After receiving the receipt—predetermined to land squarely on my side of the table—I paid for dinner while the waitress made sure to squeeze in one last round of teasing. She leaned casually against the doorframe, her grin sharp and mischievous as ever.
"So, are you two heading back to the love nest now?" she asked, winking.
Riza and I exchanged wide-eyed glances, both acutely aware of the trap in her words. After a moment of silence, I decided to play it safe. "We're heading to my quarters to relax before the movie."
"Mm-hmm. 'Relax.' Got it," she said, making air quotes with her fingers.
Riza's cheeks flushed, and she opened her mouth to retort, but I quickly handed over the payment chip to spare us further embarrassment. "Here you go. Keep the change," I said, adding a generous tip to the total.
Her eyes widened as she scanned the amount. "Oh, wow. This is… quite the tip."
"We actually enjoyed your company," I said with a small smile. "You made the evening entertaining."
The shock on her face gave way to a soft, genuine smile, a rare moment of sincerity breaking through her playful demeanor. "Well, thank you. I'm glad I could make it fun for you two."
As we left the booth and began walking down the corridor, Riza suddenly started giggling to herself. "What's so funny?" I asked, glancing at her.
"If you think about it," she said, struggling to contain her laughter, "we really let that waitress embarrass us for no reason. Like, seriously, what are we—five?"
Her laughter was contagious, and soon I was chuckling along with her. "Yeah, I guess we were the perfect entertainment for her. Can't say we didn't deserve it."
We turned a corner, and her eyes lit up when she saw a familiar storefront. "Oh, it's Bodies! Wanna stop by? I've been meaning to get some new clothes for outings."
"Sure," I said, shrugging. A shopping trip sounded as good as anything else to pass the time.
We spent about fifteen minutes in the store. Riza seemed to know exactly what she wanted, so it didn't take long. With her new bag of purchases in hand, we made our way back to my quarters.
Once inside, we both collapsed onto the couch. "Are we supposed to feel this exhausted after eating?" Riza asked, draping her arm over her eyes.
"I don't think so," I replied, mimicking her position.
"Forget a game; I need a nap," she muttered, turning sideways on the couch.
I nudged her. "Take the bed. It's way comfier."
"And where will you sleep?" she asked without moving.
"On the blow-up mattress. It's actually pretty comfortable," I answered, already feeling the pull of sleep.
She sighed but got up and shuffled toward the bedroom. As she reached the door, she froze. "Wait. Why is the blow-up mattress already inflated?"
"Because I told you it's comfy," I said, kicking off my boots and flopping onto the mattress.
Riza climbed onto the bed, but a few minutes later, I felt the mattress shift. She had crawled over and was now sliding under my blanket. "What are you doing?" I asked, cracking an eye open.
"Testing your so-called comfy mattress," she mumbled, rolling onto her side. "And… yeah, it's actually better than the standard beds."
"Told you," I said, closing my eye again. "We napping till showtime?"
"Yeah. E.L.S.A, wake us at 2015," Riza instructed, calling out to my rooms A.I which basically my home assistant which did all my trivial tasks like lighting control, temperature control, music control, etc.
The A.I.'s warm voice chimed in. "Of course, Riz. Gentle wake-up tone as usual?"
E.L.S.A asks. That was another great thing about the rooms home assistants. They each had their own personality and could even give nicknames and do other things that a thinking person could do. She didn't do it often, but she had a venomous tongue too.
"Thanks, E.L.S.A. You're the best," Riza said, snuggling into the blanket.
"You're welcome," the A.I. quipped. "Enjoy your nap, lovebirds."
"E.L.S.A!" Riza groaned, her cheeks already flushing again.
"Hey, hey, hey. It's 2015. Time to get up," E.L.S.A. announced as soft thunder sounds crescendoed in the room.
I groggily rubbed my eyes and thanked her, only to realize my arm was pinned under Riza. She had wrapped herself around it during the nap. After a few minutes of careful maneuvering, I managed to free myself, waking her in the process.
"Sleep well?" I asked as she sat up and yawned.
"Yeah, I did," she replied, though her tone sounded sour which had me massively confused. As if reading my mind E.L.S.A adds her two cents.
"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this evening." She says playfully, obviously aimed at Riza.
"Did not." Riza retorts as she gets up but E.L.S.A wasn't having it.
"Whoops. My bad. Correction to error made." She says seemingly in apology before flipping around and doing a 180 on her approach. "Someone woke up on the wrong side of the air mattress."
"Oh my God. No, I didn't." She whines to the A.I. as she puts on her shoes. I thought about interjecting but I didn't want to become the new target of either one or both of them so I just listened to them in silence as I checked and made sure I had everything I needed before we left.
The corridor hummed with soft ambient lighting, casting long shadows against the metal-paneled walls as Riza and I made our way toward the theater deck. Her new bag of outing clothes swung lightly at her side, the weight seemingly forgotten after our nap. The atmosphere was calm, a stark contrast to the whirlwind of teasing we had endured earlier in the evening.
That peace shattered the moment we heard the unmistakable voice of our waitress echoing down the hall. She emerged from around a corner, a tray of empty glasses balanced effortlessly in one hand and that ever-present mischievous grin plastered across her face.
"Well, well, well," she said, stopping dead in her tracks as she spotted us. Her eyes lit up like a kid spotting candy. "If it isn't my favorite couple of the evening."
Both Riza and I stiffened on instinct, exchanging a quick, panicked glance before turning back to her. The waitress wasted no time, her teasing tone cutting through the quiet corridor like a laser. "How was the nap? Did you two share the mattress too?"
Riza froze mid-step, her hand tightening on the strap of her bag as if it might anchor her to the spot. Her face instantly flushed a deep crimson, the red creeping up to the tips of her ears. "We—no, it wasn't like—" she stammered, her voice high-pitched and unsteady.
The waitress held up a hand, chuckling as she cut Riza off mid-protest. "Relax, I'm just kidding," she said, her grin widening. "But seriously, you two are so adorable. If you weren't already on your way to the theater, I'd say you were the stars of your own romantic comedy."
Riza's mouth opened and closed a few times, her thoughts clearly too scrambled to form a coherent response. Meanwhile, I simply sighed and rubbed the back of my neck, knowing full well there was no escape from the current situation.
Before leaving, the waitress turned her attention to me, winking conspiratorially. "You're a lucky guy, you know. Treat her well, or I'll find you," she said, her voice equal parts playful and mock-threatening.
Without waiting for a response, she continued on her way, the sound of her laughter trailing behind her as she disappeared around the corner.
Riza stood rooted to the spot, still sputtering incoherently. Finally, she managed to snap out of it, spinning on her heel to glare at me. "Why didn't you say anything?!" she demanded, her cheeks still glowing.
I raised my hands defensively, trying to suppress a grin. "What was I supposed to say? She had us cornered."
"You could've denied it or... I don't know, something!" she huffed, stomping ahead of me in frustration.
I caught up to her easily, biting back a chuckle as I noticed the embarrassed pout forming on her lips. "Honestly, I think denial would've made it worse. You saw how relentless she is."
"Still!" Riza muttered, clearly flustered. "Next time, you deal with her."
"Deal," I said, finally allowing myself a laugh.
Riza shot me a sideways glare, but her expression softened after a moment. "I swear, this ship is full of nosy people," she grumbled, though the corner of her mouth twitched upward in a reluctant smile.
"You know," I began, nudging her lightly, "she's not wrong. We do kind of act like we're in a holo sometimes."
Riza stopped walking and turned to face me fully, her eyes narrowing. "You better stop right there, Pepper."
I held up my hands, feigning innocence. "Hey, I'm just saying—"
"Nope!" she interrupted, holding up a finger. "Not another word."
Her seriousness only made me laugh harder, and despite her best efforts, she couldn't help but crack a smile. We resumed walking, the tension easing into a more comfortable silence as the theater deck came into view.
As the illuminated sign for the movie glowed in the distance, Riza let out a dramatic sigh. "If she finds us again, I'm hiding behind you."
"Fine by me," I said with a grin. "But don't be surprised if she still gets the last word."
"Oh, she will," Riza muttered, shaking her head with a defeated laugh. "That woman is relentless."
"She's also probably the highlight of our night," I pointed out.
Riza glanced at me, her smile softening. "Okay, maybe. But only because she made it fun."
"Exactly," I said, opening the door to the theater lobby for her. "Now let's see if this movie can top her performance."
Riza laughed as we stepped inside, her earlier frustration already fading into the background.