And then, cupping his cheek with her hand, she brought those smiling lips down to his.
CHAPTER 7: KAT
MORE EXPLOSIONS.
And that blue-green light.
Her heart pounded in her chest in anticipation of the hyperjump coming up. They were running from something. Or racing towards something. She couldn’t quite remember. But she wasn’t ready. The ship—her friends— And with the squeezing sensation setting in—
Kat jolted awake, opening her eyes as she sat up, her breaths staggering in sharp bursts and gusts as she searched for a destination she couldn’t see.
She gazed around at the eggshell panels on her ceiling and the bright stars outside her window, letting the comforting scent of her room—and the traces of Lee—ease the jagged edges of the nightmare prodding her heart as her head caught up to consciousness.
Her breathing eased, the pain in her sternum lifting. It had been just that, a nightmare, nothing more. She was okay, and those lights were behind them, and they were right back where she was supposed to be.
She glanced over to the side of the bed where Lee had been, her bed feeling overly large. And maybe her dream-terrors were completely unfounded. They were keeping their head down and charting the safe path, her life was no longer in danger ofspiraling out of control. Her head was probably groggy after climbing and a late night on the ship.
But maybe some primal part of her was aware of how quickly they could veer off this path. Of how easily this new happiness could be wrested from her.
And that scared her more than anything.
To distract herself, and even give her some semblance of control over her fate, she read through the messages on her hyperband, stark reminders of the trainings she would be running this morning. Welcome back, Hanneman.
Her hyperband buzzed as she was memorizing her schedule.
Lee: good morning stardust
She grimaced at the nickname attempt, begrudging him for being so chipper in the mornings. But she couldn’t resist the sparkflies in her belly that fluttered to life when his name appeared on the screen. She typed back a quick response so he’d know she was awake.
Kat: you left too early last night;)
With the sparkflies to carry her and bat her dream terrors away, Kat flitted over to her closet, pulling on her all-terrain suit.
Things with Lee were going well. Like so well. Had she known it would be this easy, she would’ve let him in months ago.
She beamed down at her hyperband as a second message came through.
Lee: we can remedy that
She shouldn’t be this excited to see him, she’d been with him just last night.
Pushing past the heat starting to pool in her core at the mere thought of another night like the last, she jammed her feetinto her boots and slipped down through the lower levels of the Heptagon, to the Canteen.
“Hey there.”
Kat whirled, nearly sending the oat bar flying from the tray she’d been filling. A smile danced across Lee’s lips as he righted it for her.
“What, nostardustthis time?”
“Just trying things out.” Reaching over her shoulder, he plucked a couple things for himself, plopping them down alongside her own pickings on the tray.
He caught her staring at him when he went to grab one of his black plums. And the knowing smirk he shot her had her toes grinding into the grated floor.
Why couldn’t every day on the ship be a stay-in-and-makeout-with-your-hunky-guy day?
Lee carried her tray over to their table, Kat walking alongside him with very deliberate steps, as she warred against dragging him off into some hidden closet-panel right here and now. The thought of instead spending the next four hours in cadet trainings was a very specific brand of torture.
“It feels like we’ve been away for ages, are we sure it’s only been a couple of weeks?” Kat mused.
