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"If we were on Earth,I would ask you where you wanted to go," Danec said. "Or what you wanted to eat. There's not much to choose from here. It's the mess or the mess."
"Hmmm, let me think about that for a moment." I twirled a curl around my finger. "How about the mess?"
He laughed, awkward and high. "Great idea." He drew his shoulders in like a shy schoolboy, and added, "You look lovely, by the way."
"You too," I replied. "I mean, handsome." Trust me to put my foot in my mouth. Not literally, of course, these were my favourite heels. Okay, my only heels. The luggage weight limit meant I had to leave the other dozen pairs behind. My parents promised to take care of them and send them on when I was settled, along with my collection of earrings shaped like food. What? Who doesn't need earrings shaped like purple gummy bears, or vodka bottles?
He really was handsome though. His blue skin had a subtle sheen in the station's lights. His short hair was damp around the edges and he smelled clean, like he'd just come from the shower. His uniform was neat and fit like it was cut just for him, firm across his chest and biceps. I was tempted to ask him to do a twirl, just so I could see how it fit his ass. What I saw was pretty damned good.
"The mess it is then," he said. "I heard they're thawing pizza tonight."
I wrinkled my nose. "Mmm, thawed pizza." The resources here on the station were limited and the galley was relatively small, even if the mess could seat a few hundred people. So frozen food it was, much of the time, usually prepared on Earth.
"It's better than fish sticks." He stuck out his tongue in disgust. "I had that on the way through. I don't think it was real fish."
"They can put a station on the moon, but they still can't make decent fish sticks," I said.
Danec chuckled. "Yes. Um." He looked toward his booted feet.
"Shall we start walking?" I suggested. "Otherwise the mess might close before we get there."
"Right!" he said so quickly he seemed to startle himself. "I mean yes, good idea." He sighed. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to be awkward." He walked beside me. "My mother hoped being an ensign might make me more, um…"
"Confident?" I suggested.
"Exactly. Even with the uniform on, I feel as though I'm going to fall over my own feet."
"I'm sure you're not," I assured him. "You look very dashing. That shade of grey suits you."
I supposed I would have to wear a uniform too, once I boarded the ship to Agus. All the more reason to enjoy wearing a black skater skirt and a pale pink top. Both would probably look better on Brinley, but I felt cute in them.
"Thank you. You're very sweet."
Sweet? That sounded like a friend zone word right there. For some reason, my heart sank a little, but it was okay, really. Who couldn't use more friends? Especially when travelling to a whole new planet? If he just wanted friendship, then that's what we'd do.
"I try," I said, suddenly as awkward as he was. "There's an empty table, over near the window." If we ran out of things to talk about, we could always watch the world go by.
"Yes, great." He barrelled toward it like a man on a mission, almost leaving me standing at the entrance.
I raised my eyebrows at his back and hurried to catch up. At least I got a good view of his ass. It was everything I hoped it would be.
"We got it." He smiled like a little boy who rode his bike alone for the first time. If little boys had muscles and a dimple in their chin. I hadn't noticed that before, but now I did, I found it endearing.
Friends, Edie, friends, I reminded myself. It's okay to think your friends are hot, right? Awkward or not, he was a pretty sexy guy. Of course, leave it to me to meet an adorable guy who wanted to be friends. I suck at this love thing.
I shook off my self pity and smiled. "Good work. We beat another couple of people to it as well."
A woman with a tray had headed straight for it, but she slumped down at another table instead.
Danec's face fell. "I hope we didn't upset anyone." He pulled out a chair and gestured for me to sit. "I read in etiquette class that human women always like someone to pull out a chair for them."
It was a gesture all but abandoned on Earth, in favour of equality and all that, but I didn't have the heart to tell Danec that. Instead, I smiled and slid into the seat.
"Thank you, that's very gentlemanly of you."
He furrowed his brow. "Gentlemanly? You have some words which aren't related to the groin."
