Then, next to the sliding switches, there were three silver. Ino pushed the gold top button. All of a sudden, freezing cold water sprayed out from all of the water jets. Ino started screaming! She leaped put of the shower. The water droplets falling down her face. Goose bumps rapidly consumed her body. She was analyzing and noted that since the top gold button was freezing, the middle had to be warm and the far right logically had to be hot.
In case her hypothesis was wrong, she tried standing as far away from the water jets, while on her tippy toes, as possible. She counted one... two... and three. She closed her eyes shut and pushed the gold middle button. The water was not cold and not hot. It wasn't hot enough to her liking. She slowly opened her eyes and instinctively felt that the sliding switches must adjust how much warmer. She slowly slid the middle switch to the right. It was getting warmer. It still wasn't hot enough for her liking.
She decided to push the middle, silver, button. A gust of mist then filled the shower. She was breathing in tiny water particles. The water on her skin felt nice, but it didn't solve the problem of the water needing to get warmer. She debated on if it was worth it to push the bottom, left, gold button for hot. What if it was scorching? She didn't want a first or worst second degree burn.
Ino pushed the gold button for hot. It wasn't scorching. It was semi hot, but still not hot enough for her liking. She slowly slid the switch. The one next to the bottom, gold, button. It slowly got hotter. She got to a quarter of the way to the right, before she decided the water was perfect right there. She took a mental note. The hot water was steaming up the air. The hot water hitting her skin helped release the oil trapped in it.
She felt so oily earlier. The room started getting foggy. A bonus of hot showers, her sinuses were clearing. It looked like a sauna. Ino was making soapsuds in her hair with the shampoo. A minty, summery fragrance filled the air. Ino took in the smell and felt bliss. It reminded her of when she went to the fragrance shop and sampled all the smells in the little shop, close to her home. She had to smell them all.
She felt that there were many simple joys in life, this was one of them. She had days where she had nothing to do, no errands to run. Ino liked doing the simple things to make her happy. She kept pondering on what happened earlier. Ino, felt like she was indisputably more beautiful than Raina. It wasn't only by appearance, but also inside and out. She wasn't trying to sound conceded.
She wanted to reassure herself that this Raina character wasn't a threat to her, and her relationship with Chester. She finished showering, and dried herself off. She lathered lotion on and decided today was the day she was going to doll herself up and remind Chester, who he fell in love with. Ino tried to muster up all the confidence and self esteem she had.
Being pregnant is not suppose to make you feel like your vanity diminished. Ino finished getting ready. She stepped out of the bathroom. If she had to describe the feeling she was feeling from selected montages, it would have to be Superwoman with her hand on her waist and breeze blowing through her hair. She walked out only to a empty pod. Where was Chester? Where has he gone, she wondered?
She went looking for her phone in her purse. She told her phone, to call Chester. She was waiting for her call to connect, but it was not going through. She did not want to let this bother her. She decided to go look around the shuttle herself. Wherever he went, he could not have gone far. She was grabbing the handle that folded out to pull. To her dismay, this was a lot harder than it looked to pull.
She grabbed the handle with two hands and tried to swing it open using her arm strength and body weight. The door slowly started to open. She stepped outside of the pod. She waited for it to close. She continued to wait till it latched and the handles went back to its proper position. She spotted Chester. Chester was sitting in his shuttle assigned seat. Ino could not help but wonder. What was troubling him? Why did he seem distant. This wasn't the Chester she came to know and love. Ino sat across from him. She was thinking of how to approach him on the subject. Chester sat in silence.
The only thing she could thing of, of what to say was, "What's wrong?" Ino asked, intently.
"I don't know where to start, and you look amazing," Chester answered.
"Thank you." She replied.
Then she asked, "Are you comfortable explaining who Raina is? I didn't get a formal introduction."
"Raina and I, were childhood best friends, along with Cain. We grew up together, went to school together. Our parents were all friends," Chester replied.
Ino didn't know how else to respond, except for, "Oh, I see. So you all were very close."
There was an awkward pause. Ino was waiting for Chester to finish, but he just sat and stared out the window between their shuttle seats. After a couple minutes, that seemed like hours for her, Chester took a deep breath.
"Yeah, we were very close. You see we were all best friends. We hung out everyday. We made a pact to always remain friends. This meant no dating within our group. Well one day, Cain decided to be selfish and confess his feelings for Raina. Without taking me into consideration. I also had feelings for Raina, but I thought considering it could ruin it for all of us as a trio. I kept it to myself," Chester uttered."
He looked down and when Ino caught a glimpse of his face. His demeanor made her feel as though, he was uncomfortable about the whole conversation. Staring into his eyes, they looked hurt. Ino didn't know what to say or how to feel. Was Chester basically telling her that Raina was the girl who got away?!
Chester seemed aggravated. Even so, he resumes, "Except Cain didn't have strong enough feelings not to cheat on her or pick her. They broke up for a full on year. Then she asked me out on a date. I didn't want to be her rebound, I gave her time to get over Cain. When I thought Cain and her were officially over."
Tears started forming in his eyes. Ino could tell that the situation hurt him a lot.
He sounded chocked up when he continued to say, "I asked him man to man. Cain said he gave us his blessing, because he didn't want her anymore and their friendship was already ruined. Cain stayed he could not remain friends with her, but he had no feelings towards her and I could date her with no hard feelings."