Page 56 of Dance Practice, Marooned: Part 2

“Yeah, absolutely.”

We fall silent for a moment, before I ask, “How is Kaylee?”

Tati shrugs again, lightly. “She’s doing okay, I think. It’s hard to tell because she is so hard to read. I think she is okay, but I could be wrong.”

“At least she’s safe.”

“There you two are.”

Zeke’s voice has us both turning, to see him holding two bottles of rum in his hands. My eyes widen and I glance at Tati, who is staring with the same expression on her face.

“I’m scared to ask,” she says, softly.

“Tonight, ladies, we party. Come on! We found a music speaker, and Aggie is making some food. Let’s at least get one good thing out of all this.”

I look to Tati, and she shrugs and grins.

“Fuck it,” I say. “Let’s go.”

We follow Zeke down the corridors, the low hum of the engine vibrating in a way that kind of makes it sound unstable. I choose to ignore it. The ship is more alive than it has any right to be, like the walls themselves are relieved to be rid of the scum that lived here before us. The dining room, if you can call it that, is probably the biggest open space on the ship, and before, was cluttered with so much stuff I don’t know that it had been used in a while.

Stepping into it now, I gasp.

Aggie and Kaylee have transformed it into something almost cosy. They have stacked any furniture that was shoved in here against one wall, and dragged out a table and chairs. The floor has been swept, a window opened and it looks somewhat inhabitable. On the table, they have laid a sheet and cut up some fruit and thrown out some bags of chips and crackers.

“Wow, this looks half decent, ladies,” Zeke says, nodding. “Impressive.”

“I agree,” I say.

Aggie winks at me, and then sets the music a few notches louder, before clapping her hands together. “Let’s get smashed.”

Zeke sets down the bottles, grinning. “Ladies and gentlemen, I give you, the return of civilisation!” He winks, and I realise: this is his moment. This is the thing he will remember for the rest of his life, the day the world stopped ending for just a second.

He feels one step closer to home, and that clearly makes everything better for him.

Tati snorts. “Rum is not civilisation, Zeke.”

“Say that again after three shots,” he responds, bringing the bottle to his mouth and pulling out the cork with his teeth.

I’m about to make a joke, when I spot them, Ace and Kellen, standing in the corner, arms crossed, drinks in hand. They’re shirtless, both of them, and it takes me a second to realise how completely, stupidly handsome they both are. Not handsome in the movie star way, but in the way you remember seeing your first crush hit a baseball out of the park, or a firefighter in a calendar.

I ignore the stirring in my stomach—and lower—and slide myself next to Aggie, who is now fiddling with a deck of cards. “You’re making this weirdly festive,” I tell her.

She shrugs, eyes darting to Kellen and then away, too fast. The air is tense, but everyone is trying, and that’s something.

“I figure we deserve it.”

“You’re right,” I agree.

Ace’s gaze is on me, I can feel it every time I move. Eventually, I meet it and the heat in his stare is enough to make me squirm. I head over, trying to play it cool even though I feel like I might just reach him and take him right here in the dining hall.

“I see you made it,” he murmurs, voice laced with suggestion.

“Couldn’t resist the promise of lukewarm, bottom shelf rum,” I shoot back, but he’s already got his hand low on my waist, tugging me against his furnace of a body. He smells like clean sweat, rum, and saltwater, and when he leans in, his lips graze my ear.

“If you don’t put a shirt on soon, I can’t promise I won’t do wicked things to you,” I whisper, just loud enough for him to hear.

He pulls back, just enough for me to see his grin. “I accept the challenge, baby.”