CRESSWELL: The Lunar Chronicles

Chapter 4

Cress thought she heard breathing. It couldn't have been hers, it was too hard and steady. Hers would somehow always be wavering as an affect if her shyness. She pulled open her eyes. Her breath caught when she saw Thorne sitting across the room staring at her.

He looked perfectly natural, sitting with his ankle across his knee and a one sided smirk. "Hey," he whispered.

Cress stared into his blue eyes, almost getting lost in them before she remembered to reply. "Hi, Captain," she whispered back.

"C'mon we've got a big day ahead of us," Thorne said, getting up from his spot on the wall.

"What do you mean?" Cress tried to remember where they were. She knew they had six destinations in the Republic, but she forgot which was second on the list.

"Get ready and meet me in the cargo bay. You'll find out." He winked and gave her a quick kiss before he left.

Cress's lips still tingled from the kiss as she watched him leave. She wondered how long he had been in her room. How long he had been looking at her with those blue eyes...

Cress shook her head of the thoughts. She had to get ready. To prepare herself for what Thorne had for her. That just made her jumped out of her bunk and rushed to grab some clothes. She had almost forgotten about her sore legs, but she ignored them.

While at the capital, it was cold. They even had to stop in a little shop there so they could get warmer clothes.

For today, Cress chose some black pants and a yellow sweater that almost met her knees. It was the smallest they could find, but Cress didn't mind. The shoes they picked out were simple winter boots, but she still had to put on two pairs of socks to make them snug. She grabbed the jacket sitting on the top bunk and dashed out the door.

Cress didn't realize how fast she was actually running until she almost slipped while entering the cargo bay. Thorne was there, standing next to Scarlet, who was going through some boxes. He seemed to be arguing with her, but Cress could tell Scarlet wasn't listening. Wolf was sitting on a box a few feet away from them, obviously not wanting to be in the middle of their spat.

Cress walked over and sat next to Wolf. "What is it now?" she asked him.

"Scarlet thinks that we had more boxes of tomatoes. Thorne says all the tomatoes should be in the kitchen. Then Scar insisted on checking down here just in case, but Thorne says he is sure that they didn't put any fresh produce in the cargo bay." Wolf let out a heavy sigh.

"Didn't we have 25 boxes of tomatoes?" Cress looked up at Wolf, who just shrugged. "I must have lost count. I tend to eat more when I'm nervous."

"Why were you nervous?"

"I don't know. I guess it's going back to France with Scar...afraid if her friends will accept me. And Thorne's landings and takeoffs haven't helped." At the last part, Wolf lowered his voice, but that didn't stop Thorne from snapping his head toward them. "What?"

Cress stood and walked over to him, "Oh, nothing."

"Were you talking about my dashing good looks?" he pulled her close with a smile. Cress heard Scarlet mummer, "Get a life."

"Close enough," Cress told him, not resisting as he pulled her into a kiss. Cress almost forgot Scar and Wolf were in the room. Everything seemed to circulate around her and Thorne. They broke apart and Thorne said, "And that's how you start the day."

Cress giggled. "What city are we in again?"

"New York. We're waiting on some manager of the hospital to get here. Apparently he's running late and he has to be here to finalize or whatever."

Cress glanced at the cargo bay netscreen. It was only seven in the morning. Thorne turned to Scarlet, "Give it up, Scar. Admit I was right and move one. It's OK."

Scarlet had her head deep in one if the boxes; she threw one can of corn behind her. She waited for Thorne's, "Ouch!" which meant success. "Oops," she said, flatly.

Thorne glared at her, but Scarlet kept her back to him. Rubbing his arm, he said,"Well suit yourself. But I'm telling you, no more tomatoes."

Cress thought she saw Wolf slouch. Turning to him, she said, "Don't worry, Wolf. We can restock here, I'm sure."

Just then, Thorne's portscreen chimed. "Oh, it's the hospital. The guy's on his way to the landing pad."

"Alright, let's go then." Cress watched Wolf get up, but everyone was looking at Scarlet. Thorne moved to her first, talking in a quiet, mocking, cooing voice. "Scarlet. We need to go now. Let it go." He put a hand on her shoulder, stifling his laugh. Scarlet pushed it of and huffed. "This isn't over," she said before walking of to join Wolf, who looked sort of dazed.

"Feisty, feisty," said Thorne as he but an arm around Cress' shoulders and walked to the lowering ramp.

§§§

Doctor Jayce Carson was the director of The New York City Hospital. He was blond with green eyes, and in his early 30s. He was also late. He came half-walking half-running to the landing pad outside the hospital. He had a cup of coffee in one hand and a portscreen in the other.

Thorne held out his hand, "Hi, I'm Captain Carsew-" suddenly the man tripped on his own feet and spilled his coffee all over Thorne's leather jacket. For a split second, Thorne looked like he might cry, but he quickly recovered with an easy grin. "Um...we can fix that."

"Sosorry," the doctor said. He clipped his portscreen to his belt and took Thorne's hand that was still outstretched. "Um...I think we have 175 crates?"

Thorne was taken aback by the sudden jump to the subject. "Oh-ya. That. Um this is Cress, and that's Scarlet and Wolf. They'll be helping unload. Any specific place to put them?"

"You can just set them out here on the landing pad. Some androids are on their way to transfer them to the hospital. And, thank you." With that, Dr. Carson turned and left.

"Strange man," Thorne said, heading back to the ship to fix his jacket. Cress was right behind him, shivering.

All four of the crew started walking to the cargo bay unload the antidotes. But instead of going there, Thorne turned into the kitchen. "What do you think your doing?" Scarlet shot.

"I'm cleaning my jacket, what does it look like I'm doing?"

"Your precious jacket can wait, you need to help us unload."

"But I'm the captain, and you did just fine yesterday by yourselves."

"OK you know what? Fine. I'm not even going to try." Scarlet turned on her heel and left.

Cress was about to follow them when Thorne said, "Look at this, Cress. I've had this jacket for three years. Three years. And I've never spilled anything on it. Then Mister Doctor prances along and drenches me in it."

Cress quirked an eyebrow, "Mister Doctor?"

"What, it was the first thing on my mind." he replied, dabbing a wet towel on the stain.

"Oh, Captain," Cress started, suddenly excited, "what was it that you wanted me to see this morning?"

Thorne just looked at her with a mischievous grin, "You'll have to wait."

Cress let out an over exaggerated groan and Thorne just laughed and pulled her into a hug, resting his chin on her head. He gave Scarlet a wide smile, who was carrying four crates and glaring bullets into Thorne. Then he bent his head and whispered to Cress, "C'mon, we better get back there before Scarlet kills me. And we don't want that no, do we?"

And that's that. Leave that vote and comment 😊.