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Chapter Three: Don't Trust the Filmmakers.

Early the next morning, as I stood next to Lumpy as we chopped walnuts in the galley, the old cook surprised me by striking up a conversation. He wasn't usually up to talking until lunch time rolled around.

'The stow away then, eh?' He asked casually.

I was definitely confused, by his odd question and the fact that he was talking at all. 'I'm sorry, what?'

Lumpy grinned mischievously at me. 'I knew it couldn't have been long. A pretty young lady like you can't stay out of trouble on a small boat like this for more than a few weeks.'

I put down my knife and put a hand on my hip, regarding Lumpy with a confused sort of 'you've got to be kidding me' expression.

'Ah, c'man!' He continued, chuckling, 'I saw the two of you in here that one day. I've never seen better doe eyes in my life, and I been round a lot of women.'

'Lumpy!' I was taken aback by this frank approach. I flipped my head round the mess to make sure there was no one there to overhear Lumpy's accusations.

'And dancing on deck yesterday!' He was very nearly wiping tears of laughter from his eyes at this point. 'Well, yeh can't say Jimmy was dancin' with Miss Darrow in quite the same way, now can you?'

My eyes were wide, my cheeks flushed. I'd developed a pretty tight relationship with Lumpy over the last while, but I was at a loss for what I should do next.

'I….I'm taking a break!' I huffed, pulling my apron off. I gave Lumpy a playful elbow in the side as I left the galley, leaving him to giggle crazily on his own.

I strode through the thin hallways, scrunching my apron in my hands. Was that really what it looked like when Jimmy and I were together? I didn't think Lumpy could tell that much from anything. But really, Jimmy, my beau!

I had definitely grown attached to him, we were nearly the same age, he'd been kind to me, it's only natural. But could he really turn into my beau? I'd never really had one before, not with Mum having died last year, right when the boys had started noticing us at school. I'd had to leave class to find a job for myself.

Sure, I thought about him a lot – that cheerful voice, sparkling eyes and straight teeth would be hard for anyone to forget. Did all of the other men think of us the way Lumpy did? How humiliating! I was Jimmy's friend, surely they'd seen the way friends behave before!

I suddenly stopped worrying the apron in my hands and leaned against the wall. It was awfully exhausting, thinking about how everyone around us thought about us when we were together. Even more worrying was the thought of what Jimmy felt when we spent time together. I was probably just a friend to him. His thoughts were more likely to be occupied by Ann, with her fine silks and smooth blonde hair.

There was a sudden crash to my left. I squeaked and jumped away, surprised by the sudden intrusion of my thoughts.

Jimmy had burst out of the hull, an odd look on his face. He closed the hull's hatch quickly and surprisingly silently and grabbed my hand, pulling me back through the hall.

'Wait, where are we going?' I managed.

He turned his head back, still moving, and pressed a finger to his lips. Something was definitely up.

He pulled me around a few corners and into his small closet of a room. I sat on his lumpy bed as he scrounged about on a small desk covered in papers and random pieces of rope and cloth. He dug out a scrap of paper and a sliver of charcoal and sat down next to me.

Jimmy proceeded to scrawla few messyletters onto the sheet and let me see them.

'I haven't been reading for long, but these spell 'SKULL', right?'

I nodded and looked at him with some concern. 'What's 'skull' got to do with anything?'

He pulled hand through his dirty hair, letting out a breath.

'Down in the hull just now, that Mister Denham and Jack were talking about that motion picture of theirs.' Jimmy pulled another hand through his hair. 'But Denham was talking all hushed about some island, some place he didn't want the skipper or anyone else to hear about. It definitely wasn't Singapore, though. Mr Driscoll spelled this out.' Jimmy motioned to the messy letters.

I looked at Jim incredulously, then I looked out the small, nearly opaque window in his room. 'But…Skull Island?'

Jimmy nodded.

'So..you don't think we're going to Singapore at all?'

He shrugged, shaking his head at the same time.

'It might just be a misunderstanding,' I quipped, 'Really, who would name a place something like that?'

'I've got to tell Mister Hayes, that's all I know.' Jimmy said quietly, almost as though he expected Denham to show up at his room at that very moment.

It was then that I realized how close we were sitting next to each other on the bed, and all of my worries for minutes before flooded back. I silently cursed Lumpy's eager try at some gossip. I wouldn't be this anxious around Jimmy if he hadn't said anything.

None the less, I felt my face flush and I looked at the grimy floor.

Jimmy's eyes were right on me.

'June?' The concern in his voice was blatant. 'You feeling alright? Want to go up on deck for some fresh air?'

His innocence was unbelievable at times. I'd heard about how Mister Hayes found him among the animals below deck, but Jimmy's childlike understanding and manorisms sometimes caught me off guard, making me believe he was only 9 or 10 years old at heart. Still, he often had the brawn and roughness of the hardened sea farer he was. His two personalities fought each other in an almost comical way.

My face still red, I smiled at Jimmy and stood up. 'Maybe I'll just head back to the kitchens. Lumpy will be in a right strop if I'm gone too long.'

He nodded and stood as well. He walked with me down the halls, trying to choose a way that didn't lead us to a possible confrontation with Denham or Mister Driscoll.

Right before we parted ways, I turned to Jimmy and whispered, 'When you find anything out, you'll come tell me?'

His eyes darted down the hall behind me, where Jed, a veteran to the ship, had just emerged from the toilet.

Jimmy's fingers were suddenly clasped around my hand. I looked at him, rather stunned.

He grinned his usual, everyday grin. 'You'll be the first to hear of it.' He released my hand and headed out to the deck, searching out Mister Hayes.

I stood fast for a moment, confused. I thought the only reason why Jimmy would take my hand would be to pull me somewhere. But there were no glances or secret looks, either. Same old Jimmy, through and through. It might just be an old habit of his– still, I hadn't seen Jimmy clasping hands with any of the other crewmembers on the Venture.

I was surprised when I found myself at the mess. Lumpy was peering through our window at the scene being shot on deck. I tried not to think about what he'd said to me before I'd run into Jimmy and returned to my jobs.

Once more, with feeling!

Thanks once more for all the sweet reviews, I'm really happy so many of you are enjoying this little musing of mine. I might just change the type of story from 'Adventure/Romance' to just plain romance. It's getting pretty fluffy around here.