Page 280 of Every Almost

Reyna checked the dates against her own memory and found them immediately, because she'd been there for all of it. That was the month it stopped being difficult. When Charlie stopped asking permission to be in a room at 0300, stumbling upon Reyna when she couldn't sleep. It was the month when she started sitting next to Charlie in the galley. She did it once without deciding to, and then she did it again. After a while, it was simply where she sat, and nobody ever said a word about it.

Reyna had thought about that month a great deal. She'd assumed she was the only one.

Apparently, she wasn't. Charlie had been happy. She hadn't needed a single song.

Reyna scrolled further.

500.75. / "Forever Young." Rod Stewart.

Added night of the age-slowing discovery. NOTE: grief is directed at the sister, no one else. Do not confuse this entry with the others.

Reyna remembered. The Observation Room. Charlie leaning forward and the weight she'd been holding after learning she couldn't go home.

Reyna had caught her.

And then Charlie had gone back and added this to her list.

Reyna scrolled with her thumb and stopped reading the notes.

500.98. / "In Your Eyes." Peter Gabriel.

Reyna didn't need a note for this date. She remembered. She'd sat on a library floor with one headphone in and six minutes had gone by like forty seconds. She'd said something honest out loud without meaning to. But, to Charlie, she'd gone back to her quarters and found a song about how she was feeling.

500.121. / "I'm on Fire." Bruce Springsteen.

Reyna remembered this date, too. Charlie's hands on her waist in front of the entire crew when learning the ‘Thriller’ dance.

500.154. / "Never Tear Us Apart." INXS.

The cascade. Three inches of air between them in that shaft with Charlie's fingers on her jaw. Reyna had turned around and walked out.

500.161. / "Steal Away." Robbie Dupree.

This note she read.

Subject: wanting private time with a specific person. Away from others. Added 8 days ago, same day she began planning the Captain's birthday.

And then there was a hole in the list.

Reyna looked at it. She scanned that open space on the spreadsheet. Orion hadn't marked anything because there was nothing to mark.

There was nothing where the loudest entry in the world should have been.

Because it wasn't on the list. Charlie Wickett hadn't put it on a list. Instead, she had stood in the middle of a library in front of everyone andsung it, straight at Reyna.

The one Orion couldn't find was the one Reyna had watched.

Reyna looked up at Orion, her eyes wide and glassy.

"Charlie's... playlist!" She cried, a genuine smile spreading across her face.

Reyna covered her mouth with one hand while scrolling through all of Orion's notes and Charlie's songs.

"How...?" Reyna asked, looking up at Orion, her voice hoarse. "How did you...?"

"Ah! Now see, that's a good story." He turned and looked at Reyna, then at the rest of the crew on the Bridge. "Shall I tell it?"

"Please," Reyna answered. "I'dreallylike to know."