As our holiday progressed it was so fun to see Lauren be so confident in the revealing clothes that we’d bought together. I’d imagined she’d be at least a little bit shy considering that she practically has never worn clothes like this, but around Eva and me she was completely at ease.

Around halfway through our holiday, right after Eva and Lauren had played some tennis together, we were relaxing on the beach. Lauren had put quite a bit of energy in the match, which she needed to to keep up with Eva’s superior technique, and had therefore exhausted herself a little. She was snoozing besides me beneath the parasol on one of the comfy beach lounge chairs.

Eva walked up to us after having taken a refreshing dive into the sea, drying herself off with her beach towel.

“Were you not a bit surprised by Lauren?” I asked her as I offered her her glass of tropical fruit juice.

“How so?” She asked as she wrung out her hair in her towel.

“How she’s so carefree around us with her arm and everything like that.”

“It’s not like she’s ever been very shy around us two. Didn’t you two start bonding after you saw her in the hospital?”

“I know… But if it were me… I’d be very self-conscious about it, that’s all.”

“The only thing she is self-conscious about is that she has to take the pills to avoid her body wanting to reject her arm. If her injury wasn’t such a state secret, I’m sure that she would not even wear her gloves around everywhere. So to answer your question, no, I’m not very surprised.” Eva replied. “However, I am happy that she can relax for a bit around us, not having to worry about the secret being spread around.”

“Mhmm.” I nodded.

“She is taking her pills, right?” Eva’s doctor showed its face real quick.

“Yeah, she is. Religiously so.” I nodded once more. “I’ve also tried to motivate her into taking them.”

Eva smiled. “Oh, then maybe I should think about making you my assistant doctor on board the ship.”

I chuckled.

Eva sighed while she was still smiling and sat down on the seat next to me which wasn’t covered by the parasol. Her pale skin shining in the sunlight. “I know we agreed not to talk about work too much, but I really need to figure something out to get those marines on board to taking their pills more regularly. What was the trick behind getting this meathead taking them?”

I chuckled shyly. “I’m afraid that probably won’t work on them as well as it does on Lauren… or at least, it might be pretty hard to make that solution workable.”

“Oh?” Eva smirked. “So it’s that kind of a solution?”

I should’ve expected it, but I started blushing nonetheless. “It’s not as lewd as you think… I just promise her a couple of kisses every time she takes them.”

“Ah, yeah, Lauren won’t be able to say no to that, that’s for sure.” Eva laughed and let herself fall back with her back on the lounge seat. “But yes, that’s not going to be easy to implement throughout the entire ship.”

“Is it really that big of an issue? Them not taking their pills.”

“It can definitely be at times.” Eva nodded while she stared up at the sky. “They often think they don’t need it but that does come to bite them in the ass quite often. I prescribe those pills for a reason, you know.”

“Never go against the doctor’s advice.”

“Exactly.” Eva smiled. “Well, at least you’ve taken one of them off my hands.”

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Hmm? Are you talking about me?” Lauren woke up with a big stretch.

“Maybe a little.” I stuck my tongue out a little.

“Oh?” Lauren looked at me and then at Eva. “I suppose it’s better if I don’t ask?”

“It’s nothing serious, otherwise we wouldn’t be talking over you.” Eva looked at her friend and grinned. “But it’s a secret between us two now, can’t help it.”

“Hmm.” Lauren chuckled and sat upright on the chair. “I think I’m going for a quick swim.”

“I’ll join you.” I got up and offered her my hand.

She smiled and gladly took it. “What about you, Eva?”

“Nah, I just came out, I’m going to sun for a bit now and then read something after.”

“Okay.” Lauren nodded and looked at me with a playful grin. “Last to the first buoy is a potato?” She started jogging over the beach.

I pouted. “No! You know I can’t swim very well yet!”

“That just sounds like a potato’s excuse to me!” Lauren yelled back, already halfway to the water.

I looked back at Eva with a pout.

“Hey, don’t look at me, she’s your girlfriend.”

“Argh!” I turned back and started running towards the sea too.

We found out a bit later in our stay that we could also rent some water scooters, jet skis and a banana float for free on which we could play to our hearts content, which we definitely did. At first Lauren was a bit hesitant to let me get on them as she is a bit protective of me, but Eva quickly dispelled any doubt Lauren had about me doing some fun watersports things. While it was a fun experience, I don’t know if I would repeat it if I had the choice. It was a bit ‘high-octane’ as Lauren called it, I definitely preferred playing with a beach ball, building sandcastles and relaxing on the beach. It was also fun watching Eva and Lauren being competitive at their sports.

Sadly the time we had on our private island grew shorter by the minute and before we knew it we were already on the last day of our holiday.

“Damn, I don’t know if I can get back to work already in a couple of days.” Eva said after she had taken a big bite of her hamburger.

“We still have some time before that so let’s make the best use of the time we have left. Luna and I still have a dinner to arrange with our neighbors to thank them for their care.”

“Yeah.” I nodded. “Let’s make sure we make them some nice food.”

“That sounds nice.” Eva smiled.

“You are welcome to join, if you have the time. We do have a spare room if you want to stay over for a while.” Lauren offered.

“Nah.” Eva shook her head. “I should probably get my earthly stuff in order before we leave.”

“That very much sounds like you are preparing for a funeral.” I tilted my head a bit.

“I guess it does.” Eva giggled. “It kind of is in a way. You never know what happens in outer space and it makes me feel at ease if everything here is taken care of so others don’t need to worry about things if something happens.”

“Makes sense.” Lauren nodded. “That’s pretty much the way I go about it too. And I think most people see it like that in fact.”

Eva took another bite from her burger and then took some fries with ketchup and stuffed those in her mouth as well. “It’s one of those military things you get used to. Luckily it also teaches you to live in the moment and take the joys of life as they come.”

“You were just complaining about already having to go back though.” Lauren took some fries with mayo as she stated her reply.

“That’s just because I’m also a doctor.”

“That…. makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.”

“Shhhh.” Eva silenced Lauren by putting a ketchup covered fry just in front of Lauren’s lips.

Lauren took the opportunity to take a bite of said fry, leaving Eva quite distraught. “My fries!”

“I thought you were offering them to your superior officer, my apologies.” Lauren gave Luna a cheeky salute.

Eva retaliated by taking some of Lauren’s fries which lead to another reaction from Lauren. This entire fry war was ridiculous as we had gotten plenty of fries with our burgers. But seeing it happen in front of me was rather funny, so funny that I couldn’t hold myself back in joining the fun.

That’s when both of them turned on me and started eating my fries instead. I had awoken two giants and the tide of war swiftly turned after my surprise attack.

With the war over we all laid back and looked at our empty plates as the moon rose higher in the sky.

“Let’s get a couple of drinks, for our last day here, I definitely don’t want to go to bed early. What do you think?” Eva asked.

“I think that’s a great idea.” Lauren nodded. “Can I have a bit of alcohol, babe, or would you rather I didn’t?”

“Just a bit because you’ve been a good girl.” I smiled smugly.

Lauren’s visage quickly turned into a smirk of her own though. “Good girl, huh? Let’s see who’s a good girl later…”

My face puffed red immediately.

-Oh no… what did I just say about waking giants?-