Page 16 of Stalker

"So." Eve slides into the booth across from me. "Spill the deets."

"There's nothing to tell." I poke at my salad.

"Nothing to tell? You slept with a Reaper! That's like, straight out of 'Pirates of Passion' or 'Dark Desires in Deep Space.'"

"Keep your voice down!"

"Did he tie you up with those fancy quantum-locked restraints?"

My face burns. "Eve!"

"Where's your slave collar?" She leans forward, squinting at my neck. "I'm surprised you made it to class today, instead of still being tied to the bedposts..."

The fork trembles in my hand. Fine. She wants details? I'll give her details.

"You know what? All those rumors about Reapers? True. Every single one."

Eve's mouth drops open. "Even the thing about their-"

"Especially that."

"And the-"

"Yep."

"What about the-"

"Three times."

Eve fans herself with her napkin. "Holy shit."

"Now can we please talk about something else?"

"But-"

"The hydroponics exam next week. Professor Chen's new hairpiece. The weather in the biodome. Anything."

"Fine." Eve sighs dramatically. "But you're living every girl's fantasy right now. You know that, right?"

If she only knew the half of it.

Thank the stars Eve has Advanced Xenobiology next period. My cheeks still burn from her interrogation.

"See you tomorrow!" Eve winks. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

"That's a very short list."

The holovid flickers to life as I slip into my usual seat in Professor Zhang's engineering lab. The familiar blue glow of plasma coils fills the screen. My fingers trace the edge of my compad, mind drifting from the narrator's monotone explanation of containment fields.

I wrote fifteen pages on this exact topic last semester. Got an A too.

The compad screen lights up.

"Missing you already," I type, then delete it. Too clingy. "Hope your morning's going well." Send.

Three dots appear immediately. My heart skips.

"Better now that you messaged. Though I keep getting distracted by memories of last night."