I toss back the last of the wine in my glass and pour another one, then offer a top-up for Sasha, which he accepts.
“A two-glass night, is it?” he asks with obvious amusement.
“Fuck yeah, it is.” Several of my tentacles droop sadly. “I’ve been thinking a lot lately about finding a life partner too. I see—every damn day—how happy you and Kheph are. For real, you two are total relationship goal material.” My shoulders slump. “But I worry I won’t get so lucky.”
“What happened to that last woman you were seeing?”
I weakly flap a tentacle. “It was nothing serious, only a fling. It fizzled the moment we were long distance.”
“Dating someone on another planet or even another ship must be pretty complicated since we’re constantly roaming and exploring the far reaches of the universe.”
“Exactly. Don’t get me wrong, I love what we do. It’s one of many reasons I wanted to join the ship when Kheph decided he was ready to leave Draveth. Our adventures are exciting and eye-opening, but not super helpful to finding a partner for more than a short time.”
“Heh. You’d basically have to abduct someone and get them to stay on the ship like Kheph did with me,” he jokes.
I perk up. “Now that’s an idea.”
He holds his hands up in an X-pattern. “Beep! Denied.”
“Why not? It worked out with you.”
“That was a one-in-a-million situation. Something like that doesn’t happen twice.”
I reach out and pat his shoulder. “You forget, friend, that our ship and our crew have been blessed by the Goddess Thekmis.”
He lets out a long-suffering groan. “Not bloody Thekmis again.”
I scowl at him. “Don’t diss the goddess.”
“Look, I know your supposed goddess has feline attributes, and when I joined the ship with Jonesy, you all took that as some divine sign from Thekmis. But for real, Jonesy is a cat, a super cool cat, yes, but still just a cat.”
I cross my arms. “You believe what you want to believe, and I’ll believe what I want to believe.”
He shakes his head. “I don’t think the odds are in your favor, but I admire your optimism.”
I wave a chiding tentacle at him. “That’s because you don’t believe in Christmas miracles, but I do, and I choose to keep believing that the universe might bring me into contact with the woman who’s meant for me, and me for her, this holiday season.”
Equally ludicrous scenarios happen in Hallmark Christmas movies, why not for me too?
Sasha gives me a mock salute. “I wish you well on your quest.”
As we continue chatting and drinking, my spirits are steadily lifting. My momentary lapse into pessimism really isn’t like me. Seeing how happy Sasha and Kheph have been together over the last year has made me a lot itchier to find my own special someone, something I’ve always wanted, but now there’s more of a pressing urge to make it my reality.
So right here and right now, I’m choosing to have faith that my very own Christmas miracle, quite possibly brought to me by Thekmis, is going to land the woman of my dreams in my lap this year.
CHAPTER 3
Open and honest communication with someone you’re interested in is the best way to create a solid foundation for a relationship. Depending on your and your prospective partner’s home world, you may need to learn linguistic conventions and codes from each other’s cultures.
Body language also conveys a lot of information, but some behaviors and modes of physical expression are particular to specific cultures. What might mean one thing in one society could mean something radically different in another. Innocuous gestures for you might be offensive to others. Take the time to learn from each other because it will pay off. It can also be a whole lot of fun! The twitch of a tail, the subtle ruffle of feathers, the changing colors of scales—these can all signal something unique depending on one’s culture.
Learning about your future sweetheart is a way to build trust and mutual respect and show that you care about more than her hot bod. Enjoy finding out how your love interest could be giving you the green light for more or letting you know to slow down.
—Ch. 1,How to Flirt Among the Stars: An Intergalactic (and Interspecies) Sapphic Dating Guide
Three weeks before Christmas…
Gemma
