The Law of Attraction [Chris Beck]

Chapter 15

                Alice Blake was a different person nine years ago when she had first met Chris Beck. She was already ahead of herself in school, taking courses that were at a higher year that she was. Ever since she had gotten off track in her early high school days, she never wanted to hit that state ever again. Seeing what her family was putting on the line to get her through school, it was all she could think about. Getting through those tedious, tiresome, harsh years of university in order to make something of herself. But she was also more fun back then, she loved to have a good time and be spontaneous. The night she met Beck had been one of her spontaneity stints, and every time she thought back to nights like that, she felt a smile creep onto her lips.

But time tamed her, hard work and constant focus on school had sucked out that spontaneity and left her lacking something in her life. When she had met Patrick a few years later, she had already settled into this version of herself that was serious, work-driven, and independent. It was a version of herself that she liked, but being so focused on making her career goals had left her able to accept settling when it came to other aspects of her life. Things moved slow with Patrick, it was nothing like her time with Beck. But it was cohesive, it fit in well with the way her life was going; everything simply fell into place as though it was a puzzle. Like any relationship, it had ups and downs, but Alice never considered leaving because she was comfortable.

There was something missing in her life because she became too comfortable.

She missed the spark that she would get from her playful side. She became her job, both at work and at home. But she had settled into that niche; now it was completely uprooted and every last puzzle piece was askew. Scattered over the floor, mixed in with other puzzles, it would not simply be sorted out like she wanted it to. In the last few months on the Hermes, Alice had rediscovered that fun part of her. Not just with Beck, but with everyone on the crew. They worked together like clockwork, but it was not boring, it was not simply comfortable. It was quirky, and it had brought out a part of Alice that she missed. So as she sat there on her bunk, recent events leaving her cheeks hot and her eyes red, she realized that this was exactly what she needed.

She needed to be uprooted; she needed the comfort to end.

And it had.

She crawled out of her bunk, and Beck had just flopped on his bunk just beside her room; his laptop was propped up on his lap, and he was reading something. Trying to remain quiet, she closed her own personal laptop and began to slip out of her room. While she had just come to the discovery that she was able to be a version of herself that she missed dearly, that version was heavily influenced by people like Chris Beck. Officially and freshly a single woman, both hurt and torn, she was too vulnerable to start thinking about Beck. Though, she had to admit, she had been thinking about him more than she wanted to ever since she joined the Ares 3 crew. He crept into her dreams like he belonged there; and maybe that was where he belonged. In her dreams, as opposed to reality.