USF Progenitor & Crew: Adventures in Cosmos 01

[#66] Coming Down with Someone

"Hello?" Christina checked, knocking on Ka'eo's door. She read the name plate on the side again, confirming it was Ka'eo's name.
"Who is it?" Ka'eo said through the call box.
"It's me," Christina said, pausing for a few seconds, gathering more courage to visit him. "It's Christina!"
The door slid open, and Ka'eo was standing there shirtless. He had just used the hair shaper, giving himself a mid-top faded crew cut.
Christina stared at his pecs then at his abs and tossed her hair. She grabbed her pony tail and stroked it, looking at him like she couldn't help herself.
"Ka'eo," Christina stated softly. "Hi! Sorry, am I bothering you?"
"No," Ka'eo said. He joked, "Not if you're single."
Christina, preferring not to answer directly, said, "I am an independent woman."
Ka'eo nodded at her and said, "Okay, true."
Christina giggled temptuously.
Ka'eo asked curiously, "How did you know that I was in my room?"
"Well, I didn't. I came down here for my PCD, and I wanted to know if you could help take me back to the command bridge," Christina told him, slightly lying. She was in his room to find something in connection with H&G Diamond Drilling Corp.
"Yeah, sure, no problem!" Ka'eo replied. "Let me throw on my shirt and get my underarmor on."
"I was actually wondering," Christina began softly. She whispered, "May I come in? Matt asked me to come and see you."
"Uhhh, yeah, sure," Ka'eo acknowledged with an impressed smirk. "Something you, maybe him, might be looking for?"
"Umm," Christina started with a prissy tone, waving her hips into Ka'eo's room slowly. "He just told me that you were probably feeling kind of down and depressed or something. Figured I should be nice since you're... one of the ship's captains, I guess. That okay with you?"
"No, yeah, that's fine," Ka'eo replied. Suddenly, he was getting sad inside of his heart.
Christina went into the center of his room and looked around for anything that could be potentially dangerous, out of the ordinary, or lethal. She complimented his room saying, "That's a really nice dresser thing. And bed. Oh, you have a cool mirror, too! I like it!"
Ka'eo said, "Thanks." He faced away from her, granting her his trust for better or for worse while slipping himself into a standard skin-fit cadet T-shirt. Breathing out a large sigh, he walked over to his bed and sat to ask her, "Are you good with going into the common area with me?"
"We can do that," Christina said. "I figured we can hang out in here just in case the boys up top want to come and investigate. You're not afraid of being alone in here with me, are you?"
Ka'eo was feeling hot to the temperature, sweat beading up on his forehead. The door was still open when he glanced up at the entrance. He answered Christina, "Do you want to shut the door?"
"Oh, we don't have to do that," Christina reacted with a hint of arrogance, smirking as though she were slightly suspicious of him and his own intentions.
Ka'eo read right through her face, knowing she was in his room to investigate him. Knowing her intent didn't make Ka'eo feel any differently. He began to wonder if she was working for the SFPC, USF, or another government, thinking that the first two options had the highest probability. Not sensing any intent from her to kill him, he tried to offer the same courtesy.
"And what do you do for the USF?" Christina interrogated, walking slowly from object to object in his room.
Ka'eo replied stoically, "I do mostly exploration missions."
"Exploration?" Christina asked. "What is it you explore?"
"The galaxy," Ka'eo answered.
"How often have you picked up strangers like me to work for your crew?" Christina asked. She ran her hands down her jacket, feeling her laser pistol hidden inside.
Ka'eo figured she was armed, but he played innocent, only hoping for the best. He informed her, "And just to let you know, you're not being recorded."
"I know!" Christina reacted, raising her pitch. "I know, I'm not worried about that. I'm not worried about anything. You're the one who is worried. Right?"
"Yeah," Ka'eo quickly answered.
"Ah," Christina expressed, walking up to him while he sat on the bed. She interrogated, "And why are you sitting on your bed and not coming out to the common area? Need some help up?"
"No, I'm fine," Ka'eo said. "If you want to go to the common area, then let's go." He stood up in front of her, accidentally causing her to feel intimidated and excited, yet she was still in control of herself.
"No, that's fine," Christina reacted confidently, standing her ground and looking up at him.
Ka'eo couldn't feel anything in his gut telling him something was off, but his blood began to coagulate. He said, "Not to offend you, of course, because I don't want to do that."
"What?" Christina asked, taking a step closer to him, smiling. She looked at his mouth, scanning his lips.
Ka'eo noticed that Christina's heart was beating fast, seeing her chest rise and fall rapidly. He tried not to notice, but he felt the same way.
Christina barely felt a buzz in her jacket pocket. She asked, "Do you want to talk about how you feel?"
"Are you recording me?" Ka'eo questioned.
"No," Christina said. She pulled her PCD out of her jacket pocket, causing Ka'eo to almost reactively grab her hand.
Ka'eo said nothing to her, looking at her very stoically.
Christina cleared her throat, separated her eyes from Ka'eo's eyes, then looked at her PCD. She looked like she was hiding it from Ka'eo's view, holding the PCD close to her chest, and doing something with it.
Ka'eo didn't know what to feel, standing there. Something was telling him to move along with the process, guiding her out of the room or allowing her to choose. He informed her, "We shall be leaving soon. Landing on Celium."
"So soon?" Asked Christina. "I think we have time for you to tell me what you feel."
"Soon, yes," Ka'eo said.
Christina drew her lips in, looking at Ka'eo's lips. She asked him, "Are you trying to be seductive with me?"
"No," Ka'eo negated coldly.
"Okay, good," Christina answered. "That didn't work on me, if that's what you were trying to do."
"Nope," Ka'eo returned.
Christina breathed out a sigh of relief and declared, "That's good! Very good! We know our priorities. Now, talk to me. I want to know, veggie we go back up to them... what's going on with you?"
Ka'eo tested her resolve answering, "There's this hot chick in my room, and I-."
"Hot chick in your room," Christina repeated after him, scoffing. She grinned and stated loudly with confidence, "That's really funny!"
"I want to show this hot chick what I really feel," Ka'eo said, raising his eyebrows, focused on her. "If she wouldn't mind."
"You, sir, think you're so clever," Christina chuckled. She said, "You can tell me without showing me."
"Showing you would be so much easier for me, honestly," Ka'eo suggested.
Christina said, "You're... a dare devil! I'm here to listen to you cope with your supposed depression. And you want to show me?"
"The naked truth," Ka'eo stated coldly and with full confidence.
Christina was taken aback with a quick gasp. She frowned slightly and had to look away from his eyes, seeing something else behind them. She said back to Ka'eo, "Really? The naked truth? Now I'm doubting why I came down here." Christina ran her hands up and down on her puffy jacket again, patting her hands on the pockets.
"I'm not," Ka'eo replied, subduing passion. "You gonna take your shot?"
Christina inhaled and let out a big sigh, giggling in a deeper tone. She said with a hint of suspicion, "You're too funny."
"I'm not trying to be," Ka'eo bantered.
Christina raised an eyebrow and said, "You are a terrible... conversationalist. Take my shot?"
"That's what you think," Ka'eo reacted. "I can prove you wrong."
"Oh, can you, Mr. Caval?" Christina played back. She tugged on the collar of his t-shirt.
"That's what I think. And I think you should think about allowing me to tell you how I feel," Ka'eo replied.
"Mr. Caval, I'm just here to help before we go on a mission," Christina hardened, still sounding arrogant. "You're sounding awfully flirty for someone in your position."
"And what position is that? Right in front of you?" Ka'eo kept on, latching his hands onto her pockets.
Christina gasped and showed him a smirk, turning and shaking her head away from him, biting her bottom lip and avoiding eye contact. She said, "Out of my pockets, sir! That's where my hands go."
"Allow me to show you where my fingers go," Ka'eo said, smirking back at her, using his ring and middle finger on one hand, pulling them at her like trigger fingers.
Christina gasped again and looked at him face to face, avoiding touching herself.
"If you're going to be my assassin," Ka'eo started, removing his hands and stepping closer to her. He looked at her with eyes of cold passion, shredding away her outer self and her seeming kindness. He was doing this almost to analytically dissect who she truly was.
"I'm not an assassin!" Christina declared. "Gosh! We just met and you're already-."
"I don't like taking chances," Ka'eo stated solidly.
Christina played along, "Really? You?! You seem like someone who does like taking chances, Caval. And I'm not usually wrong."
"Don't flatter yourself. I don't like taking chances," Ka'eo replied. "I take chances when I have to."
"God, you're so serious!" Christina declared sarcastically. She teased, "That isn't a red flag!"
"No, it isn't," Ka'eo stated. "That isn't a very nice thing to bring into my room, either." He looked at her as though to say 'I know.'
"What?" Christina asked, shrugging away slightly.
"In your pocket, sweetheart," Ka'eo said. "You should've left your jacket in your room."
Christina was feeling fear for a quick moment, not sure if Ka'eo had seen or felt the laser pistol in her pocket. Christina bowed her head slowly, seemingly wordless.
Ka'eo directed, "Don't worry. Keep your head up. If only someone had told me that."
"Would you be upset if-," Christina started, worrying.
Ka'eo said, "I'm not a romantic. I feel."
"You've got some real nerve," Christina tagged on, staying courageous. She reasoned that the power was actually in her court, that she had the gun, and that he probably didn't actually know what was in her pocket, guessing it was something else. Christina resumed, "Well, it looks like I'll never know what you really felt."
"There's plenty of time," Ka'eo suggested, smirking at her.
Christina arrogantly and stubbornly insisted, "Honestly, I think you're scary. You're handsome and scary. And, you could've been telling me your real feelings this entire time, but you're simply flirting with me and scaring me. We don't have to talk at all if you don't want to. I don't have to waste my time, and you don't have to tell me anything. We can go back to everyone else if that's what you're inspired to do, which I feel you are."
Ka'eo smiled, watching her squirm in a lie, and jabbed, "I didn't take you for a quitter."
"I am not a quitter. Not at all by definition," Christina argued, sounding final. "You, Ka'eo, are lucky that I'm even here. You, sir, thought that I'm an assassin and then accused me. Couldn't I have called someone here by now if I really felt threatened? And you think I would talk to you first? Ka'eo, no offense, but you are crazy."
"I am," Ka'eo stated plainly in full confidence.
Christina scoffed and said, "You make my heart beat faster than I have ever felt it... beating hard in my f$cking chest." She sighed and stuck her tongue to her cheek.
Ka'eo replied with a smile, "That's a good thing. It also looks very good on you."
"What?" Christina asked confusedly, leaning herself back from Ka'eo.
"Your heart is beating, but it's probably your tits I'm looking at," Ka'eo witted in response.
Christina excitedly giggled as though she were supposed to be impressed, then her face changed to scrutiny. She seductively teased, "Judging from the conversation we're having, you wouldn't know what to do with these." She squeezed her breasts together and shook them, waiting for Ka'eo to react so that she would be able to shut him down.
Ka'eo smiled and retorted, "Judging from how you've been standing in front of me and haven't yet used your back bone... for what you really came here for, you wouldn't know how to use this."
Christina gasped and widened her eyes, waiting in a sudden shock of light paralysis for what Ka'eo was going to do next. She realized his complex character right then, and not simply the idea of complexity.
Ka'eo grabbed his groin with one hand and gave her the dirty remark, "This is what you should have in your pocket, not whatever that is in there."
Christina laughed at Ka'eo, slightly embarrassed, wondering if he knew the dirty connection there. She said, "You are really something else. You're sooo clever. You really think you're hot stuff, huh? Depressed. Right."
Ka'eo reacted, "I think you're-."
Christina intervened, nodding with a harsh whisper, "Funny. Very funny." It was as though she was expecting something.
"You gonna let me finish-?" Ka'eo attempted to ask.
Christina reacted, "No." She felt empowered again, smiling expectantly.
"Funny," Ka'eo commented.
Christina nodded her head with a big, sassy smirk. She commented as though in retaliation, "Mhm! You're really so funny. A real f$cking rollercoaster of a man!"
"I'm a fun ride you can sit on-," Ka'eo witted.
Christina overlapped him saying, "You would say something like that! 'A fun ride I can sit on.'" She laughed as though to condescend. She pointed her finger at his chest and said, "That's real mature!"
"Very mature," Ka'eo retorted intensely.
"No, not very," Christina bantered in a harsh whisper, her face going back to a look of suspicion.
"Restricted," Ka'eo jabbed.
Christina went, ugh, and shook her head at him. She licked her lips and crossed her arms, leaning herself around then straightened out. She continued, "And I thought I liked you."
"You love me," Ka'eo quickly replied, being cheeky.
"Ah, nope! Nope, don't even go there," Christina argued stubbornly, chortling nervously. "You are waaay too overconfident, sir. Sorry to say. And you really think that's attractive?"
Ka'eo replied smiling, "You think it's attractive. That's good enough for me."
"You are so... full of yourself!" Christina declared. "You're impossible! And... do you really expect to stand a chance with a woman of my calibur, talking like that? You barely know me and let me in here! Into your room! You don't even know what a woman like me really needs." She scoffed lightly. Before Ka'eo was about to retort, Christina playfully attempted to discourage him, "Ah, no! No! Think again! Think again. You don't stand a chance."
"I stand for your chance," Ka'eo smoothly inserted.
Christina laughed in surprise at Ka'eo's gull and sudden wit, not having heard him banter so wittily and fervently before. She said, "Smooth, but now you're just sounding desperate."
"Like you," Ka'eo teased.
Christina looked at him as though totally in shock, leaned back away from him, arms still crossed. She pointed at his chest and said, "I am not the desperate one here! You are! Listen to yourself, flirting with me and I... I didn't even say anything-."
"Oh, right, you didn't say anything before to start this," Ka'eo playfully argued, squinting his eyes. "You already knew where this was going, so-."
"No," Christina denied. "I have no idea where this, whatever this is, was, is going! You... like I already said... you are crazy, and you don't stand a chance talking like that. Not with me, nor with any woman like me." A hint of resentment brushed off. "I should be asking you if you're a virgin, because you sound like a virgin."
"That's a whole lot of talk and not a whole lot of proof. I'll prove you wrong," Ka'eo declared.
"There's no proving me wrong," Christina fought sassily, speeding up in her speech. "I know... myself, and I am... very good at reading people. There is no chance of you proving me wrong. No chance at all!"
"I'm proving it right now," Ka'eo pushed on.
"Are you?" Christina retorted. "Because it doesn't look to me like anything is happening right now, at all."
Ka'eo chuckled, warming Christina.
Christina challenged, "You can't prove it! You can't prove it. You should trust me. You can't prove it!"
Ka'eo argued, "I am-."
"Nope. You can't, you aren't," Christina said in obvious denial, satisfied with herself. Ka'eo gazed into her eyes while she maintained her eye contact with him, as well. She smiled sassily and challenged, "Try me! Mr. Bold, Clever, Handsome, Witty. Try me! That, me saying that, didn't mean that you suddenly have a chance, either! No! Because you will never have a chance with me, and all this, all of what I've got right here. You can't prove it, because I know my worth better than you do! You will never, ever, ever, ever have a chance to lay with me in that bed right over there. So don't even try. Don't even... try."
Ka'eo and Christina both went quiet, comfortable with the silence and each other's presence, both of them still standing face-to-face.
Ka'eo shook his head in slight disbelief at her then chuckled. Christina widened her smile but didn't budge one bit. Ka'eo took note of the smile in her eyes and pushed forward, "Christina. I'll prove you wrong. You're already slipping."
"Oh, I bet you will, mhm, right! Slipping, right!" Christina sassed, laughing condescendingly. "Go ahead! I would love to see how you plan on proving me wrong. Show me." She leaned in toward him, stepping forward with her arms crossed, hands on her shoulders. She tested with an unbreakable smirk, "You aren't gonna."