Normal Dad Behavior

Posted on Tue Mar 25th, 2025 by Paige Cohen & Charlotte Preston

1,096 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: M01 - The Hooke
Location: Cohen Quarters, USS Hooke
Timeline: Present

Almost immediately after getting back to the ship, Paige went to the quarters she shared with her father and the Captain of the ship. She was very giddy and excited though both Hayden and her had agreed to wait until tomorrow to actually call each other on subspace. Paige could think of little else all the way to her bedroom even with Charlotte close in tow, it seemed that Kate had a call to make so her third friend didn't join them.

As soon as the door to her small room had closed Paige collapsed backwards onto her mattress and grinned wildly, she'd almost forgotten that Charlotte had followed her in the first place. When Paige realized she was being watched so closely she turned bright pink. "What?"

"You don't have a crush on this Hayden kid do you?" Charlotte said with a soft giggle. She sat down on the edge of the bed next to where Paige was laying. "All right, now out with it. I want all the details!"

Paige sighed because she knew there was no point in pretending, "He's cute," She told her friend. "I'm really excited to talk to him tomorrow." Paige sat up and slid all the way to the wall opposite from where Charlotte was sitting. "I didn't expect to meet some boy on the planet though so that part is probably a little weird right?"

"No," Charlotte answered her. "Why do you have to wait until tomorrow to talk to him? Why not call him now that we're back on the ship?"

Paige shrugged, "We agreed to wait until tomorrow to talk. He was probably busy with something anyway, and I don't know when my father will come from the bridge it's getting kind of late in the day." She admitted, "I don't want him to know just yet. I'm not trying to keep a secret from him or anything, I usually tell him everything you know?"

Charlotte shrugged and assumed the question to be rhetorical. "This is probably normal," She replied. "You could always seek advice from the new counselor, she seems nice enough. I don't know if I would have asked the Counselor we had before, she was kind of weird." Charlotte had heard some quiet whispers while wandering around the ship about Aval, and none of the things she heard were all that good.

"Nah," Paige said. "If I tell the Counselor she might tell my Dad. I am so not ready for him to find out," She shooed the air with her hand. "I'll tell him in a few days probably," She shrugged. Paige wasn't sure if she was comfortable with him knowing just yet, she didn't know how he'd react. Besides, it had been just the two of them for so long.

"I'm sure he'll be accepting once he does find out right?" Paige asked and frowned.

Charlotte didn't have an answer and furrowed her brow at the question. She scrunched her face for a moment then relaxed, "I don't know, you know him better than I do." She answered. "I know my Dad would probably not like me talking to boys, I think that's typical Dad behavior though." She shrugged, "Sorry that I'm not much help."

Paige sighed and looked at her feet, she kicked off her shoes so that soon her feet were down to just her socks. "Typical Dad behavior," She mumbled. Paige looked back toward Charlotte no longer wanting to talk about Hayden or her Dad so she opted to change the subject. "What did you think about hanging out with Kate?"

Charlotte smiled at first then frowned, "I'm ready for her to come out of her shell a bit more. I like her, a lot." She answered.

"Oh really?" Paige asked and looked down the bridge of her nose.

Charlotte groaned, "Not like that," She shook her head feeling a tinge of embarrassment, her cheeks brightening at the same moment. "I like her in a friendly way, but I don't know if she likes me, or us." She shrugged, "I was kind of surprised we were able to talk her into going down to the planet, and I thought she'd back out at the last second too."

Paige continued to grin, "I knew what you meant," She replied in a playful tone. Then Paige's expression shifted as she became more serious, "I was under the impression we'd get to the transporter room and she wouldn't be there. I'm glad she came along."

Charlotte nodded slowly, "Her Dad was kind of surprised when I talked to our parents about it. I think he was happy we got her off the ship for a little bit, which tells me she's spent a lot of time locked away on the previous ship." She shrugged, "I guess that makes sense, her friend is someone from over subspace."

"True," Paige answered. "We'll just keep talking to her and trying to get her to do more things with us." She shrugged her shoulders slowly then crossed her arms over her stomach, "She just needs to come further out of her shell I think... It's just the three of us on board after all."

"Right," Charlotte agreed. "I think we should give it a few days though, we may have overwhelmed her a little bit so just talking to her should be fine. Though, I'm also afraid if we don't spend more time with her relatively soon she may get mixed messages."

"Maybe," Paige replied. "Let's just invite her as much as we can and see what she says?" She smiled warmly while thinking about Kate. Paige liked Kate a lot, and wanted somewhat desperately for the three of them to become friends. Whereas she wasn't sure just how much of a social meter Kate had. "I think perhaps that is something we should consider talking to the Counselor about."

Charlotte didn't know she was nervous about talking about Kate to another person besides Paige when it was just the two of them. Things could get really complicated really fast and they may end up causing a conflict rather than a friendship. She shrugged, "Let's just try to be her friend."

"Okay," Paige agreed. "I've got an idea," She said suddenly. "Let's go to the holodeck and see if it's available."

Charlotte shrugged, "Sure."

Paige smiled and let a soft laugh before sliding completely off her bed toward the edge where she jumped off. Then she took Charlotte by the hand and quickly led the other girl toward the turbo lift.

 

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