Page 67 of Between Earth and Eternity
Lucky for Payson, I haven’t decided if this will end badly or not yet.
Your walls are up
Too cold to touch it
Your walls are up
Too high to climb
“Love Lost,” Temper Trap
Iapply a few swipes of mascara as Ori sits cross-legged on my bed.
“Don’t take this the wrong way, but you could use a little, you know . . . release.”
“Ori!” I throw my hat at her from where it sits on the small vanity, missing her by a couple of inches. “Are you insinuating I better get lucky tonight?”
She covers her mouth, trying to suppress a giggle, but fails.
“First of all, I’ve never had sex on the first date, but who knows, I’ve also never dated someone on a spaceship.” Ori laughs fully at that. “And second, I’ve never been on a real date, so it could end in disaster.”
She rolls her eyes. “Okay, but this is Payson. You know him, so it doesn’t really count as a first date. He’s already obsessed with you.”
I blow a raspberry. “Slight exaggeration.”
“You could pour hot soup in his lap, and he’d thank you and ask if you wanted to do it again.”
I snort a laugh, and it makes her snort too. It takes several minutes to compose ourselves.
She’s fiery tonight, and for a moment, I forget that dating while on a space voyage is weird.
So very weird.
“This is a mistake. Am I a bad person for hoping he sees we are better as friends?”
“Not at all.” Her reply comes immediately. “But you never know. Maybe it hits you tonight, and you realize while gazing into those beautiful blue eyes over candlelight that he is the love of your life.”
I roll my eyes. “Okay, that’s enough rom-coms for you. Who knew you were such a hopeless romantic?”
She points to herself as if to saywho, me?Then she laughs. “Or maybe you can break the tension with something like, ‘Payson, are you a star? Because the way you light me up is stellar.’”
I cover my face, shaking my head.
A few minutes later, Payson is at our door. Right on time. I give Ori a quick goodbye before she can give me any more punny pickup lines.
Pace said to dress casual but wouldn’t give me any other details. “I was thinking of dinner first, and then I’ll take you somewhere I think you’ll enjoy,” he says when we step onto the tube.
“I’m all yours tonight, so lead the way,” I reply with a wink, and he tries not to smile too big but ends up giving in.
Payson takes me to a sushi bar, where platters float around on a fancy conveyor belt, allowing us to select what we want. “This looks really expensive. Are you sure about this?”
“Don’t worry. I’m putting it on my Lottery tab, so technically, Mannox is paying for it.”
“Excellent.” I forgot about our allotted funds coming in each month.
Over dinner, he tells me about his family. His father is also an engineer, and they worked on a variety of projects together. All low-level assignments, he assures me, but I find it fascinating. His mother stays home to take care of his sister, who is much younger than him.
“Delta was my parents’ surprise baby,” he says.
