Contiguity

noun

the state of bordering or being in contact with something.

PSYCHOLOGY

the sequential occurrence or proximity of stimulus and response


Day 272

After hours of tossing and turning, I resigned myself to another sleepless night, rolled off my bunk and grabbed a sweatshirt on the way out of my compartment. In the months we'd been back on the Ark, I'd gotten to know the halls better than I ever had in the seventeen years I grew up on this damned space station, because there wasn't really anything to do other than wander around when I couldn't sleep in the dead of night. On this particular night, I ended up walking by the kitchens but stopped when I heard clattering. My first instinct was to reach for a weapon, but I shook the impulse off and reminded myself that there was no way anybody could get onto the Ark. Hell there was nobody out there to get to get on board, so I forced myself to relax and see which of my friends were awake.

"What are you doing?" were the first words I blurted out on seeing Murphy rearranging saucepans on the stove.

Murphy glanced at me over his shoulder before turning back as if there was nothing strange about this situation. "What does it look like I'm doing?"

"Cooking?" I replied wearily.

"Y'see, I knew that old saying about blondes being dumb didn't apply to you," he smirked.

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, which is why I realise how difficult cooking must be when your only ingredient is algae. So what are you doing, Murphy?"

"Come on Clarke, weren't you in charge of rations? You should know that a spice rack survived up here," he pointed to the scattering of jars on the counter beside him. "I do believe you pilfered most of the salt for the med bay. I'm trying to use what's left to make this damn algae taste something like good."

I couldn't help but smile at the frustration in his voice. "Look Murphy," I started as I reached around him to turn the stove off, "We are all sick of the sight of algae, but it's all we've got. Even if you can work some miracle in here to make the stuff taste better, how long will it be until we get sick of choking that down every day? Will that be before or after the spices run out?"

Murphy's shoulders deflated as he turned to face me properly. "We're doomed to the fate of eating this crap for half a decade, so why bother trying. That's what you're saying?"

I placed a hand on each of his shoulders and tried to hold back my amusement at the defeated look on his face. "You'll have the chance to show off your culinary expertise when the algae farm blows up on us and we have to live on our freeze-dried rations until Raven and Monty can fix it. Save our spices for then, or I'll take them all to the med bay. They'd probably be more use there anyway."

"Well I'm glad I'm not the only one who's resigned themselves to our crappy luck continuing," he signed with a small smile. "But as I've started a batch of green sludge soup, you wanna help me finish it? It'll be good to freeze and add to the emergency rations."

"Sure," I smiled. "Though I'm not sure how much help I'll be."

"You can just taste test while you tell me why you're in the kitchen at three am. Don't tell me our fearless leader has been pilfering rations," Murphy raised an eyebrow in mock disapproval. "Scandalous."

"You caught me. I had a burning desire to eat more algae. Because I just can't get enough of the stuff," I replied sarcastically.

He snapped his fingers triumphantly over his pot. "I knew you couldn't be as perfect as the rest of these clowns make out."

That I couldn't help but laugh at. Nobody had been more vocal about my shortcomings than Murphy, after all.

"Seriously though," all the humour was gone from Murphy's voice, replaced with the slightest hint of concern. "What's up?"

"Nothing," I shrugged, blowing gently on the spoonful of soup he held out to me. "Just couldn't sleep."

Murphy looked me up and down briefly before nodding in understanding. "The machine hum is still getting to you."

"I swear it didn't used to be this loud up here," I sighed and fell back against the counter. "How have the rest of you gotten used to it?"

He just shrugged. "I thought it would take Emori longer to be honest, but that girl can sleep though anything. But," he offered me another spoonful, "if it makes you feel any better, I'm not completely used to the noise yet either."

With a thankful smile, I approved the soup and set about searching for the containers to freeze it in. "So is that why you chose to start your experimentation in the middle of the night?"

"That and I'd already tired Emori out…" he trailed off, bouncing his eyebrows in a stupidly suggestive manner.

"Ugh. Too much information," I threw the discarded wooden spoon at him.

"Hey! I know you're jealous Clarke but violence is never the answer," he chided, laughter creeping into his voice.

I huffed a laugh at that. "That's beyond rich coming from you Murphy," I pointed out, referring to his past transgressions.

"That's a low blow Griffin," a towel had somehow appeared in Murphy's hand, along with that devious smirk of his, "and you're gonna pay."

With that he lunged, whipping the towel at me, but I was ready for him and just managed to put the centre table between us before he could reach me.

"Too slow Murphy," I taunted, feeling a grin of my own creep onto my face. "Maybe you've gotten a little too comfortable with life up here."

"Or maybe I'm just going easy on you," he suggested, twirling the towel in preparation for another attack.

"No, that doesn't sound like the John Murphy I know."

"Your right, it doesn't." He propelled himself across the table and I dropped to roll underneath and regained my footing on the other side, without even thinking. "Nice moves Clarke, but you can't run away forever." We remained at a standoff, each of us feigning one way or another until once again Murphy decided to come at me over the table, giving me time to grab the hose from the sink behind me.

"You wouldn't," he accused but started backing up all the same.

"Sounds like a dare to me," I grinned and shot a jet of water straight in Murphy's face.

He stood letting the water drip off his chin in stunned silence before he remembered he was holding a towel. I bit my lip in an attempt to hold back my laughter as he wiped his face.

"I am going to kill you," he told me plainly.

For a moment we were both perfectly still, waiting for the other to move first, until I dove under the table, rolled and was running out of the door before Murphy could react. I could hear him following me. I turned a corner and darted through the next open door before Murphy could catch up. I slowed my pace and cut straight across the viewing deck I'd found myself on, and listened for Murphy. When I ventured into the corridor leading to the sleeping quarters and couldn't hear any other footsteps, I slowed to a walk, thinking I'd lost him. I was mentally debating whether to go back to my room or stop at the game room when a force knocked into me and I found myself pinned to the wall, a damp Murphy at my back.

"Where the hell did you come from?" I grunted.

"Losing me in the same corridor of the as the command centre wasn't your smartest move Clarke," he taunted. "Once I found you on the cameras it didn't take much to figure out you'd end up here."

"Well aren't you quite the criminal mastermind," I grumbled. "You gonna let me go or what?"

"Sure, just as soon as you admit that I beat you and apologise for soaking me." The smug tone in Murphy's voice jump started my pride enough for me to wriggle out of his grip and dart into the game room and put the sofa between us before Murphy recovered.

"Beat me?" I smirked. "You'll never beat me Murphy," I insisted, though I knew there was nowhere left to go, "but I'd be willing to call it a tie and share that bottle of moonshine if you stand down," I offered, gesturing to the bottle on the coffee table between us.

"You know me better than that Clarke, I don't stand down."

"So what?" I challenged. "We're just going to chase each other around the Ark all night? Because I'm not backing down either."

Murphy considered this. "How about instead of chasing each other aimlessly, we say the first to take a drink from that bottle wins both the bottle and the bragging rights?"

I nodded, "Deal."

This time Murphy moved first and dove over his sofa. A well aimed pillow to the face was all that stopped him from reaching the bottle, and gave me time to hurdle my own sofa, but I couldn't reach for the bottle before I was tackled once again. We wrestled each other in the narrow gap between the furniture, both taking turns pinning the other momentarily but unable to maintain the advantage for long. Eventually I pinned him long enough to make a grab for the bottle, but I only managed to knock it off the opposite side of the table. This gave Murphy, with his long arms, the advantage, something he clearly recognised because he instantly found the strength to flip us over, pin my legs with his and both of my wrists in one hand while he reached underneath the table and claimed the bottle. I bucked and wriggled beneath him, trying desperately to free myself before Murphy figured out how to unscrew the cap while the rest of his limbs were occupied with keeping my immobile.

"John?" a confused voice distracted us from our battle. We both looked to see Emori in the doorway, looking between the two of us on the floor.

Murphy loosened his grip as we realised the compromising position we'd found ourselves in. "Emori. This looks bad. I-"

Deciding that playing dirty wasn't dishonourable when playing against Murphy, I took advantage of his distraction, bucked him off of me, swiped the bottle from his grasp and was standing across the room, taking a sip before he even knew what happened.

"I know this probably looks suspicious Emori," I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand, "but even if Murphy wasn't in love with you, you're the only person on this damned Ark who would ever go there," I assured her, nodding my head in Murphy's direction before turning to him. "I do believe this means I win Murphy, so I'll be off to bed now. Night." With that I left the game room.

"You're a dirty cheat Clarke!" Murphy shouted after me, finally finding his voice.

"Pretty sure your priority right now should be convincing Emori that you're not," I called back.

When I reached my compartment, I couldn't help but laugh. I collapsed back onto my bed and felt the adrenalin from our sparing begin to fade, and finally manged to fall asleep, making a mental note to thank Murphy in the morning. If Emori didn't kill him of course.

I woke a few hours later, feeling more rested than I had in months, so I took my time showering and dressing for the day. I was about to leave for the command centre when I saw the bottle of moonshine still sat on my dresser. A small smile tugged at my lips and I grabbed the bottle deciding to make a detour. On my way to Murphy and Emori's compartment a noise caught my attention as I passed the game room. I knew the others weren't usually up this early so I let my curiosity lead and poked my head around the door. At the sight of Murphy curled up on the couch, a small twinge of guilt twisted in my stomach as he mumbled uncomfortably in his sleep. A quick glance around the room revealed Bellamy's tablet discarded on an end table, knowing he wouldn't mind me borrowing it, I quickly typed in his password and opened the notepad app.

Sorry I got you banished to the couch.

Thanks for last night.

C.

I sat the bottle on the table, leaned the tablet against it for Murphy to find and left quietly to start my day.