You Should Be Loved - A short story inspired by a ballad from the 1997 musical Sideshow.
Violet walked down the corridor of the ship back to Jack's room feeling defeated. The medicine cabinet was very poorly stocked and she had not found what was needed.
She passed Ann's bedroom and heard the young actress crying. She cringed at the sound knowing those tears were not for Jack. They were for Kong drugged, tied up and trapped below deck.
She found the door open and stepped inside. Ann lay sprawled on the bed, her dress dirty and disheveled "Ann..."
"Go away." She snapped in a tear-soaked voice.
"Jack's been asking for you."
"I don't care."
Violet persisted. " He nearly died out there saving you and he might still..." She stopped and swallowed hard unable to bear her own thought. Ann did not respond in word or gesture. "Fine." She spat and stalked out of the room.
Damn Darrow, damn Denham, damn Kong! Violet's thoughts raged inside her head as she made her hasty way back to Jack's room. Damn Denham most of all! He had no right to trick Jack like that... no right at all and who the hell forgot to pack the quinine before a voyage to a goddamn jungle?! I swear I'll kill the incompetent idiot when we get back home!
Violet's anger quickly dissipated as she entered Jack's room. He sat up in bed shivering violently, a blanket clutched around his slim shoulders. His angular, strong-featured face was dreadfully pale and drawn and glistened with a fine layer of sweat. She sat down beside him and draped a comforting arm around him. Jack made a small miserable noise and rested his head against Violet's soft and ample breast. She wrapped her young, strong arms around him to try and calm the trembling a little but it went unabated even as feverish, paradoxical heat radiated from his body.
"Tell me something, Violet..." He managed through chattering teeth.
"Yes, Jack?"
"In all honesty, is it possible to freeze to death in the tropics?"
"You're not freezing, Jack. You just feel like you are. It's the chills from the malaria."
Jack nodded. "I know... God I want to get home." His lip quivered for a moment and his large green eyes blinked rapidly as he tried not to let the tears fall.
Anything solid left of Violet's heart melted. "Lie down on your side." Jack did so and Violet lay down beside him enveloping his body with hers.
"You're so warm, Violet." Jack mumbled but as the chills subsided he began to shake with sobs instead.
"It's Ann isn't it?"
"She hasn't been in to see me since I've been sick. She blames me for..."
"What happened to Kong?" Jack nodded. "As if anyone had any control over what Denham does. The man's insane."
Jack did not say anything in response. Violet tightened her arms around him and gulped back her own tears. God she wanted to wring Ann's scrawny neck. If she and Jack were truly in love then she would be happy for them. But this was not how Jack should be loved, not by a woman who clings to him until her own danger has past after which she goes off to brood over a future side-show freak. No, so far as Violet was concerned only one woman could love Jack the way he ought to be. But it would not happen.
Violet was a writer, one of the boys The most feminine she would ever get in their eyes was a sort of den mother. She didn't really expect much more being a sturdy, plump girl dressed in tweed jacket and matching skirt. Though even Jack had looked at her with what she perhaps could take for pleased surprises when she'd worn a light cotton dress the day they were tricked on board. Hers was not a bad figure but still not on par with the striking, lithe Ann and Violet had no illusions that she might ever be able to compete with her.
She looked up finding her eyes level with the back of Jack's neck. The skin there was pale and delicate. Wisps of dark hair cast shadows on the curved surface. Just below the shoulders were hunched and tense.
Something about Jack's posture forced the unthinkable from Violet's lips. " Jack, You don't deserve this and she doesn't deserve you." She leaned forward and planted a soft kiss on his neck.
He turned in her arms and faced her, that same look of pleased surprise in his deep green eyes. "You know, Violet when a man sees a gal almost every day and she's such a damn familiar sight, he can sometimes forget she isn't one of the boys... but sometimes you lay on one hell of a reminder, babe. You should do that more often." This time he leaned forward and brushed his mouth against hers. His tongue slid past her lips and Violet tasted two types of heat at once, figurative and literal fever. She responded in kind and moaned softly into the kiss as Jack's large but graceful hands gently kneaded the soft full flesh of her hips and buttocks through the thin fabric of the cotton dress.
"You feel good, Violet." A gentle prodding somewhat lower down told the young woman he meant it.
"So do you, Jack but..." Violet shook her head to clear her thoughts and regain a little control, " But we shouldn't be doing this now... not while you're ill. You know very well you love Ann and she'll...come round."
"I thought you said..."
"I know what I said." Violet said sharply but then her voice softened. "I was angry Jack. She hurt you and I don't like to see my... friends hurt. You know how protective I can be. Now," She added with her usual kind but brisk tone, "I'll go get you some hot tea."
Jack nodded and gave her a sad, half smile. "Thank you, Violet. You've always been a good... friend." His eyes seemed to show regret but Violet could not be sure. She could not be sure of his words or even feelings now anyway. Truth and lies get jumbled in raging fever and she would not betray herself now only to find Jack well and in love with Ann again.
But as Violet hurried to the galley she passed once again by Ann's door. Her tears still fell and just for Kong. Only for Kong.