The Law of Attraction [Chris Beck]

Chapter 10

And for the night, they were in love.

But in the morning she was gone.

Chris woke to an empty bed, the sheet hardly covering his body as he reached over to feel the emptiness, just hoping his mind was playing tricks on him. Dropping his head back against the pillow in utter disappointment, he let out a sigh. There was something bitter about spending a night full of laughter and sheer enjoyment with a woman who was almost as if she were fabricated right out of a dream. And just like a dream, she was gone in the morning and would only be a memory. The fact she was gone told him that he shouldn't talk to her in class when Monday morning rolled around, and the fact she left no note told him not to bother calling her. The girl of his dreams walked out of his life as quickly as she had walked in, kicking up a storm inside of him that would never truly settle.

Now

There was a familiar hum in the Hermes that Alice had grown accustomed to; she hardly even heard the noises anymore. It was only when she was aboard the ship for one hundred and fifteen days that she realized going back to a home where nothing made noises like this would be hard to adjust to. Having worked with the Ares 2 crew, she was beginning only now to truly grasp what they were going through. In her video chats with her brother, Shauna was already showing; they seemed so happy, and Alice knew that both her and her brother were finally at a point in their lives where they had achieved everything they had wanted. She was happy, she was fulfilling dreams that she didn't even know she had.

But nothing stays perfect for long.

She'd apologized to Beck for what she had said to him; and he had apologized in return for bringing her relationship up when he had said he wouldn't stir anything up. He had admitted to crossing a line and putting the mission at risk. Though they avoided each other as best as they could, when they were working together or ran into one another, there was very little tension. Alice had to admit to herself that she did have feelings that were growing within her; addressing it was the first way to shut it down and put a stop on the feelings. She knew that she was only harbouring feelings for him because she was so close to him at all times, and she had history with him. Once she got back home, things would go back to normal. She was looking forward to spending a month alone on the Hermes to collect her bearings now more than ever.

Alice and Patrick were having the second video chat, after a stream of unsteady and dissatisfied emails, they were willing to give it another go. She was all smiles, and oddly enough, he was too. His messy hair suggested that he was not working; which made sense given that it was technically the weekend for Earth. The Rec room was cleared and Alice had time to talk and she went in with the intent to get everything sorted out with him. She had even gone over it time after time in the last few days, how she would try her best to keep her work voice and mindset out of the situation and just handle it like a regular couple would.

"Guess what," she started, a grin on her lips.

He was smiling back at her and suddenly she knew that things were going to be okay. His lips pulled into a crooked smile, one of his signature things that made her fall in love with him. "What?"

"You're going to be an uncle." She beamed; she hadn't told him over the emails because it was recent, and wanted to use it as a conversation catalyst so that their conversation would not end like the last one.

"Really? Nick and Shauna finally got there, that's wonderful."

"Yeah, it really is." She smiled.

"Are they getting hitched?"

"Nah, doesn't seem like their style."

"It's not yours either, huh?"

She blinked a few times, staring blankly at the pixelated face of her long-term boyfriend. "What are you saying?"

"It's just a thought." He smiled. "Nothing to lose sleep over."

"Pat..." She was still smiling, feeling something twist within her. But it wasn't something she was enjoying; she was nervous. "Are you suggesting marriage while I'm in space, four months into a thirteen month trip in?"

He shrugged. "Just planting the idea."

Alice smiled, ran her hands through her hair as she shook her head. A single laugh came from her lips. "You're crazy."

Patrick suddenly turned around, shifting slightly in front of the camera. It lagged, being so far away it was not the best transmission. As Alice waited for it to catch up with real time again, she noticed something that made her stomach drop, her heart cease to beat in her chest, and all the colour drain from her lips. When he turned back, he didn't notice the change of expression on her face, because just as she should have known, he was blind to the things that she really wanted. She pressed her lips together, hoping to keep herself composed as she tried to think of something rational to explain what she had seen. Her hands were clenched together tightly.

"Someone's at the door," he said. "I'll email you, think about what I said, alright? I love you."

"I- I love you... too.," she said as best as she could, and the video chat session came to an end.