Starting Line || Carter Grayson

(10) Storms

"Spiders are scary man. With their eight legs crawling all over the place..." Joel shuttered.

"Thank you," I laughed, "I'm going to have to train one of my future cats to kill them when I eventually leave the Aquabase."

"As much as I'd love to stay and chat, my bed is calling my name. Goodnight ladies." Joel tipped his hat to us.

"Night Joel. I'm going to head to bed myself." I decided, "Or at least try to go to bed anyway." Another rumble of thunder made me shutter as I tried to ignore it. They were involuntary movements - I couldn't help it. Nova was really the only person who had ever noticed them but she never outright pointed them out.

"I'll walk you to your room." Carter's statement was not an offer. It was assertive enough to tell me that he was going to walk me to my room with or without permission and that was okay with me. I kind of like the assertiveness.

"Thanks," I smiled, "What kept you two up so late?"

"Nova was trying to kill us in the training room. Joel and I lingered around for a little while after and then decided to get dinner before the galley stopped serving." he told me as we turned the corner out of the galley and started walking down towards my room.

"Nova will work you hard. She's very adamant about training. She gets that from her father." I said.

"Does she have any siblings?" Carter asked.

"No. Only child." I answered, "I tried to sell Ryan and Dana to her a couple of times."

"That annoying, huh?" he chuckled.

"Yeah," I laughed, "What wing of the Aquabase is your room in?"

I hoped he wasn't going out of his way to walk me to my own. Though, he obviously didn't seem to mind. We walked close. Close enough that our arms brushed against each other a few times.

"Actually, it's at the end of this hall. Just a few doors down from your room." he told me.

"You're across from Nova then." I looked down the hall.

Thunder sounded again and I flinched, mentally yelling at myself for being scared of a little thunderstorm.

"What kind of music do you like?" Carter asked me.

"I've never really been a big music listener. I guess I like anything that sounds good." I shrugged.

"You don't listen to music a lot?" he said, almost shocked, "That's it, I have a very large CD collection that you have to see. I'm sure you could find something that you like."

"Sure, maybe tomorrow." I said.

We stopped just outside of my room.

"Hopefully nothing crazy happens." he muttered.

"Yeah, I guess we never really know how our days will go." I sighed.

I jumped again with the sound of thunder.

"I'm sorry, I can't help but notice you're a little jumpy." Carter pointed out.

"Sorry, I just don't like storms. That's why I can't sleep." I told him.

"Why don't you like storms?" he asked.

I sighed, thinking about it. Did I really want to tell him?

"Our accident was caused by a bad storm. I guess I never liked them since." I shrugged.

"I can understand that." he frowned at me, "You don't have to accept, but would you like to come hang out in my room for a little bit? Maybe until the storm passes."