Raleigh felt the dress Sam had thrown to her. The fabric was soft, far softer than anything she was used to wearing. Her hands continued to feel it and — was that padding?
“Sam! Really?” she yelled back down the corridor, “you’re making me feel like I’m fifteen again!”
“What— oh!” Sam called back, “we need you to look more adultish!”
“Adultish!? I’m twenty-one for crying out loud! You’re the one giving me the dress with the padded bust!”
“It’s not that bad!”
“It’s the principle!”
“Get over it!” Sam said and shut her cabin door. She looked at the dress that she had hanging off a hook. It was the Salian dress from the souq in Ares. Dull gold, silky, knee length, the elaborate embroidering so typical of the country Sam had lived and served. If anything, it was a reminder of a past life. This whole assignment seemed to be one big reminder of how things used to be.
Sam stripped off her clothes, wrapped herself in a towel, and headed to the bathroom to wash up.
It was after washing her hair when she realized that she probably should shave her legs for the occasion. It was easy to forget; the past few times they’d gone planetside had all been in climates too chilly for anything other than trousers and jeans. On the Vagabond, well, it was just them on board. Raleigh might as well be her sister and Ven, well, besides occasionally nicknaming her ‘fuzzy-legs’ when he noticed, didn’t seem to care care. In any case, it was Ven, what did she care?
She paused, razor still resting on her calf, why didn’t she care about Ven? No, she did care, she just wasn’t concerned about impressing him. Or maybe it was more that she didn’t need to get all dolled up to impress him. Yeah, she appreciated the inevitable compliment he gave her whenever she did dress up, but she knew he’d probably say something nice anyway. She was comfortable around him, that was it.
Maybe too comfortable, she thought as she dried off and wrapped herself back in her towel. If McLean was going to be staying onboard she should probably find her old bathrobe.
“All set?” Ven asked when he saw her coming out. Fortunately, McLean was nowhere to be found.
“Give me another half an hour,” Sam thought of doing her hair and make up. That seemed a conservative guess.
“Take as long as you need,” he replied, “oh yeah, you might wanna invest in a bathrobe seeing as, you know, McLean’s onboard now.”
“I was thinking the same thing,” she said and disappeared into her cabin.
Sam slipped into her dress and inspected herself in the mirror. She raised her arms over her head and twirled, immediately chastising herself for doing something so girly. Then she did it again.
Despite her old misgivings she found herself looking forward to the night. Wearing the nice dress, Ven in his matching tie… Sure, it was an assignment to coordinate with suppliers, but still, it was going to be fun.
There was a knock at the door.
“Come in,” she said, talking around the hairpin in her mouth.
“Hey, Samantha,” said McLean.
“Oh, Isaiah,” Sam had been expecting Ven and did her best to hide her disappointment, “yeah?”
“Ah, it’s gold,” he said.
“Huh?”
“Your dress,” he explained, “I wanted to make sure whatever tie I wore didn’t clash with your dress.”
“Why with mine?”
“Astego didn’t tell you?” he asked, “he told me to be your escort tonight.”
“Oh, right, that,” Sam said evenly, “you brought more than one tie?”
“Just two, a black and a blue one. I figure I’ll wear the black one. Blue just…”
“Good choice,” Sam pulled a bunch of her hair back and stated working it into a braid, “so, I’ll see you tonight?”
“Aye, tonight,” McLane flashed a grin and closed the door.
Sam finished her braid and started on another. So she wasn’t going with Ven after all and that, yes, that was disappointing. It made sense, though, Sam should have known that Ven would not have let McLane go with Raleigh. That was how he was.
So much for matching.
