Stand By Me (sequel to Kiss me Goodbye)

23.

Keith's POV
With my ribs being shoved into my chest, I struggle to breathe. I finally wiggle out of Odette's hold and let out a loud sigh. "Busted? What the hell is that supposed to mean?" she holds the card in my face.
"There's no way you could possibly be on this ship, there's only four plant specialist on this mission. And you're number five." she smirks deviously. A bead of sweat trickles down the back of my neck.
"Odette, I know you don't like me but please don't rat me out. If you do the ship will turn around and you'll never get your chance to go to Arus." Odette's smirk slowly fades as she realizes what telling on me will do to her. She slowly hands me my ID then turns away. She stiffly walks down the hallway and disappears around the corner. I have the urge to follow her but I don't. Should I tell Lance about this? No, if I do he'll make a huge deal out of it plus I already handled it on my own.
       Right?

(Two hours later)
     Lance drags me down the curving mazes of the hallways and stops at a set of large metal doors that I've never seen before. "Close your eyes." I close them but Lance wraps his hands around my face so I can't see even if I opened my eyes. I hear the doors slide open and Lance guides me in. The soft tink of my shoes on the metal floor echo which tells me we're alone. Lance slowly takes his hands down and I open my eyes. In front of me is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.
     A humongous window looks out into space, thousands of stars twinkle and fly past. I glance over at Lance and catch him staring at me; He looks away quickly and I kiss him on the cheek. "Do you like it?" he asks, now looking out the window.
     "Of course! This is amazing! How did you know this was here?" He looks bashfully down at his feet then back up at me.
     "Well, you know I'm into astronomy and stars and stuff so I asked if there was an observatory on the ship and, here we are." I take in another view of the galaxy then take Lance's hand in mine. Startled he looks over at me quickly and I kiss him on the mouth. He kisses back. Soon enough we are on the metallic floor.
     Couches and furniture lay scattered around the room so we drag one up near the window and sit down. I rest my head on Lance's shoulder and we watch as a shower of stars fly by. I glance up at him and see he's so focused on the stars, his eyes light up. Then I realize he's crying. I sit up fast and see he really is crying.
     "Lance, are you okay?" He smiles and wipes away the tears sliding down his cheeks.
     "I'm fine, I'm just a little home sick." I lean over and kiss his jawline.
     "I'm here for you if you ever want to talk about it, you know that."
     "Thanks Keith, really."

     After a couple hours we noticed it was almost dinner time. "Will you be fine eating with your plant buddies or do you want to come sit with me and the-"
     "I'll be fine, I'm not five years old." we walk into the Caf (which is what everyone if calling it now) and I sit down next to Serena and Dutch. Serena tied her hair up into a huge bun and laced her horns with bright blue flowers which resemble something like Ipomoea Tricolors. To her left is Odette who flashes death glares at me and on her left is Honey who cuddles a potted cactus. I nibble on a lettuce leaf I see everyone else attacking their plates, even Honey who tries to eat with one hand holding her fork and the other struggling to keep her cactus from falling on herself. Dutch explains how my theory of cross breading plants is working, Serena informs us that the ship is officially halfway to Arus, and Odette tells us that she heard rumors that there is a stow away onboard the ship. She gives a cocky smirk as everyone at our table gossips about who or what the stow away is. I glare daggers back at her which makes her smile even more.
     Who is this chick?! The fucking spawn of satan?? Suddenly, I have an urge. I reach for a spoon and load up a small, red, tomato and launch it at Odette's forehead. It thumps her right in between her eyes and bounces onto the floor. She slowly stands up, takes a huge handful of spaghetti, and throws it at me, smacking me in the face.

Game on.
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Less than 10 days of school left🎉