Martian Revelations: Corey's Chaste Journey of Self-Awareness

I had never seen anything like the red desert. It was as if someone had taken all of the most beautiful places in the world and dumped them all into one place. The sunlight hit the sand like water hitting a beach, it was that vibrant. There were deep blue skies, but that wasn't what caught my eye.

The people. They were beautiful; every one of them. The women had skin like chocolate, and their hair was so shiny that it nearly glowed. Their lips were full, sexy, and-

"Corey? You still with me?"

Uma's voice pulled me from my trance. I looked over to see her smiling at me from across our room. She wrinkled her nose adorably before chuckling softly to herself. "You've been staring out of the window for hours now."

I smiled back at her bashfully, "Yeah I have." I moved towards my bed and plopped down on it with a sigh. My heart felt light and heavy at the same time as I stared up at Uma as she sat down on her own bed. She was so stunning; a literal angel was sitting next to me right now! "How do you do it?" I asked her in awe.

Uma's smile widened slightly before she turned away from me slightly and shrugged her shoulders, "Do what?"

I propped myself up onto my elbows before replying excitedly, "Be so... perfect!"

"I'm not perfect," Uma replied flatly as she began rolling up her sleeves. "I just look good for my age." Her eyes flickered over to me briefly before she looked back down at her hands. She didn't say anything else after that, only picked up whatever delicate piece of equipment she was working on earlier and continued tinkering with it quietly as I stared at her in awe.

"So we won't be seeing any other students or professors today?" Corey asked suddenly, breaking his gaze away from Uma reluctantly before standing up from his bed and stretching his arms up high above his head. His body felt sore from the long trip here yesterday but he didn't mind much; this view made it worth it.

"No," Uma replied simply, "We're going to be doing some more training today." She set down whatever she was working on before moving over to the window to look out into the distance by herself.

Corey moved closer to her and leaned against the window sill beside Uma as they both stared out of the window together toward the horizon line where the red desert met a dark blue sky. He watched her out of the corner of his eye while he breathed in deeply through his nose; there was something different about Uma today compared to yesterday when they first met here in their room together after being assigned as roommates by Dr. Magnusson last night . . . almost like she wasn't wearing any perfume or cologne today . . . which seemed strange for someone who looked like her because he could smell pretty girls from miles away even when they weren't wearing any perfume or cologne! But that wasn't why he couldn't stop thinking about her since he first met her last night; maybe it was because of how graceful she was last night when they introduced themselves to each other? Or how kind she was when she helped him unpack his things? Maybe he just felt this way because they were both young college students going off to an exciting new adventure together? Or maybe he just thought about her because he suddenly realized how empty this room would feel without her presence after he went home for fall break next week? Without thinking about what he was doing Corey suddenly blurted out before he could stop himself,