Not All Treasure is Silver and Gold...

Chapter 6

The month passed pretty quickly. I was beginning to enjoy myself immensely on the Pearl, as I found myself fitting in more and more, despite the fact that some of the men shot me nervous looks, their expressions terrified as they parted for me to get through when I walked anywhere. After all, according to Gibbs, it was '...frightful bad luck to have a woman aboard a ship!', and I was a sword-fighting one to boot.

Things were still good however, even though half the crew treated me like a cannon about to go off. Jack and I had become very close, and the whole incident with Will and me was forgotten, and though I still had weird flutters occasionally when we made some kind of contact, or when his eyes met mine, I figured this was just because I was still finding my sea legs, and was just queasy. It had to be. Jack was just a friend. A slightly eccentric, permanently drunk friend.

The night of the dance came and I dressed quickly, eager to be out there watching as the slightly questionable guests arrived from Tortuga. A couple of pirates called Ragetti and Pintel were playing the music, and surprisingly, they were actually very good. I'd heard them practising while I was dressing. I had decided to let my curls hang loosely over my shoulders, and wear a black silky dress of fine quality, which I had purchased from a woman in a port we had stopped in. It fitted me perfectly, so I was pleased.

I stepped out of my cabin and gazed around the deck, stifling laughter at the crew's tuxes. All of them were standing there awkwardly with their dates, looking like they wished they were somewhere else. The only one who looked mildly comfortable was Will. He looked...nice, actually, his dark hair falling into his equally dark eyes. I noticed that, unlike his crew members, he didn’t have a date, meaning one of the courtesans/barmaids from the raunchier Tortuga taverns. However, I turned from Will and my eyes sought Jack amongst the crowd. I spotted him in the corner, with a bottle of rum in his hand, watching the dancing couples with a bored expression on his face, occasionally perking up when a woman brushed past him. I slipped through the crowd towards him.

"Hello," I smiled. Jack turned his head and grinned at me, eyeing my clothing up and down.

"You're looking lovely as usual, Miss Callaway," He said softly.

"But of course" I grinned back, striking a pose to cover up the flattered blush that had appeared on my cheeks. We fell silent and watched the couples once more, both of us without a partner.

"Didn't you ask the pretty girl you wanted to then?" I asked after a while to break the silence, and then slapped my hands over my mouth guiltily. Jack looked at me with raised eyebrows, though his mouth twitched with amusement.

"Ah, so you were listening that day. Ah well...never mind," He sighed, idly flapping a hand to show that my crime was forgiven.

"Sorry," I mumbled, "but don't worry, I don't know who she is or anything! So uh...why did you not ask her?" I asked.

"Because she's too good for me, love," He replied simply, taking aswig of rum. "Depressing, isn't it?"

"I'm sure she's not," I protested feebly.                                                                                                                   Jack looked at me long and hard and then said firmly, "No...no, she is."

We fell silent once more and then Jack opened his mouth to say, "Do you-"

"Do you want to dance with me?" Someone cut him off.

We turned to see Elizabeth beaming at Jack, her brown hair styled into ridiculous curls. Jack glanced at me and then mumbled, "Uh...yeah...sure-"

"Great!" Elizabeth cried, taking his hand and pulling him forcefully towards the middle of the deck. Jack shot me a desperate look, but I grinned and waved cheerfully at him, though I definitely didn't feel cheerful.