Out Of My Comfort Zone

Memories

Lucas scrubbed at the tough grunge of the wooden deck on the Mayflower, and Joseph scrubbed beside him. They were cleaning bits of the ship each day, for his father wished to sell the Mayflower. Lucas hated the idea, he had become attached to the beautiful ship, and even more, he had met his love on this ship.

He was scrubbing right next to the place where he stood one October morning while they sailed. He was coiling some rope, quietly thinking about birds and such, when a loud noise came from the opening to the 'tween decks, there stood young, 16-year-old Hannah Henderson. She ran to the side of the boat and threw up churned insides and Lucas smiled to himself. He scratched his left ear as he always seemed to do when he didn't know what else to do. She had rubbed the muck off her face with a handkerchief and then saw him, shyly staring at her. He felt his face get hot and imagined that he was obviously blushing. He had looked away quickly. Then continued to coil his rope.

He cleaned the spot and continued on, near another spot close to the edge, he had spoken to Hannah more than once. He had told her about dolphins in this very spot, and not but a few paces away, he had kissed her. He remembered that moment well. She had turned, he had apologized, and she rushed away. Lucas had stood there, red with embarrassment. He had been hoping for a different reaction, or even a different response. She had avoided him for days, before he managed to corner her and convince her to at least talk to him.

Lucas felt sad, and he was just sitting there, his legs bent in front if him, when a whole bucket of water fell on him. He jumped up in shock.

"What?" He yelled. A voice began to howl with laughter from above, and he looked up to find Joseph, holding a now empty bucket, crying with laughter from the crows nest. He laughed in his head, but pretended to be angry. He hopped up and began ti climb the mast, but a voice stopped him mid-way.

"Now that is enough boys." His sister, Helen, said. She set a basket down on the deck and put her dainty hands on her hips. Lucas swatted one last time at Joseph, who was still laughing uncontrollably.

They both came down and peered into the basket. Helen had brought them dinner.

"Thanks Helen." He said in his casual sailor voice.

"Yes, thank you." Agreed Joseph, though he spoke more formally, more like a man than a boy. Lucas noticed that Joseph always seemed to do this when Helen was around. Did he do that when Hannah had been around? He wondered silently to himself. Helen stayed and ate with them, and Lucas and Joseph finished much ahead of Helen. They were accustomed to getting the food before it was gone.

After Helen had dismissed herself and headed back home, Lucas noticed how Joseph's eyes followed Helen all the way.

"You look at her like you do a bird after a long week at sea." He said, breaking Joseph's daze.

"Wha?" He said, in his casual voice. Lucas just laughed.

"Come on, the boat need cleaning more than my sister needs staring." Lucas said, getting his bucket again. Joseph's face turned bright red. He was dry now, and Lucas decided to do some work out if the sun.

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Authors note

Hello everyone! Thank you for reading another chapter of my story. I know my chapters are short, but I try to make them frequent. Also, thank you for almost 500 reads! Thats awesome! Anyway, just a thank you for being faithful to my story.

Now let us make our biggest dreams dance. 😘