When she was done giving Nova the silent third degree, Jolie returned her gaze to Ana. Her undershirt was visible through the white fabric of her button-up, and Jolie could see the hint of well defined muscles in her shoulders and arms. She was a shoulder person, she’d realized recently. She had a Serena Stone action movie to thank for the epiphany. Serena’s shoulders were nice, well built and able to carry insane numbers of weapons, but Ana’s looked like they could lift all that and do other things she’d never imagined Serena’s doing. Like letting Jolie run her hands over them as she kissed Ana’s clavicle. Like holding her body tightly to Ana’s. Even though this kind of thinking seemed dangerous, she was thoroughly enjoying this iteration of her new roommate, commanding and self assured.
“Actually, I’ll make you another deal,” Ana said, pulling Jolie out of her thoughts. “If I can do this under forty-five minutes, you both have to come watch the Orionids with me.”
“The whats?” Nova and Jolie asked at the same time.
“A meteor shower in October. If the weather is good, obviously. It’s my favorite meteor shower of the year, and I usually have to watch it alone.”
Jolie snickered. “You have a favorite meteor shower of the year? Never mind. Fine,” she said. “I’ll owe you anyway if you’re going to be doing all my packing, so count me in either way.” Ana set a timer on her bracelet, then solemnly shook hands with Jolie and Nova.
This woman is crazy, Nova messaged.
I know! In a good way though, right?
So good. She has a crush on you.
Jolie quickly wrote, Hey!!! Don’t write things like that while she’s in the room!
You’re just worried I’m right.
Trust me, I am not in the mood for a relationship.
Who said relationship?
Jolie shut her messaging app and watched Ana carefully arrange her belongings into the boxes. The last to go in was the quilt.
“Sorry, ladies, show’s over. Off the bed.” Jolie and Nova scooted off and handed the last piece over.
“Thirty-seven minutes and twenty-four seconds,” Nova said as Ana stacked the last box and wiped her forehead with her sleeve.
“Wow,” Jolie said.
“Yeah, wow,” Nova echoed.
Noticing the way that Ana’s skin shimmered lightly with sweat, Jolie knew that Nova wasn’t only impressed by the packing. Watching Ana work, with no wasted movement, was mesmerizing. She couldn’t give Nova too much of an opening, so she quickly claimed her victory. “So, unfortunately for Nova, I will be taking you to dinner, and we will both be joining you on your excursion.”
“And everybody wins.” Ana smiled.
“Some of us more than others,” Jolie muttered to Nova, who shot her an annoyed look. “Let’s take these down to the taxi.” Jolie got up and picked up a box.
“Actually, I have my truck here. I think it will be easier to load up, and that way, you don’t have to pay for a taxi,” Ana said as she scooped two boxes into her arms and walked out. Nova and Jolie held back.
“Holy shit,” Nova whispered when they were alone. “You did not tell me she was so intense.”
“Trust me, I had no idea. On Sunday, she was dressed in regular clothes and she seemed pretty awkward.” Endearingly so, Jolie thought.
“Girl, you have got a problem. How in the hell are you going to be just roommates with her? I’d be screwing her by tomorrow.”
“You’re so crude,” Jolie said. “Sure, she’s super nice and she could lift all my boxes at once and look good doing it, but that doesn’t mean we should date.”
Nova grabbed her wrists. “Are you serious? She totally has a thing for you.”
“Nova, don’t start.” Jolie tried to suppress a grin. She wasn’t oblivious, but she wasn’t going to give in that easily. “She’s lived alone for years. Don’t you think that’s weird? She’ll probably realize that she actually prefers living alone and then kick me out. Oh, and also I’m her roommate. Why are we even talking about this? It’s a non-issue. I’m not interested.”
“You are so interested. I’ve never seen anyone more interested than you are right now,” Nova said, and was about to say something else when they heard footsteps coming down the hall.
Ana leaned into the door frame, biting her bottom lip to hide her amusement.
“Oh, God. Sorry, we didn’t mean to make you do all of the work yourself,” Jolie sputtered as she tripped over Nova to get to the boxes. Nova met her eyes and suppressed a smug grin. Jolie glared back, piling an extra box onto her stack in defiance, and headed for the hallway.
The three of them quickly packed Ana’s 2060s pickup truck, a little worse for wear, and Jolie left to return her key card to the resident advisor. When she got back to her room, Nova was leaning in to laugh at something Ana had said. Jolie shot Nova an angry look, realized that she was being unreasonably jealous, and turned it into a pout.
“I’m going to miss living so close to you,” she said.
“I love you with all my heart and I’ll miss you so much. We’ll just have to make plans now whenever we want to see each other.” As Jolie hugged her good-bye, Nova quietly spoke in her ear, “I think you’ve got an interesting year coming up.”
“I’m going to fucking kill you,” Jolie whispered. “Next time I see you. Which better be soon.”
They all walked outside and Nova kissed Jolie’s cheek before leaving, turning back once to wave good-bye and blow another kiss. Jolie looked impassively at her red brick dorm one more time, then turned toward the truck. Ana stood with her hands in her pants pockets, her suit jacket back on, surveying the campus.
“Ready?”
“As much as I’ll ever be.” Jolie climbed into the cab as Ana held the door for her.
The ride to her new house was much more pleasant when she wasn’t alone in a taxi, riding through a storm. They bumped along the torn up road in Ana’s rusty blue truck, watching the light playing off yellow foliage that covered the trees. The boxes rattled in the truck bed.
“Nova seems nice.” Ana’s voice trailed off as she gazed out her window.
“Yeah. She’s great. She’s my best friend. I mean, she was,” Jolie said, unable to properly sum up her sadness at leaving Nova and her ambivalence toward staying. “I don’t know. She still is, I guess, but things sort of shifted when she joined the sorority last year. You know, she’s around those girls all the time, and I always have to find time between all her activities to see her.”
Ana nodded. “How long have you been friends?”
“Since orientation. We hit it off right away and were pretty much inseparable for a while.” Jolie cleared her throat. That was almost the truth.
Ana turned to her. “Can I ask you something weird?”
Jolie saw the uncertainty in Ana’s eyes and smiled to herself. She was finally turning back into the adorable, awkward person she’d met last weekend. “Of course. Ask away.”
“Okay, so I’m not really an expert in this, but it kind of seemed like she was hitting on me. Do you think she was?”
Jolie sighed, making a mental note to ask Nova what exactly had happened when she’d left them alone. “Probably. She thinks you’re cute.”
“Oh.” Ana turned bright red and pretended to be very interested in something outside.
“Does that bother you?”
“Hmm?” She coughed. “Oh, no, I’m just not interested.”
What was happening? “Not interested because?” Jolie asked.
Ana gave her a funny look and shrugged. “I’m just not.”
“Good to know?” Jolie was puzzled by the whole conversation.
Ana sighed. “I just wanted you to know so you didn’t think I wanted to date your best friend. Sorry. I didn’t mean to make things weird.”
Jolie did her best not to laugh at the ridiculousness of the conversation. Apparently Ana was a mess when it came to dating. “Ana, you’re fine. I don’t care who you date.” She found Ana’s expression unreada
ble.
Pulling off the ambling country road and onto Ana’s long, gravel driveway, Jolie was able to see the property clearly for the first time. One side of the driveway was lined with trees, and the other was a grassy hill sloping gently up to the house. Ana’s garden was at the top of the hill, looking as lush as it must have been in the height of summer. She saw what looked like five hundred square feet packed with rosettes of dark greens and the broad, spiny leaves of winter squashes. Her mind quickly ran through how many pounds of vegetables it must produce each year. It was certainly more variety than her family had ever squeezed into the land at home. She pictured the farm in Nebraska, no doubt continuing to produce less and less each year, relegated to growing cheap, drought-tolerant crops because of the water restrictions.
“Reminds me of home,” Jolie murmured.
“In a good way?”
“Sort of bittersweet, I guess. Maybe I’m homesick. Haven’t been back in years.”
Ana raised her eyebrows.
Jolie shrugged and said, “I know, it’s horrible. I feel guilty all the time, but I can’t get it out of my head that if I went home, I would never leave again. It’s one of those places.”
“I know what you mean,” Ana said. “A one-way ticket.”
“Yeah. Anyway, let’s get out and I can unload.”
The truck slowed and Ana jumped out first, swiftly undoing the ropes fastening the boxes in the truck. She took two in her arms and turned to walk to the house.
“Wait. You really don’t have to unload all of my boxes for me. I feel terrible that you’ve done basically all of the work. I can finish this myself.” Jolie tried to take the boxes from Ana’s arms, but she swung them away.
“Not a chance. You have no idea how helpful it’s going to be to have you here. I really don’t mind.”
Jolie shrugged. She couldn’t argue with a gorgeous woman showing off her sexy arm muscles. Particularly one who absolutely did not want to date her best friend. “Fine. You’re very persuasive. But after that, I’ll cook us dinner, deal?” She shouldered a box and they walked toward the door.
Ana smiled. “Since today is the day of deals, I think that’s fair. I could use some time to relax before tomorrow.” Ana’s face softened as she touched the entry pad.
“You must be tired. You were in the zone when you were packing my room,” Jolie said with a smile. She elbowed Ana in jest, and thought she saw her cheeks color briefly as they set the boxes down and went to retrieve more.
When the truck had been cleared, Ana headed for the shower, and Jolie perused the refrigerator for ingredients. The shelves were chock full of late season vegetables, and the wall next to it contained an electric root cellar with months’ worth of potatoes, apples, and onions. She found even more in the kitchen island. She did a little dance. She’d never been in such a well stocked kitchen, and rarely had the chance to make something at her dorm that wasn’t from a box.
With butternut squash soup simmering on the stove, fragrant tendrils of steam rising into the air, Jolie figured it was time to summon her dinner companion. “Ana? Dinner’s on. Ten minutes until it’s done,” she shouted.
Now was as good a time as any to give herself a quick tour of her new home. The main section of the house was perfectly round, and the walls looked like they were lined with cozy, honey-colored wood. Jolie touched it and the material gave ever so slightly. This was some kind of smart material that she’d never seen before, not wood at all. She slowly walked around the room’s perimeter, stopping every few feet to admire the high definition photographs of planets and nebulae. Ana certainly had strange taste in artwork. Even though Jolie would never have decorated like this, she had to admit that it suited the odd, space-age feel of the house. When she reached the small corridor that led to the bedrooms, she hesitated. “Ana? Are you in your room? Dinner’s ready.”
The hallway was dark except for the sliver of yellow light that shined from behind Ana’s cracked door. She knocked on it lightly, and the door fell far enough open for her to poke her head in. The room was tidy, except for a small pile of clothes in the corner. If it weren’t for that, Jolie would have a hard time picturing anybody living there at all. There was no clutter, nothing hung on the walls, and the bed was expertly made. She pulled back and closed the door almost all the way. As she turned around, her jaw collided with a muscular shoulder.
“Jesus.” Jolie steadied herself against a shocked Ana. As she pulled back, she saw why. Their collision had resulted in Ana dropping the towel she’d been wrapped in, leaving her naked before her, with the towel in a heap on the floor. Jolie reached down to pick it up, and handed it to Ana, who was massaging her shoulder from the blow. “I’m so sorry,” Jolie said. “I was going to tell you that dinner’s ready.”
“Thanks, but is your face okay? You hit my shoulder pretty hard.”
In the dim light, Jolie could make out the solid curves of Ana’s body as she uncrumpled the towel and covered herself. Her head swam, but she didn’t think it was from the impact. She tried not to think of how close she was to acting out her earlier fantasy. Those gorgeous shoulders were exposed right in front of her. “Oh, yeah, it’s completely fine.” She felt her jaw, which throbbed on one side. “Totally okay,” she repeated.
Ana’s cheeks colored. “I guess I should learn to get dressed in the bathroom from now on.”
Jolie’s pulse pounded in her throat. “No, I mean, this was my fault. I ran into you. Besides, a bunch of girls in my dorm would walk around pretty much naked all the time, so really, it’s no big deal. Nothing I haven’t seen. Well, I’ll go make sure dinner’s really ready, and I’ll let you get dressed.” Jolie quickly bowed out without waiting for a response and practically ran to the kitchen. She steadied herself on the counter as the last of the adrenaline dissipated. What was going on with her? She’d seen plenty of attractive women naked before, and she’d never felt so off-kilter. She worked herself into irritation as she stood there pondering her behavior, considering its implications. How could she be so stupid as to let herself feel any real attraction to Ana? That was so clearly never going to happen.
When Ana finally walked in, Jolie sprung into action, making up for time lost in her thoughts. “Hey, have a seat. Water okay to drink?” she asked, opening a few cabinets. “Where are the cups, anyway?” She looked everywhere except at Ana, knowing that all she’d see was the image of her bare skin burned into her mind.
Ana pulled some glasses, plates, and bowls from a cupboard. “Feel free to go through the cupboards and drawers out here,” she said. “Also, Cassiopeia has a map of the house that shows you where everything is. I’ll program her to recognize you and respond to your commands.”
Jolie nodded and stole a quick glance at Ana. It looked like they were both avoiding each other.
Ana cleared her throat and sat on the couch, changing the ambiance of the room to match early evening’s slanted sun. Jolie brought two bowls over and they began to eat in silence.
“Thanks for dinner,” Ana mumbled as she ate a spoonful of soup. “This is good.”
“No problem. Glad you like it.” This was getting awkward. She had to say something before their brief friendship was drowned in embarrassment. “Everything okay?”
Ana put down her spoon and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “Of course. Why wouldn’t it be?” she said without looking up.
“I’m sorry about the hallway.”
Ana frowned and looked at her. “It just caught me off guard, that’s all. I’m sorry you had to see,” she gestured down her body, “this, without clothes on. Not a great welcome from me.”
Jolie laughed heartily, not at all sorry that she saw what she saw. Ana did not join her. “Oh, you’re serious. If I were you, I wouldn’t worry about someone accidentally seeing me naked.” She held Ana’s gaze for a moment, hoping she understood everything Jolie meant. She didn’t want to have to explain that she’d happily look at Ana’s naked body again someday.
; Ana didn’t answer, and swiped her hand over the coffee table. The wall across from them turned into a menu of media options. “Want to watch a movie?”
Relieved, Jolie nodded. “Pick something good.”
“Cassiopeia, please pick a movie for us,” Ana said.
“Choosing a mutually agreeable movie,” the system replied.
Jolie took a spoonful of soup and turned to Ana. “Why did you name it that? Do you have a deceased pet named Cassiopeia or something?”
Ana laughed. “I have no deceased pets. It’s my favorite constellation, actually. I always found it first in the sky when I was younger. And look.” She pulled her sleeve up. “I have freckles on my arm that are in the exact formation as those five stars.”
Jolie looked at her dubiously. “Not to burst your bubble, but I bet I could find some freckles on my arm that form the same shape.” Jolie pushed her sleeve back, revealing a pale, freckle covered arm.
“Bubble officially burst. Thanks a lot.” Ana rolled her sleeve back down, a faint smile playing at the edges of her mouth.
“Playing Steel For Guns, starring Serena Stone and Cody Warner,” Cassiopeia said.
Jolie chuckled to herself and leaned back against the warm leather of the couch. “Perfect.”
Chapter Six
Ana checked her messages on a foldable screen before stowing it in a drawer. She didn’t like to carry screens with her unless there was a real need. Besides, her bracelet performed almost the same functions. Technology was embedded so seamlessly around her property, she felt off the grid most of the time, even though she could call up the Internet almost anywhere.
She felt antsy for the first time in a while. She had no shortage of work to catch up on, but at the moment, it seemed unimportant. This week alone, she’d had six meetings with the local stakeholders, who were increasingly eager to realize their investments as the departure date drew near. She had given so many presentations about her research, preparation, and the other members of the crew, that the words she spoke were starting to lose meaning. Spending so much time presenting and answering rapid-fire questions was wearing on her. Although she was ultimately glad that Dr. Mitchell had extended her vacation in Paris, she wished she didn’t have to step into her mother’s role as interim public relations person.
The Universe Between Us Page 4