David shrugged. “I guess so. He asked if I was interested in joining your colony.”
“And are you?”
“I’m thinking about it,” David said. “I lost my mom last winter, and I don’t have any brothers or sisters, so there’s not much keeping me here.”
Aelyx sat down beside him. “I hope you’ll go.”
“Yeah?” David seemed pleased to hear it. “So we’re cool?”
“Completely.”
“And we can keep this between us?”
“Yes and no,” Aelyx admitted. “I’ll try to control my thoughts, but I can only hide so much during Silent Speech.”
“But you can’t silent-talk to Colonel Rutter or my CO, right?”
“Right.”
“Then I’ll be okay.”
For the next few beats, they sat in awkward silence, both fidgeting with their hands and staring at their boots. Finally, David cleared his throat and forced a smile. “So, did you need something?”
Aelyx raised one brow in question.
“When you came in here,” David said with a teasing grin, “and caught me shooting up.”
Oh, right. He’d wanted advice on what to send Cara on the next transport. It seemed so trivial now, compared to David’s troubles. “It’s nothing.”
“Out with it.” David bounced up from the bed and crossed the room to lean against his dresser. “It’s about Cara, right?”
“How’d you know?”
Another shrug. “You only come to me with girl problems. I don’t know why you think I’ve got all the answers, though. It’s been a long time for me, my friend.”
“A long time since…?”
“I got laid.” He laughed casually, not the least bit embarrassed to discuss something so intimate. “I should be asking you for tips.”
David’s unabashed honesty gave Aelyx the confidence to admit his lack of experience. “My tips wouldn’t get you far. I’ve never…well…” He felt his face heating. “You know.”
David’s blond brows shot up his forehead. “Never? Not even with Cara?”
Aelyx shook his head. “She said it was too soon.”
“Ouch.” David sucked in a sharp breath while pushing off the dresser, then clapped Aelyx on the arm. “Tough break, man. But she’s got to be crazy about you. Otherwise she wouldn’t have left Earth, right?”
“I’m worried she’s having second thoughts,” Aelyx confided. “I want to send something to make her feel better.”
“Let me guess—you came to me for gift ideas?”
“Got any?”
“That’s the thing,” David said. “Girls like stuff that comes from the heart—something only you can give them. It has to be personal. I can’t tell you what to buy, or she won’t think it’s romantic.”
Aelyx considered that. Something only I can give her…
“Maybe a mushy letter,” David suggested. “Or glue your picture in a locket so she can wear it over her heart, or some crap like that. Whatever makes her feel closer to you.”
That gave Aelyx an idea, and he found himself smiling when he imagined Cara’s reaction. She would love it. More importantly, he hadn’t needed David to tell him what to send. “I know just the thing.”