Cresswell: The Lunar Chronicles

Chapter Fifty Two

The paparazzi were still camped outside the restaurant when Cress and Carswell were finished.

"The hover's coming," Carswell murmured as the swarm of photographers leapt up and held their cameras up to the glass again.

"It won't be able to get through."

Carswell shrugged, a grin creeping onto his face. He cocked his head to the side. "Feel like answering some of their questions?"

"No."

"Oh come on, it'll be fun. We have to walk out to the hover anyway."

Cress faintly grunted. "Fine."

Carswell winked at her, taking her hand he pushed the doors open. Her ears will immediately filled with a downpour of questions, all mashed together and everyone speaking louder than the person next to them.

"Captain!"

"Captain Thorne!"

"Back up, guys, come on." Carswell held a hand up in an effort to ward off the camera flashes.

The paparazzai didn't stop their rapid fire of questions, but they did move around so they were more in front of them then surrounding them.

Someone pushed against Cress's shoulder and she inched closer to Carswell. He tightened his hand on her shoulder.

"What's is been like traveling between Earth and Luna so much?"

"Cress!"

"Are you engaged?"

"Yes, we are engaged," Carswell said as they attempted to walk down the sidewalk.

"When's the wedding?" someone shouted above the flood of other questions. A storm of lights flashed in both their eyes.

"Will Selene and Emperor Kai be attending?"

"How will this impact the alliance between Earth and Luna?"

"Uh, it probably won't," Carswell added with an eye roll.

"When's the wedding?"

"We're not releasing that information at this time."

"Cress where's your favorite place you've been so far?"

"Probably Australiam" Cress replied, glad her voice didn't tremble. More cameras flashed in her face.

"Have you met the parents?"

Cress didn't reply, glad they had approached the hover and she was saved from answering.

Carswell pulled her against him, shoving someone away who got to close. He flung the hover door open, pulling Cress in after him and reaching over her to pull the door shut.

"That wasn't too bad."

Cress shook her head, faintly giggling. "No."

The hover ride back to the palace was short and in only a matter of minutes they were pulling through the gates once again.

"Hey, come here," Carswell said, pulling her towards the palace garage where the Rampion was.

Cress grinned, trotting alone beside him.

Carswell punched in the access code and the ramp lowered. He pulled her down the corridor towards his room where the map of Earth was still tacked up on the wall.

Cress faintly smiled, glancing over all his handwritten notes. Most of them were from when before they met, but there were some new ones. One by Australia, coupled with a picture of the two of them hung beside it, were the words "Cress learned to swim." Another one of Cress in the snow she didn't know he had taken was tacked up over Canada.

Carswell grabbed a piece of paper from his desk and started scribbling something on it before he tore it up into five pieces.

Cress lightly frowned, watching as he folded them in half and mixed them around on the desk. "What...?"

"Okay." Carswell leaned back against the desk. "I have been thinking for a while now what our life would look like once things as far as the plague settled down. I've looked into a few different locations to park the Rampion if we wanted to live there, but I thought we could look for an apartment. Or house."

Cress's eyes popped open. "What—? An apartment?"

"Bad idea?"

"No, of course not!" Cress took a step toward him. "But, I mean... can we afford it?" Since they were always "on call" for the antidote distribution, they were still bringing in a little income—granted not as much as when they were actually working, but it was still something. Cress just wasn't sure it was enough for an apartment.

Oh, aces, an apartment.

"Yes, we do. We've actually been pretty frugal with our expenses and the Rampion is paid off so... we couldn't afford everything, but there are some areas in the Republic that are really nice or Europe even." Carswell shrugged. He nodded to the papers again. "So take your pick."

Cress bit her lower lip, grinning. She swept up one of the papers. "The Republic." She grinned. "Can we find some place where it rains a lot? I love the rain."

"Oh, then why don't we head to Washington state? I know it rains there a lot."

Cress pressed her fists against her mouth, trying to stifle a squeal. She couldn't help it—she threw her arms around him. "We're going to get an apartment."

Carswell laughed, wrapping his arms around her waist and lifting her up.

"Can I decorate it and make it pretty? I mean I won't go crazy obviously but maybe a little sprucing here and there—"

"No, you can't decorate the apartment at all. I want to live in an unfurnished run down place if that's okay with you." Carswell rolled his eyes.

Cress giggled.

Carswell set her back down and sank back against the desk.

"Our own apartment." Cress grinned, leaning against him.

The corner of Carswell's mouth tilted and he raked a hand through her hair, pulling her head against his chest. "So how about we stay here in the EC for the rest of the week and then head to the Republic? We can scout for apartments and plan our wedding."

Cress ginned, nodding. She turned to look up at him, tears brimming in her eyes.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

"Nothing. I'm just so happy."

Carswell kissed her forehead. "Me too, Damsel."