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Rowan hesitated. They could be honest, but it probably wasn’t good form to discuss the situation with a passenger. “It’s proving to be quite mentally stimulating.”
“Great. That’s a positive, right?” Caroline furrowed her eyebrows as the lift opened at level four. “This is me.” She hesitated, adjusting her sleeves.
Suddenly, the air felt stifling. Rowan averted their eyes from traveling over Caroline’s petite form and lovely, round face. They cleared their throat.
“What are your plans this evening?” The words escaped before Rowan thought them through.
Caroline’s eyes widened in response, but she recovered quickly. It was a good thing since Rowan hadn’t felt this vulnerable for a long time. They’d immersed themselves in work since their last disastrous excuse for a relationship and hadn’t spared a thought to seeking that kind of heartache out again.
They both reached out to stop the elevator door from closing, and Caroline said, “How are you at Karaoke, Mx. Watcher?”
Dry mouthed and blood pressure skyrocketing, Rowan’s first impulse was to act like asking her out had been a mistake. The last thing they needed to do was complicate things by seeing someone at work.
“I don’t sing,” Rowan said. Then at Caroline’s fallen expression, they added, “but I love to watch others make fools of themselves while drinking whisky.”
The smile she rewarded them with made their cold, little heart flutter. They could afford to do what they chose on their time off after all. “Okay, Mx. Watcher. You have yourself a date.”
Something spurred Rowan forward and they blurted, “My name’s Rowan.”
Caroline leaned in and dropped a kiss on their cheek. “I’ll meet you at Hanna’s bar. Eight o’clock, Rowan.” Then she swept off the elevator and down the hall before the doors closed again.
Rowan checked their schematics on the holopad still in their hand. Level four held mostly administrative offices like lost and found, the costume shop, and the medcenter. They were still getting accustomed to the ship’s design. They knew the rooms and apartments were floor six and up. And they knew that floors two and three held the majority of the fake western town with shops, bars, and restaurants. The bottom floor was where they’d all boarded, and it had a small control room that opened into a hall which started the time-specific emersion through expensive decoration and expansive views.
“Show me floor five,” Rowan said as they exited the lift and strode toward their own room.
Nothing exciting popped up, only other rooms, as they suspected. Rowan tossed the holopad on their bed. Everything led to a dead end. What was the point in being there at all if they were destined to act like a glorified security guard?
It was a good thing they’d asked Caroline out that evening. Hell, she might be this job’s only saving grace.
