Chapter Fourteen

Araceli spends the rest of the evening deciding what goes and what stays as she prepares to leave Earth. She pulls a trunk out of a closet and shows me various awards she won as a child–ribbons and medals and certificates for sports she played. She shows me pictures of her as a child with Abel, and her mother. Araceli is a clone of her mother. It makes me wonder who our child will take after.

After flipping through it all, she chooses a few pictures of her parents and leaves the rest in its box. Thus she proceeds through all of her belongings, the pile of "to take" growing ever larger. Blankets and clothes and journals fill several boxes by the time she declares herself done.

At ten p.m., as she's done the previous two nights, she begins her evening ritual. She washes her face and changes into her pajamas, but this night she does not prepare her nest of pillows. She slides under the covers on her side of the bed and curls up. Uncertain what this means, I turn off the light and join her, making sure to keep the space between us equal to what the pillows would have been.

"Kai?" she says finally after we've been laying there for some time.

"Yes?"

"I'd like to bring some things for the baby." There is no dread in her voice, no sadness. It's as if she's simply adding to the list of things she wants to bring. I don't know whether I should be as excited as her words make me feel. I need to be realistic. This may just be her accepting the inevitable. Gaining our mating bonds still doesn't seem to be one of the happiest days of her life, even if it is mine.

"There's enough room to store lots of baby items in the pod. We can fill the spare room, if you need to."

"I-I don't need that much stuff. I just want her to have some things–books, a teddy bear, a mobile to hang over her crib."

Tentatively, I put a hand on her arm. She breaks the distance between us, scooting back into me until she's pulled my arm over her body and my hand rests on her abdomen. "Can we sleep like this?" she asks through a yawn. "You are an awesome weighted blanket."

I pull her close to my body. "Of course." If she can feel my heart pounding in my chest, she doesn't say. I remain as still as possible, not daring to move as we both drift off to sleep.

"So how was your date?" Araceli asks her father at breakfast.

"It wasn't a date," Abel says.

Araceli pulls out her phone and taps several times, then reads from the screen. "Date: noun. A social engagement between two people that is often romantic in nature."

Abel grunts. "Nosey girl."

"Anya seems like a very nice lady. What's wrong with dating her?"

"Nothing," Abel says.

Araceli raises an eyebrow in my direction, but understanding humans is still tricky. Does she want me to join her in pressing her father about his romantic relationship? Is she simply seeking solidarity? I don't know, but fortunately I'm saved by the subject of our conversation.

"Abel," Anya calls from the front door. Araceli smiles and lets her dad answer the door. He comes back a few moments later.

"Not dating, huh?"

"I just forgot my wallet in her car," he replies waving it in the air.

"Who paid for dinner?"

"I did, of course. No one but that pussy Rey would allow a woman to pay for dinner."

Araceli just chuckles as she bites into her eggs, but Rey's words have me concerned…how do I pay for our date tonight?

Araceli and Brandon are hard at work replacing tires for a large truck when I realize I have a chance to ask someone who can help me with my dilemma.

"Marcus, I have a problem," I tell him as we work on repairing a small leak in a tire.

"No, you're doing fine, just–"

"No, I mean with Araceli."

"Oh, shoot. You fighting with your girl?"

Marcus's words take me aback. I forget that everyone here believes we are dating.

"No."

"Is it her time of the month? I always get my girlfriend some snacks and rub her feet when she's on her period. It always works. She goes from wanting to kill me to telling me I'm the best boyfriend in the world every time."

"Period?" I have to think about that word for a moment. "Oh, her menstrual cycle. No, that's not the issue. I promised to take her on a date, but I don't have any money."

Marcus nods knowingly. "Ah, well you've come to the right place. I, too, am broke literally all the time. Dates are easy bruh. Cook her something at home, take her on a walk, pick her some flowers. Watch the sunset. Girls love all that kind of stuff."

"Araceli too?"

"Yeah, bruh. She's not out here dating for money."

Marcus is correct. Though she didn't exactly get to choose any more than I did. I think about Marcus's advice all afternoon, trying to form a plan in my head. I have yet to see anything but cactuses in the area. Somehow picking a cactus doesn't seem like it would have the same effect, so that is out. But the ship has a kitchen. I could make her dinner. We could even watch the sunset from the top of the dome.

I don't tell Araceli my plans, but when I ask her if we can return to the pod she insists that we collect some of her things from her shed.

"We've only got forty-eight hours left," she tells me as we drive to her home. "I'm going to need to slip things out a little at a time so dad doesn't notice."

I can't argue with that, but moving stuff seems like the least romantic activity we can partake in right before our date. Anxiety plagues me–did she change her mind? Does she not want to go on a date with me?

Most of the items she insists we bring are things we can store in the bedroom–a thick blanket she says is for the winter, stacks of fuzzy towels, long-sleeved shirts and pants.

Back at the pod, I carry most of the boxes to our sleeping quarters and show her all the available cupboards.

"Do you prefer blankets stored in the drawers or the cabinets?" she asks, opening and closing drawers as she comes to them. I check the time nervously as she takes out each item and worries herself over exactly the best place to store it. Earth time is nearly seven p.m. Three hours left before her bedtime ritual. Plus driving time home, that leaves less than two point five hours left for me to cook her dinner and watch the sunset.

"Kai," Araceli says loudly, drawing me out of my own thoughts and back into the world, "Is there any room in the bathroom to store my towels?"

I take a deep breath and resolve to be more patient. "Yes, let me show you."