Aurelia

Illion usually gets up at four in the morning, so today I wake up at 3:59.

When he goes into the closet to dress, I crawl out of bed and head to the drink machine against the wall.

“Aurelia?” Illion peeks out of the closet, doing up the top buttons of his suitcoat. “Why are you up so early?”

I hold up the two mugs, “I’m making tea.”

“Oh, thank you. But why?”

“Can’t I see you before you go to work?”

He blinks, his face one of confusion as he fixes his tie. “I…suppose.”

I wait for him to finish dressing, and he comes over to join me on the edge of the bed. I hand him his mug and wait for him to take a sip before I speak.

“Did you sleep okay last night?”

“Yes, did you?”

“No.” I purse my lips, watching the spices in my cup swirl around. “I was a bit worried about you.”

“Worried?” There’s more worry in his voice now than in mine. “Whatever for?”

“You hid an injury, Illion. You’re the captain, you can’t be doing that.”

“It was a simple bruise.”

“Didn’t you hear what Lolli-N said?”

“She’s dramatic.”

“No. Stop it.” I let out a long sigh and turn to face him. His soft eyes are narrowed, like he’s trying to come up with a lie to hide behind.

I set my mug on the bedside table and give him my full attention. “Please, Illion, this is scary. Really scary.”

“I take my health as an upmost priority.” He answers stiffly. “Serious afflictions are not neglected and are treated according to protocol. All members of staff adhere to protocol, and as the captain you can expect that I too will-”

I wrap my arms around him before he can finish. Illion gasps; freezes as I bury my face into his shoulder. He’s more rigid than a mannequin, I don’t even think he’s breathing, but his heart is beating so fast I can feel it through the layers of his uniform.

His hair falls just below his chin, brushing the top of my head as I clutch him tight. I just want to run my hands through his hair, to feel his silky curls around my fingertips. He looks so much better with his hair let down.

And his uniform smells like citrus and peppermint, or maybe it’s his cologne. I wonder if his skin tastes like citrus, tangy and-

Oh my gods, Aurelia, you can’t think like that! Stop it!

“Illion, listen here.” I mumble into his shoulder, fighting the urge to press my lips against his neck, “I’m getting to like you, and I really really don’t want to find you dead on the floor one day from a hidden gun wound or internal bleeding because you ‘didn’t want to be a bother’.”

He leans his head against mine, and finally takes a shaky breath.

“Seriously.” I say, just to make sure he understands, “don’t make me a widow, mister.”

“I’m sorry.”

“You should be.”

Gently, I release him from the tightness of my hug, and hold him at arm’s length. He clasps my hands in his own, like he’s afraid to let go of me, but his eyes are stuck on my jewel necklace, glazed over; lost in thought.

“I wish you weren’t on shift in five minutes.” I whisper.

“I’m always busy, Aurelia.”

“I know but…can you get off shift early today? To rest.”

He just shakes his head slowly; his mind is probably off in another universe.

Finally, his eyes drag up to mine. Beautiful blue seas of sapphire, swimming with emotions I can’t identify; there are too many.

“My shift is late,” he says, “and there’s a lot of things to fix. I probably won’t be off until midnight.”

“Oh, alright. I understand.”

His eyes draw me in deeper with every second; I can’t look away, but he does and stands up hastily, like he just snapped out of a trance, “I’ll text you.”

“Okay.” I rise with him and follow him to the door, lingering by the wall as he straightens his suit one last time and reaches for the lock.

“Aurelia, I…” He hesitates, “thank you.”

Then he opens the door and is gone from sight before I can catch a second glance.

*

It was the longest shift of my life. I checked my phone religiously every hour, hoping for a text from Illion, but it never came. I like to think he just got busy and forgot, but in the back of my mind I’m worried he’s decided to pull the infamous ghosting tactic. That doesn’t seem to make sense though; he’ll have to see me in person. Maybe he’s just busy. He must be busy.

But I was busy too, and I still managed to check my messages!

“Yawn. Boring. Stop it, Auri.” Enea slaps my phone from my hand, “don’t let me catch you texting first.”

“Illion said he would text me and he hasn’t.”

“Illion’s literally the captain, he’s probably steering the ship or something.” She leans back against the frame of her bunk, playing with her new gemstone bracelet as I sit cross legged in front of her.

“But-”

“You’ve known the guy for what, like a week? Not even.”

“But he looks so tired all the time, I just-”

“Seriously, Auri, chill out.” She pulls the bracelet off and throws it playfully, hitting me in the chest, “you’re not like his mom, that robo Lolli-whatever is. He’ll text you.”

“You’re right.” I sigh, “let’s do something tonight then. You know this place better than I do.”

Enea straightens up excitedly, “they’re opening up floor two this evening, we could go!”

“The murder floor? Where people get eaten by massive plants?”

“Apparently the pools are open and safe. There was announcement, didn’t you hear? We should totally go.”

“I don’t have a swimsuit.”

“I do!” She leaps off the bunk and pulls her suitcase out from underneath, throwing out clothes left right and centre until she holds up the skimpiest bikini I’ve seen in my life.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

I wince, “yeah, no.”

“How about this?” She throws a one piece at me. It’s purple, and not too bad. Let’s just say I don’t have to worry about anything falling out.

With a sigh of reluctance, I take the one piece and watch as she rifles through more options to find something for herself.

Once she’s decided on a sparkly bikini, we head to the bathrooms together to get changed, and from there, join a crowd as they head to floor two.

“I heard there’s over thirty pools!” Says a woman ahead of us. She’s carrying an inflatable unicorn, and her two kids have snorkels on.

“I’ve seen pictures of it pre-lawsuit, and it looked super fun!” Says another woman behind us, and I hear murmurs of agreement.

There must be about fifty of us, all trekking through the main halls to the stairwell. A certain buzz circulates the air, the kids are jumping around eagerly, and everyone is smiling giddily. I am too.

A pool, a proper pool. It’s about damn time.

We reach the hangar doors just as the homebot crew arrives. They’re armed with massive pink crowbars and dressed in neon vests and hardhats.

“Stand back!” Yells the shorter bot, and the crowd lingers a few feet away as the homebot jam the crowbars where the hangar doors meet.

There’s a loud, metallic groaning, then a pop, and the doors slide open revealing a paradise.

Slides of all colours, yellow, blue, green, pink, wind around each other like ivy around a lamp post, and stretch up to a glass ceiling. Palm trees wave in an artificial breeze, and a few parrots fly past the entrance, squawking like they’re just as excited to see us as we are to see them.

“Pools!” Shrieks a little kid, and then everyone charges forward cheering and screaming.

It’s a mad rush across the mosaic tiles, people shoving each other left and right, Enea yelling and elbowing me to move.

“Quick! Last one in the water is a Zyxien!” A little boy hollers, and I’m a few feet behind him, sprinting to the edge of a pool.

I’m almost there, ready to feel the refreshing waves over my skin, to be covered in­-

We slam to a stop. I grab the kid by the collar of his swimshirt, pulling him back as he teeters on the edge.

The pool is filled with colourful playpen balls, freshly cleaned too and gleaming in the disco ball light. And when I look to the left, the pool over there is full of elephant stuffies, and the one to the right is loaded to the brim with pop-its.

“What the fuck?” Yells inflatable unicorn woman, “where’s the water?”

The kid detaches himself from my grip and jumps into the pool of balls anyway. Some of the other kids follow him, and soon the pool is full of under-tens whipping colourful plastic balls at each other.

“What in the fucking world-?” Enea comes to a halt beside me, looking over my shoulder in horror. “What is this?”

Behind me, I can hear angry whispers.

“Can it get any worse?”

“This was supposed to be a spa, not…this.”

“The captain has some explaining to do.”

“Aurelia.” Whispers Enea, grabbing my arm, “there’s open sunchairs, quick!”

While everyone else is distracted, she drags me away from the ball pit and to a segment of loungers on some fake grass.

We spread out our towels and get comfortable just as the crowd begins to realise what’s up. Soon, the chairs around us are filled.

Everyone except the kids has decided to ditch the pools, not that I blame them, but the people who didn’t get chairs are busy arguing with the people who did.

It’s quite ridiculous. The hangar is so big, and spreads so far back that I can’t even see the end wall. There’s plenty more sunchairs the further back you go, but then it’s a longer walk to the stairs and I guess most people are lazy. Or bored. Or both.

“Give it up, Karen, I was here first!” A pot-bellied man with stubble throws his towel dramatically to the ground, but the woman on the sunchair just gives him the middle finger. Across from them is a similar situation. Two teens trying to bully a man off his seat. Honestly, whatever.

I lean back and relax, letting the stress of the day ease out in the artificial sunlight.

Gradually, the yelling from the people fighting over chairs starts to get annoying. And I turn to Enea for conversation, inquiring as to the nature of her…flirtationship with Josa Mosa the big nose-a.

Enea grins, hands behind her head as she stretches out on her sunbed. “Oh, my sweet summer child.”

“What?”

“He’s lovely. Took me shopping and bought me dinner…I think he’s the one.”

“The one.” I echo sarcastically, “did his chocolate sauce obsession surface yet? And what about that other girl he was dating?”

“They broke up.” Enea lets out a content sigh, “I think he’s planning to buy me a ring.”

I stare at her with what can only be a look of pure horror. “You’ve been on one date!”

She waves me away, tutting like a grandmother, “you’ve not even been on a date, and you’re already married. Don’t tell me what’s possible!”

“Enea!”

“Auri!” She mimics in the same tone. “Do you want to be the maid of honor or not?”

“You’re loonier than Illion!”

“Hey, that’s a new low.” She gives me a side eye, “and I guess I’m blacklisting you from the guest list now.”

I cover my face with my hands, “oh my gods. You need divine help.”

“Zip it. Josa is my Mosa. Get with the flow. I cheer for you and Illion, a bit of support would be nice.”

“I’m sorry. But it’s just that you can do a lot better than…”

“And you can’t do better than Illion?”

“But Josa pours chocolate sauce over his girlfriends!”

“And guess who runs around in oversized kid-glasses and that stupid uniform? And acts drunk all the time? And fantasizes about throwing people out of airlocks? Huh? What about that?”

I bite my tongue.

“Exactly.” She smirks, “my point exactly. Don’t be so judgemental.”

“But-!”

“Auri!” Enea wails, “please!”

“Okay, sorry.” I put my hands up in defence, “I won’t say anything more. You and Josa can have a nice wedding, but I’ll be waiting with the divorc-”

Enea whips her towel at me, and I shriek in laughter, falling off my seat in an attempt to get away.

“Come back here!” She climbs over the sunbeds after me, and I scramble to my feet, running towards the pools of random items.

In a moment of desperation, I leap into the nearest one – a pit of elephant plushies. I smash into the furry little bodies, sinking for a second, and then resurfacing just as Enea jumps in too.

“You can’t escape me!” She shouts in laughter as I try to claw my way out, and grabs me by my bathing suit straps, yanking me back.

Just as she’s about to jam a stuffed animal down my throat, I feel a vibration in the front of my swimsuit. My phone, tucked against my boob, is vibrating.

“Wait, wait, hold on!” I call for truce and pull out my phone. Enea hoists me up from the plushies and I lean against the side of pool, flicking my screen on to see a notification.

“It’s Illion!” She leans on my shoulder to get a good view, “give it here.”

Before I can stop her, she’s wrestled the phone from my hands.

“Hah!” Holding it up triumphantly, she dives to the other side of the pool. It’s not a big distance away, but it’s far enough that I have to crawl across a field of stuffed elephants to get to her.

“Aw, he’s asking you out.” She exclaims as she clambers out of the pool. “I’ll text for you.”

“Enea! Don’t you dare!” I’m pathetically flailing my way through the stuffies, barely moving an inch a second.

I see her fingers tapping at the screen and I let out a blood curdling screech as I try to paddle forwards to no avail. She doesn’t even flinch.

“Enea! Unhand the phone! I’ll sue your ass! I swear to the gods!”

“Chilllll, Auri.” She rolls her eyes, “I’m good at this. Let me handle it.”

My left hand reaches the edge of the pool, and I pull myself up onto the tiles, one leg, then the other. “Give me the phone, or I will end you.”

With a smug look, she hands the phone over, and sashays back to her sunbed, leaving me to read the messages.

Illion: My shift finishes at 12am. Meet me at the milkshake bar at 12:10, I’ll give you a tour of the out-of-bounds on floor two. It’s a one time offer before I open it to the public 🌞

[Me]: perfect! i just bought some new lipgloss

[Illion]: that’s great!

[Me]: i need to test it out 🤪

[Illion]: doesn’t it come ready??? im confused

[Me]: i need to test it out on u

[Illion]: uh

[Illion]: ok

[Illion]: wait do i need lipgloss too??????? 😰

[Me]: Yes🙏

“Enea!” I screech, collapsing to my knees as I clutch my phone to my chest. My stomach has dropped to my feet.

I’m going to fucking die. I’m going to fucking die.

I’m going to convulse into fall into a paralytic shock, my heart is going to stop, my brain is going to rupture and-

“What’d he say?” She calls from her sunbed.

“Oh my gods.” Picking myself up, I rush over to her, sitting on the end of her seat, “oh my gods. What did you do?!”

Enea leans over my shoulder and lets out the loudest shriek of laughter I’ve ever heard. She falls back onto the sunbed a cackling mess, clearly proud of her homewrecking skills.

“Like what am I supposed to say after that?” I wail, tugging at my braids as I reread the convo again and again.

“Tell him to slam you against the wall and make out.” Enea is bawling with laughter, tears running down her cheeks. “Do it! I would have said that next if you hadn’t stolen the phone from me.”

“Fuck off.” I squint at my phone screen and see the icon at the bottom [Illion is typing].

[Illion]: nice try. I’ll see you at 12:10 tonight. 🌞

“Oh gods, you are so lucky, Enea.” I breathe the shakiest sigh of relief I ever have, and type up a quick response:

[Me]: 👍

“Add a damn heart to that message, you unfeeling wench.” Enea whispers in my ear.

“Enough flirting with the poor man.” I switch my phone off and stuff it back into the top of my swimsuit. “He’s definitely going to ask me about that now, so thanks.”

“You’re welcome. Maybe he’ll get some lipglos-” I punch her arm before she can finish that thought, and Enea falls into a gloating silence.

“Don’t ever do that again.” I cover my face with my hands. My cheeks are burning up and I’m very surprised I even survived that ordeal. I can still hear my heart slamming in my ears and my stomach doing backflips.

“You’re welcome.” Enea says sassily and rolls her eyes. “You can tip me later, I don’t mind.”

I rub the back of my head and try to work out my growing headache. “I’ll add balding cream to your conditioner, thank you.”

“Whatever. You know you needed that convo with him.”

I shake my head, “yeah, no. Not like that.”

“As if either of you have the guts to just go for it.”

“I would have!”

“Lies.”

“Maybe.”

“Exactly. I solved the problem. Enea knows her stuff; who would have figured?”

“Shut up.” I chuckle, and climb off her sunbed, back to mine.

“Okay, but quiet now, Auri. I’m going to tan, and then we’ll go shopping or something.”

“Sure.” With a heart still beating at a million miles an hour, I lay quietly and pull out my phone, rereading the conversation again and again until I’ve memorized every word.

Maybe this won’t be so bad after all.