Morrijack - when life gives you lemons

...gives you...

I stood on the left side of the ship, leaning on the rail and looking at the lapping water.
I was angry. Yes. They left me out of something again. I was disappointed. Why did they just leave me aside? Why didn't they say me, Jack is going with us?
Maybe I just overreacted, yeah, but still...

They played summer songs on the radio. Every one, that you can think of.
When These Days ended, a voice behind me said: "You're mad."
He wasn't asking.
"Maybe," I answered, but I was still looking at the water.
Jack laughed: "Is that a question?"
"No, an order!" I snapped. The sun was setting. We will anchor in half an hour and continue tomorrow.
Jack lowered his head, leaned against the railing and looked down, saying: "So you are angry."
I rolled my eyes, "But... no... Just..."
"Uncle Jove said to mentally prepare for karaoke on the beach."
"... WAIT WHAT?! But I can't sing. I can't sing, I..."
Jack turned up the volume on the radio and said: "Come on. Try it."
"What? Never."
"C'mon."
I opened my mouth and closed it again. "You sing."
Jack waited a sec and started: "My bestie and your bestie, sittin' by the fire. Your bestie says she wants party, so we can make these flames go higher..."
I stared at him with my mouth agape. His voice was so... Clear and... Soft...
"Iko iko nae, chakimo fina a nae, chakimo finae, oh my goodness, that words sucks..."
I watched him silently. Jack smiled, took my hand and led me to the bow of the ship.
I laughed. He turned me around and we danced. Just like that.
"We go left, left, we go right, right, turnin' to move and forward..."
"Jack, you're going crazy!" I laughed.
He stopped singing and leaned over the west rail. The sun was setting behind him, shining on his silhouette. "Yeah, maybe. Your turn. Come on, try it," he persuaded me.
I gazed to the ground under my feet. "I... I... Maybe I can try, but..."
Soon, another song came on the radio and I almost passed out when I realized what it was.
"I'm not singing this. No way! No..."
"Come on, don't be a baby."
I rolled my eyes and started: "I stay out too late... Got nothing in my brain... that's what people say... h-hm, that's what people say... I go at a so many dates... But I can make them stay... At least that's what people say... H-hm, that's what people say..."
"You're great, keep going, keep going!"
"H-hm. But I keep cruising... Next I don't know te-e-ext..."
"... In my mind sayin' it's gonna be alright..."
"Cos the players gonna play play play play play and the haters gonna hate hate hate hate hate. And I'm just gonna shake shake shake... Oh my gosh..." I errupted to histerical giggle.
Jack grinned: "You'll be great, you just have to learn the lyrics and sing the whole thing."
I looked at him in deafening silence.

After a while we both burst out laughing.

• • •

The next morning at five o'clock we continued on our journey.
Jack woke me up at half past five (Cadence was muttering something, but she fell asleep again, and Lam just smiled and stayed in the room).
When we walked out to the railing on the deck, the sun was almost above the horizon and the water was shining goldly and silvery.
I was silent.
Jack leaned towards me and pointed a finger in front of him.
"Look," he whispered. An island with a volcano and a wide strip of sandy beach loomed on the blue surface in front of us. "We'll be there in an hour or two. There are six beach huts. You'll love it."
"Have you been there before?"
Jack leaned his elbows on the railing and stared at the island in the distance. "When I was six," he said.
He took a deep breath and lowered his head. "With my parents."

It paralyzed me, but even more than what he told me, I was surprised by the fact that I had the urge to hug him or pat him on the shoulder or hold his hand or... something.

This was not the Jack I knew.
It wasn't Jack arguing with me about whether or not I had set fire to the Nevermoor Opera House.
This wasn't Jack, who was sure of himself, who had his nose in the clouds, who read everything he could get his hands on and who always knew everything.