CHAPTER 3 KAT #2
This had always been friend territory. They’d pushed those lines a little over the years, sure. But they’d always known what that territory encompassed.
But now…
She peered over at Lee. He gazed up at the ceiling with that boyish face of his. Still lost in thought, wherever his brilliant mind had gone.
She knew that face as well as her own. Better. She crushed on every single freckle that spattered across his nose and cheeks. And the body that went with it…
She dug her hands into the blankets at the heat rushing her face once more as she drew her eyes sky high. Would she be so obvious if she buried her face in her pillow right now?
But she drew in another breath, willing her heart to slow.
She didn’t let herself think about it as she eased backwards to let her head rest against his hard stomach. Her ear pressed into the thick commercial fabric of his dark all-terrain suit. They were still friends. But… They could do both, right?
The muscles beneath his suit shifted with his subtle movements as he angled towards her to make her more comfortable. His breathing was steady, lifting her head in smooth arcs and dips, the heartbeat just off from the beat of the music.
This was comfortable.
This was home.
Lee let one of his arms drop, his finger trailing up her arm, the sparks in her blood rising to meet his touch—
She was going to flip this home upside down.
Kat lay there in agony, a red hot, wild sort of thing, uncontrollable and reckless as it burned down her body in wave after wave.
Unable to tear herself away. Terrified to make the first move, lest they burn too bright too fast. She clenched her fists around the front of his all-terrain suit as it threatened to consume her.
Beneath her, Lee’s heartbeat picked up, his breaths significantly shorter than before.
She didn’t dare turn her head to look for evidence that he was feeling the same things. This was still so new. They hadn’t even talked about it since Segura. And with all the ship drama heading their way, was he ready for this? Was he ready for her?
Lee’s hyperband buzzed at his wrist and Kat sat up straight.
“Training assignments,” he said somewhat breathlessly as he smashed his lips together, staring very pointedly not at her.
“Right.” She nodded, stealing the moment to flush more air into her system as she also glanced elsewhere. “I assumed we’d get those reinstated eventually.”
She twisted her hands together, her breaths coming in with a shudder as Lee shifted again on the bed. “I need to eat,” she blurted, this time jumping back down off the bed, ignoring the half-filled green juice still on his desk. “Let’s go grab dinner?”
A dozen minutes later, Kat stood with Lee outside the Canteen doors, arms crossed over her chest and feet unbudging, despite their earlier intentions. Of course, saying she wanted to go grab dinner and actually facing the loaded dinner crowd were two separate things entirely.
“We gonna do this today, or…” Lee said from beside her, shoving his hands deeper into his pockets.
Kat bit her lip. The aromas of delicious, toasted vegetables and warm bread drifted over on a heavenly cloud. But that cloud turned murky with the gentle roaring of chatter also drifting outward.
She knew she’d have to face the rest of the Academy eventually. But maybe they could delay the motions of normalcy a few more days…
“Tomorrow?” Lee asked, lightly.
“Tomorrow is good.” Kat nodded, grateful when Lee was the first to turn, pivoting them around and up the stairs to the Hideaway. She didn’t complain when Lee disappeared, only to return with several bags of apple-sweet-potato chips, his high-end energy bars, and a couple of fresh green juices.
In lieu of gorging themselves with the other cadets in the Canteen, they spent a rather quiet and enjoyable dinner period, watching the crowd from overhead. Out of sight. Out of earshot. And, if they should stay so lucky, out of mind.
“Have you heard anything from Levy?” she asked carefully, staring at the sweet potato chip in her hand.
She didn’t know the circumstances surrounding how Lee had come to learn of her quitting the program, only that he had spoken with her personally the night of their return.
“I wonder when the transports are arriving.”
But Lee shook his head. “I haven’t.”
“I hope she knows what she’s doing.”
“I hope any of us do.” Lee frowned.
She peered down into the sea of round tables, the carefree cadets chatting and gossiping over peas and the latest raid missions. As if everything was normal.
As if everything could ever go back to normal.
“It’ll get easier,” Lee said. Although it sounded more like he was trying to convince himself than her as he turned his back wholly to the Canteen below.
“And our probation?” she asked.
Lee ground his teeth at her reminder. “It’ll pass. As for the cadets,” he said, guessing correctly at the petty rooted fear there, “we just have to give them something else to talk about.”
“Yeah…” Easier said than done.
Lee didn’t protest when she suggested they find a quiet corner down here in the Hideaway to finish their mission reports.
“We still have the weekend to recover before we resume trainings next week,” she said, brightly, attempting his positive spin as they started back up through the Heptagon to grab their holoblocks.
“You haven’t been keeping up with your messages, have you?” Lee asked, his words pausing her mid-step.
“I’ve been a little spotty. Why?” Despite the lightness in Lee’s tone and in his face, she could feel her whole body tensing. Had something else happened? Had something slipped through the cracks that was about to tip her world off its axis once more?
“It’s Laser Rounds this weekend.”