Chapter 9
Love is grand, isn’t it? However, don’t forget that you and your partner need to have your own hobbies, dreams, goals, and interests.
You don’t have to like all the same things, let alone do everything together.
No one can be everything for someone else, and trying to do so is a potentially dangerous path that can lead to toxic codependence.
You and your lady love should have aspects of your lives that aren’t intricately intertwined.
Retaining your autonomy and individuality will strengthen your relationship in the long run.
Christmas Day…
Gemma
“Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” comes blaring through the comm system on the ship, jolting Luna and me out of a deep and well-earned slumber.
I press a hand to my bare chest, heart hammering. “Good fucking god. What time is it?” I croak.
Luna reaches over and taps something on the wall, then groans loudly. “Roughly the equivalent of seven a.m. Earth time.”
I pull a pillow over my head. “Do we have earplugs?” Surely we can drown out the noise.
Someone starts pounding on my door. “Wakey, wakey! It’s Christmas morning, and we don’t want to waste a moment of this fabulous day!”
I blink at Luna. “Kheph?”
She grimaces. “Yep. He’s not going to leave us alone until we go and join them, FYI.”
I run a hand through my hair, which is even more unruly after our bedtime fun last night.
“Fine, but I need a shower before I’m doing anything.”
Luna sits up in bed looking a lot perkier. “Can I join you?”
I arch an eyebrow. “Is the shower big enough?”
She waggles her green eyebrows at me. “Ab-so-fucking-lutely.”
We race to the bathroom, giggling all the way.
After brushing our teeth with some interesting minty extraterrestrial cleaning powder, we spend the next twenty minutes washing one another in the enormous shower that’s part of the en suite in my quarters.
The hot water is divine and goes a long way toward waking me up.
“This is awfully handy,” I murmur as I scrub my scalp with a fresh, citrusy shampoo.
Luna grins cheekily. “When we were designing the ship, Kheph and I were very hopeful that we would eventually have special someones to share a shower with. Najar thought we were dreaming—boy was he wrong. Anyway, me and Kheph wanted to make sure all the units were large enough to accommodate our fantasies. We’re brilliant like that. ”
I chuckle and help Luna wash her tentacles, which is a fascinating experience.
If we weren’t in such a hurry, I would probably take a lot more time in the process.
But I make a mental note to myself to be sure to do so at another time when I’ve got more leisure to explore the magnificent appendages.
Once we’re suitably clean and refreshed, we get out of the shower.
Luna shows me how to use a special heated-air drying device on the wall that blasts our whole bodies with delightfully warm air and evaporates all the water on our skin.
It even dries our hair until it’s only damp.
Man, how I could have used one of these devices when I was in med school.
I find my toiletries kit and run a little bit of gel through my hair to make sure my curls don’t go mega-frizzy on me, then get dressed while Luna sneaks back to her room to change into fresh clothes.
We reunite in the hallway when we’re both dressed, and she leads me to the ship’s dining area, which they call the Sustenance Bay.
There we find everyone waiting for us. Khephren is decked out in a full-on elf costume and has bells tied to each of his dark pink tentacles.
When he sees us, he waves his appendages in the air, making the bells jingle.
“Merry Christmas,” he cries with the delight of a child—albeit a rather large one.
His human partner, Sasha, gives him a fond smile and a faint rolling of his eyes.
Felix is snuggled in Najar’s lap on a chair and looking incredibly pleased with himself.
“Isn’t this cozy,” Luna says as we join everyone at a communal dining table.
Khephren hurriedly begins passing out mugs of a steaming beverage. I sniff and find it’s reminiscent of coffee, but definitely not the java I’m familiar with.
Sasha gives me a little head tilt. “It’s called kavga. Not coffee, but damn tasty and ultra-caffeinated. I’m convinced it might even be capable of waking the newly dead.”
That sounds both creepy and awesome.
Luna doctors mine with some sugar and cream while flashing me a glowing smile that basically screams I got laid last night.
Not that I feel any need for us to keep quiet about it, but I’m beginning to gather that Luna’s facial expressions always reveal exactly how she’s feeling. So. Freaking. Adorable.
“I think you’ll like it better like this,” she explains with a smile.
I grin back at her and take a sip. My eyes immediately water and my heart hammers in my chest. It’s like a fucking injection of caffeine straight to my brain. Hell yeah.
I slurp back some more, my mind beginning to fire on all cylinders. It’s really damn tasty, and I suspect I’ll be a kavga addict in no time.
Sipping on her own kavga, Luna is far from subtle as she dreamily stares at me the whole time.
Sasha smirks at us. “So it’s like that, huh? Congrats.” He reaches out to fist-bump Luna.
Khephren hurries back over to the table, his tentacles all aquiver, clasping his hands in front of his chest. “Is it true? Are you two officially a couple?”
Everyone goes quiet, their eyes on us.
Luna and I look at one another and nod at the same time, grinning from ear to ear.
“Yes, we’re officially an item,” I say.
“An exclusive item,” Luna says proudly, her tentacles flapping like Animal from The Muppets beating on his drums.
She is too fucking cute.
“Isn’t that a little fast?” my brother pipes up, frowning.
I swear on all that is holy—aka Teagan and Sara and The Indigo Girls—I’m gonna teach my overprotective brother a thing or two. Right here, right now.
With all the sarcasm I can muster, I roll my eyes at him.
“Please. Like you’re one to talk, shacking up with Najar faster than you can say I have a hard-on for men with tentacles.
” I cross my arms and level him with a stare that calls bullshit.
“So you’re not going to harsh on my romantic vibe with Luna unless you want a lengthier verbal ass whooping. ”
He flushes guiltily. He hasn’t got a leg to stand on about this, and we both know it.
Luna shakes her head, then leans over to whisper in my ear, “I’m sorry. I love these guys, but men can be so dumb sometimes.”
No shit. Especially older brothers.
I lighten my tone. “Besides, it’s not like Luna and I are getting married tomorrow or anything. We’ve been seeing each other for a hot second, so for now we’ll see where it goes.”
My gut’s already telling me it’s going somewhere amazing.
Luna nods her head enthusiastically, her tentacles swaying happily in the air.
Adorable. The fact that her tentacles can be cute one minute and sexy the next is a bit of a trip, but I’m totally into it.
“Besides,” Luna chimes in, “Gemma and I’ve been talking to each other for a couple of weeks now. This isn’t all that fast. At least, not for lesbians.”
I high-five her.
Felix’s eyes go wide. “How the hell have you been doing that?”
Khephren puffs out his chest proudly. “It’s all thanks to me. I created the FLIRTT system—Frequency Link for Interstellar Real-Time Transmission—to be able to facilitate real-time communication from our ship to Gemma’s phone through the texting.” He turns to Sasha. “That’s what you call it, right?”
Sasha gives him a fond look and pats one of his tentacles. “Close enough, honey.”
Felix narrows his eyes at Luna. “You’ve been secretly macking on my sister this whole time?”
“You bet your ass I was! Like I was going to waste a golden opportunity.” She takes hold of my hand and brushes a kiss against the back of it. “But to set the record straight, I wasn’t macking on her. I was wooing her with my words.” She beams at me. “Super romantic, right?”
I wink at her. “It got me in your bed—or rather, mine—last night.”
Rambo starts doing a victory loop around the table, beeping merrily as he says, “Yo, Adrian! I did it!”
“Really? Rocky?” I ask Luna, fighting back a laugh.
She shrugs. “I kind of wanted to be Sylvester Stallone when I was younger. It was a phase.”
Imagining her in a woman’s boxing outfit has me ready to swoon. “You’re so fucking cool.”
“Right back atcha,” Luna says.
Rambo pauses near us as if he was waiting for the perfect moment to say, “The greatest thing you’ll ever learn is to love and be loved in return.”
Okay, the little droid’s starting to grow on me. The fact that he only speaks in movie lines is a bit daunting but fun. It’s a bit of a game to guess what he’ll say next.
I return my attention to Felix. “But in all seriousness, I can understand why you might be concerned, big brother, because I have similar worries. You hooked up with Najar after only knowing him for a few weeks. My situation with Luna is not that different. We’re both basically hitching a ride into unknown territory, both literally and symbolically, but we’ve made this monumental decision to leave our lives on Earth behind to explore the universe and develop our newfound relationships.
” I shrug. “We need to make the most of that, support each other, and trust one another to know what’s in our hearts.
Also, and you know I’m right, Nana and Gramps would be cheering us on.
They’re the ones who made us sci-fi fans. ”
Kheph begins clapping, tears streaming down his cheeks. “Th-that was b-beautiful!”
Sasha reaches an arm around him, holding him close, his expression unguarded and full of love. “You and your big-ass hearts. All three of them.”
My brother gives me an apologetic look. “Sorry, Gemsy. You’re right. I really don’t want you to regret deciding to join us.” He bows his head. “I feel like I forced your hand a bit.”