Chapter 18
KITTINIR
Carl had been here four days now and had begun acting cagey.
I knew he must have made his mind up about taking the contract, and most likely he was acting this way as he wanted to broach the subject regarding our living arrangements.
No doubt he had the idea that I was attached to the furnishings in my quarters, which I really wasn’t, well, except for the couch.
It was an exceedingly comfortable one, and I didn’t see the need to get rid of it to make room for his, as there was room enough for two if we rearranged things.
The sticking point was probably his kitchen table, a Formica and chrome affair that had been his great-grandmother’s and which he’d inherited from his beloved Meemaw.
I was ready to concede I’d been foolish to think we could get rid of having a table and use the space for a study.
We could simply add a desk to our bedrooms and put up some shelves to hold the texts we used for work, with the low bookcases he’d bring lining the walls of the living room and dining area.
I wanted to tell him all this, that he needn’t worry, so it was okay to go sign the contract and arrange for his belongings to be shipped, barring the chance that he would get matched and end up living elsewhere.
I wouldn’t though, as Carl was a male who needed to mull things over and broach sensitive to him subjects.
He liked to have what he wanted to say formulated within his mind and not have to scramble for the words.
That was fine, I knew this about him and was content to let him ready himself for the conversation.
In the meantime, I’d gone ahead and ordered the bar stools for the counter, choosing a retro set that would coordinate with the chrome and Formica set he would be contributing.
I’d also started slowly moving my things out of the second bedroom while he was showering, so that once he laid his cards on the table, he’d find an empty room he could go into and decide where he wanted things placed before they arrived.
That’s not to say things were strained between us.
When he wasn’t thinking about the topic, he was quite his usual affable self.
He’d charmed my coworkers yesterday afternoon when he was allowed to come see what we were doing.
He’d even made some excellent suggestions as to what to include for the humans who’d be taking extension courses on the Dragonii colony worlds.
As a result, a few agricultural colleges were now also being consulted so that those human colonists who would be farming would have a hand up in understanding how to read grain moisture and such things using familiar ways.
He’d taken to packing my lunches and us going out for our evening meal, which was a nice change of pace.
Last night we took the shuttle to one of our sister ships and enjoyed some excellent Italian food.
Tonight, though, we were at the bowling alley.
I’d halfway thought he’d forget about that; I should have known better.
Now that we were here, I wondered if this nod to how things were back at the college was how he intended to broach the subject of his career move.
So far, nothing, but then he was pretty busy correcting my hold of the ball and my stance, swing, and everything else.
I might be good at hula and an expert marksman with a stunner or a blaster, and extremely proficient in swordsmanship, not to mention daggers, but this?
I was beginning to believe it was hopeless.
“Okay, let’s take a break and order some nachos,” he suggested after we finished our first game. “Let’s sit at the counter, and you can just relax without watching literally everyone else hit all those pins,” he suggested, lips twitching in amusement.
“Fine. I hope they have loaded ones as I’m hungry.”
“If not, they do pizza and burgers.”
We left our lane and made our way over to the snack bar counter.
“Oh, hey, the cutie who helped me find you that first day is working,” Carl said.
I felt a wave of what felt an awful lot like jealousy surge through me until I saw the young male he was talking about.
“Hi, remember me? In the elevator a few days ago?” Carl was already greeting him.
The young male, whose name tag read Alec, smiled back warmly. “Hi! Yeah, of course. It was your first day on board and my first day on the job.”
I looked him up and down. Carl was right.
He was a cutie. Around the age of graduating students, he had an air of vulnerability about him despite his demeanor.
His short, slender frame was a contrast to Carl's taller one and lacked the arm definition that Carl maintained from using arm weights and strength bands, allegedly to give him more oomph while bowling and to not appear weak in front of occasionally unruly freshmen students.
Unlike with any of our students, I felt a sudden urge to protect him, even though there was no danger to him whatsoever here within the Fleet.
“So, what can I get you? You want to order food, right? Or maybe a drink?”
“We do, yes,” Carl continued to smile at him, and this time, I didn’t feel jealous at all.
Carl’s solicitousness towards Alec felt right, as if he were part of our group.
A trio of friends, as it were. Perhaps we would get to know him better after spending more time here at the alley, and he would feel that same spark of friendship.
Dinners out with us would follow, as well as joining us for movie nights and dinner at ours.
I felt contentment at the notion. Yes, adding him to our friendship circle would be nice. Better than nice, even, wonderful.
“We’d like some beef nachos and two ice cream sodas, please.”
“Coke float or root beer?”
“Coke for me, root beer for him.”
“Chocolate or vanilla ice cream?”
“Vanilla,” I replied at the same time as Carl.
“Okie dokie. Be ready in a jiffy,” Alec said, turning away to make our order. We slid onto the stools to wait.
“He seems nice,” I offered.
“Oh, he is. I actually popped in here the other day to check the place out, and he was helping some kids on the lanes. He was so good with them. It was quite adorable to see. I didn’t stay long, though, as he was busy. I mean, the alley was busy. Looked like a field trip or something.”
Ah, so he felt it too. “Seeing as you’re both new to the Fleet, and I’ve only just returned, perhaps we should come a couple of times a week and get to know him better. It would be good to have more people in our social circle.”
“Kit, you really are such a sweetheart, you know that? That’s a great idea. He probably could use some friends, too.”
I waited for him to seize the opportunity to say something along the lines of, “It will be great to have someone to hang out with when you’re busy, after I’ve moved here.”
But he said nothing, so I regretfully accepted he wasn’t ready yet. Monday was fast approaching, though, and with it, his need to return to work.