Fumbling Toward Ecstasy

Chapter 7 - Just Friends

"You certainly are in a chipper mood this morning," Carmen noted. She stood behind Brynne tying the strings on the latter's corset. "Especially since I know that lacing the corset isn't exactly your most cherished ritual of the day," Carmen added.

Brynne held on to the bedpost. She'd been on this mission for a year, and her body had become accustomed to being stuffed into a corset. That didn't mean that she enjoyed the daily experience, though. She hated it. Even more detestable were the ill effects that corsets were having on her body. She was afraid she was going to have permanent physical damage because of those damn things.

"I don't know," Brynne said. "It could be because it's Saturday. Even though it's just another work day for me, Saturday still feels like an exciting day."

"Perhaps," Carmen said. "Or perhaps it could be that a certain someone, a certain co-worker, has caught your eye?"

"Carmen, you should be ashamed of yourself," Brynne chided. "You know Mr. Andrews is happily married, with a child, no less."

"I wasn't talking about him," Carmen said. "I think you know that already."

Brynne continued to look straight ahead so that Carmen couldn't see the truth in her eyes. "Jeremy – I mean, Mr. Bratt - and I are just friends," she said.

"I just wanted to make sure that you still know where the boundaries are when it comes to certain people."

Brynne turned around to face Carmen. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You know what it means. I've been watching you and Jeremy. You two have been getting awfully close."

Brynne rolled her eyes. "So, because I'm a woman and he's a man, that automatically means we want to jump into bed with each other?"

"I'm trying to intervene before that happens." Carmen turned Brynne back around and resumed lacing the corset. "You can't allow yourself to get too involved, Brynne. I know they drilled that into your head during training."

"Yes, they did. And I'm keeping my distance as best I can without arousing any suspicion. But it's only natural to form some kind of relationship with a person you've spent a year working with. You can't expect me not to form any relationship at all."

"I can if that relationship has the potential to jeopardize the mission. The mission comes first, Brynne. Always. Not friends, not feelings – the mission." As if to drive home her point, she finished the corset with a severe tug before tying the strings off.

xxx

"I really don't see the point of agonizing over this," Jeremy said. He and Brynne stood in the Palm Court and Verandah Café, their eyes focused intently on the pebbled floor.

"If Mr. Andrews is concerned with it, then it obviously deserves our attention," Brynne said.

"But what difference does it make? It doesn't make any sense to go through all the trouble of pulling up a few pebbles just because the ratio isn't exactly equal."

"Maybe it does make a little difference." Brynne looked up from the floor and tilted her head slightly as she took in the atmosphere of the café. "I think that the number of dark pebbles does make the room feel darker."

Jeremy rolled his eyes, and led the way to the kitchen. It was a smaller-scale version of the large kitchens adjacent to the restaurant and the dining rooms.

"While we're surveying the floors on this ship, why don't we mention the floor in here to Mr. Andrews?" Jeremy suggested. "The color is all wrong for food preparation. Maybe we can have it ripped up and replaced, too."