Orbit
It was easy to see how they circled each other, even before they knew one another. Same company, different departments... and yet, but for an accident of circumstances, they never would have met. "You really like that pattern?"
Charlie glanced at her on the vid-phone screen. "What's not to like about it?"
"It clashes..." At his raised eyebrow, she whirled out of the nearest socket and pointed from his coat, to the curtains, to the rug. "None of these look good with that bedspread! Not even your coat, and it's beige!"
"Diana?"
"What?"
"The electric grid here can't take you doing that for long. And I don't care that it clashes."
She heaved an un-needed sigh. "Why not?"
"Because it reminds me of the Neuro-brain interface."
That revelation made her pause and she looked at it again with new eyes. It was colorful and abstract and weird... and again a reminder of how they'd met in the middle of things and also a reminder that they could have just as easily missed each other. "I guess..."
"And since we can't always be together, I wanted something that speaks of your presence in my home. In our home... even if it is the craziest bedspread I could find and the cashier looked like she wanted to ask if I was crazy for buying it."
At that, Diana had to laugh. "If I could kiss you right now, Charlie, I would."
His responding smile would have been enough to light up all of Zone Five.