Trying to be as quiet as possible, you placed your feet on the cool floor and slid one of them over to get your slipper. You gently stood up from the bunk and turned around to delicately pull the blanket back up, taking your place on the bed.
It's what you would consider 'night' when you're an astronaut and have no sense of what time of day it is. Everybody was already asleep, their minds taking a break from the numbers and complicating problems they'd been subjected to.
All except one. He laid in the cold bed under the thin blanket, not bothering to try to make himself comfortable as he was used to the fact that it was basically impossible to do so.
You discreetly made your way to the other side of the bunks, your feet going in the same direction they were conditioned to as if they had a mind of their own. Their movements were sluggish yet determined.
You finally got to your destination and gave a mental sigh of relief as you looked down at the goof you called your boyfriend. He looked at you and you gave him a hand motion to silently tell him to move over. He grinned and scootched his lanky body over on the tiny bed to make room for you. You pulled up the covers and got as close to him as you possibly could- basically on top of him. You both giggled but calmed down quickly as you managed to get comfortable, him wrapping his right arm around you while his left went under his head.
"Jelly?" he whispered the nickname he made up for you the first day of the mission. You had dropped grape jelly on your shirt when you were eating your toast that morning, resulting in Chris calling you "Jelly" from then on, but you later got back when you started dating by calling him "Peanut" as you claimed he was cute enough to pull it off.
"Yeah?" you murmured back.
He delayed his words for a second but eventually spit it out.
"Do... Do you ever wanna tell the rest of the team about us?" he questioned. He sounded genuinely concerned, and you weren't completely sure how to respond.
"Well," you started, "I would love to tell them, but- how sure can we be that they're gonna keep a secret?" you asked. It was true, you wanted nothing more than to shout into the void that you were in love with Christopher Beck. And he would love to do the same for you. But the problem was, you couldn't.
Having a job at NASA was one of the best things to happen to you, but it also came with strict rules, one of them being that relationships with co-workers were a big no-no. And, as much as you loved him, you really didn't want to lose this job, and if that meant sneaking around and not telling a soul about it, so be it.
You lied there for a little while, neither of you sleeping but just enjoying one another's presence until he spoke again.
"When we land back on earth, can we tell our parents? 'Cause you know I can't lie to my Mama," he inquired. You giggled at his question, but then thought about it before giving him an answer.
"Yeah, I guess we can, as long as she doesn't post it on Facebook or anything," you explained, knowing his mother was an oversharer on Facebook. He laughed at your comment while repositioning to get somewhat comfortable.
He wrapped his left arm around you and tightened his grip as if you would disappear if he let go. You tried to savor every moment you were enveloped in his grasp, knowing soon you would have to get up before everyone else did. There were already too many times you had almost been caught by the other crew members, and you couldn't afford another slip-up and you don't think Chris could stand making up yet another story to defend your actions. You really wouldn't be surprised if they had a suspicion or even knew that you were together.
But for now, you tried not to worry about that, focusing on the warmth of Chris' body against yours without a care in the world- well, galaxy.
