Cresswell: The Lunar Chronicles

Chapter Sixty-Seven

They must have slept for the majority of the flight as the next thing Thorne remembered was jerking awake when the plane touched down. Beside him, Cress yawned, arching her back in a stretch and almost shivering when his hand wrapped around her waist.

"It's raining." Thorne murmured.

Cress nodded.

"You should have worn pants."

"I know."

Much to her dismay, baggage claim was outside and Thorne was afraid she would freeze to death while waiting for their suitcases.

"C'mere." He wrapped his arms around her, vigorously rubbing his hands up and down her arms and back to warm her up.

Cress slid her arms beneath his jacket, hugging him back until their suitcases spit out of the tunnel. Eager to be out of the cold, Cress sprinted for the hover when they stepped outside. 

Thorne hauled their suitcases in the back of the car before sliding in beside Cress. "Thanks for the help." He deadpanned. 

Cress lightly frowned, confused.

"We're married now; I don't have to be nice anymore. You're trapped."

Cress rolled her eyes, snuggling against him. "Something tells me you'll be even nicer now that we're married. Aces," she sighed, "we're married."

Thorne smiled to himself. They were married. He kissed the top of her head, tightening his arm around her.

As they sped towards their apartment complex, where the Rampion was also parked, Thorne's thoughts started to wander. He hadn't given much consideration to what he—or, they—would do now that life had begun to settle down.

Glancing at Cress, he wondered what her thoughts were. She had mentioned before the idea of looking into some online school—having never gone to school or formally completed any schooling in her life—but nothing ever came of it. 

The hover finally came to a stop and they both hurried into the warm, dry lobby.

"Let's go dump this stuff off and then we can grab the rest of our things from the Rampion." Thorne suggested.

Cress nodded, and as soon as they stepped inside she quickly changed into a pair of sweats and her new rain boots before she and Thorne wandered back downstairs and towards the Rampion.

"I've missed you!" She said dramatically, hugging one of the legs.

Thorne laughed, punching in the security code and waving her forward. He reached for her hand as she jogged up the ramp with him.

"I almost feel bad leaving the Rampion all alone. It'll be weird not living in her anymore." Cress murmured. 

"I know. We can sleep here one night if you want." Thorne added as he ducked inside his room.

"Yeah, that's true." Cress said from hers.

Thorne's eyes settled on the map splayed out above his desk. So many marks covered it now, some of them in Cress's writing. Some of them from before he had even met her. He tried to remember the things that had been important to him back then. Traveling, making money, girls who he'd forget about the next day.

Casting a glance around, he sighed shortly. He had spent more nights than he could count in this room. On this ship. Thinking life was so wonderful, so perfect.

"I found my other shoe!" Cress called.

The corner of Thorne's mouth turned up in a smile. "Oh goody." He pulled the cabinets open and started grabbing his clothes, stuffing them in the bag he had left behind. "Hey, did you guys get a bed?"

"No, but we got a sofa." Cress said as she walked in. "I thought you might want to help pick out the bed and see how comfortable it is and stuff."

"I should bring pillows and blankets then."

"Probably. I'm bringing mine."

Thorne nodded, tucking his pillows and blankets beneath his other arm. "Ready?"

"Yep!" Cress grinned, awkwardly managing to hold all her things as they started back outside into the rain.

"You wanna sleep in here or in our room?"

"Here!" Cress dropped her blankets and pillows on the ground in the living room, right in front of the sofa before setting the rest of her clothes and shoes in their room.

Thorne made up a crude bed, spreading a few blankets on the ground and dumping the pillows on top. He sank down on the sofa, pausing to look at it.

"What do you think?" Cress asked, almost nervously tucking her hair behind her ears.

"I like it. Looks cool and it's surprisingly comfortable. Most furniture is either one or the other. My mother always picked the most uncomfortable furniture because it looked nice."

Cress laughed, dropping beside him. "Should we get some dinner? Tomorrow maybe we can go to the store and get groceries?"

Thorne couldn't help smiling when she excitedly grinned. "Of course. What do you feel like now, though?"

"Mm... honestly a salad sounds good." She giggled.

"I could go for salad. We've eaten enough sugar and junk food to last several lifetimes."

Cress nodded, though neither of them moved to get up.

"Or we could just eat our left over sandwiches."

"That works."

While Thorne was getting their sandwiches from the fridge, Cress pulled up a sitcom they had been watching and rearranged their blankets on the sofa so they could eat over the coffee table.

Late the next morning, Thorne and Cress set out to get their kitchen stocked and organized. Since neither of them had done and amount of extensive grocery shopping, the whole experience was mostly trial and error. A few times over the course of the next seven days one of them would think of something they forgot and that happened a few times before Thorne suggested they write down what they think of and make one big trip at the end of every week.

In early April, the rest of the furniture Cress and Iko ordered finally arrived and Cress managed to get their entire apartment furnished and organized with Thorne helping lift and move the heavy things.

"What if we put that book case over on this wall and then we can put the net screen on top?" Cress asked after Thorne had moved the stupid book case five times.

"That could work." Was the answer Thorne found to be the safest. He couldn't help smiling at the look of concentration on Cress's face as she glanced around the room, trying to figure out the best place for the bookcase.

Cress fingered for her hair, but barely long enough to twirl around her finger.

"How about a break for dinner and then we can figure out the whole book case debacle?"

Cress almost laughed. "Yeah, sorry."

"Nah, it's fine."

"Hey, so I was thinking... for your birthday, what if we went out to California for a few weeks? Jacin and Winter have a house out there and I thought, if you wanted, maybe the entire Crew could come out!"

Thorne grinned, grabbing their jackets and handing Cress hers. "I'd be into that. Although I could do without Jacin."

Cress glared at him but he pushed her through the door.