Starting Line || Carter Grayson

(10) Storms

❀⊱┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄⊰❀

Most days I didn't mind being able to hear what was going on above the surface. I only hated it when the weather shifted from the sunny skies to dark clouds and rain. Every since the night of the accident, I hated thunderstorms. A fear I kept to myself that developed from the accident occurring during a very bad storm one night. I never was able to sleep when I knew there was a thunderstorm brewing above. I hated when the Aquabase picked up the sounds from above the water and mimicked them below. Why couldn't it just remain silent?

I decided to walk down to the galley to get a bottle of water to bring back with me to my room while I waited the storm out. The halls were quiet and it was just before midnight. The galley stopped serving food about an hour ago. After hours we only had access to drinks throughout the night. When I left my room, I didn't bother slipping shoes on, so I walked the halls barefoot until I reached the galley.

When I entered the room, I saw Carter and Joel sitting at a table with empty trays in front of them. They were talking away and laughing as I walked over to the drinks counter and pulled a cool water bottle out of one of the coolers below it. Before heading back to my room, I stopped at their table to see what they were up to.

"Can I sit?" I asked, setting my bottle down onto the table.

"Of course." Carter moved their trays out of the way to clear the table some.

"You up working?" Joel asked.

"Do you think I'd really be working in shorts and a t-shirt? These are my pajamas." I laughed.

"Hey, I'm all for working comfortably." he laughed.

"I wish. Do you think my father would let me do that? No. It's all about uniformity at the Aquabase. You will never see a pin out place on that man's uniform." I said.

"The uniformity looks nice though." Carter commented.

"Not when you have stared at it your whole life. I hate uniforms." I muttered.

"You wear scrubs a lot though. At least you can change the patterns of those." Joel said.

"I wish," I huffed, "Black Scrubs or Light Blue Scrubs are the only colors allowed."

I had tuned the sound of the rain out while I was talking with the two guys, but a loud crack of thunder brought my attention back to it. I slightly jumped, pretending that I was adjusting my seating position so that the guys wouldn't notice.

"I think I'm going to head to bed now. Nova mentioned something about a five mile run..." Joel pulled his cowboy hat off and rubbed the top of his head.

"Yikes, now I know to hide in the morning so that I don't get roped into running it with her." I laughed.

"Just because you said that, I am coming to knock on your door at five a.m. just to wake you up." Joel joked.

"Carter, you better stop him before he does that." I laughed.

"I'll guard your door." Carter laughed with us.

"I could take you." Joel sized him up, pretending to show off his muscles by flexing them.

"I'll still protect you anyways." Carter winked at me, "Though, I don't think I would need to. Ten bucks says that you're stronger than Joel."

"Uh yeah... I doubt it. I cry when I see a spider." I stood up and grabbed my water bottle. I had to be up early for rounds, so I better head off to try and sleep through the storm.

Another crack of thunder rang through the air and it startled me. I hated how jumpy I was during storms. I wished my brain would just tune them out. We could hear the rain pelting the surface, temporarily raising the water levels. I mentally sighed as I dreaded going back to my room.