~O~
A week had passed by since Lily had been introduced to the gang. She fell right in perfectly with the group of women, especially, enjoying their company as they all worked together around camp during the day and sang and drank with the guys at night. Lily admired how genuine and real the girls were, even Ms. Grimshaw. Despite the older lady always nagging them around, she got the feeling that the woman still loved them all. The girls in the gang were all very much unlike the snobby, rich, wives Lily was always introduced to in her old life. There was one woman in particular, though, that reminded her quite fondly of the aristocrat wives.
Molly O'Shea.
"Why is she always staring at me.." Lily murmurs uncomfortably to Karen.
Lily and Karen sit next to one other as the pair wash some of the men's clothes in a tub of water.
Karen looks up to the Irish woman, standing a few yards away near Dutches tent, as the red head smokes a cigarette and glares at Lily.
Karen rolls her eyes and scrubs the clothes harder, obviously having previous issues with the woman before.
"She's just jealous 'cause Ol'Dutch has been givin' you attention, flirtin' with you an all." Karen says in a-matter-0f-fact like tone.
Before Lily can reply, Karen's voice cuts her off, "QUIT STARING AT US AND DO SOME DAMN WORK YOURSELF, YOU CRONE!"
"Karen!" Lily ducks her head as she hisses at the blonde girl.
Although Lily can't help but chuckle at Karen's crudeness. Molly really isn't too kind to any of the other girls anyway, and she really doesn't help them at all, so it was kind of funny to see Karen yell at her. Molly stomps out her cigarette angrily and storms back inside the tent without a word.
"What!" Karen's laughs, "She's a bitch to all of us and doesn't lift a god damn finger 'round here."
Lily sighs with a small smile as she continues to work. The two girls finish up with the clothes and take them over to the clothes line on the outskirts of camp. The sun begins to set as the two girls, joined by Tilly, begin hanging up the wet clothes for tomorrow and taking down the already dry ones.
The sound of hooves against the ground come from the nearby trees as three figures emerge from the foliage. Arthur, Javier and Charles step down from their mounts and hitch them with the other horses.
"Hey boys, how was town?" Karen calls as the men walk over to them.
Arthur holds his jaw, which is clearly bruised as he does his best to stretch it out and relieve the pain.
"Eventful." Arthur grunts.
Lily rolls her eyes, assuming her brother must have gotten into a bar fight which doesn't surprise her.
"Ladies," Javier smirks as the three men greet the girls, "*your all looking very sexy, as usual*" he adds in Spanish.
He usually likes to throw in some Spanish in his speech to impress girls, even though they don't have a clue what he is saying.
"You know Lily can understand you, dumbass." Karen puts a hand on her hip with a grin.
Javier flushes as the other two men laugh at him, along with Karen. Tilly also giggles behind her hand at the poor foreigners embarrassment.
"Why didn't you tell me, asshole" Javier clenches his teeth as he shoves Arthur, who laughs next to him.
Arthur just keeps laughing, clapping a hand on Javiers back, before he and Charles turn and head back to camp still chuckling. Lily bites her lip as she looks to Javier apologetically. The Mexican stands in the same spot, slightly mortified as he glares at Arthur and Charles backs. The girls grab the baskets full of clothes and also head back to camp to go fold and give the clothes back to their owners. Lily passes Javier last, with a small smile on her face.
"*Don't worry, I think it's cute.*" she whispers in Spanish with a wink, before following Karen and Tilly.
Javier shakes his head with a laugh, finally moving his feet to follow, remembering how hungry he is as the smell of Pearson's stew fills the camp air.
Dusk falls as most of the members matriculate back to camp from whatever they had been out and about doing. Lily and Karen just finish folding up the last of the clothes and grab a few piles each to go and return to the guys. Lily heads over to Hosea first, who lays on his bed roll with a book held above his face.
"Here you go, Hosea." She hands the first pile of clothes to the man.
"Thank you dear," Hosea places his book down and grabs the clothes, "You know you've been working real hard. It definitely hasn't gone unnoticed"
"Thanks." She smiles at him before turning away to return the next pile of clothes to Dutch.
Lily reaches the leaders tent, which is closed so she politely speaks up, "Dutch? I have some clean clothes for you."
She doesn't hear a reply back, though. He must not be in there. She shrugs and enters the tent, planning to just leave the clothes in there for him to find when he comes back. Although, she quickly finds out his tent is not empty after all as she walks in on the man changing. She gasps in shock, turning around quickly, although not quick enough, as her eyes had already taken in all of him. She has a feeling that image will be permanently burned into her mind now. I guess that's not a bad thing.
"Oh my god, I—I am so sorry." Her ears get hot with embarrassment as she faces the opposite way.
The only reason she hasn't left by now is the fact that she still holds his clothes in her hands.
"Evening, Miss Morgan." Dutch smirks at her as he finally pulls a pair of pants on.
"Why on earth didn't you tell me you were changing!" She splutters out.
He devilishly grins, walking toward her so he stands directly behind her, towering over the much shorter girl. She jumps with a small gasp, feeling his arm wrap around her from behind and take the clothes from her hands.
"Because.. I got nothing to be ashamed off," his breath hits the back of her neck, sending goosebumps along her skin, "And your real cute when your embarrassed."
She huffs in annoyance by how easily he can fluster her. He's constantly flirting with her and she doesn't understand why. Molly has made it clear, with all her glaring, that the man and her are a thing, although he clearly doesn't act like it. Despite how handsome and ruggish he is, she's also annoyed by how cocky he can be.
"Ugh, your despicable." She mutters, hearing the mans deep chuckle sound from behind her.
She realizes he has been drinking a bit, judging by the smell of alcohol and cigar lingering on him. Lily smirks, stomping her foot as it lands perfectly on top of his. He yelps in pain but can't help but laugh as he holds his hurt foot in his hand, watching her exit his tent in a huff.
"Oh, I like your fire, Miss Morgan," he steps from his tent and calls out after, gaining a few curious glances their way.
Her cheeks tint pink as she ignores him and heads over to where a few people sit around the fire.
"What's that all about?" Arthur raises a brow to her as she sits down at the fire next to Karen, who already smirks at the blushing girl.
"Nothing." Lily quips before changing the subject, "Hand me a drink, please, Reverend." She beckons to the man sitting next to the crate of beer, "It's been a long day."
~O~
