I wake up an hour earlier than when we would arrive and head to the back of the lifepod next to the engine and watch the map as we close in on the base. I hear some of the people start to wake up and head into the shared room. I stop the engine now only being a few 100 meters away letting us drift and I head to my room and grab my wetsuit putting it on quickly. One of the men grabs the anchor and another one changes into his wetsuit grabbing a long tube that is going to connect our lifepod with the base making it easy to move the supplies over.
Tying a rope around myself I open the hatch attacking the tube and hop into the water below able to see the base below i signal for them to drop the anchor and grab the tube as the other man gets in the water now helping me connect the tube to a side hatch on the base after finishing the connection to the base the people in the lifepod start going to the base.
We get back into the lifepod, I see Gwen very hungover leaning on a wall drinking the water I left for her. I walk up to her putting my hand around her waist letting her use me for support by putting her arm on my shoulder and walking through the tube to the base. When we get inside we are greeted by most of the base members outside of the hatch. Gwen stumbles and grabs onto me begging for me to kill her to end her headache making me laugh.
I look up at the base members and see Charlotte standing behind her dad. I make eye contact with her and she looks like tears are about to fall from her eyes. She turns quickly and takes off down the hall with that guy I saw her with before following her down the hallway. I start to follow after her but Gwen grabs my arm looking like she is about to hurl. I quickly led her to the new bedroom wing they put in following arrows they set up and let her take over the first room. I open the door to the room and Gwen leaves my arm running to the bathroom. I hear her throwing up, I grab a bottle of water that was on the shelf and walk into the bathroom rubbing her back and holding her hair handing her the water.
Gwen flushes the toilet and I walk out letting her wash her face off then coming and sitting on her bed. I hand her the tablet from the wall and head out of her room.
I head back to the lifepod and grab my tablet and head back to my room. I plug my tablet in and head toward the shower i take off my wetsuit and took a long shower which was really needed. I wrap my towel around my waist walking out into my room. My tablet is glowing with a red notification on it. I check the message it read
*Welcome party for the newcomers at 8 tonight, dress code is formal*
I look at my wait reading the time it being 6 pm already. I brush out my hair making sure to part it well. I went into my closet and found some black dress pants and a black button up along with a black tie a black blazer and some black shoes. I put on some boxers and grabbed the iron out of my closet, ironing out my dress clothes before putting them on.
After 40 mins I had my clothes ironed and on, I found some black socks and put them on while slipping my dress shoes on. I stand in front of the mirror and tied my tie, straightening out my tie and pushing my hair in place. I touch my lip that is slightly bruised from Gwen's actions last night. I grab my watch and slip it on leaving my tablet plugged in.
The clock reads 7:20, I brush my teeth and out on deodorant and some cologne. Then sit on my bed just relaxing until 7:45. I leave my room after checking my tie and hair one last time and buttoning the top button on my suit jacket and head out to the new marked area on the map that updated to my watch. I see Caleb in the hallway wearing black pants with a white shirt and a black tie and blazer. He sees me and fixes his watch as i walk over to meet up with him.
"Look at you, you actually brushed your hair. Who is my big brother trying to impress?" i ask elbowing him in the side. He pushes me forward telling me to shut up. I laugh then walk beside him to the meeting area.
We now have a total of 63 people on base and it seems like everyone of them showed up to the party tonight. All the men in suits and the ladies in different styles of dresses but all long dress and they wore heels. Some women hold onto the guys arms walking to the new area together some alone just fixing their clothes as they walked. We finally make it to the new room which seems to be a large open gym. It had basketball hoops that were pulled up to the ceiling and there were tables with food and drinks on it and a bar table where people were already getting mixed drinks at.
Walking in I look around seeing all the people in nice outfits all dressed up and there she is in a long dark red dress that had a low v neck and tight around her chest and stomach and a long slit on the left side going all the way up to her high thigh when she walked her hair pulled up into a loose bun that had large braids going into it and some of the hairs hanging down curled and sitting on her shoulder length and a little lower.
Charlotte Wylde standing off to the side of the floor just watching people come in. Getting nudged from behind I turn and see Gwen in a deep blue dress that is tight and showing off her fit body and her hair just down but curled. She grabs my arm, turning me back to the dance floor where I make eye contact with Charlotte. Breaking eye contact she walks to the dance floor talking with an older couple as an annoyingly familiar face runs up behind her chatting.
"That boy again" I say under my breath, gaining a side glance from Gwen before being pulled to the food table. I take the plate from Gwen leading her to a table for her to enjoy the food. After eating she grabs my hand and pulls me to the dance floor where the group is doing a group dance where they dance and then swing their partner to another and end up with someone else before doing it again. By the end you should be back with your partner.
I see Charlotte on the far side being spun around by that boy. She is laughing and puts her arm on his shoulder and the other in his hand finishing their part of the dance. I pull Gwen into the dance jumping in on the side spinning her around then lifting her up and spinning her off to the next guy. I took in the spin of the next girl that is in her early 30's who was enjoying herself and spun around under my arm before it was time for me to spin her out. The next was a teen girl who was shorter than me by a good bit. I grabbed her hands pushing her out then pulling her back in and spinning her out when it was time
. The song is almost over. Gwen gets spinned back into my arms, taking her back into my arms the song ends. The dancers start to clear off the floor, I lead Gwen back to the table that Caleb is now sitting at talking with an older man that also works on the base system. Gwen joins in the conversation easily sitting down at the table.
The music now turned to a slow song with pairs walking on the dance floor. Charlotte being pulled onto the dance floor by the shorter man once again. Snatching a grape from Gwen's plate on the table I head to the dance floor making my way through the group and coming up behind Charlotte.
"May I step in?" extending my hand in front of her causing her to turn and meet my eyes. Putting my hand under hers to glide her into my grip, our matching rings touching. "We were dancing," the shorter man exclaimed, slightly pulling her other hand in the opposite direction. I glare down at him taking a step closer to him so he can feel the height difference. He flinches, stumbling back a half step." I'll catch up with you in a little bit" Charlotte slips her hand out of his. He turns and storms off the dance floor sitting down at a table with a group of younger men.
I hold her hand holding it to my chest letting my right arm go to her waist. She places her left arm on the back of my shoulder leaning in laying on my shoulder and jaw. I hold her close swaying with her not saying anything. The song ends after a few minutes, I see the shorter man standing up heading this way. I pull back, letting go of her waist, kneeling I kiss the back of her hand taking one last second of eye contact, then getting lost in the crowd.
I head back to the left side of the room and grab a drink from the bartender. I lean on the wall sipping on my drink watching people approach Charlotte and her dancing with other men. She seems to look around all night distracted and searching. Caleb gets dragged to the dance floor with Gwen who is grabbing his arms making him dance and making fun of him for being so stiff. Gwen grabs drink after drink making Caleb drink with her and soon both of them are wasted. I get the man that was talking with them earlier to carry Caleb back to his room.
After sending them off I pick up the mostly passed out Gwen carrying her in my arms and take her out of the gym. I head to the room I led her earlier the day before. I try to open the door to see that it is locked and must be occupied. I start off to my room, Gwen now waking up a little bit hugging around my neck and messing with my hair and face as i walked. I started to laugh at the ridiculous behavior of the drunk girl.
She rubs over my lips with her pointer finger. "Did I do this?" pressing on the part of my lip that was slightly bruised. Being saved from answering I open my door, setting down Gwen letting her use my arm as a support. Helping her to the bed I sit her down and grab a black button up from my closet.
"Here you can sleep in this tonight, the bathroom is right over -" Gwen unzips her dress, dropping it off right in the middle of the room. I turn my head away from her, a blush creeping up my face. She takes the shirt from my hands and buttons it up somewhat with the buttons not even in some places leaving the top 3 open exposing a lot of her chest.
I pull the blanket back letting her slip under it and pull it back over her tucking her in. She grabs my face pulling me down and kissing my lips really aggressively then letting go smiling falling to sleep.
Sighing I run a hand through my hair. I grab one of the pillows on the other side of the bed that Gwen wasn't using, putting it under my arm and heading out to my ship bay. I loosen my tie as I walk to my ship bay, when i get there i take my jacket and shoes off putting them on the table and rolling up my sleeves I sit on the ground in a corner putting the pillow between my head and the wall and drifting of to sleep.
I dream of being back on the Aurora and I was asleep in my favorite spot where the sun hit my face but the artificial wind would blow perfectly and the grass so soft with a brick half wall for you to lay against and it being away from where most people are making for the best spot to take a nap.
"James…" My eyes don't open but i recognize her voice anywhere. Charlotte squats down in front of me rubbing her finger along my lips then grabbing my jaw and plants a kiss on my lips holding it for a second then letting go. I can hear her steps fade away as she walks away from where i was napping