Chapter 7

                                                                          Kaya

I had woken up at the sound of her footsteps. At least I assumed it was her since there was no one else on the ship, but I hadn’t dared to look and instead pretended I was still asleep. The thought of her seeing me sleeping on the seat, wrapped in a blanket, felt so embarrassing that my brain froze, forcing me to keep my eyes closed and pretend it hadn’t happened.

But to my dismay, I heard her sitting down on the seat next to me, so my hope for sneaking back to my room and changing into something better wasn’t an option. How long could I lie like this? I dared to open my eyes and glance at her. Luckily, she didn’t notice, being busy watching something on her holoscreen. I carefully adjusted my position, wondering what would be normal, appropriate behaviour in this situation.

Unfortunately, the lack of exposure to friendships or any meaningful social life prevented me from coming up with anything a normal person would do, and as time passed, I realised that watching her for this long probably wasn't considered normal behaviour either.

I shivered at the thought, suddenly remembering how I had probably misunderstood all sorts of things that were considered normal in friendships, but she seemed to be okay with it. People always told me off when I did something weird, especially when it involved them, but she didn’t, so maybe I was worrying for nothing.

I sighed quietly, reassured by the thought. But if she was okay with it…

“Are you awake?” she asked suddenly, turning to me.

My mind instantly went blank, and I couldn’t form a coherent sentence in my head, so I just nodded with a smile, hoping it was an appropriate enough response to her question. It seemed to work since she smiled before turning her attention back to her screen.

                                                                       Gerda

For some strange reason, I didn't mind her company. Not that I’d been looking for it or anything. I just wanted to finish my task, and she just happened to sit in a seat next to me, that’s it.

But it was a bit unusual for me not to leave the moment I’d heard that she was awake, as I would have done with anyone else. But we had already spent so much time together, starting with our plan to escape. At first, I’d just assumed it was because we needed to craft it on such short notice and because I didn’t trust that she would do her part if I left her to her own devices. But looking back, we probably didn’t need to have spent all that time together to pull our plan off. To be honest, for most of the time we’d just sat together in some quiet spot without even talking too much.

I guess I’d just tried to keep everything under control, as I always did, and her company wasn’t as bad as I’d first thought. Her smile was confusing, though, and even if I’d got used to it by now, part of me wondered what it actually meant. I turned to her.

“Why did you sleep here?”, I asked.

She just looked at me and smiled. Great. Not that I was good at talking, but at least I tried. With nothing really holding us together any longer and us soon parting ways once we arrived, I guess slowly drifting apart wasn’t the worst that could happen.

At least that’s what I tried to tell myself as I turned back to the screen, trying to distract myself with the data displayed on my holoscreen. Not that she would want to have anything to do with me when we arrived anyway….

                                                                         Kaya

I probably should have stayed in my seat, but in the end, my curiosity won, so I got up and walked over to her, giving her holoscreen a curious look.

“W-what are you doing?”

“Checking where to go after we land."

"G-go?"

“Yeah, even if no one charges us with stealing a ship, I would rather not be on Union territory when they start looking into us flying without a licence. Don’t worry, it will take them ages, so we don’t need to worry about it when we arrive."

I froze, suddenly remembering our plan. I would stay with my mum and we would go our separate ways… I had almost forgotten that this time together was only temporary, and for a moment, I wondered if maybe it didn’t have to be. No… This was what we had agreed on, and it wouldn’t be fair if I forced her into something she didn’t want to. But… I sniffled.

“Are you okay?”

This time, my mind didn’t go blank, but I didn’t want to say anything, worrying that if I told her my thoughts, she would feel forced to change her decision. It wouldn’t be fair as friends. So I stayed silent, but when I couldn’t bear her look, I dropped the blanket and ran from the bridge and her gaze.

                                                                              Gerda

What was that about? I sighed as the door closed behind her. Should I go after her? I wasn't a complete asshole, but if she was the one to run from me in the first place, it meant she didn’t need me, I guess.

She would be okay, I told myself, but just in case, I remotely locked the airlock, the engine room, and, after a short consideration, the drawers with knives in the kitchen. Another side effect of living with the Bitch that came in handy.

She would be fine, I tried to tell myself as I glanced at the holoscreen, but my task was done, and there was nothing more to do. I’d found a place where I could go after we landed, so… I guess I just needed to find myself something else to do and wait it out. It would be okay… I could fix our clothes or something. It always was okay in the end…right?