Unrequited (Trip x OC)

Eighteen

"I think I'm drained enough now to go to bed and get some sleep," I nodded to him.

"Wait, you never finished telling me—"

"I'm very tired, Trip," I stated firmly.

He stood. "Let me walk you to your room.

I stood. "There's no need, Commander Tucker, I—"

"Trip."

I sighed. "There's no need, Trip. It isn't as if I'm to be attacked should I walk to my room unaccompanied. The only people on this ship are trusted crew members."

"Well, I'm very traditional," he moved towards the doorway.

I followed painstakingly.

There wasn't much to talk about on our way back to my door. The silence was tense, like we were both holding back so much that we may explode.

We reached my room and he turned to me.

"Emily."

I already had a hand on the button that would open my door. I bit my lip, turning to look at him slowly.

He hesitated before reaching out and taking one of my hands in two of his, forcing me to face him.

"Promise me... Promise me I didn't do anything to ya. I'd..." He took a deep breath. "I couldn't live with myself if I ever hurt you," he looked at me and I melted into his big blue eyes.

I smiled reassuringly and reached up to place my free hand on his cheek.

"I promise, Trip." My voice was soft, but steady. I reinforced my words with another smile.

He was looking at me strangely now.

I cocked my head. "Trip? Are you alright?"

His eyes drifted down to my lips and then back up to my eyes for a split second, and immediately that small gesture sent my heart into a tirade. I mentally scolded myself. It was just my imagination; the corridor was dark.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he forced a smile, looking unsure as he turned. "Goodnight, Emily. Sweet dreams."

"Yeah, likewise," I said in a daze.

I just stood there watching him turn and go, then stood there a while longer after he had disappeared around the corner.

I thought I may have imagined it. It was dark, we were both sleep-deprived, and he was still recovering and probably coming off of anesthetics.

I finally ducked inside my room after a few minutes of staring down the hall into the darkness got to be too much for me.

I still couldn't sleep.

When I got up in the morning, the crew was up and about, and I had bags under my eyes.

I skipped breakfast, and mostly lounged about my room; playing Tetris, reading novels I'd read a million times over even though I had new ones on the shelf. But none of them seemed to really keep my attention. I ended up reading the same page over and over until I finally gave up.

With a sigh, I closed the book and stood to stretch. It was hardly noon and I was already running out of ideas.

Whenever that happened, I did the undesirable.

I went outside... to talk to people.

Now, I wasn't the best at this, but at least it got me out of comfortable territory. On a good day, the worst thing that came of it was a minor panic attack and a bout of self deprecation.