beth likes to read

Rocky clicked another finished link into place. I heard his rhythm waver for a moment, the slight click of his carpase. 

"Question." He hummed in a curious tone.

“Answer.” I say back looking up at him with a slight smile. A small set of notes play, Rocky's version of chuckle.

"You tend plants every Earth day." he states, and I hear his rhythm settle back into his pace.

"I do." I conform, as I also keep making the chain with him.

"They require much attention." He notes.

"They're a little dramatic." I say playfully. I hear Rocky shuffle slightly, making more room for the chain.

"Mateo plant." He chimes curiously and I laughed, because it was a little silly hearing it out loud. Of course he probably hears me talking to them, he’s got insane hearing.

"Yep." I confirm.

"Anika also plant." he also asks. "You assign names."

"Yep." I confirm for him again. "I do.”

"But Mateo not plant." He concludes. I paused for a second, my hands faltering. But I answered honestly.

"No." I say back, there is a moment of silence between us, not heavy with sadness but something else.

"Then why Mateo?" He asks, his tone is a few octaves lower and I swear it's slightly wobbly. I looked over at the little grow light tucked into the corner of  Mary's crew compartment. The leaves had perked back up after a few days under proper light.

"Because-" I said quietly, "He would've forgotten to water it." Rocky clicked thoughtfully.

"So you water it." He concludes. "Because of memory." I nodded, my throat tight around the answer.

"Yeah." I made my hands move, to continue the task, another chain link clicked into place.

"For your crewmates," he added softly. “To remember, to honor-” I searched for the right words, the best way I could explain my grief.

"Sometimes taking care of something helps you remember someone, honor someone."

Rocky was quiet, he had stopped making chains about the same time I had. The conversation had an unexpected gravity to it that not even the weightlessness of space could take from it.

"Eridians build monuments." He offered softly, I looked up for the first time since I met Rocky. He wasn't moving or constantly working with his claws. He had actively chosen to pause, to feel the weight of the moment. His one claw against the unfinished chain between us. I stopped moving as well. "Humans grow them, question?"

I smiled sadly, and shook my head slightly at that.

"I do,” a soft chuckle bubbled out of me,  “Others honor them like you do, it depends on the human I guess buddy." I concluded with him, we both started to make chains again. We worked for another minute without talking. The rhythm of the task taking the lead again.

Link. Click.

Link. Click.

"Question." Rocky spoke again.

"Hm?" I hummed softly.

"Why did Fix-it Human connect ships?" He asked. I shrugged without looking up, my hands still connecting the links together.

"Because they couldn't make it by themselves." I offer to him, I don't explain that I don't want to undock the ships, or that it's easier to have the extra space for this chain or even the extra fuel that it could give us in an emergency. He knows all that.

Rocky didn't answer immediately. He simply continued assembling another section of chain.

Link. Click.

Link. Click.

"Can Fix-it Human?" He asked.

My hands stopped. 

The chain hung suspended between my fingers.

"...What?" It feels like the air has been stolen from my lungs.

"Can Fix-it Human make it by herself?" He asked again.

I opened my mouth. Nothing  came out. I closed it.

"I..." I tried to speak, I really tried. The words refused to come.

Across the compartment I hear Dr. Grace shifting around in the lab, he mumbles something. I wasn't sure he'd heard. I hoped he didn’t. Rocky waited, not impatient. Just- waiting.

I looked down at the little plant labeled Mateo.

At the chain between my hands.

At the cable that still connected Persephone to Mary.

Everything I'd built recently had one thing in common, the very same thing I had in common with it. None of it survived alone.

"I'm trying to." I admitted quietly, I felt horribly exposed like I hadn't been in a while. I wonder if this is what Rocky had felt when he had eaten in front of me and Dr. Grace. Rocky hummed, his tone warmer.

"Trying is acceptable." He held out another unfinished section of the chain. "Trying means you still want to grow."

"Yeah- I want to keep trying, keep growing." A small smile found its way onto my face. I looked at my plants and took a deep breath. Rocky clicked happily.

"Rocky now asks about humans and biology." He stated, ready to change the subject, eager to learn more. The smile had decided to stay on my face as we still worked on the chain.

"Yeah?" I asked with a slight laugh, ready to answer whatever he decided to throw at me.

"Rocky receive a plant, question?" He chirps.

"...You want a plant?" I say, a full smile now on my face as I paused to look at him.

"Yes." He nodded his caprese slightly as he continued to work for a moment. I watched him for a moment, my own curiosity getting the better of me.

"Why?" I ask.

Rocky thinks for a second, and then simply says.

"Rocky wishes to grow memories too."

~

I looked around the busy plaza with Dr. Grace. Throughout the evening, per his guess, he had been correct. Mateo and Anika had been watching us. I caught sight of them as they scurried away for the final time when Dr. Grace and I reappeared outside of the movie theater. 

“Your friends are persistent,” he tells me as he also sees them disappear, “ You are well cared for.”

“They're more like mother hens that don't know when to let go.” I grumble, letting out a sigh. He chuckled softly at that, his eyes lighting up in a way I had yet to see that didn’t involve anything science-related. I liked it.

“I had a really good time.” I say a little shyly, suddenly interested in my hands. “Thanks for playing along with all this craziness…” I say earnestly and sincerely, I look up at him. I’m grateful for the low lighting. I hope it's hiding the flush creeping up on me.

“I had a good time too-” He answers me with a soft sincerity in his voice as well. I can tell from the way he fixes his glasses and struggles to hold my eye contact that this is new territory for him as well. I change the subject for us, something safe, something less emotional. Plans for the next outing. 

“I’d like to try the Korean BBQ place that we passed on the way to the Italian restaurant. Would you like to go with me?” I offer a quick departure from the previous tone. I watch his face register my request. His eyes shine again, and he smiles, warm, bright, and in disbelief. 

Oh my- that's a sight.

“That sounds like fun, yeah. I’d like that.” He says with a soft huff, I can see gears turning over time in his head. Him trying not to mess this up. I also didn’t want to mess this up. I feel my breath catch before I speak, but I make myself say it anyway.

“We don't have to be anything more-” I started to say.

“No pressure for labels-" he says at the same time. We both look at each other and start laughing, a fit of laughter and nervousness taking us both.

“I’m glad we’re on the same page." he says, smiling and looking at me, running a hand through his hair.  A weight off his shoulders.

“Me too.” I agree, wiping the stray tears from my eyes caused by the laughing fit. A weight off of my chest.

From that point on, the little diners had become routine. Neither of us had ever officially asked the other to keep having dinner together. We simply kept showing up. Every Saturday after work one of us would text the other.

‘Hungry?’ and the answer was always yes. It was comfortable. Easy. Whatever this was, neither of us seemed interested in putting a name to it.

"You've been reading a lot lately." He says out of the blue. I looked up from my grilled cheese, surprised he'd noticed.

"Hm?" I hummed, feigning indifference. Dr. Grace nodded toward the paperback sticking out of my backpack beside the booth.

"That's the third book this month." He says plainly, I blinked and fought a grin forming.

"You've been counting?" I asked a little teasingly. He immediately looked like he regretted saying it.

"I wasn't— counting exactly." He adjusted his glasses. "I just- noticed." The smile I was fighting wins out, and I roll my eyes playfully.

"Teacher.” I huff with mock agitation. 

"What?" he asked, slightly confused. Only a brief moment passes with it though. He now realizes I'm messing with him. Teasing him.

"You notice things." I note, smiling still. He huffs a laugh and a smile of his own joins mine. A silent victory in my head. He smiled.

"I used to notice when thirty-two middle schoolers suddenly stopped turning pages." He tells me the information. It shouldn’t be as attractive as it is, but some primal part of my brain likes that he’s good with kids. Really likes that.

"Fair." I concluded, pushing down the thoughts. I needed something to do with my hands, so I pulled the book out and set it on the table.

"I'm trying something new." I admit my fingers are fidgeting with the edges of the book.

"How's it going?" He asks. I look up and I see him listening, waiting.

"I think I like classics." I say as I shrugged noncommittally.

"Oh?" He hums slightly, taking the copy of ‘1984’ from me and checking my bookmarked spot with a smile.

"They're weird." I say conspiratorially, "but like in a good way-?”

Dr. Grace laughed and handed me back the book. Our fingers brushed; warmth bloomed in my chest from the feeling.

"That's-” He seems to need a moment like I do. "Actually a pretty accurate summary." he finishes. 

"I just finished Alice in Wonderland." I confess sheepishly; his eyebrows lifted.

"Did you?" He asks, surprise coloring his voice playfully. He was teasing me back.

"Mhm." I hummed softly with a nod.

"I've taught bits of that." He says after a brief moment.

"Really?” I asked, surprised and slightly amused. “I thought you only did sciencey teachings.” I mused lightheartedly. 

He tilted his head and shrugged playfully. 

“I watched Ms. Reed's class while she ran to fill up her coffee; my classroom was empty.” He tells me, then he studies me for a moment. "What made you pick that one?"

I hesitated for a second before answering honestly.

"I don't know." I say, then I look over the table at him. I smiled a little, a playful thought forming.

"I guess I wanted to understand the White Rabbit." I say, laughing a bit. Dr. Grace looked down at his drink, trying very hard not to smile. He was smiling.

"Rabbit." He mutters softly into his drink before taking a sip.

"What?" I asked with a slight disbelieving laugh.

"Nothing." he mumbles and fights a bigger smile.

"You definitely smiled." I say pointing a french fry at him in an accusatory way, in mock agitation.  

"I absolutely did not." he says now trying now to laugh.

"You did." I corrected him, my eyebrows raising slightly, taking a bite of my fry.

"Maybe a little." he admits in a soft chuckle, it makes me chuckle too. A silence settled comfortably between us. After a moment he cleared his throat.

"Sooo..." he draws in a way that I've come to know as him wanting to say something more than where the conversion had left off at.

"Hm?" I hummed as I worked on the fries left on my plate.

"Well- I have a lot of books." he states plainly, almost embarrassed.  

I looked up, stopping the conquering of the potatoes on my plate.

"Like-?" I probe trying to get him to give me more information. He made a vague motion with his hands.

"Too many." he says, fixing his glasses. I laughed, shaking my head slightly.

"Is that a scientist problem or a teacher problem?" I ask playfully.

"Both," he says, with a mild amount of shame."If you want..." He rubbed the back of his neck. "...you could borrow them." 

"You trust me with your books?" I asked curiously.

He looked almost offended.

"I trust you with a spaceship." He says with a frown.

"Fair point." I conceded, we watched each other for a moment. He wasn’t done, I could tell.

"There's a bookstore downtown." he says as he slides his drink to the side, only ice remaining. I looked at him curiously.

"There is." I say back, I remember walking by it a few times now during our food scouring adventures. He nodded once.

"They've got a used classics section." he says as tidied up his plate and mine so it was easier for the waiter or waitress to grab. "I've been meaning to go." Another beat. He adjusted his glasses again, "You know," A slight blush on his cheeks, "If..." He looked everywhere except directly at me. "...if you wanted to come."

I couldn't help smiling, he was blushing again. 

"As friends?" I prompt to help ease his tension. He looked up immediately, and locked eyes with me. It helped him, I could tell. I don't want to mess this up or make him uncomfortable. I like being around him, I like his company.

"Obviously." he says with a slight cough at the end, clearing his throat slightly.

"Obviously." I respond back, with a calm confidence. “Saturday-?” I ask casually, even though my heart feels like I'm running with Mateo during P.T. He nodded, his confidence returning now along with a genuine smile. His voice is warm and makes me think of sunshine on my skin.

"Saturday."