'Calm down Riley; this is going to be fine.'
Riley continued brushing her hair nervously; she was in the washroom, and had chosen to keep her gaze fixated on the mirror. She did, however, at that moment break her gaze and glance at her watch: 6:30.
In thirty minutes she'd be watching a movie with Owen. She didn't know why she was so nervous.
'It's just a movie; you're watching it 'cause you don't want to be bored out of your mind. It's not a date or anything.'
'But he DID explicitly ask you...'
Riley stopped at that thought and stared at herself in the mirror; her world now primarily focused on the pupils staring back at her.
'What if he likes you?'
The thought genuinely scared Riley; what if he did like her?
'Nonsense; why would he like me?'
Riley was too flustered to think straight.
'Not that I'd be complaining if he did...'
Riley's thought train came to a screeching stop; suddenly the silence of the room caught up to her as she realized she didn't know what to feel.
'Do I... Do I like him?'
She gave it a little more thought.
'Shit Riles; you do like him.'
A multitude of emotions hit her; chief among them euphoria, confusion, dread, guilt.
'Why am I feeling guilty? There's nothing wrong with having feelings, right?'
She stared at her own reflection. They say the eyes are the windows of the soul; Riley desperately wanted to know what she was feeling.
'But this feeling's going to hurt you Riley; it's happened before, what if it'll happen again?'
'No, Owen seems different. Don't know why, but he feels different.'
'But that's not the only problem we have here now, isn't it? You're a hypocrite Riles; you broke up with Connor saying it would affect the mission. Yet here you are, fostering feelings for Owen.'
Riley shook her head and turned on the faucet, letting the stream of water brush on her palm. She cupped them, and splashed some water on her face; she hoped the moisture and buzz of the flow would help ease her mind. It had little effect.
'Relax Riley; you're not going to act on your emotions. This is probably just because of the long term isolation; it'll die down once the others come out of cryo.'
She returned her gaze back to her reflection, partially taken aback by how vulnerable she looked.
'Yeah, that must be it. But should I even go?'
She agonized about it for a while.
'Screw it; I've already put Owen in awkward spots, and I told him I'll be coming. Might as well go.'
'Yeah... that's what I'll do.'
YOU ARE READING
Orpheus
General Fiction[#10 IN REALISTIC - 10/07/2019] [COMPLETED] The year was 2118. All seemed normal; normal, until you saw the dust kiss the sky; a mix of brown and white against an infinite blue. Our planet had changed quite a bit in the past 50-60 years. Most finan...
