Another chapter - please remember I own nothing.
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A few days later, herring season was well on its way, and Andi dove into her work. The boat repairs were finished, taking longer than planned, but were finished just in time, which made Johnathan happy. Chet was having a hard time keeping up with everything that needed to be done, and Andi found herself working behind him to fix his errors. The last greenhorn she had to work with was Jake on the Northwestern, and was grateful for the fact that the turnover ratio of deckhands on the boat was very low. She hated nothing more than training a greenhorn, especially that one that day. It was very obvious he had never worked on a boat, and found herself getting frustrated with him.
"Johnathan needs to screen the greenhorns better." She muttered to Mike while they watched the herring fill up their tanks. They were working on an offload for one of the many boats, and it was almost finished.
"I completely agree with you. But you have to admit, it is quite comical to watch him stumble around everywhere."
Andi smiled, watching the greenhorn figure out what to do next.
"You have to open the new latch now." Mike said to Chet. With that, Chet walked into the landslide of herring to open a hatch to another tank on the boat. He slipped almost as soon as he stepped on the hatch, and Andi smiled at his expense.
"Does Andi need to show you how it's done?" Mike asked him, laughing.
Chet, not wanting to be outdone by a girl, struggled to get to his feet, and then tried to open the hatch up, but the amount of fish sliding down over it was too much. Andi, seeing it was getting to the point where it had to come off or the other tank would overflow, made her way in to bail Chet out. With one swift motion, she had the hatch open and the herring cascaded into the empty tank.
"I did have it." Chet said, looking at Andi.
"You can show me how you had it next time." She said, smiling.
They worked non-stop for days while the herring season trekked on. Chet managed to have the crane hook hit him in the head a couple of times, and fall overboard once. Andi sat in the wheelhouse with Johnathan after he was brought back on deck.
"You sure do know how to pick them." Andi said to him, laughing.
"What if he started during crab season? We would have been screwed." He said, shaking his head. "What a waste of time."
"He has some spunk though. None of this is letting it get him down." She responded, watching Chet laugh at his own expense.
"Spunk gets you nowhere on this boat." Johnathan spat. "He needs to step it up and do something."
Andi shook her head, smiling. She put the cigarette she was smoking out and headed back outside to get ready to start the next boat offload they were going to work on. She watched as Chet did his best with setting the boat up for the herring that was about to come on board, and she just glanced at Mike, who was shaking his head, trying to show him, again, how to do things.
Andi, getting frustrated by how long it was taking, jumped in and started to bring the ties in that were holding the herring in one spot. She hooked them to the boat, watching Mike secure the other side of the net to the boat, and then she lowered the tube into the water to start sucking the herring onto the Time Bandit. The boat was known for the speed during tendering season, and Andi wasn't about to let Chet ruin that.
"Chet, you need to do what they are doing. We can afford to slow down the whole season for you." Johnathan said over the hailer.
Chet shook his head, trying not to get frustrated, but it wasn't working. He just glanced over at Andi, who was standing on the side of the boat, watching the herring come aboard.
"It's hard to learn when you have Andi who doesn't train, just buts in and does the work." Chet said, shaking his head.
"I've tried to train you. Sorry if you aren't getting it." She said, watching him with a scowl on her face.
"We can sure tell that you don't train greenhorns often." Mike said, laughing.
"I didn't even train Jake when he joined. I stayed out of his way. Edgar took Junior on for himself." She said, shaking her head. "I have no patience."
"We can tell." He added, laughing.
Andi watched as Mike opened a hatch to let herring into another tank. After they offloaded the current boat they were working with, they were going to head to the processing boat to offload their own boat. They untied the netting that was attached to the boat, and watched it fall to the water. She then heard Johnathan call to Mike and Andi to come up to the wheelhouse. Andi glanced over at Mike sho just shrugged his shoulders. The two of them left the deck, heading straight to the wheelhouse.
"What's up?" Mike asked, sitting on the bench.
"Herring season has just finished." He said, shaking his head.
"Already?" Andi asked, taking her hat off her head to reveal a rats nest of a mess.
"Yeah. The fastest herring season I've ever seen."
Andi shook her head, redoing her hair so it was out of her face before putting the hat back on.
"After this offload, we have to offload a few other boats that are waiting, and then we are done."
Andi made a face, knowing that meant that she would be home, back to reality, a lot faster than she wanted.
Andi took off her raingear after they offloaded the boat while they waited for another call for another offload. She stood on deck, waiting for one of the many boats to arrive to the Time Bandit. She sighed, knowing that an end was in sight. She wasn't ready to go back home. She was hoping that the season would last twice as long as it had, but she wasn't getting her dream.
Just then, she felt someone's arms go around her, and then pick her up. She then felt her and that someone go overboard and crash into the water. When she surfaced, she turned to see Mike laughing, swimming not far from her.
"What was that for?" She asked, splashing water in his direction.
"No sour faces allowed on this boat, so I had to get rid of it." He said with a smile.
Andi splashed him again, smiling.
"I hate you." She said, starting to swim back over to the boat.
"You love me. You know it." He said with a smile.
Johnathan, who was now looking over the side of the boat, was laughing, staring down at her.
"Did that cool you off a little?" He asked, laughing.
"You were in on this?" She asked him.
"It was my idea!" He said, proudly. "You have been walking around on this boat with a look on your face most of the trip. I don't know why, but I have remedies for that."
"Obviously. Are you going to help me back on the boat, or no?" She asked. He helped both Mike and herself get back on the boat, and Andi immediately headed inside to change her clothes. When she got to her room, she noticed that all of her clothes were missing. She shook her head, not knowing how she didn't see this coming. She walked out of her room, passing by Mike, who was drying his hair with a towel, and walked to the bathroom to grab a towel herself. She then saw all of her clothes, in the shower, completely soaked.
"Johnathan! Fourtner! I am going to kill you!" She screamed, coming out of the bathroom. "How am I supposed to get dry now?"
Johnathan sat down at the table, cracking up laughing.
"Now that was my idea." Mike said with a proud smile.
Andi shook her head.
"Paybacks are a bitch you know." She said, shaking her head. She started to grab her waterlogged clothes and started to wring them out. She then headed towards the washer and put them in. Once she washer was full, she headed to the bathroom to peel her soaked clothes off. She wrapped a towel around herself and then headed out to put them in the washer as well. She started the washer, and then headed into the galley were Mike, Chet, and Johnathan were waiting.
"I think I could get used to this." Johnathan said with a smile. "Mike, great plan."
"Somebody better give me something to wear, or living on this boat will be a living nightmare." She warned, putting her hands on her hips. "I know where each and every one of you sleep."
Everyone laughed, not moving.
"I'm serious." She said, glancing at each of them.
"Fine. You win." Mike said, standing up.
"How do you consider this winning? I'm soaking wet in a towel right now because of you." She said, watching him go into his room.
"You're getting clothes aren't you?" He asked, smiling.
Andi followed him into his room and watched as he pulled out a t-shirt and shorts out of his bag. She took them in her hand, and then smelt them to see if they were clean.
"They are clean, chill out. I am not that mean." He said, giving her a look.
"I plead the 5th." She said, setting the clothes down on the bed. She slipped the shorts on quickly, and then threw the shirt on over the towel that was still covering her up. Once the shirt was on, she slipped the towel off under the shirt, and then threw it at Mike.
"What am I going to do with this?" He asked.
"Whatever you want. Thanks for the clothes." She said, walking out of the room.
Mike watched her, and couldn't help but smile at the sight of her in his clothes. Andrea sat down in the galley, giving Johnathan a look out of the corner of her eye. Mike took the seat next to her, and they decided to play some cards.
Later that evening, after Andi's clothes were clean and dry, Johnathan took Mike and Andi into town for a few drinks when everything was done for the trip. He had told Chet that it wasn't going to work out for crab season, which Chet said he had seen coming. Andi took her beer in hand, applauding Johnathan for his 'wise' hire.
"Next year I'm just going to run it with you two. You did it on your own as it was anyway." He said, laughing.
"It would have been nice to have a third person, but yeah, it would have gone more smoothly without Chet." Mike said, laughing.
"Never saw the side of Andi that we saw this trip though until now." Johnathan said with a smile.
"And what side was that?" She asked with a sad look on her face.
"You and greenhorns don't mix. I'm surprised Jake didn't run crying from the boat after his first season with you."
Andi laughed at the comment. She never tried to be mean towards greenhorns, but couldn't stand training them.
"Wait a minute." Johnathan said, setting his drink down on the bar. He then grabbed Andi's hand to take a better look at it. "Where'd it go? Don't tell me you lost it in the water."
Andi took her hand back, glancing over at Mike, who was sitting on the other side of Johnathan.
"No, didn't lose it. I know exactly where it is." She said, taking a drink.
"Is it back on the boat?" He asked.
"Nope. Back at the house, sitting on the nightstand last I saw it." She responded, not really wanting to get into the conversation, but figured now was better than later.
"And why is it there? Troubles in paradise?" He asked, laughing.
"You could say that. Sleeping with another woman does cause that." She said.
Johnathan's smile left his face.
"What do you mean by that?" He asked.
"You know what I mean." She responded, taking one of his cigarettes out of the case sitting in front of him. "There is only one way that a person can take that."
"He didn't." He said. "You're better than any other chick out there, why would he cheat on you?"
"Why don't you ask him that? Supposively the fact that he did it behind my back was okay, where as me drinking and getting drunk in front of you guys and flirting a little was way worse since he was right there."
Johnathan laughed at the comment.
"He didn't say that, did he?"
Andi nodded.
"Jackass." He said, shaking his head. "He didn't know how good he had it until now."
Andi shrugged her shoulders, glancing over at Mike, who was staring at his drink. She excused herself to use the restroom, leaving Johnathan and Mike to sit in silence with their thoughts.
"I can't believe Blake is that much of a dumbass." Johnathan said, shaking his head.
"He never deserved her." Mike said, shaking his head.
"Of course you would say that. You want to be with her." He said, glancing over at Mike. He took a drink of his beer, then added "I think she'll go back to him, to be honest."
"Why do you say that?"
"I can tell she still loves him. I have a feeling she will give him another chance."
Mike shook his head, hoping that she wouldn't do what he was saying.
"Notice she didn't openly say the wedding was off?" He asked him.
Mike glanced at Johnathan.
"She said it to me." He said.
"But didn't openly say it when I asked her about the RSVP. She's not ready to let go."
Mike made a face, finishing his drink.
Andi walked back up to them at that moment, taking the seat back next to Johnathan. They all sat at the bar for a little while longer, enjoying a couple more drinks, before heading back to the boat to get some sleep. Andi jumped on deck and walked along it, making sure that everything was still secure, before heading inside.
"What are you doing?" Mike asked her, watching her walk along the side of the boat.
"Just making sure." She said, shrugging her shoulders.
He watched her, and he could tell how sad she really was. She put on a front in front of them, but it was obvious it was all a lie. He decided at that point that he wasn't going to let her sulk in her misery. He ran up behind her and picked her up and threw her over his shoulder.
"Mike! What are you doing?" She yelled. "If you throw me in the water again, I will murder you."
"You're not going in the water. I'm just trying to cheer you up." He said, bringing her inside. He brought her down to the galley and set her down on the bench. She moved her hair out of her face, laughing.
"There's that smile that we all missed." He said, smiling at her.
"Thanks." She said, looking over at him.
"What do you want to do? Sleep? Or something else?" He asked.
"I kind of want to watch a movie." She said, shrugging her shoulders.
"Done." He said, turning on the TV and opening the drawer that had the large supply of DVD's in it. They chose a comedy to watch, and he then grabbed a couple of soda's. He climbed into the bench next to Andi after starting the movie.
They laid there and watched the movie in silence. Andi would occasionally glance at Mike, but he was staring intently at the movie. After about the fifth time of glancing over, he looked at her, smiling.
"What?" He asked, laughing a little.
"Nothing. Just wanted to thank you." She said softly.
"For what?"
"Everything." She said, shrugging her shoulders.
"Um, no problem?" He asked, laughing.
Andi fidgeted with the shirt she was wearing.
"Not allowed to get sad though!" he said, smiling. "It's not allowed."
Andi smiled, glancing at him. She then leaned over and kissed him. At first, he was surprised by what she did, and then felt himself kiss her back. He ran his fingers through her hair, loving the feeling of her lips against his, not wanting the moment to end. He then stopped kissing her, going against everything that was telling him to keep going, and she looked at him a little upset.
"Andi, we can't do this." He said, looking at her.
She nodded, not looking at him.
"Believe me, I'd love too, but I'm not going to be that guy." He said.
"What guy?" She asked.
"Your rebound guy. You would only be doing this to get back at Blake, and believe me, he deserves to be hurt for what he did to you, but I don't want to be that guy. I want to be with you in different circumstances, not the ones that you are under now."
She nodded, smiling a small smile at him. She knew he was right. She would only be doing it to get back at Blake for the hurt he had caused her, and in turn, she would be hurting Mike as well, and didn't want to do that to him.
The two of them decided to go to bed at that time. Andi crawled into bed, sighing. Mike said good-night to her, and she looked at him, upset.
"You have stayed in this bed every night since we have been up here, and now you are going to sleep in your own bed?" She asked, smiling.
"I'll stay in here if you promise not to hit on me." He said with a smile.
Andi laughed.
"You're safe." She said, looking at him.
He climbed into the bed next to her and she rested her head on his shoulder.
"Thanks again." She said, sighing.
He nodded, wrapping his arms around her to give her a hug.
"Good night Andi." He said, sighing.
Here you go. Don't know when I will get a chance to update again. Have a busy busy weekend ahead of me. PLEASE tell me what you think! Luv the feedback! :)