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As soon asI’m out of my head, I am able to take in the third compartment and it truly is mind blowing. The room is more than three times the size of my apartment’s living room back in New York and there’s another door at the very end that no doubt leads to the bunker room.
There are adjoined counters on both sides with the most expensive equipment I’ve ever laid eyes on. Above, in the ceiling are bright fluorescent lights illuminating the entire room. This place… it’s every scientist’s dream.
Chris starts talkingas I inspect every single thing in here, my fingers trailing over it all. “This compartment can maintain normal atmospheric pressure, just like a submarine. It can also be pressurized to ambient pressure and it is usually held at a pressure in between. It’s strong enough to handle both, so you don’t have to worry about something going wrong,” he says as I walk past him to admire the large aquatic tank further down the counter.
I turnmy head to look at him. “I’m not worried,” I tell him. “You are here,” I say with a smile and in truth, I have never felt safer. Sudden realization hits me that most of the time I’ve spent with Chris hasn’t been in ideal situations. There was the storm, diving into water, and now being in a highly equipped metal bubble under the ocean. Despite all of this, I have felt a keen sense of safety each time, because he was right there with me.
It is almostfunny that it has taken me this long to realize that I trust Christopher Young with my life.
That feeling of freedom,the one I have always chased at every turn regardless of what I have to give up to earn it, I feel it whenever he is around me. The icing on the cake is that, with Chris, I don’t have to give anything up, I just need to be myself.
I seehow his face goes from excited to humbled after what I’ve told him. He is at a loss for what to say and I hide my smile.
Feelingoverjoyed at finally achieving this particular dream of mine that I’ve had since I started my career in aquatic microbiology, I decide to celebrate. I dig through my backpack and pull out my phone.
Chris raisesa curious brow before commenting. “You know that won’t work here, right? We are going to be cut off from the outside world for a while,” he explains slowly. The small smile in the corner of his mouth indicates that he’s actively teasing me and I almost chuck my phone at him.
“I know that,”I glare at him and he laughs. I don’t think I can ever get over his laughter. It just turns him into a different person, relaxed, playful, and humane while still maintaining that commanding aura of his. “I want us to celebrate.”
“I’mafraid we don’t have access to wine here either. Honestly, Charlotte, did you go through the itinerary for this trip at all?”
“Shut up, Chris,”I shove his arm, giggling as his laughter grows louder. I scroll through my phone for a while, then I push play on my favorite playlist and music spills all around us. “Dance with me,” I yell through the loud music, moving my body freely to the beat.
There’s an unsure look on Chris’ face as he stares at me wiggling my arms and body in front of me. “Um, I think I’ll pass.”
I dropmy arms to my side and pout. “Oh, come on. It’ll be fun, I promise.” I reach for him, attempting to pull him towards me and guide him to dancing, but he quickly moves out of arm’s reach.
“I’m not the best dancer.”
“Neither amI. You just need to move your body; it doesn’t have to make sense.”
“I’m notsure about the song either, it’s not exactly my style.”
I roll my eyes. “Okay, Grandpa,”I tease.
Chris scoffs,placing a hand on his hip. “Did you just call me Grandpa?”
I smirk,holding his menacing gaze. “Yes, I did. What are you going to do about it… Grandpa?”
Before I can blink, Chris is right in front of me. He grabs my hand and spins me around, pulling me against him with his other hand on my waist. Then, he proceeds to lift me off my feet and dip me.
Breathless,with my head spinning in the most amazing way, I barely manage to get my next words out. “I don’t think this is how you dance to a song like this, Chris,” I tell him even though I don’t want him to ever stop.
Chris lowershis head and whispers in my ear. “We just need to move our bodies, isn’t that right?” He replies before spinning me around once again.
I don’t thinkI’ve ever giggled so much or had so much fun dancing with anyone as I am dancing with him.
Oh,this is going to be the longest and hardest three months of my life!
14
CHRISTOPHER
The rest of our team arrived a day after Charlotte and I did and after a series of apologies on their part, we get to work. There’s a new challenge every day that we have to tackle and so much is going on that my time alone with Charlotte feels like it was years ago when it’s only been four weeks.
A lot has happened,giving us headway in our research, but I’ve been so distracted with being in charge of everything that we haven’t had the chance to spend time together like we did before.
As one ofthe few PhD students involved in the research fellowship being hosted by my lab, Charlotte has been extremely busy, too. On occasion, she and the others will dive out of the lab and into the ocean to search for samples. Those are always the longest thirty minutes of my life and I’m always counting the seconds until she returns.
