alright, how many months was that?

Chapter 14

The creak of my pathetic bedframe woke me yet again, as well as the dip in the space next to mine as a body filled the gap left for it. I turned, half asleep, to the welcome figure next to me and lifted my head from my pillow, letting his arm slip under my neck so that my head rested on his shoulder and his arm wrapped around my body. I breathed in his skin and listened to his own breathing even out.

I couldent help but breathe a laugh into his shoulder as a thought came to me. 'Seems kinda backwards, the way we're doing this,' I whispered.

'Why's that?' Jim replied sleepily.

'Back in New York, the last thing I'd be doing with a boy is sharing a bed with him every night.'

Jim snorted lightly. 'Guess we're gonna have to get you used to the fact that you're not in New York anymore, eh?' He said and pulled me closer to him, shut his eyes, and promptly fell into a solid slumber.

I was awake early the next morning, and quickly set about preparing breakfast for the crew. The sea was tame today, seemingly exhausted from the storm that had been thrown at us the previous evening.

Jimmy was gone when I woke, and I took advantage of the time alone that was rarely given to me in a ship full of men. I whipped up some hearty, chunky oatmeal for the crew and set about my own business, confident that everyone would help themselves when they smelled the food.

I stole away to the derelict bathroom of the Venture and soaked my hair under the salt water spraying tap, and scrubbed my rough bar of soap through it. My hair, or frankly, the rest of me, was never the clean that I remembered it being when I'd lived in New York. Cold, salty water was not 5 star, but it did the job. I emerged from the bathroom rubbing the water from my hair, slipped into my room for my sketchbook, and made my way out to the Venture's deck. The sunlight that pitched from the early morning sun both exhilerated and relaxed me. The sea wind that blew off the water was cool and fresh, and I let it dance through my loose wet hair to dry it.

I walked to the bow of the boat, which was deserted save for one person.

Anne Darrow stood at the crunched bow. I quickly pulled up a crate and sat, turning to a blank page in my sketchbook. I drew Anne's thin fingers clasping the cold railing, her dress waving about in the wind. I had nearly finished the sketch when a shadow blocked the light from behind me suddenly, and I nearly jumped out of my skin.

With a gasp, I leapt off my crate and turned around, clutching my sketchbook to my chest.

'Jesus christ, Jim!' I exhaled, 'You scared me half to death!'

He was sheepish and obviously trying to hide a smile as he brought a hand up to rub the back of his neck.

'Just admiring, is all..' he said, half grinning.

Anne was at my side then, looking at the book in my hands, lightly tugging it from me.

'I wish you'd tell me when you're drawing me, June,' she said, finally pulling the sketch from my still clenched fingers, and examined it more closely. 'However,' she continued, 'If these are the results you get from catching people unawares, you might as well keep doing it. You have a real talent, June.'

She handed back my sketchbook, smiled at both Jim and I, and drifted away across the deck once more, most likely retreating to her room again.

I sat back on my crate in a huff. Jimmy knealt down on the balls of his feet next to me, his elbows resting on his knees.

'I'm still angry with you for sneaking up on me, you know.' I grumbled, straightening my papers up and closing my sketchbook. My loose hair flew about my head in the cool wing that was beginning to pick up around us.

'I like your hair when it's down, June.' Jimmy said, catching a lock of it in his quick fingers.

I rolled my eyes at him.

'What's that supposed to do? Earn my forgiveness?' I mumbled, mock-frowning.

'No,' he said, and his left hand came to touch my chin. He turned my face towards his, and suddenly he was very close to me. There was a slight small playing on his lips. He pushed his lips softly into mine, and again I was surprised at how I melted into him. He must have noticed to, as his lips curved into a grin against mine. He pulled back, still grinning, as I flushed and drew in a deep breath.

'Since when did you become Mr Romance?' I teased.

Jim turned a light shade of red then, and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

'Since I met you, I suppose,' he answered.

I glanced up at the wing bridge above us, and then to the deck around us. Both were still empty of any other crewmen.

'What are you looking fo-'

Jim's words were cut off by my lips, firmly pressed to his this time. He froze slightly in what I took to be surprise before moving a rough hand to my cheek. I tilted my head and found my hands wrapping themselves up around his neck, into the hair on the back of his head. I felt his lip's part, and the slight touch of his tongue to my lower lip pulled mine open, as well.

As the kiss deepend I felt my head spin. Jim's left hand was at my waist, his right at my jaw as our mouths worked against each other. The need for air was the only thing that made me pull away, gasping for a few breaths.

Jim was breathing deep breaths of air across from me, his blue eyes darker, more intense than I'd ever seen them.

He leaned towards me again, his eyes drifting closed as his face tilted into mine...

'Jim, break's over!'

Jim stiffened, a scowl of frustration on his face as he pulled away.

'Get back up here, this weather is perfect for navigation.' Englehorn hollered from the wing bridge, a slight jest in his tone.

Jim's eyes were still intense and dark when he opened them, but quickly found the light spark that lit them once more. A grin splayed across his face.

'No privacy on this damn steamer,' he mumbled, before kissing me once more, quickly and soundly, before bouding up to the wing bridge and the captain's quarters.

I looked up to the wing bridge, face flushed and hot, to Englehorn who stood with his arms crossed on his chest, an amused look on his face.

I raised a hand weakly up at him in aknowledgement, weakly saying 'Captian,' as I did so.

Englehorn laughed, shook his head and turned into his 'office' after Jimmy.

The day passed slowly and smoothly, as most did on the Venture. Men moved about the ship, doing their respectable jobs, if a bit lazily in the good weather. The storm from the night before didnt seem to have phased a soul - a good sign that the crew was returning to normal after the losses it had suffered previously, I thought. They galley was clean, as was the mess hall, and in the sheer need to put myself to work, I pulled out a large wooden basin and filled it with water warmed on the stove to do some of my laundry. All of my laundry, really. I had very few clothes to serve me on the Venture, so I tried to keep the few things I had as clean as they could be. I threw a few of Jim's shirts in, as well.

The steam from the basin filled the room quickly, making it over-warm and very humid. I could feel the wisps of hair around my face curling as I stood over the hot water. I stirred the sopping clothes with a large wooden spoon and dumped a few handfulls of powdered detergent in as well. The room filled with the dry smell of soap as I scrubbed the clothes against a washboard.

I heard the creak of a floorboard behind me and turned, brushing hair out of my face with the back of my hand. Anne stood just outside the doorway and smiled at me evenly.

'Do you mind if I join you?' She asked simply.

I saw that she had no dirty clothes that needed washing or any chores to do in my company, and realized that she merely wanted to talk. 'Girl time,' she'd called it before.

I smiled at her. 'Come on in. Although I'm afraid I wont be very good company while I'm stewing over this mess.' I cocked my head towards the basin.

Anne made her way over to me, rolled up the sleeves of her dress, and sunk her hands into the warm water next to me.

I hurried to stop her. 'Oh, Anne, don't worry about it! I'm nearly done anyways! The soap will just crack your hands!'

Anne laughed, and shook her head. 'Don't be rediculous,' she said. 'I'd love to help you out. It will keep me busy, for a change. And don't worry about the hands. I've had much worse.'

I relented, and hurried to finish my work so that Anne would not be stuck with my chores for long.

It did not take long for Anne to cut to the chase and get what she had innitially come to the galley for.

'So, June..' she began innocently, 'You're getting pretty close with our Jimmy, arnt you?'

I sighed, and continued wringing the sopping clothes against the washboard. 'I suppose we are what keeps the ship's gossip mill running, eh?'

Anne laughed lightly. 'Don't be absured! The men on this ship are too busy drinking and gambling to worry about you two. I'm the only one, really.'

I shot her a weary look, which simply inspired laughter in her once more. 'This is what girl talk is all about, June!' She exclaimed. Her face was lit and glowing with her smile radiating across it. She was the happiest I'd seen her since we had run into Skull Island, so I sympathised and relented.

'What do you want to know?' I asked dryly.

Anne beamed. 'Has he kissed you yet?'

I rolled my eyes, trying to hide my flush. 'Yes,' I muttered.

Anne smiled at me over the steaming basin. 'Yes, I suppose I knew that..' She trailed off, and then her smile turned slightly mischevious. 'I saw you two in the crow's nest after the storm the other night.'

I focused readily on the laundry at my hands. This was feeling much more like interrogation than girl talk.

'I do hope he's a gentleman about it,' Anne muttered, half talking to herself, I suspected.

I felt my face burning red, and nodded weakly. 'He's very sweet.' I choked out.

Anne continued to interrogate me about how I felt about Jimmy as we finished rinsing the last bit of laundry. She wondered aloud how the two of us found any time to spend together, as he still spent full days with Captain Englehorn. I merely shrugged; I wasnt about to tell her that we shared a room every night.

Having wrung out the last peice of fabric, together we hauled the basin out to the deck and dumped it over the edge of the ship into the sea. We strung a line up on the deck as well, and hung the clothes on it to dry, keeping a sharp eye out for rainclouds in the distance.

I fetched my sketchbook and Anne and I sat on deck for much of the rest of the day. I drew her sitting happily in the cool breeze, a natural model, my laundry fluttering cheerfully under a bright, clear sky. My detergent-cracked hands were the only thing that stopped me from drawing for the whole day.

Anne dissapeared as soon as she say me rubbing my red, cracked hands, and returned promptly with a little metal disc full of a thick yellowey ointment. She explained that she had bought it in New York, that it was innitially used to soften and heal cow's udders.

Soon we were laughing under the bright sun, rubbing our soft and oily hands together. Before I knew it, it was time for me to get dinner ready, and I said goodbye to Anne, who had offered to take the dried clothes off the line.

Dinner was a run-of-the-mill experience. The crew gratefully wolfed down the food, and Jim and Englehorn's servings were taken to them. The evening flew by without a sighting of the two. I sat with the crew as they played poker in the mess, joined by Preston who was now mingling more and more with the crew, until everyone cleared out at around midnight.

It wasnt until 1 o clock, while I was sweeping out the mess hall, that I heard one of the bar style stools scratching against the floor behind me. Turning around, I knew I'd find Jimmy behind me.

He sat slouched on the stool, obviously exhausted. He gave me a rather pathetic half smile, and muttered 'Hey.'

I leaned my broom against the wall and walked over to Jim, pulling him up gently by the arm.

'Go to bed, I'll join you soon.'

He shook his head blearily. 'No, it's all right, I'll wait for you.'

I gave him a soft shove towards the bedroom door. 'Really, I wont be 5 minutes. Go.'

As Jim shuffled off to sleep, I tossed the garbage of the day (walnut shells and fish bones, primarily) out the window.

Walking into our room, Jim looked to be asleep already in the soft moonlight. I slipped under the two covers next to him, my back to him.

I immediately felt fingers at my sides, hands crawing around my waist. Jim pulled me to him, and buried his face in my hair.

'Mmm,' he mumbled into my hair, 'You smell of laundry.'

I laughed lightly and spun under his hands to face him. We were chest to chest, and I wrapped my hands around him, pulling his warm body as close to mine as I could. His eyes were noticably dark, even in the pale moonlight, just like they had been today when I'd kissed him so fervently.

'I've been thinking of you all day,' he said, his voice matching the intensity of his eyes. His earlier fatigue seemed to have dissapeared. 'I hate not being able to see you whenever I want to.'

This was a side of Jim I hadnt seen before, but I welcomed the intense, sincere change. I was staring into his startlingly dark blue eyes, and suddenly he was kissing me. Kissing me like no one had ever kissed me before. His lips were hard on mine, urgent, yet so soft. I suddenly felt like I was on fire. While our breif kisses before this had been sweet, this one was pure passion. Our mouths were fighting, pushing and pulling against each other. And then his tongue was on mine and I could no longer think. My hands were on his back, around his neck, pulling through his hair. I wanted to pull him into me, be as close to him as possible. One of his hands was in my loose hair, the other moving from my back to my waist to my leg to my hip, dancing all over my body. I was trying to remember who I was, what I was, but I couldent. There was nothing but Jim; he was everywhere.

I only remembered that I needed air when I felt Jim's hot breath in my mouth, and then we were gasping like fish out of water, clutching each other as we floated slightly closer to earth.

Jim bowed his head as his breathing evened out, and I felt his breath on my neck. I tightened my arms around him, pulling him as close to me as possible.

'I thought you were so tired,' I said, only slightly breathless now.

I felt and heard Jim chuckle. 'Yeah,' he muttered, 'It's catching up to me.'

My eyes were growing heavy. I felt Jimmy's lips press against my neck once, and then again, more softly, and his breathing evened out completely. I felt my heavy eyes drift shut.

The first thing I heard was a roar, a sort of moan. I thought I was dreaming and so I tried to ignore it. But the a terrible smash shook me awake. The boat shook violently for a moment, and a second crash sounded, nearly shaking me off the bed.

Jim was awake now, and he sat up next to me, his hair tousled and his expression urget but confused. He gripped my arm. 'June, get up,' he said firmly. I slid from the bed, stunned and half asleep. I was aware of Jim taking my hand and pulling me with him through the Venture and startled voices sounding around me, but not much else.

Suddenly we were on deck and the mixed smell of fresh night air and chloroform shook me awake.

In front of us, in the deck's bow, were two massive, splintered gashes.

MMMKAY SEEYA CHAPTER 14.

i've just finished school, so maybe now chapters will start being consistently updated. i've got up to chapter 16 written in my notebook, but i feel like this story's lacking direction.

so i want some feedback!

what do you want to happen? seriously, now. do you like fluffy stuff as much as i do? cause i'll warn you right now, the next few chapters are pretty fluff-tastic. what would you like to see happen in coming chapters? would you rather i focus on other characters? lessen the fluffyness? give me some hints on how you'd like to see june and jimmy's lives unravel, cause although i have ideas swimming around in my head, i'd love some input. i get most of my inspiration from others, so fire away!

(might i just thank the fabulous boys of the band Patrick Watson for getting me through the typing of this chapter.)