exciting!” Back home, there were devices that did the same thing just through a different method of functionality. On the ship, there was only one screen to be shared with all of the juniors on board. Technically, he had a television in his apartment but he didn’t feel like he earned the right to use it. Sometimes when he visited Earth, he sat down and watched a show, curious about what the people there thought interesting. Most of the content was the same. It was another small touch of home, and one he was happy to partake in with Cadence.
Alan sat down on her couch while she went to get beverages in the kitchen. When she returned to sit next to him, he tentatively put an arm around her, not sure how much he was allowed to touch her just yet. The distance between them was comfortable. And they both were allowed to just be themselves for once.
Nerves churned his stomach all the same. There was no going back. All he could hope was that going forward wouldn’t ruin everything he’d been working so hard to build.
About the Author
J.F. Jenkins lives in Minneapolis Minnesota with her husband, sons, and two cats. She graduated from Bethel University in 2006 with a de
gree in Media Communication with minors in both writing and film. When she is not busy writing, she spends her free time playing games, reading, and spending time with her family.
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