“Why do you think I’m making the soufflé?”
* * *
I stopped by my quarters to change before going to the garden because there was no way I was going to show up to our surprise date wearing ratty jeans and a T-shirt with a hole in the armpit while DJ was wearing a suit. I didn’t have a suit that fit, but I found nice pants and a collared shirt that weren’t wrinkled. Balancing the soufflé dish in the crook of my elbow without burning myself while I opened the door to the oxygen garden was tricky, but I managed without dropping anything, which was kind of a minor miracle.
I stood on the path and took a deep breath. “This is ridiculous,” I said to myself. “Why am I doing this? Because a computer program told me to? She’s not a real therapist.” But I couldn’t deny that Dr. Kim was right. This was the one thing I hadn’t tried. Not that I expected it to change the outcome.
“Noa?” DJ’s voice seemed to be coming from everywhere at once, but that was just a trick of the dome. I knew exactly where he was.
“It’s me,” I said.
“Hurry up,” he called back. “I’ve got something to show you.”
I took the long way to the pond, dragging my feet even while I was anxious to reach DJ and get this over with. And then there he was. DJ, standing at the edge of the water by a picnic blanket laid out on the grass, wearing that tan suit with his hair brushed back. I’d seen him in that suit a dozen times, but this was the first time I really saw him. The slightly green cast to his skin, the sheen of sweat on his forehead. He was terrified. He was as scared as I was. Maybe more.
“What’s that?”
I held up the dish. “A chocolate soufflé.” The top had risen to form a perfect rounded dome. “I’ve never had one come out before. I thought it would go well with dinner.”
DJ’s mouth fell open, but no words escaped.
“I know this is a date, DJ.”
“Jenny told you, didn’t she?”
I shook my head. “Call it a feeling.” I set the soufflé down beside the containers that held the rest of the food DJ had prepared. “You look nice.”
DJ blushed furiously and plucked at the suit. “It’s too small. And too big.” He cleared his throat. “We should eat. Are you hungry? I’m hungry. There’s spaghetti and garlic bread and salad. It’s nothing like you would’ve made, but I managed to do this without setting the galley on fire.”
“It looks great, DJ,” I said. “Really.”
DJ served dinner and we sat on the blanket to eat. Both of us seemed intent on keeping our mouths stuffed with food so that we didn’t have to speak. The garden was filled with the sounds of the drone bees buzzing and the splashing of the small waterfall at the other end of the pond.
“I thought you might like the sunset,” DJ said when he’d finished eating. He’d gotten a dribble of marinara sauce on his jacket, but I didn’t bother to tell him. It was kind of cute.
“It’s beautiful. How’d you do it?”
DJ shrugged. “It was easy, actually. I can change it to night, too. Or make it so that it keeps time with the same twenty-four-hour cycle that Qriosity’s running. I think it’s always daytime to maximize the amount of light the plants receive.”
“Makes sense.” I leaned back and stared up at the smudges of color smeared across the dome. “I like it this way.”
“Me too.”
I caught DJ watching me. “What?”
“Tell me how you knew I was planning this,” he said. “Did you see me cooking? I tried to do it while you were asleep—”
“It’s not important right now.”
“Oh.” DJ picked at a blade of grass, pulling it up and tying it into a knot. “I wasn’t sure you’d be happy with me for doing this. I was scared you’d run away.”
Thankfully, I’d also finished eating or I might’ve choked. “Run away?” I forced a laugh. “Why would I do that?”
DJ cocked his head to the side and fixed me with a knowing frown. “I’m just going to take it as a good omen that you’re still here and that you brought dessert.”
“Speaking of dessert.” I dished up the soufflé, which was still moist and warm inside. The chocolate was rich and decadent, and I didn’t think I’d be able to eat much, as full as I was after dinner, but I ate every spoonful.
“Will you think badly of me if I lick my plate?” DJ asked.
“I’d think badly of you if you didn’t.”
DJ laughed, but he was seriously eyeing the remains of the soufflé stuck to the inside of the dish it had been baked in. I might have fought him for it, but I didn’t think I could eat another bite without vomiting.
“How about a walk?” DJ asked. I agreed, and he helped me to my feet. We strolled through the garden, admiring the various flora that lined the path.
“Do you think all of these are from Earth?” I asked. “I recognize some, but others I’m not familiar with.”
“I don’t know. It’s weird to think we might be wandering among alien flowers.”
“Would it be any stranger than anything else we’ve experienced?”
DJ pursed his lips as he thought. “I guess not.”
“I keep wondering why us,” I said. “Like, why us specifically. There has to be something about you and me and Jenny that made someone kidnap and keep us here, but I can’t figure out what it could be.”
“Me neither.”
“Did we do something wrong? Are we being punished for crimes I can’t remember?” I stopped in front of a curtain of vines hanging from the catwalks overhead and breathed in the scent wafting from the orange flowers. It was like honey but with a salty undertone. When I turned to walk again, DJ was giving me a queer look. “What?”
“You think this is punishment?”
“Feels like it sometimes.”
“Oh.” His shoulders slumped as he walked ahead.
I caught up to DJ and nudged him with my elbow. “What?”
“Nothing,” he said. Then, “It’s just that this, being here with you, sure doesn’t feel like punishment to me. It feels like maybe I did something all right in a past life that I’m finally being rewarded for.”
“Liar.”
“I’m serious!” DJ said. He took my hand and pulled me to a stop so that he was facing me. “I like you, Noa. You probably already know that because I’m not real good at hiding my feelings, but in case you don’t know, I think you’re amazing. I like how your smile reaches your eyes and how your nostrils flare when you get really serious. I like that you’re stubborn and that not even dying can stop you. I like that you’re brave—”
“I’m not brave.”
DJ snorted. “If what happened to you the day we woke up here had happened to me, I never would’ve put on a spacesuit again. But you did.”
“Out of necessity.”
“Doesn’t matter,” DJ said. “You’re brave, Noa. And stronger than even you know.”
I shut my eyes and sighed. This was why I had walked away that first day. Because I didn’t want to do this. “You only like me because there are no other guys on Qriosity. If we were on Earth—”