C3-G12 (Book 1, Terraform)

XXVI

            I open my little locker in the locker room, rummage through my stuff to find my extra pair of scrubs, and hear the door to the room open and close. The locker next to mine opens and Rosemary looks through her space before turning to me. I glance at her before turning my attention back to finding my clothes, noticing a smug smirk on her face.

"What?"

"I heard that you made the walk of shame back to your cabin from Raiden's this morning." She shuts her locker, leaning against it with her arms crossed. "And Will made the same walk from yours and Astrid's cabin back to his. Must have been an interesting night for the four of you."

I roll my eyes, finally finding my scrubs. I pull them out and shut the locker. "It wasn't a walk of shame; it was just a walk." I pad into a stall to change and Rosemary raises her brows.

"So, you're saying that you didn't sleep with Raiden?"

"Oh, no, don't get me wrong. I slept with him; it just wasn't a walk of shame." I change quickly and walk out of the stall, ready to tie my hair out of the way. "It's not a big deal, it was just sex."

Rosemary's jaw drops as she looks at me through the mirror. "This coming from a—and I quote—'reserved prude of the galaxy'?"

I huff and turn around to face her. "Why does everyone keep saying that? Yes, the majority of the planet is very reserved, but that doesn't make us all prudes!"

"Never mind that," She shakes her head and leans against the lockers. "Let's focus on the part where you said that you slept with Raiden."

I rake a hand through my hair then shake my head. "You've got to be kidding me, I'm literally never going to leave this room until I divulge in stupid gossip, am I?"

The question was mostly rhetorical, but that seemed to pass over her head. "You're right, you won't."

"My Lord," I face the mirror again, pulling my hair from my face and up. "I think he's hot, he obviously thinks I'm hot enough, we slept together. What else is there to say about it?"

Rosemary seems to think about that for a minute, then I see her eyes light up and I take a hand from my hair, holding it up to stop whatever she's about to say. "No, I will not give you details."

She seems to deflate, shoulders slumping as I finish tying my hair up. "Now, we have work to get to. Of course, unless you want to change professions to something you can gossip more during. Don't forget that I'm still your boss."

I watch as the girl pales and bolts out of the room, presumably to go find the venipuncture kits to get ready for the demonstration. I sigh and stuff my day clothes into my locker, staring at the small mirror I put in the door. Something about last night did feel different. Back home, all the guys I had been with was after Shawn had left and I was trying to distract myself from the loneliness and sadness that had consumed me. After that, it just became sort of routine, meeting up with the older guys who didn't care who they slept with as long as they got laid.

As much as I hate to admit it, while putting my hair up it took everything just to ignore the phantom feeling of Raiden's hands in my hair. Last night hadn't been routine. While I needed it as a distraction, some part of me wanted last night to happen, not because I was used to it, but because it was actually appealing and enjoyable.

I shut my locker, dropping my head against the front of the door, the cold metal pressing into my skin. I groan at my own stupid situation. Of course, people would notice me leaving Raiden's cabin this morning. Ever since the eight of us were announced as the first elders of the colony, all eyes had watched our every move; I had just gotten used to it so I didn't notice as much as before. Word travels fast in the small colony and I'm willing to bet that the entire colony knows that we slept together by now.