CHAPTER 10 - Green Eyed Girl

Jool was annoyed, but she didn't know why. For some reason, she had assumed that because she gave something to Crais, she might get something in return. She didn't necessarily want anything specifically off Crais, and hadn't even been thinking about it, but when the time actually came for him to give out a present, she found herself hoping it would be for her.

That annoyed her even more than the fact that she hadn't received anything. Zhaan's wish-thing didn't count. Why, suddenly, was she irritated that Crais had blatantly ignored her? He was looking at her, wasn't he? Usually, that meant something.

She was stupid, she decided. She was stupid, stupid, stupid. Give Crais a present, indeed. He was part of the reason she couldn't frelling sleep at night with his damn snoring.

Frustrated, she kicked a bulkhead. One of Moya's DRDs bleeped accusingly at her and then Pilot's voice filtered over the comm.

"Joolushka. Please refrain from doing that."

"Sorry, Pilot."

She threw herself onto the bed, deliberately banging on the adjoining wall to Crais' quarters as she did so. She would wait for him to apologise to her, even if she had to wait forever.

On the other side of the wall, Crais looked in the direction of the bang and frowned. Jool was annoyed with him. He supposed she had a right to be, and he knew he should go over and apologise. On the other hand, he wasn't obligated to do so in any way. That didn't stop him feeling incredibly guilty, however.

He placed a hand in his pocket and found the gift he'd neglected to hand out, and was suddenly struck with the incentive to go over there and apologise… even though he wasn't entirely sure what to apologise for.

He took a deep, calming breath, and strode purposefully out of his quarters. He turned a sharp right and practically marched the short distance to Jool's door, then pounded on it three times. After five microts, it slid open, and she emerged, arms folded, looking unimpressed.

"What do you want?"

"I… came to apologise."

"Oh? For what?"

"I'm not entirely sure." Jool frowned. Crais shifted uncomfortably, then changed tactic. "Why are you annoyed with me?"

She twitched, almost imperceptibly. "Um… well… I got you that dagger, and then you… you… didn't return the gesture. I thought you might at least give me something in return."

"Oh." His hand tightened around the small object in his pocket.

"And another thing," said Jool, suddenly on a roll. "All the time we were on the Terrace, you kept catching my eye, and it's frelling annoying because I just don't know why you were doing it, because you didn't follow it up in any way…"

"Jool…"

"… and if you're going to keep staring at someone, it's usually a nice thing to tell them why you're doing it!"

"I wasn't staring at you, you were staring at me!"

"I was not!"

"Are you always this argumentative?"

Jool stopped, stumped. "Uh…"

"Jool, I didn't come here to fight with you over something this trivial." He paused, and pulled out the object from his pocket. "I came to give you this… as I was going to do on the Terrace."

"Why didn't you?"

"I… you… I was scared."

The Interon smirked, amused, then examined what she now held in her hand. It was a necklace on a gold chain, with a single green gem hanging from it, the exact same colour as her eyes. She was momentarily struck speechless, and then she looked up to see Crais awaiting a reaction.

"Where did you…?"

"I found it behind a wall panel in my quarters. I assume Rygel hid it in there the last time we were boarded, and he's obviously forgotten about it, so… well, I hope you like it."

"I do. Thanks." There was a pause. "Help me put it on?"

She handed it back and turned, lifting her hair so he could fasten it around her neck. For some reason, it seemed to take him four attempts. "Sorry," he explained. "I'm not used to this sort of thing."

"So I see," she said, turning back around. "How's it look?"

Crais took a while to answer. Then, quite obviously not looking at the necklace, but directly at her, he said, "Lovely…"