Hey guys, it's time for a new chapter! This will probably be a side chapter that's still following the story but not in the game. Thanks so much for the reviews and follows so far! It really encourages me to keep writing. If you have any ideas or critiques, go ahead and tell me! Finally, here's the chapter!
Ch. 4: Spending Time with Cal
(Luna's POV)
"Wow, Greez, this steak is really good! How did you become such a good cook!?" I said to the man at the kitchen table. The steak might be the best steak I've ever had! I like my steak medium-rare and it was like Greez knew exactly when to stop cooking it to get to that point. He crossed his four arms with confidence and clicked his tongue.
"I told you, kid! I'm the best cook in the galaxy!"
"Uh-huh…" Cal hummed in skepticism. I nudged his arm and he corrected himself, "…I mean, yeah! Greatest cook in the galaxy!"
Greez smirked even more and went back to the sink to wash more dishes. I shook my head at the ginger and took a spoonful of mashed potatoes to my mouth. They were masterfully cooked as well. Greez gave me a greater portion than what I'm used to eating due to my financial budget back on Hosnian Prime, but I wasn't complaining. Having a full stomach is pure bliss. I looked at Cal and he was eating as eagerly as me. When he went to take another spoonful of food, I couldn't help but notice the black marking that ran along his arm and into his wrist. Though, that part was concealed by his glove.
"What are you staring at?" He asked, noticing I was eyeing his hand longer than intended.
"What's that on your right arm? A tattoo?"
He glanced down at his arm and let out a surprised sound like he had forgotten it was there.
"Oh! This? It's from the scrapper guild that I was a part of on Bracca. Every scrapper had to get this stamped on their arm so you would know which guild you were in. I honestly forgot about it until you said something."
I nodded in understanding and tilted my head with curiosity.
"Can I see it?"
"Sure!" He said with a smile. He held his arm out to me and I grazed my fingers along the dark edges of the tattoo. I lifted his glove a bit to see the rest of it before my hands left his arm.
"Pretty cool," I said excitedly. He grinned and looked down at my arm, which was bare.
"Thanks! Would you get a tattoo on your arm of anything? Or wherever I mean?"
I thought about it for a minute and shrugged my shoulders nonchalantly.
"I honestly have never thought about it. Maybe...If we go to a shop one day you might be able to help me pick something out! It would be something small, but I think I would like it somewhere obscure. That way, it would be a secret to me and only those I'd want to show it too."
"I can respect that," he replied with a smile. I smiled too. How in the world was he so contagious?! I put my hand on my lab and felt something solid in one of my pockets. Oh! It must be one of the seeds we picked up on Bogano! I forgot to give it to Greez for his terrarium. I reached inside my pocket and took the alien seed out.
"Greez, I meant to tell you this as soon as we made it back on the ship, but Cal and I collected a plant seed that you can grow in your terrarium."
He turned to look at us. He seemed surprised that we even thought to take the seed with us. That terrarium has probably never had a plant seed inside it since Greez has owned the ship. He doesn't seem like the farmer type.
"Really? Well, thanks guys! Go ahead and put it in the soil, Luna."
I nodded and stood up from the table. I slid open the door to the terrarium and inserted the seed deep into the soil. Closing the door back, I pressed the button next to the glass container and it did everything the seed would need to start growing such as giving it the right amount of sunlight and watering it. It was somewhat satisfying watching it all happen. I took a step away from the glass container and stopped Greez from washing more dishes.
"Why don't you relax, Greez? You cooked for us so it's only fair for us to wash our dishes," I told him. Plus, I happen to be a master expert at washing dishes since I worked at that diner. Greez's lips slowly turned upward into a smile of disbelief. Another person doing work other than him for a change!? It's unheard of!
"You're my favorite passenger on the ship from now on, Luna. Cal, you could learn a thing or two from this girl."
"You can keep repeating yourself all you want. That doesn't change the fact that the steak you cooked me was burnt," Cal told him with as much sass as possible. Greez's mouth dropped in utter shock.
"W-Wha...IMPOSSIBLE! THAT STEAK WAS COOKED TO UTMOST PERFECTION, YOU LITTLE SHIT!" He yelled.
"Mmm...I don't know, I'm pretty sure it was burnt," the teen retorted. I just stood there, not knowing what Greez would do next because that seemed to strike a nerve.
"You lie! You know what!? I'm headed off to bed!"
He waved his hand with his back turned towards us and retired to his room. Cal picked up his plate and laid it inside the water of the sink. He looked at me and I could tell he was holding in a laugh.
"My steak wasn't burnt. I just love messing with him."
I gave him a look and raised my fist in front of me.
"For that, you've earned one punch to the arm," I said, half-jokingly. He gasped but turned his arm to me with a huff. Humming, I gave him one good punch to the bicep.
"Ouch! Damn, you're strong, Luna! Note to self, BD, don't give Luna a reason to punch you," he advised the robot. BD-1 beeped his acknowledgment of my strength and I smirked in satisfaction. These two are such dorks but I love that about them.
"Whatever! Just help me wash these dishes," I laughed. He rubbed his arm for a second and then joined in in laughter. He grabbed the water faucet to rinse, and I grabbed the soap scrub to wash so we could get it done a lot faster.
"It's cool that you can tease each other like that even though you've known each other only for a couple of days," I said, finishing the last plate.
"Yeah, but you settled in pretty quickly too, Luna. I'm glad you turned out to be really cool rather than someone who's mean or annoying," he added. That was actually a relief to me that he said that.
"Thanks for saying that, Cal. I've always been a little self-conscious that people think I'm annoying whenever I'm talking to them. Sometimes, I'll lose myself in a conversation and that can be irritating to a lot of people," I said with a dry laugh. He shook his head and dried off the water from his hands with a towel.
"Well, it's not annoying to me. I really like talking to you."
My eyes widened a bit at him, and my face burst out into a huge smile.
"Really? That makes me so happy. You don't even know!"
He smiled back and nudged BD-1 with his elbow.
"I know BD feels the same way."
BD trilled and hopped on his tiny legs repeatedly. I rested my hand on the top of his head and gave it a good pat. These guys are so sweet. I can't believe how lucky I am that they were the ones that saved me. Greez and Cere too.
"You guys are the best, you know that?" I told them gleefully.
"We know!" Cal exclaimed. I giggled and turned around to look at the ship. The trip to Zeffo was going to be about two days so I wonder what we'll be doing during that time.
"So...What do you want to do until we get to Zeffo? We got two days to kill time."
Cal thought for a minute.
"We could always just sleep all day, but I think I'd rather spend more time with you. I still don't know a lot about you so I think it would be cool to talk about everything. If that's cool with you, I mean."
"Y-Yeah! Totally!" I said to him, "...That sounds like fun! I do feel like I can be more personal with you now that I know you better. And we're gonna be together for the long run so we might as well open up to each other."
"I feel the same way. BD thinks so too!"
I smiled at the robot and nodded back at my room.
"We can go talk in mine or your room."
All three of us walked out of the kitchen and turned the light off. In the hallway, Greez and Cere had gone to bed and the lights to their bedroom were off. We decided to talk in Cal's room since I hadn't seen the inside of it yet. Surprisingly, his bed was made and there wasn't a wrinkle in sight on the sheets. He caught me staring at them and chuckled.
"Something wrong with the bed?"
I broke my stare and looked into his green eyes.
"No, I just thought your bed would be really messy."
"Ha! Why?"
"Because you barely got out of bed this morning," I teased. He started to say something but closed his mouth when he realized I was right.
"Good point...I'm just not a morning person is all. On Bracca, I worked late at night so I'm definitely more of a night person than a morning person. I'm good about organizing and cleaning my room though. After living by myself for five years, living in a messy apartment got old real quick. I knew that I would have to step up and act like an adult from now on so from there I started cleaning up after myself and taking more responsibility."
"So wholesome," I muttered, wiping away a fake tear from my eye. He sat on the side of the bed and smiled down at his hands. "...But seriously, that's really mature of you, Cal. I sort of did the same for myself. That first year was so hard. I had never really cooked for myself before and I felt like I had to learn the basics of life all over again. The clones did everything for me and treated me like I was special. When they went rogue and attacked my master, it was like my heart broke into a thousand pieces..." I said sadly, holding my fist to my chest where my heart was. I sat next to Cal on the bed and BD-1 began snooping around the room in curiosity.
"I'm so sorry..." He whispered, a strain in his voice that I knew well. Please don't cry, please don't cry. I took a deep breath and pushed away the urge to cry because I didn't want to make Cal feel uncomfortable.
"I'm sorry too, Cal. You had to go through the same thing...That day...Master Secura and I had been on the planet, Felucia, trying to decide where we wanted to infiltrate the droid army's defenses. We took a group of our usual clones with us through the plant forest in the area and we reached a point where we thought we had finally found the right point of entry to destabilize their defense. One of the clones got a call from his communicator and he walked away from us. I remember it vividly because he had excused himself from us. My master was sort of..."
I paused and tried to think of the right word to say.
"...distracted because she was so focused on winning the battle that day. I was focused on the clone that left for some reason. He had his back turned to us and he had his communicator out. But then...it was like his body tensed up. I remember asking another clone if he was okay and he didn't respond to me like he usually would. He just stayed silent. When the clone came back, he nodded to the others and they all raised their guns at me and my master. I remember feeling scared because they had never done that before, especially with our backs turned. Master Secura had sensed that something was wrong, and she was able to tell me to run before they started shooting. She pushed me away and I watched the blaster shots hit her body over and over. Her eyes dilated and my body basically took over itself and ran as fast as it could back to the ship. The clones had been focused on her because she was way more dangerous than I was. I got back to the ship and got out of there as fast as I could. I tried to fly back to the main ship but there was a transmission that this was happening all over...That every clone was turning against us. At that point, I just flew wherever it was safe for me and that's how I ended up on Hosnian Prime," I finished.
"Did you...love you master...Like a parent, I mean?" He asked after a moment of silence.
"Yeah, I did. She was awesome. What about you?"
"I did too. He was strict sometimes, but I knew he cared about me. I never knew my parents, so he was like a father figure to me. I've always hated the fact that jedi weren't allowed to know or be in contact with their family. I know that 'love' is something that could potentially turn you to the dark side, but everybody needs that one person where they feel a deep connection with. Am I wrong to say that?"
I shook my head without even thinking.
"Absolutely not. I totally agree. Love is what makes us human...I had a problem with that too but never thought about it too much because I was only twelve years old. Now that I'm eighteen, I feel passionately about it. Master Yoda probably would've disapproved if I ever told him that...Also, that was such a romantic thing to say, Cal!"
Cal's pale skin tone betrayed him, and his cheeks turned extremely red. I enjoyed seeing him try to hide it.
"Yeah, well..." he muttered.
"It was and you know it!" I yelled, giving him a playful push. His face will forever be red like a tomato now because the crimson in his cheeks had not receded at all yet.
"It's not my fault my face gets this red! You keep making me blush on purpose!"
"Mhmm," I hummed humorously. You know, Cal is kind of cute sometimes. I can't explain it but there are times where I wouldn't mind if he hugged or kissed me. Oh no, I sound horrible right now. Don't take that too seriously! I'm just thinking out loud and he probably thinks the same about me since we're the same age! I'm not saying I have feelings for him though. I haven't known him long enough to feel that way. I'm just saying he's an attractive guy, okay!
"Did you have any relationships on Hosnian Prime?" He asked.
The question caught me off guard because I didn't know whether he wanted to talk about that kind of stuff or not. I'm happy to talk about it though!
"Umm...Let's see...I think I had maybe two boyfriends in the five years I was there, which is a horrible number. Every other girl I knew had at least ten or twenty boyfriends. My relationships never went anywhere, of course. I kissed one of them, but it didn't feel right, so it didn't work out. What about you, Cal? A lot of people have a thing for gingers!"
He laughed and shrugged his shoulders.
"Eh, I don't have much to tell. I was always too nervous to ask anyone out. Besides, I never had anyone that I liked in that way. Super lame, huh?"
"No, I get that. When you know, you know. Were there a lot of girls that worked as a scrapper?" I asked him, curious to what he would say. That job seemed like a male-dominant occupation. He scratched the back of his head and sighed.
"Oh, that was another problem too. It was basically a sausage party where I worked. There might have been maybe three or four women that worked with us. They were older too, so it wasn't like I was going to ask out a woman who was twenty years older than me."
"That would be weird," I giggled, "...and if you didn't even have that many options to work with than there's no way you were going to find a relationship with somebody. I'm the real lame one here. I lived in a planet that was a literal city and I couldn't find one serious boyfriend from there? Ugh, I'm hopeless!"
Cal shook his head with a snort.
"Nah. We're still young. We'll find somebody. You think Greez was a player back in the day?"
"What? Eww! No! Can you imagine?"
"I don't want to," he replied in amusement. He laid back so that he was laying in the bed. He was probably tired from the day we had on Bogano. I did the same and laid beside him, my long, blonde hair sprawling out over the bed. He reached for a remote on his desk beside the bed and pointed it up at the ceiling.
"Want to see something cool?"
He clicked a button and the ceiling roof moved to the sides of the ship so that you could see the space outside as if you were literally sleeping under the stars. We were in hyperspace right now, so it was a thousand streaks of blue passing above us, but it was beautiful, nonetheless.
"Wow, that's awesome. Does my room have this?"
"I think so. The remote for it might be in the drawer of your nightstand, but yeah, I always sleep with this open because it's just cool to fall asleep staring up at whatever's there."
I smiled and we just laid there on Cal's bed. BD-1 appeared to be going to sleep on the desk at the foot of the bed. I guess he had explored all the contents of the room and was now taking a rest. After a minute, I remembered that Cal had not told me his Order 66 story.
"What about you, Cal? That day..."
"Oh, sorry. Mine was kind of like yours except my master and I were on a Venator-class Star Destroyer. I was training with him when the clones got the call and my master had started feeling bad a few seconds before. I asked him what was wrong, and he mentioned that something terrible had happened to the other Jedi. The clones started shooting at us at that point and we tried to escape the ship using one of the pods. Before we could, they managed to overwhelm us, and my master had to protect me. He died in the escape pod after we managed to get in it...I got hit from some of the blaster shots too which is why I have these ugly scars on my face..." he trailed off depressingly. I looked at him and brought the back of my hand to his cheek.
"That sounds awful...And your scars aren't ugly, Cal. They're barely visible. A-Are you self-conscious about them?"
He frowned and sighed again.
"Yeah, sometimes. It's something I can't make go away and it's always going to be there," he said.
"I know...but you shouldn't worry about them. They're a part of you. I don't think they're ugly at all. You're perfect the way you are, Cal," I said with a grin. He glanced at me sadly but then smiled big.
"Thanks, Luna...This was kind of like a therapy session for the both of us," he chuckled. Now that I think about it, that's exactly what it was. And it was great! Having someone to talk to can be one of the best things for you.
"Haha, yeah," I laughed. My eyes started to burn from fatigue, so I brought my legs up from the bed and curled up in the middle of the bed where we were. Cal noticed and sat up.
"You tired? We can talk some more tomorrow if you want."
"Yeah, but I don't feel like getting up," I muttered with a smile. My body felt like a weight and laying down had made me feel even drowsier. He rolled his eyes and motioned me to scoot over to one side of the bed.
"Yeah, I don't either. Scoot over," he commanded with another quiet laugh escaping his lips. I slowly turned myself so that I was on the long side of the bed and inched myself to the other side so Cal could lay down.
"You don't care that I sleep next to you, do you?" I asked him, a little worried I was being inconsiderate. He snorted and shook his head, getting under the covers next to me and laying his head on the pillow.
"No, I don't mind at all! I trust you."
I grinned hearing that.
"Good. I trust you too."
Normally, I would never trust someone in the amount of time I've known Cal but for some reason he felt different. Maybe it's because we're both the same age and we're also both Jedi that survived the purge, but I trust him. I don't think he would ever hurt me, at least not physically. Then again, he probably wouldn't hurt me emotionally either because this whole time he's been completely understanding and sweet throughout this entire process. And uhh...I'm not worried about BD-1 either.
"I'm glad. I'll see you in the morning, okay?" He said as he turned the light off, leaving the room a dim blue from the hyperspace above.
"Okay. Goodnight, Cal," I said.
"Goodnight, Luna."
We were facing each other so I watched him close his eyes before I closed mine. Tomorrow will just be another day for us to spend time together so I'm excited. I also want to connect more with Cere and Greez while I'm at it.
But for now, I need sleep. After a couple of minutes, I felt my consciousness fade and then everything went black from there.
And that's the end of the chapter! Sorry about the delay for this chapter, I just had some writer's block and school and work got in the way. It's also a shorter chapter because it wasn't story that was in the game. I'm almost done with one of my other stories, so I'll have more time to write for this one. Please review or comment and let me know what you think of the story so far. The people who have reviewed or followed the story are awesome and I hope you keep reading! Finally, I'll see you guys next time.
