Cresswell: The Lunar Chronicles

Chapter Nine

Thorne guided the ship toward their designated landing pad, glad Scarlet was somewhere else on the ship. No doubt she'd judge his landing, but at least he couldn't hear her. He was still terrible at it and didn't seam to be getting any better, much to his own dismay.

Turning around, seeing Cress standing at the main window, eyes wide and grinning from ear to ear, he smiled to himself. She started humming, which turned into quiet singing.

Aces, she was cute.

"Australia is hot," he said aloud, flipping a switch and trying to concentrate on making a half-way decent landing. "But it's so much fun; the beaches are amazing so that's another thing we'll get to check off your list."

"That's the Pacific Ocean, right?" Cress asked, standing on her tip toes as if to get a better view of the sparkling ocean.

Thorne nodded. "Yep. Beautiful, isn't it?"

Cress nodded eagerly.

"Alright, take your seat, Damsel. We're landing."

With an excited squeal, Cress peeled herself away from the window and strapped into her seat. She gripped the arm rest as the ship touched the landing pad.

"Okay come on come on come on!" Scarlet cried from down the corridor. Clearly she didn't follow the landing procedures.

"I guess someone's a little excited," Thorne whispered to Cress as they hurried to get to the cargo bay.

Cress giggled, squeezing his hand and bouncing as she half-skipped, half-walked along beside him.

"I've never been here before and I want to take at least one beach day," Scarlet continued, glancing at Thorne and then Wolf.

Thorne gave her a thumbs up. "Was already planning on it. We're supposed to be here for eleven days, let's try to get everything done in—"

"Seven. I've already mapped out a schedule to get us ahead, and that will leave us a whole four days to sight see, or spend the day on the beach... whatever we want," Scarlet added, her words smashed together as she tried to get them out as quickly as possible.

"Oh—wow, okay, you're really serious about this. Yeah, works for me." Thorne shrugged.

Scarlet exhaled shortly, smiling. She grabbed Wolf's hand. "Come on!"

Cress followed them, but not before Thorne tossed her a tube of sunscreen.

By sticking closely to Scarlet's new schedule, the crew was able to finish their distributions in a record-breaking six days. By now, having perfected a routine, they worked pretty well together and didn't need to verbalize their plans as much as they did in Africa and France.

Their first day "off" Thorne made it a priority to take Cress out to a clothing store. Their work in Europe turned out to be a little crazier than any of them were expecting, so Cress didn't get a real "shopping" experience and she had yet to find a dress or a pair of "cute" shoes; something she kept saying wasn't necessary. Thorne ignored her and insisted they go. Scarlet and Wolf came as well.

Walking down the sidewalk, the sun warm and the air fresh, with Cress's hand wrapped in his, he couldn't remember a time he had ever felt so happy. A gentle breeze danced through Cress's hair, which had grown out in the past weeks and hung just past her shoulders.

The beach was to their left and the palm leaves rustled in the wind. She suddenly perked up, pointing to a modest building with clothing displays in the window and a few racks hanging outside.

Cress gasped, halting mid-step as her eyes settled on the array of clothes.

"Ah, that looks like a clothing store. Come on." Thorne pulled her towards the establishment, noting that she suddenly seamed to close up again. Walking up to a rack that was free of any additional shoppers, he started looking through the dresses and skirts; hoping Cress couldn't tell he had no idea what he was looking at.