As we were watching Gunny and drinking a bit of water on the side, my stomach suddenly grumbled rather loudly. So loud that even Eva looked at me surprised.

  “You aren’t going to puke, right? Did you also drink that much.”

  I shook my head while I held my arm over my stomach. “I didn’t drink much at all. But because of the entire commotion and the ensuing adrenaline I might have forgotten to eat something.”

  “So did I… I mean… I had some tapas but that’s all.”

  “I didn’t even have that.” I chuckled softly.

  “Do you want me to go and get you some food then?” Eva asked.

  “No.” Luna replied very quickly. “I’ll go. You stay here in case Gunny wakes up. You are going to be worth a lot more than I’ll ever be in this scenario.” Luna then looked at me. “What do you want, Lauren?”

  “I don’t know, just grab me a cheeseburger. One of those restaurant grade ones with a couple of fries on the side.”

  Luna then looked at Eva, but Eva shook her head. “I don’t really need anything.”

  “Are you sure?”

  Eva pouted slightly. “Alright, if you insist, just get me a bag of fries with mayo and ketchup. But no big portion.”

  “Okay.” Luna nodded and then she looked into the bathroom. “Should I… bring something for Gunny too?” And she then looked back at Eva.

  “If he wakes up, some food might be good to get him on his feet. Maybe get him the same that Lauren is having. If he wakes up and it’s cold already you can always microwave it.”

  “Won’t that be too heavy for him to stomach?”

  “Believe me, fatty food will do good.” Eva smiled.

  “Alright then.” Luna nodded and headed to the door. “I’ll try to be quick about it.”

  “Better to be safe about it instead.” I smiled. “Don’t want to have to take care of two people this evening.”

  “I will be.” Luna winked. “Be right back!”

  And like the wind Luna jogged out of the door and on her way to the cafeteria to get some food for us.

  While not really planned, it gave Eva and I some alone time. As I leant back into my seat, stretching out my legs in front of me, I looked my friend dead in the eyes.

  “What?” She asked nonchalantly. “Are you going to confess something?”

  “No.” I shook my head and crossed my arms. “But maybe I should.” And I then looked at Gunny. “If we manage to put him at ease first at least.”

  Eva followed my gaze. “You are talking about Luna, right?”

  “Mhmm.” I nodded.

  “Yeah… It’s better to tell him when he has calmed down a bit. But I definitely don't think it’s a bad idea to tell him. I’m actually somewhat surprised you didn’t pull him into the ropes any sooner.”

  “I know, somehow I just didn’t find a good time to tell him. Telling you was a lot easier in that regard.” We still kept our voices rather hushed, we didn’t want to spoil the beans accidentally after all.

  “I am the ship’s doctor. I was going to find out sooner rather than later.” Eva nodded. “Hell, if she had gotten wounded during the alien incursion on the ship we might have found out there and then. But that would probably have turned out quite badly for her.”

  “Yeah. I don’t want to think about what would have happened at that point. The entire crew would be out for blood and my own head space wouldn’t have been much better. I would like to think I would have protected her still, but, yeah… In that moment things might have gone very differently than they did.”

  This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  “Luckily you are pretty good at defending her.” Eva put her hand on my shoulder.

  “At the very least that’s not untrue.” I hummed.

  We waited for Luna to return while watching Gunny but for the time being he seemed to be really calm. Eva went to check on him from up close just to be extra sure he was fine and she came back with a giggle.

  “Looks like he is snoozing for the time being.”

  At that moment Luna softly opened the door and walked in, holding a paper bag that smelled really really good.

  “I’m back.” She walked over to us.

  “Was there a big line at the synth?” I asked.

  She shook her head. “Not really. I was pretty much alone.” Luna put the bag on the table and started to unpack the food.

  “And what did you get?”

  “I got the same that you ordered. So we have three identical burgers and then some fries. I took a bigger portion than usual so we can all share. I hope that’s good for you.” Luna looked at Eva in particular.

  “Of course that’s good for me.” Eva chuckled softly.

  I got off from my seat to grab us a couple of plates and then unpacked one of the burgers. It was munching time.

  We kept one of the burgers in its insulated packaging while Luna and I dug into our burgers. Nothing better than a good greasy burger when you are hungry and just went through a stressful time.

  The ketchup went particularly hard on this burger and the red onion did too. So sadly for the burger, it didn’t stay whole for long.

  I was about three quarters done with it when I heard some movement coming out of the bathroom.

  “Oh fuck, where am I?” Gunny grumbled.

  I looked at Eva and she looked back at me as I put down my burger and she put a couple of fries in her mouth. The both of us then stood up almost perfectly in-synch.

  “Gunny, how are you feeling?” Eva walked into the bathroom in front of me.

  “Where am I?” Gunny repeated his question, clearly confused at the situation. “What am I doing in a bathroom?”

  “In my bathroom.” I leaned right so Gunny could get a line of sight to me too.

  “What?” Gunny squinted.

  “You almost drank yourself to death on my porch, buddy.” I replied, squirming past the Doctor as she crouched down to check on Gunny.

  “Lauren…”

  “We both know direct is the only language Gunny knows, Eva.”

  Gunny looked at Eva. “Is it true, doc?”

  “Your alcohol levels were dangerously high.” She nodded.

  “Doesn’t he remember we even spoke to him a bit earlier?” Luna asked from behind me.

  I shook my head. “I think he blacked out.”

  “Oh shit.” Gunny grabbed his head.

  “But luckily Lauren and Luna gave you some DiluFast before any real damage could be done.”

  “And you should thank Ellie for calling us away from a party too.” I replied.

  Gunny pressed his eyelids close and pinched his nose with his index finger and thumb. “Fuck me. I’m so sorry.”

  “You better be.” I agreed and crouched down as well. “We are going to have a conversation about this this evening, you understand? We are not letting you leave until we know exactly what has happened that made you act like this. Take it from a former alcoholic, we really need to clean the slates here if we are to continue. Admittedly, we should probably have had this conversation sooner…”

  Gunny slowly nodded in response. “I… I understand, Commander. This has to stop. You are right.”

  “At least your vitals seem to be doing fine now.” Eva patted Gunny on the shoulder. It didn’t happen often that Eva was the calmer one between the two of us. “Have you eaten anything yet?”

  “Uh… I don’t remember.” Gunny admitted. “But I am feeling rather hungry so I think the answer might be no.”

  “Good thing Luna got you a burger too then.” I offered my arm to Gunny.

  Gunny took my arm after which I pulled him onto his feet. He was still wobbly so I did keep him supported. Didn’t want to order a maintenance droid to come and fix my shower… Now he got a good line of sight on Luna who was standing behind us in the doorway. She was standing there shyly.

  “Thank you for taking care of me.” Gunny directed himself mostly towards Luna as Eva and I took his thanks for granted.

  “No problem.” Luna replied. “I’m glad you seem to be doing better already.”

  Before we went to the living room, I pulled the attention of Eva. “Hey Eva, could you take Gunny to his burger? I have something I want to discuss with Luna first… privately.”

  Eva agreed immediately as it was rather obvious to her what exactly I wanted to talk about. As she walked a confused Gunny out of the bathroom, a just-as-confused Luna walked in and closed the bathroom door behind her. “What do you want to talk about?” Luna lowered her voice.

  “Well, I was talking with Eva about it before… but would it be okay if we tell Gunny about you later? I obviously don’t want to do it without your consent.”

  “Ah…” Luna scratched her cheek. “Okay… but… is it okay if I tell him? I want him to hear it out of my mouth.”

  “Of course.” I nodded. “Any way you want it.”