Hooked on a Feeling
Posted on July 22nd, 2015 by Alexis Wright

The next morning found Alexis in her stateroom, dashing off quick letters to her brothers and her father, letting them know she was alright and looked forward to seeing them all soon, though she meant it for certain values of alright and varying degrees of wanting to see them soon. To her brother Bryan, she wrote a bit more, explaining that she’d become close with another officer, Commander Kathryn Harper, and would be going to Risa to meet Kate’s family, among other things.

"I’m excited and nervous," she wrote, "social situations like this are not really my area of expertise, but I really want them to like me. I just hope I make a good impression and I don’t end up being embarrassing to Kate."

She paused and thought for a moment before continuing.

"The battle was something I hope I never experience again, but for Kate it had to have been so much harder – she was out there in the thick of it in a Mustang, and she lost so many ships and pilots… I just hope I can be of some help in her recovery from this. I’m in uncharted space here, Bryan." She chewed on her lower lip in thought. "I was really terrified I was going to lose her. Kate has come to mean a lot to me over the past few months. What would I do if I lost … my best friend?" She raked her fingers through her hair and reread her letter before adding pleasantries and hitting send before she could change her mind.

She hadn’t meant for her letter to talk so much about Kate, but Kate really had become very important to her… perhaps as… more than a friend? She shook her head in confusion. What did that even mean? Was she developing… feelings for Kate?

If she was, would they be welcome?

She blushed from head to toe in the privacy of her stateroom. Her experience with men was… limited, rather awkward, and largely unsuccessful, and she’d pretty much given up on the idea of romance. But with a woman? Her experience there was nil. To be honest, she’d never even considered it before now. Did she have feelings for Kate?

She was beginning to think that she might.

WOULD they be welcome? She thought back to the conversation at the show last night.

Maybe?

The thought made her break out in an uncontrollable blushing grin. Then she was sobered by a thought – was she willing to jeopardize their friendship based on these feelings? That gave her pause. How serious was she about them? She wasn’t sure. Uncharted space. But most of all, would they be WELCOME?

She realized she was going to drive herself crazy with the not knowing and resolved to do something more productive: Work on Operation Make a Good Impression. Step 1 was to do what she did best – research. She spent the next couple of hours researching Risan culture and traditions… again. She eventually realized that she did, indeed, need to go shopping and set off to the shopping area in search of some traditional Risan clothing.

Operation Make a Good Impression was going to be a success if it killed her. And somehow, she was going to find out if her feelings were real and if they were welcome. Without jeopardizing their friendship. Somehow…