Resurrection Hour - Hidden in Ice(Nanowrimo)

Chapter Nine

Cheryl leaned towards the mirror and played with her hair. "With?"

"Him!" Hannah pointed towards the door. "Can't you, like, do your thing and distract him from me?"

Cheryl opened her purse and pulled out her lipstick. "As much as I'd love to help you escape mr. sexy eyes, I can't. Flynn would kill me."

"Since when have you and him been a thing?" Hannah had her suspicions, especially after the party, but Flynn wasn't her usual type of guy. Cheryl liked her over-the-top eye candy and Flynn, as sweet as he was, didn't quite fit that bill. Although, if they were together, she did have to admit that they made a cute couple. And she knew that Flynn would treat her friend right because that's who he was. But that meant she'd have to deal with her own situation, and she wasn't sure how.

"Since the party, so what's the problem with Xavier? He's hot, sexy, cute, and available."

That was the problem. She didn't want to be attracted to Xavier, didn't want to be attracted to anyone. All she had wanted to do was come up here and escape the inevitable trouble that goes with dating. It may work out for other people, but not for her. She always got herself into some type of trouble because she had always believed the best in people, and finding out after that she'd been too innocent and gullible. How she gave her virginity to the professor so easily, she'd never know.

Maybe it was her need to be validated by an older man that led her down that road and when he showed an interest in her, she fell hook, line, and sinker. And now it was something she'd regret for the rest of her life.

"I just can't."

"Yes, you can. You just don't want to. And look, girl, I get it. But we're only going to be here a few months and then our lives will get back to how they were before. Why not let yourself have some fun. What have you got to lose?"

My dignity, she thought silently. "Is that the same with you and Flynn?"

"He knows we're just having a station fling, but I promised I'd just be with him while we're here."

Hannah had a hard time believing Flynn would go along with that. "Just please don't let it hamper your working relationship. That could cause a problem for us." She didn't really mind them dating, but usually dating relationships while working together didn't go overly well if things went south.

"You worry too much, girl!" Cheryl said, as she tossed her lipstick back into her purse and turned to face Hannah. "I say give Xavier a chance. What's the worst that can happen?"

Her mind had already spun the worst. How Xavier could get her kicked out of the station if she didn't please him exactly how he wanted, and she'd miss being able to work on the project. It was just getting interesting and she didn't want to do anything that jeopardized her career. A fling out here would be career suicide. She had barely made it out of her university alive.

"I don't even want to think about it," she said, as she turned to step into one of the stalls. Since Cheryl was involved with Flynn, she couldn't count on her to distract Xavier, so she'd just have to be strong and stand her ground. But, in a way, part of her was crying out to be touched, to be held, but she couldn't let that take precedence in her life. She wasn't going to let anything derail her career again or her life.

"It would help loosen you up. You're strung so tight right now that if you could defy gravity you'd spring up into the atmosphere."

Wouldn't that be nice? Maybe she could find a new planet that didn't have cheaters on it. It's too bad that we were bound by the natural laws of the planet...of the universe. You're born. You live. You die. Sometimes you die before you even have a chance to live. Tears pricked her eyes. No. She wasn't going to get involved with anyone ever again. Wasn't going to live through that pain a second time.