Third Day of Charter
The guests had spent the third day in much the same way as they had the first; lazing around on the sundeck, and using the water toys. Bridget had asked Franky to take her out again on the jetski, and the brunette had happily obliged. This time, Franky had ventured a bit further away from the boat with Bridget, taking her to see some of the spots along the shore that Franky thought were the most beautiful and calming.
The guests had just finished their dinner, and they were currently having drinks in one of the lounges. The rain had started during their meal, so it looked like they'd be spending the evening inside. The deck crew didn't mind as this basically gave them the night off, but it was always a challenge for the interior crew to keep them entertained.
"We've got some board games, or I can set up a movie for you guys to watch if you'd like." Allie was pulling out anything she could think of. "And of course we'll keep the snacks and drinks coming." She gave them her best smile.
"I'll have another espresso martini." Audrey held out her empty glass without even bothering to look at Allie.
Bridget sighed. She didn't mind being stuck inside but she had a feeling Audrey was going to try to make the night miserable for Allie and the other stews. She saw Franky through the large windows, walking outside headed towards the deck at the back of the boat.
"I'll be right back." Bridget didn't wait for any of her friends to answer. She just got up, and walked towards the sliding glass doors to intercept the brunette.
Franky turned her head at the sound of the door sliding open.
"Hey," She couldn't help but smile as she greeted Bridget.
"Hey yourself." Bridget felt like a schoolgirl with a crush. It was a nice feeling for once. "I, uh, heard a rumor that you might have some free time this evening." What she'd heard was Bea telling Allie that they'd cleaned everything up early when the rain started so she was taking the evening off.
"Yeah, kind of. I'm on the late shift, but there's nothing really left to do." She reached down and fastened a snap on one of the covers they'd put over the seat outside to protect it from the rain.
"Maybe you'd like to keep me company then?" Bridget saw the flicker of hesitation on Franky's face. "Consider it an official guest request." She remembered that Franky had used that line when she'd asked Will if she could go down the slide, and when she told Allie she was staying in the cabin when Bridget was sick.
"I'd love to, but it looks bad if I'm just sitting around." Franky really wanted to say yes, but she also really needed her job. Even though her time on this boat was almost done, she'd be looking for another one, and the industry was small. Everyone would soon find out if she'd been fired. "We're not supposed to socia-"
"Socialize." Bridget finished the sentence for her. "We could play a board game?"
"Yeah, alright." Franky figured that wouldn't look as bad as just sitting there with her. "I'll be in in a minute. You can choose the game."
"Great." Bridget gave her a cheeky smile. She'd picked up the unintentional innuendo.
Franky did one final check of the deck, and came inside through the side door of the galley. She hung up her rain jacket then continued into the lounge area. She spotted Bridget already sitting at the dining table with a couple of games stacked beside her.
"I picked out a couple. I wasn't sure what you knew how to play." She reached for the top box. "I've got backgammon, Sorry, chess, and I found a cribbage board."
"I'm not so keen on chess, but any of the others are fine." Franky reached to pull out one of the chairs.
"I told you not to bother with the chess board, Bridget, didn't I? I knew she wouldn't know how to play." Audrey laughed at her own comment while the others looked at her in disbelief.
Franky went to take a step forward and felt a hand on her arm. It was Allie. She locked eyes with her friend.
"Here, just sit down, okay?" Allie whispered to Franky as she sat a glass of Coke on the table for her, and a coffee for Bridget.
"Just shut the fuck up, Audrey. We're all tired of your arrogant bullshit." Grace, who almost never said anything, had had enough. She looked around at the shocked faces of her friends.
"I was simply stating a fact, but if you feel like I'm so horrible, I'll just go to bed and put you all out of your misery." Audrey waited for one of them to beg her to stay, and when none did, she slammed her glass down on the coffee table, and hurried off towards her cabin.
The two women left on the sofa didn't say anything, they just quietly sipped on their drinks and continued enjoying the snack trays that Allie had brought out.
"I'm really sorry about that." Bridget gave Franky an apologetic look.
"It's…" Franky shook her head as she sat down. She couldn't bring herself to say it was fine, but she wasn't going to make a scene.
"How about backgammon?" Bridget pulled the box out of the stack.
"Backgammon sounds great." Franky watched her unpack and set up the board. "You know, I do know how to play chess. I just don't really like it."
"You don't have to explain." Bridget honestly didn't give a fuck if Franky played chess or not, and she didn't need a reason. She hated that Audrey had made Franky feel like she needed to defend her intelligence.
"Okay." Franky took a sip of her cold drink to calm her down. Allie knew how she liked it; with extra ice.
They continued to play for the next couple of hours until they realized they were the only two left awake; Stacey and Grace had left at some point, but neither Franky nor Bridget had noticed exactly when.
"I should let you get to bed." Bridget said reluctantly. She'd only just realized how late it had gotten, and while she was on vacation, Franky was definitely not.
"I'm on the late shift anyway." Franky shrugged.
"Still." Bridget knew that Franky, for both professional, and possibly personal, reasons wouldn't tell her to go to bed
"If you're not actually tired, which I suspect you're not," Franky gave her a cocky grin. "I'd like to show you something."
"Alright." Bridget couldn't help but grin.
The rain had stopped, and Franky led her out to the bow of the boat.
"Just watch your step." Franky held Bridget's hand to steady her as she carefully stepped around the anchor chain. "I love this view," she said as they approached the railing. "There's nothing in front of you, just the open water. It almost feels like you could fly."
"It reminds me of Titanic." Bridget stepped up to the very point of the bow and held an arm out to either side. "Come be the Jack to my Rose." Bridget looked over her shoulder when Franky didn't step up behind her. "You know the scene wher-"
"I know the scene." Franky let out a small laugh. "I'm not getting up there."
"Oh come on. It's just a bit of fun!" Bridget turned back to face the water and wiggled her fingers, encouraging Franky to play along with her.
Bridget waited a few seconds, then glanced over her shoulder once more.
"Fine." Franky sighed.
She stepped up behind Bridget and took a hand in each of hers. Franky felt the blonde lace her fingers through hers.
"Do I have to shout something about being king now?" Franky asked. She could feel Bridget leaning back against her slightly.
"Different scene." Bridget replied with a giggle. "Jack did sing to her though."
Franky began a quiet, but horribly off-key version of 'My Heart Will Go On'.
"Mm, okay, he only sang like one line." Bridget smiled as she wrapped Franky's arms around her, still holding her hands.
"Is that your polite way of telling me to shut up?" Franky laughed as the blonde shook her head.
"No, just being true to the scene." She gave Franky's hands a gentle squeeze and felt it returned. "Do you remember how it ends?"
"Mhm." Franky remembered, and she could hear her heart beating now in her ears. She was sure that Bridget could feel it against her back as well.
Bridget turned her head to look at Franky over her left shoulder. Their lips were closer now than they had been that first day on the jetski, and Bridget felt Franky's breath tickle her cheek. Bridget started to push herself up a bit higher.
Franky lowered her head the few millimeters to meet her, and connected their lips. The kiss was sweet and slow. Bridget's lips were soft, and Franky was quickly getting lost in the feeling of them against hers. After a few seconds, the voice in her head came screaming at her.
"I can't." Franky forced herself to pull back. "I'm so sorry, but I can't."
Bridget nodded, but made no effort to move away. She understood, but she was still disappointed. She pulled Franky's arms around her a bit tighter around her as she looked back out over the water, and felt the brunette squeeze her hands in response.
"Let's sit over here." Franky helped her step down, and unsnapped the end of one of the cushion covers so they'd have a place to sit.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have…" Bridget trailed off.
"Don't apologize." Franky sat down, and motioned for the blonde to join her. "Seriously, don't."
Bridget sat down beside her, and Franky couldn't help but notice the shift in her mood. She was quiet, and looking out over the water.
"Hey," Franky said softly as she bumped Bridget's knee gently with her own. "Another time and place and I would have been all over that." She motioned to the bow where they had been standing just a moment earlier.
"Your job is important to you. I get it. And you're really good at what you do." Bridget had no doubt that Franky loved interacting with the guests and that her experience wasn't entirely unique as far as that part went.
"It's all I have." Franky hadn't intended to get deep, but the confession fell out of her mouth. In part, she thought maybe she owed Bridget a bit of an explanation.
"What do you mean?" Bridget was truly interested to learn more about her.
"I mean these boats are the only places that have ever felt like home to me, and they are my home. Tomorrow when you and your friends leave, I'm off to look for the next boat to call home for a few weeks." Franky had never regretted her choice to live this lifestyle.
"So you don't have a…" Bridget stopped herself.
"A home? House? Apartment?" Franky helped her out. "Nah. If I end up having a gap between gigs, I just stay at a hostel for a few days."
"And your family?" Jesus Bridget, shut up she scolded herself.
"Don't have any. My dad left, then I got taken from my mom and ended up in foster care." Franky knew that to most people it sounded like a sad story, but she had shut herself off from the feelings of her past.
"Oh." Bridget nodded. "That explains a lot about why you take this so seriously."
"What about you? What are you headed back to when you leave here?" Franky was eager to shift the attention away from herself.
"Prison." Bridget managed to keep from cracking a smile for a few seconds until she saw the look of shock on Franky's face. "I work in a prison," she explained.
"Well that makes a bit more sense. I was about to be like 'fuck, what did you do?'." Franky laughed. "What do you do at the prison?"
"I'm a psychologist." Bridget gave her a small grin, and shrugged.
"Well, shit." Franky leaned back in her seat and smiled. "I probably just gave you a ton of material, didn't I?"
"No," Bridget shook her head. "I'm off the clock. It would be exhausting if I analyzed everyone I met."
"So what made you want to work in a prison?" Franky knew that in her youth, it had been a very real possibility that she was going to end up there, but by some miracle she managed to get on the right path in time to avoid it. She couldn't imagine someone wanting to go there willingly each day.
"I like women in uniform." Bridget sidestepped the question. She really didn't want to talk about prison on her vacation.
"So this works for you, huh?" Franky pointed to her own uniform.
"Yeah, those all black ones you wear in the evenings are my favorite." Bridget gave her a cheeky smile.
"Noted." Franky looked out towards the horizon. The first faint rays of light were just starting to peek through.
"Okay." Bridget said more to herself than anyone else. She took a deep breath as she stood. "I'm going to bed now for real, and so should you. I've kept you up long enough."
"It was a good night." Franky snapped the cover back over the cushions.
They walked back down to the lower deck, then parted ways as Franky continued down the staircase even further to her cabin. She opened the door and got changed as quietly as possible so she wouldn't wake Allie.
Once again she found herself staring out through the small porthole in her bunk. Even if she got to sleep soon, she'd only get a couple hours in before her next shift started. She'd be tired, but it was worth it to spend a few more hours with Bridget.