Chapter 5.
"Nick!" I met to join him in the barn when Wendy had settled inside talking with Jeanette. "You will never guess the stories Wendy has told me!"
"Now can I?" Nicholas chuckled at how my running had ruffled my hair and how my bonnet had fallen down and was now hanging over my chest. "What did she tell you, Annie?"
"She told me of her adventures with Peter Pan!"
"Peter Pan?" Nicholas laughed. "Oh Annie, those stories are only fairytales. More myth than reality. Don't let such fantasies rule your mind. There is so much more out there to enthrall you."
"But Nick, Wendy said the stories are true and that he did come to her!" I argued, getting riled up. "Why, he took her to Neverland and taught her to fly! How romantic a story it was! He promised her forever, but she turned him down because he did not wish to grow up. I must meet him, Nick! I must! Why, we would get along splendidly, for I have no desire to grow up right now. How Jeanette plagues me so with her talk of turning me into a proper lady, as if I care a bit about such things!"
"Your sister knows what's best for you."
"Or rather what you and her believe is best." I frowned as I sat down on the railing of a stall. "Nick, whatever happened to when we were younger? You never used to pester me about such things before. We used to have so much fun, even if I did end up being the braver of the bunch. I miss that boy. What happened to him?"
"He grew up, Annie." his hard gaze sent shivers through me and I felt my knees go weak. "And it is about time you did the same too."
"I don't want to," I complained. "Why give myself up to the monotonous life I detest?"
"Because it is the right thing to do," that gaze patronized so! "Annie, I want to be more for you, but you will never let me."
"Whatever do you mean?"
"I give you flowers, you demand rainbows. I pay you compliments, but you would rather have me tell you fantasies that should be paid to children, and not a young lady. I wish to take you to dances, but you prefer us gallivanting off through the fields and wrestling in the mud. I want a woman to love, but you want a playmate."
"How can you ask for such things?" I wrinkled my nose. "Oh Nick, such things are a bore!"
"You don't plan to be a little girl forever, do you, Annie?"
"As long as I can, I hope."
"Oh Annie…" Nicholas's eyes expressed his sorrow. "Then I can never be what you want, for I do not want a playmate. I am glad I realized that."
"But we can be friends, I suppose?" I asked.
"I don't know…"
"You can't end our friendship!" I dropped down at his feet and hugged his legs. "Oh Nick, no! You can't do that to me! We have been friends forever! I don't know what I would do without you… you're the most important person in my life. I could not survive knowing we would forever be torn apart just because of some silly disagreement!"
"Don't cry," Nicholas pulled me up and held me in his arms to stifle my cries. "I never want to hurt you, Annie. You mean so much to me."
"And you mean so much to me, Nick." I sobbed onto his shoulder and drew my head up when I was able to sustain my cries. "I don't know where I'd be without you. We grew up together."
"Would you try to be what I need you to be?"
"I'll try ever so hard, as long as you promise to never leave me."
"My Annie…" he murmured before pressing his lips against mine and pulling me even closer.
"Nicholas!" I gasped when he had released me from his hold. "Whatever possessed you!"
"I thought…"
"…that that was what I wanted?" I wiped my mouth, which burned still from his lips. "Why would you think that?"
"Can you not see how I feel, Annie?"
"I can see that growing up has made you lose your mind." I accused. "If that is what you ask of me, Nicholas James Porter, then I can never be it."
"You said you would try…"
"Try with all my might, Nicholas, but I can never be that for you."
Gazing at the skies as silent tears blinded me, I stirred only at the sound of Michael coming up and resting beside me. At the sight of my tears, he tilted his head, torn between asking me of my well-being and making matters worse, or leaving me to my tears.
"Where's Nicholas?" I questioned, wiping away my tears.
"He left," Michael shrugged. "Peter and I went to fetch him and he was not there where he was resting. We guessed that he had left to go back home."
"Do you think he was alright?"
"He seemed bored with himself," Michael explained. "It was weird. I've never seen anyone find Neverland dull before."
"Nicholas finds many things that would entertain us dull," I remarked.
"So you like Neverland?"
"Of course," I tilted my head back and looked up at the sky. "It is everything I needed. And Peter… he's magnificent. I see him and wish to spend eternity with him. I want to spend forever with him."
"Wendy said that when Peter first took her to Neverland… when he taught her to fly. But then she went and fell in love like all grown ups do."
"What's wrong with falling in love?"
"Falling in love is a grown-up thing." Michael said. "It puts silly thoughts in your head that you've never thought before, and makes you act like a fool. Wendy would go all red in the face at the sight of Peter and whenever he would be around her, she would look at him all goggle-eyed and she looked funny."
"I think I'm falling in love with Peter Pan…" I took in the night air and smiled at the thought. "He's everything I've wanted, and given me things I only dreamed of."
"Don't," Michael warned. "Soon you'll be wanting him to go back with you and leave his Neverland behind, and Peter can't do that! Please, Annie, you can't. You'll be just like Wendy if you do. If he leaves, then Hook will take over."
"Who's Hook?"
"He's Peter's rival," Michael stuck out his tongue. "This old pirate that is bent on ruining everything Peter did. Peter cut off one of his hands and fed it to a crocodile once and Hook has been after him since then. That's what Peter told me."
"Why would he want me?"
"Because the last girl Peter brought was Wendy, and when Hook had got hold of Wendy, that was the closest Hook came to finally killing Peter Pan.
The sound of crowing started us both and we climbed down the tree to catch a peep of what was occurring below us.
"The other hand! The other hand!" the lost boys yelled together as they threw rocks at the pirates below their tree house. "Cut off his other hand, Peter!"
Peter flew about, slashing swords with the pirates and laughing as if it were all a mere game. How I flinched every time a sword was turned his way! When I saw a pirate sneak up behind him as he crowed at the pirates he fought with, I shouted his name, but it was lost in the pandemonium below. Leaving the security above, I flew below so he could hear me.
"Peter! Behind you!"
Immediately, I was pulled around and came face to face with a man who smelled like ale and raw fish. His dark eyes were hidden beneath a large hat that shadowed his face and a crooked nose that stuck out as awkwardly as his large chin. A hook for a hand was brandished before my eyes as he grinned menacingly in a way that seemed more like he was bearing his teeth like some wild animal rather than actually smiling.
"Hook!" the man's hat was pushed over his head as Peter pulled me out of his grasp and into his arms.
Looking at the pirates below when he settled me on a branch near the lost boys, Peter cut his initials on the back of the overcoat Hook wore and gave him a boot in the rear before the pirates went off, cursing in an infuriated, drunken manner.
"Why did you leave the treetops?" Peter scowled when the commotion had run down and the lost boys and deserted the treetops for their beds.
"There was a pirate behind you."
"I can handle them. It isn't the first time I've fought them before."
"You could've died!"
"Makes the matter only that much more fun." he replied, indignantly.
"How can you talk like that, Peter!"
"How can I not? It was only a bit of fun." he crossed his arms.
"A bit of fun!" I put my hands to my hips. "They had the means to kill you."
"They always do, but that doesn't mean they can get me."
"Why can you not see the danger that I see?"
"I saw danger when Hook grabbed you." the anger in Peter's voice was deterred at his statement.
"You saved my life…" I said softly, lowering my hands from my waist as my own anger left me as well.
"I couldn't let him steal you, Annie."
Not giving myself one moment to think, I leaned forward and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
"I don't know what I would do if that man had taken me," I blushed at my gesture. "Thanks."
Peter remained silent for awhile, staring at me intently with his lips partly opened as if words lingered there but he was afraid to let them escape. I tried to keep his gaze, but soon I grew uncomfortable and lowered my head in mortification. He responded to my movement by grabbing my wrists and kissing me lightly on the lips.
I closed my eyes to relish the sweet bit of affection Peter had showed me, and when the fluttering sensation that overtook me disappeared, I opened my eyes to find that Peter had left me stranded on the tree house by myself.
