Hats Off
Posted on Thu Nov 14th, 2019 @ 7:13am by Petty Officer 2nd Class Sofia Cipriani
Edited on on Thu Nov 14th, 2019 @ 7:21am
2,147 words; about a 11 minute read
Mission:
Episode 8 - The Silence
Location: Quarters of Sofia Cipriani - Deck 6 - USS Pioneer
Timeline: MD003 2300 hrs
Ingrid walked down the corridor in white shorts and a black t-shirt. She looked completely ready for bed and even had a pink scarf wrapping her hair. On top of her hair, however, she wore a black pirate hat, and on her face she wore a determined yet tipsy expression. She stopped outside a door and rang the chime, then waited with her hands on her hips.
Sofia had taken a personal day. It was to be expected in such circumstances and no-one could fault her for it. She had been moping around her shared quarters in one of Khalon's baggy shirts, one from last night when she showed up at his door all damsel in distress-like. It was a normal shirt but she was on the small side. It smelled like him and that made her feel a little happier even if he did have to be on shift at the moment.
As she placed a plate into the replicator for recycling her door went. Checking the time she knew it wouldn't be Khalon, he was giving her a little space, so who was it? Opening the door she was taken aback by the sight of Khalon's boss. "Lieutenant Hollister?" she half asked looking a little confused by her appearance. "Is everything alright?"
"Oh yeah, everything's fine." She said in an overly friendly tone. Her appearance was quite unusual since she typically was never seen without grooming. "I just came to give this back."
She reached for her noggin and removed the big black pirate hat that was there. With a smile, she extended it to Sofia.
Sofia smiled weakly as she accepted the random hat. "I think you have made a mistake ma'am. This isn't mine? I didn't go to the party... you must have me confused with someone else." she replied attempting to hand it back.
"Nope, no mistake." Ingrid said, pushing the hat back toward Sofia. "It's your boyfriend's. He must have dropped it in my quarters tonight."
With a small thud into Sofia's chest the hat came back towards her. "Your quarters?" she asked with a skip of her heart. It beat a little faster now as she began to wonder why he was in Hollister's quarters and leaving parts of his clothing.
Ingrid noticed the woman's forlorn expression through her tipsy haze. "Yeah, we skipped the party early for drinks in my quarters and he lost some clothes along the way."
Ingrid gave a wink which was totally inappropriate for the mood. "At least he remembered his shirt and pants, right?"
Sofia laughed nervously. "Yeah, thank God for that." she replied. "I'll make sure he gets it back..." she replied before quietly muttering, "although I don't know why you brought it to me and not him."
"I knew you would, sweetie." Ingrid said, falsely. "Have a great night!" And with that, she was off down the hallway again.
It was confusing news, and not a particularly nice parting gift but Sofia's emotions were bubbling. As she turned around, her back to the doors and them closing behind, her heart was racing and her mind afire with questions. She began to hyper ventilate. What had Khalon been up to? Surely he wouldn't?
Calming herself a little she exited and headed to his room, hat in tow.
As she rung the chime she waited, her heart in her throat and hat in her hand.
Khalon had just jumped out of the shower and pulled on his sleeping clothes when the knock came. He suspected it was Sofia so he went quickly to the door to answer it. When the door opened, her presence was confirmed, so he started to smile, but the look on her face put a quick end to that.
"Sof...what's wrong?" He asked, for the second time that week. It seems she was making a small habit of coming to his quarters upset, but this was different somehow.
"Lieutenant Hollister came by my quarters earlier... gave me this." Sofia said as she held up the hat. She was putting a brave face on, trying not to act jealous because well she wasnt sure what they were yet. Did she have a right to be upset? To be angry? "She said you lost some clothes whilst at hers after the party and well..." she offered him the hat.
His eyes wondered down to the hat and he found himself immediately speechless. His eyebrows raised, showing stress on his forehead, but his full lips made no move for speaking. He simply looked from the hat to her a d stared for a little while.
"So, do you want to come in and talk about it?" He asked, strangely as he stood in the doorway. He couldn't blame her for being suspicious, even if she genuinely thought he'd gone over to Ingrid's to clean out the pipes. It was, after all, something he would do if he wasn't so inexplicably enamored with this girl.
Sofia stared past him, his quarters empty of the chip eating scruffian he called a roommate. She opened her mouth but no sound came out. Had Lt. Hollister been here too? Had she "lost some clothes" here?
"Talk?" She finally said choking a little. Seemingly she had forgotten that she'd probably need to speak to him. "Your boss implied you did more than that with her? Why don't you go 'talk' to her?" She asked almost uncharacteristically defiant of her as she turned to walk away. She took a step and felt a hand on her arm, almost pleading for her not to walk away.
"I don't want to talk to her." He said, his grip firm, but not hard. "I want to talk to you. And I want to do it in private; not where the whole ship will see."
At the news that Ingrid was responsible for this, he exhaled deeply. She was crazier than he thought. Did she honestly think destroying his relationship with Sofia would give her a shot with him?
She wanted to rip her arm from his grasp, but couldn't find the fight in her to do so. Her strength had been lacking the past few days. She hadn't been eating properly, keeping to herself etc.
However, she felt herself turn as his hand didn't release. "Ok." She said simply as a tear rolled down her face. Whether it was sadness about the situation or anger at it, or letting herself get so upset she didn't quite know. She walked into his quarters, not wanting to give the spectators a show.
Khalon was glad she made the decision to come in. He walked the hat into his bedroom, put it away, and then lowered himself down on the living room couch. He patted the seat next to him as he looked at the girl who stood with arms folded across the room.
"If you come tell me what happened, we can straighten things out." He said calmly, his gaze compassionate and gentle.
She stood still for a moment. Patting the chair. What was she, a dog he was calling up for treats? "You'd like that wouldn't you?" She asked defiantly not even knowing why she said it or even what she meant by it. However, she wouldn't let him know that, it was a ladies prerogative.
He raised his eyebrows again; a sign of learned resignation. It wasn't as though he didn't care but that he was very good at deciding not to care with women, when the time called for it.
"Okay, be like that then." He said, his voice much less warm now. "Obviously you think you know what happened with me and Ingrid. If you think you're right, then why are you even in here talking to me right now?"
"I don't know!" She half yelled and truly she didn't know what to think. "Hollister shows up at MY quarters with your clothing, pretty much said you were lucky to keep your shirt and pants on, winks at me and then skips off down the hall. If she didn't scare me I'd have stopped her but... I dont know. " she said moving a bit closer to him.
"I understand, I think." He said with a small smile. "If some dude had brought your hat to my door, I would have been pissed!" Khalon said. "I probably would have broken his jaw."
He cleared his throat, gesturing for her to come closer again. "You remember our second date, the picnic on the Earp?"
'Well I wouldn't be in that situation in the first place.' she thought to herself as he spoke.
"Yes, I remember. Why?" She asked wondering where he was going with this.
"When you came aboard the shuttle, I was degausing the replicator under Ingrid's careful supervision. It wasn't necessary and definitely not something that needed to be done off duty, but she made me do it because...I'm pretty sure that's how she flirts." He spoke honestly, thinking about the situation.
"I went to her quarters for a drink, that's it. My hat was the only thing that came off. If she told you otherwise, it's because she's a psycho."
"She flirts by making you miserable?" Sofia asked rhetorically as she wiped her face. "I'm sorry, I have no real right to be angry. It's not like you are my boyfriend and I have a say on how you should act. If this is going to cause problems then..."
"It's a power thing." He said, rolling his eyes. "She figures she can pull any guy she wants but I wasn't interested. People like her just try harder in that case."
He spoke confidently, knowing he was right because he was like that as well, generally.
"I'm not interested because I'm into you right now." He said, saying much with few words. He'd carefully selected vague words to describe his feelings. "If she has a problem with that, it's her problem, not ours."
Sofia threw her hands to her face, covering it in what was an act of shame. "I've been so stupid." She said. After all she was still extremely young and in typical teenage fashion had acted without thinking. "I'm sorry, Khalon. Im 'into' you too." She peered out from behind her fingers.
Khalon waved gently again, biding her come closer. He saw her sadness and felt badly that he had, inadvertently, added to the strain of the last few days.
"I got something for you." He said with a subtle, yet handsome grin.
She relaxed a little and moved forward towards him. "Its not a hat, is it?" She joked softly.
"Damn, that would have been hilarious." He said, chuckling. Then, he reached under the coffee table a d pulled out a long silver box with golden etchings in the shape of swirls. The box itself was quite attractive and seemed to be made of a leather-like material. He handed it over to her with a smile.
Opening the box her eyes widened at what was inside. "It's beautiful!" She exclaimed staring at it.
"I thought it might be good for us to take our relationship to the next level." He said, looking at her. "I know it's sudden and there's so much going on in your life, but what do you say?"
He asked, looking down at the silver necklace with a heart shaped diamond pendant. "Will you be my girlfriend, Sofia?"
"This isn't a reaction to her is it?" Sofia asked. She really wanted to say yes, it felt right, but the timing straight after their first real fight, if you could call it that, gave her pause. "I mean I love it, but I want to know you're asking because you want to, and not because you feel you need too. I know I've been a mess recently, that I've not been here as much but..." she trailed off as Khalon cut her off. She was definitely overthinking this.
He certainly wouldn't have done this out of a sense of obligation, that was a certainty. He shook his head in earnest, shaking off the idea of responding to some pressure.
" I replicated this before my duty shift today." He said. "I had been thinking about you and I finally knew for sure I wanted to ask."
He looked at her expectantly. "So, what do you say?"
"I say..." she said placing the pendant round her neck. "I have a boyfriend." she smiled and kissed him.
A Joint Post by
Ensign Khalon Price
Assistant Chief Flight Control Officer, USS Pioneer
Crewman Sofia Cipriani
Yeoman, USS Pioneer
Lieutenant Ingrid Hollister
Chief Flight Control Officer, USS Pioneer
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