Space

Jason sat at the window, looking out at the pitch black space that lay around the ship, dotted with the light of stars millions of miles away. They had been traveling between planets for a little over four months, and Jason had spent little time talking to anyone outside of his work on the ship. He had been hired for the job solely on his prowess. He didn't have anything against that, and this was the experience of a lifetime. But living on his own, in space, for a year long contract, knowing no one else on board, was not the easiest thing he had ever done. He knew it would happen, and the pay was more than worth it. But that didn't make it easy.

He leaned back in his chair, listening to the music that was playing in the bar, and lifted his glass to drink. He wasn't a heavy drinker, but small amounts of alcohol did allow him to unwind at the end of a day and get his mind to wander, allowing him to forget about how lonely he was. It wasn't that he desperately needed people to talk to, but it certainly would be nice.

As he set down his drink, he heard the sound of the chair opposite him sliding out as another person sat down at his table. He turned away from the window to see who it was, and found a woman whom he had occasionally seen around the ship. He had no idea what her name was, and he wasn't sure that she would have known his either. He had no idea why she would decide to sit with him, but he smiled and nodded his head to her anyway.

"You're the engineer, right?" she asked. Jason raised his eyebrow, surprised that she would know that about him. He didn't think he had made much of a name for himself on the ship.

"I'm an engineer, yeah," he responded. "Name's Jason. Yours?"

"Hayley," she replied, offering her hand. Jason took it and shook it firmly. "I work in the hospital sector. I hear you were the one who fixed my equipment."

It was then that Jason understood why she knew him. He had completely forgotten he had been sent to the medical ward to fix some faulty equipment. It hadn't taken him very long, though now that he thought about it, if he hadn't fixed the problems a lot of things could have gone wrong. "Yeah, that was me. I'm sorry, I kind of forgot I had done that. A lot of my work tends to mix together in my head."

"I wanted to thank you personally for doing that," she continued. "I could have hurt a lot of people with faulty equipment. My work is very dear to me, and you enabled me to do it. Thank you."

Jason smiled. "It was nothing, really. I'm just doing my job."

"Is there anything I can do to thank you?"

Jason blinked, surprised once again. "It's fine," he responded. "Really. You don't need to do anything for me."

"I know, but I want to." Hayley's eyes were staring at him, making him realize just how serious she was being. "Tell me what I can do for you."

"There's really not much that I need. I get by just fine up here. The only thing I don't really have is someone to talk to."

Hayley grinned and sat back in her chair. "I can do that," she said. Jason raised his eyebrow again, but this time he smiled at her. "I can be the best damn friend you've ever had," she continued. Jason laughed at that. "And I will be. Deal?"

Jason chuckled as he watched her extend her hand out to him once again. "Deal," he said, and shook it once more.