The Rainbow Maker's Tale by Melanie Cusick-Jones
Chapter 12
I guessed that Cassie wasn’t overly impressed with our new placement task. Just a hunch from the frequent sighs emanating from her side of the small room. It didn’t bother me particularly. I had access to a viewing screen, and was running several basic research paths – as requested by our Medic – in the background. This morning I had much more important research of my own to do, and it wasn’t something I would find reviewing health statistics of the inhabitants of the station. There was only one person’s data I needed.
Everything was running perfectly on my two main screens, and I was just about to open up a new one for my own research, when Cassie interrupted me. I was surprised. With her continual tapping on the keyboard, and lack of conversation, I had assumed she was in a studious mood.
“Balik – can you show me what you’re doing?”
She sounded reluctant and irritated, an odd combination. I turned in my chair to face her and was about to ask why, when she answered my unuttered thought.
“My searches keep coming back with nothing.”
Nodding my head, I spun back around and wheeled along to make some space at the desk beside me. Cassie stepped closer, but hesitated, seeming nervous all of a sudden. There was no way she would be able to see from where she was, and so I tugged her closer.
I hadn’t meant to pull too hard, but Cassie stumbled and half-fell into my lap before I could catch her. When she tried to get up, I put my hand on her waist to help, but then thought better of it and nudged her closer to me instead.
Swallowing the rocks that had suddenly appeared in my throat, I was about to ask her is this OK, but I didn’t want to sound nervous. Instead, I let bravado get the better of me. “So, do you have a question – or was this just an excuse to get closer to me?” It was so naff – and out of character – I couldn’t help grinning.
Naturally, Cassie came right back at me with something better, calling my bluff when she replied in a cool voice. “I have questions. But, I can move somewhere else to run through them, if that’s more comfortable for you?”
That shattered my illusions of appearing suave and confident. Maybe I should stick with being myself. “You’re just about perfect where you are,” I told her, adjusting my arm so that it encircled her waist more fully. This was the closest I’d ever been to Cassie – or any girl for that matter. Unless you counted yesterday’s emergency examination, but it would probably be frowned upon to count that as even vaguely romantic.
Unfortunately, it didn’t take me too long to show Cassie how to run the searches and ten minutes later she was back at her own terminal running some sequences. I could tell she was bored: she was fidgeting in her chair and bouncing her foot back and forth, heel glued to the floor, toes in the air.
I hadn’t bothered trying to look at my own stuff following Cassie’s interruption, just in case she wanted to see my screen again. And so I needed a new distraction. It didn’t take long for me to find one.
“Cassie?”
“Yes.”
“You know yesterday, when we were in the park?”
There was a pause. Then a cautious sounding “yes.”
“Have you thought any more about what happened?” I sounded too hopeful and I knew it.
“Nothing happened.”
“Oh. OK.”
I guessed that Cassie wasn’t overly impressed with our new placement task. Just a hunch from the frequent sighs emanating from her side of the small room. It didn’t bother me particularly. I had access to a viewing screen, and was running several basic research paths – as requested by our Medic – in the background. This morning I had much more important research of my own to do, and it wasn’t something I would find reviewing health statistics of the inhabitants of the station. There was only one person’s data I needed.
Everything was running perfectly on my two main screens, and I was just about to open up a new one for my own research, when Cassie interrupted me. I was surprised. With her continual tapping on the keyboard, and lack of conversation, I had assumed she was in a studious mood.
“Balik – can you show me what you’re doing?”
She sounded reluctant and irritated, an odd combination. I turned in my chair to face her and was about to ask why, when she answered my unuttered thought.
“My searches keep coming back with nothing.”
Nodding my head, I spun back around and wheeled along to make some space at the desk beside me. Cassie stepped closer, but hesitated, seeming nervous all of a sudden. There was no way she would be able to see from where she was, and so I tugged her closer.
I hadn’t meant to pull too hard, but Cassie stumbled and half-fell into my lap before I could catch her. When she tried to get up, I put my hand on her waist to help, but then thought better of it and nudged her closer to me instead.
Swallowing the rocks that had suddenly appeared in my throat, I was about to ask her is this OK, but I didn’t want to sound nervous. Instead, I let bravado get the better of me. “So, do you have a question – or was this just an excuse to get closer to me?” It was so naff – and out of character – I couldn’t help grinning.
Naturally, Cassie came right back at me with something better, calling my bluff when she replied in a cool voice. “I have questions. But, I can move somewhere else to run through them, if that’s more comfortable for you?”
That shattered my illusions of appearing suave and confident. Maybe I should stick with being myself. “You’re just about perfect where you are,” I told her, adjusting my arm so that it encircled her waist more fully. This was the closest I’d ever been to Cassie – or any girl for that matter. Unless you counted yesterday’s emergency examination, but it would probably be frowned upon to count that as even vaguely romantic.
Unfortunately, it didn’t take me too long to show Cassie how to run the searches and ten minutes later she was back at her own terminal running some sequences. I could tell she was bored: she was fidgeting in her chair and bouncing her foot back and forth, heel glued to the floor, toes in the air.
I hadn’t bothered trying to look at my own stuff following Cassie’s interruption, just in case she wanted to see my screen again. And so I needed a new distraction. It didn’t take long for me to find one.
“Cassie?”
“Yes.”
“You know yesterday, when we were in the park?”
There was a pause. Then a cautious sounding “yes.”
“Have you thought any more about what happened?” I sounded too hopeful and I knew it.
“Nothing happened.”
“Oh. OK.”