The Unforeseen

All Work, No Play

Chapter 22

The pirates all groaned.

"C'mon, Alissa, just one round."

"It's a really simple game!"

I sighed, and Ace chuckled from the railing of the ship. An hour had passed since the crew was told my purpose for being aboard this ship, so most of the men had dispersed to do some things on their own. The remaining group, filled with irritatingly clingy men, were trying to distract me from my sweeping the deck to play some game. Ace, Max, and Phil all stood by the railing. They had been keeping me company while I worked, but now they remained silent to see what I would do.

"Alissssaaaa!" They whined.

"Will you all please shut up?" I shouted. "I have too much work to get done, so I have no time to play games."

"But you're going to be with us for a while, right? You have time to spread the work out." Someone pointed out.

I turned on the men. "What is your name, pirate?"

"Rin." He stated, a smile growing on his face.

"Rin, I thank you for your invitation, but let me do my job." I told him. "Maybe later, okay?"

He looked at his buddies, who all nodded. "Alright," Rin said. "We'll hold you to that."

I let out a sigh, glad that was settled so easily. I finished sweeping the deck, with the occasional word from Ace, then moved to the navigation room. Phil had given me a tool belt, so, as I walked, I adjusted the strap and clicked it around my waist. I knocked on the door, it cracked open a bit.

"Hello?" I called.

"What do you want?" Otto's grouchy voice responded. Guess it wasn't so hard to realize it was me, since I was the only girl on the ship. I pushed the door open and stepped inside.

"Sorry to bother you, but I wanted to ask if there was anything I could clean for you in here." I offered.

"I'm fine. I don't like other people touching my stuff."

I nodded. "All right, that's all I needed to know. Sorry for bothering you." I slipped out the door, and was surprised when I ran into the other half of the navigation crew.

"Sorry." I muttered.

"My bad." Phil said, his hands grabbing my shoulders to steady me. Feeling awkward, I moved my gaze the railing.

"I need to continue working, so, sorry for running into you, but I'm just going to go." I rambled and walked off without letting him get another word in.

Why was that awkward for me? Phil and I don't hate each other, and there hasn't been anything between us. Is it just that I wasn't used to being around men? That's it. I can't think of anything else, so it had to be.

Shaking my head as if to clear it, I moved to the lounge, which was below the navigation room. The minute I stepped in, I was hit with smoke, loud music, and loud pirates. When they saw me enter, a cheer erupted.

"Alissa! We were just talking about you!" Warren shouted, fighting an arm wrestling match as he spoke.

I hung my head as I looked around. The entire place was a wreck: food on the walls, holes in the furniture, broken chairs piled in the corner, cup stains, filthy carpets, you name it, it was here.

Another roar erupted and I looked over to Warren to see what had happened; he had slammed his opponents hand into the table, denting it. I sighed as the pirate crossed the room to me.

"What's up, my friend?" He asked, a grin on his face.

"Apparently not any rules." I responded harshly.

"Not in here. There used to be, but they dulled and eventually vanished over time." He explained.

"What ever. Could you get them to move somewhere else while I worked in here?"

He hesitated. "I don't know about that. These guys don't really listen to anyone but Ace and the Old Man."

I pondered that for a moment. "I got it." I climbed up onto the nearest table and cleared my throat. "Oi! Everyone!" I waited until I had all eyes on me. "Look, I know I made you all mad when I explained I wasn't joining, so please let me make it up to you by fixing up your hang out. It would mean so much to me if I could just do that." I said. It was true of course, but I made my voice and expression sound more sincere and innocent than usual.

I got an immediate reaction from them all. "Of course!" "You don't have to, but we don't want you to feel bad!" "Only because you asked!" I picked out. Everyone began to file out in groups as Warren watched me hop down from the table.

"That was impressive." He stated.

"Thanks. Now, are you going to help me or not?" I asked.

He shrugged. "Why not? It could be fun."

I tossed him a hammer from my belt. "Cool. You start with fixing the dent you just made. When you finish with that, start scraping the food off the walls." I told him.

He raised an eyebrow. "What about you?"

I picked up a wobbly table and tore off one of the legs. "I get the fun part." I said, breaking off another leg.

He looked from me to the table, as though he wanted to say something. Fortunately for him, he simply chuckled and moved to his work. As for me, I had some exciting piece of work to get done.