Chéri

Ch.6.5: No Good Scrap

Leigh was furiously polishing her cutlass, trying to scrub off every last bit of blood.

"Calm down there," said Martin, "You'll scrub away the blade at the rate you're goin'."

Leigh ignored him, rubbing the cloth even harder.

"What? You upset or something?" asked Martin, his mouth curled in a sneer.

Leigh stopped polishing the sword and turned to face her father.

"I didn't want this," she said.

"Yeah, well, you fecking got it either way. Life don't give a shit what you want."

Leigh dropped the sword and stormed off.

"Don't you walk away from me!" Martin said, brandishing his cane like a sword, "You listen when yer father's talking to ya!"

Leigh tensed her fists, before spinning back around to face him.

Trying to hold back tears, she said, "This wasn't life's doing. You made me do it."

"I didn't make you do shit," spat Martin, "He woulda killed ya, same as you killed him. It was just survival, doing what you did."

Leigh spoke in a fierce tone, albeit one that crawled at a low volume, "You put me in that position though. You sent me into town, knowing they were after me."

"You're my wain," said Martin, "You've got the mighty Connelly blood in ya! Yer ancestors made their name splitting the heads of Cromwell's enforcers. It's in yer nature to be a killer. I never feared for your safety once."

"You may be this cold-blooded murderer, but that's not me. That's not what I want for my life," said Leigh, properly crying now.

"Ahh, wipe those fecking tears off yer face. How the hell do you expect to be respected by others, if ya can't even keep yerself composed? You're a girl too, which only makes it worse."

Martin placed his cane on the floorboards and struggled to his feet.

"I'll not have me last surviving wain be a pussy. If you want a future, you'll learn to stiffen your upper lip and keep your snot in yer nose. Fer Christ's sake, it was only an Anglo too."

With that, Martin hobbled back up the companionway towards the stern of the ship. Leigh wiped the last tears from her eyes and started towards the crew quarters. As she entered the stairwell, a hand caught her arm. She found herself looking into a familiar face.

"Lorna," she said.

"Hey Leigh," Lorna said, "You alright?"

"Not really."

"You want to talk about it?"

"Not until I'm halfway through a bottle of rum."

Lorna chuckled, "That's the spirit! Come on, I know where they hide the good stuff."

Leigh couldn't hold back her smile as Lorna grabbed her by the hand and led her rushing down the stairs towards the cargo hold. Once there, Lorna removed a few loose floorboards and produced a nice-sized bottle of rum, wrapped neatly in paper. The two girls then collapsed back onto a pile of bagged oats, each taking increasingly large sips from the bottle.

About midway through the drink, Leigh said, "Y'know, it seems that wherever I go, there's war. There was war in Connaught, there's war here. It seems that there's no good scrap of land anywhere; it's all covered in red."

Lorna pushed a bit of Leigh's ginger hair behind her ear. Leigh felt a bit nervous and couldn't meet her eyes.

"That's just not true," Lorna said, "We're on a good scrap of land right now, you n' I."

"This isn't land, this is a boat," laughed Leigh.

"Alright, well, then this is a good boat we're on then," said Lorna, rolling her eyes, "You happy?"

"Very much so, yes."

"My point is that there's good out there, you've just got to look for it. Like now, we're drinking rum and enjoying each other's company. How's that covered in red?"

"I guess it's not," said Leigh.

"Exactly," said Lorna, "This is nice. You're nice."

Leigh squeezed the neck of the bottle in her hands. She felt some tingling in her chest she hadn't quite felt before. Nervously, she said, "...you're nice too. I like being with you."

Lorna placed two fingers underneath Leigh's chin and lifted her head up. Leigh swallowed, staring at Lorna's perfect hazel irises. Lorna leaned forward and planted her lips on Leigh's, cupping the Irishwoman's red cheeks in her hands. The boat rocked suddenly, and they fell into each other's arms.

Leigh smiled as the two breathed in between kisses. Lorna moved a hand down and placed it snugly between Leigh's thighs. She started rubbing and Leigh began to squirm and moan slightly. Leigh in turn stroked up and down Lorna's back and grabbed at her frizzy hair. As they were kissing and cuddling each other, Leigh parted her legs. Lorna moved her hand down into the waistline of Leigh's pants and continued rubbing. Leigh pulled back in pleasure, but Lorna grabbed her solidly by the neck and brought her in for another kiss.

"Ahem."

The two girls darted back from each other. A skinny boy with a beard was standing above them.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything, but your father instructed me to tell you that we're leaving port now."

"I- um, I'm sorry, but um, who are you?" asked Leigh, adjusting her clothes.

"I'm Kingsley. I was just hired."

"Well, uh, nice to meet you," said Leigh awkwardly.

"Nice to meet you too," said Kingsley, his face devoid of judgment or emotion, "Now, I'll leave you two to it."

Kingsley left and Leigh and Lorna just stared at each other. Soon, the pair broke into laughter.

"We are the worst, aren't we?"

"Well,we are pirates," said Lorna with a smirk.