Rose couldnât help but crack up when she heard Damien repeating the word âHello.â He had probably been testing out his new drunk voice. Rose started paying attention to the way it sounded, noticing that it sounded thick and deep, and she saw Lilly try to keep herself from laughing.Â
Damien had taken a few gulps. As Damien fell off the log, Lilly snatched the bottle from him, and she took a sip as she started toward the campfire. Then, Lilly began to taunt the both of them.
Rose wondered how much rum there was left in the bottle. She couldnât guess the amount by watching Lilly shake the flask in front of them. She had to manipulate it with her own hands. Her eyes switched from Lilly to Damien and back to Lilly again. She couldnât decide who looked stranger: the girl who looked like a shadow against the fire, or the boy who looked like a hot mess in the dirt.
Rose slid off the log and lied down beside him, laughing. She couldnât believe the mess she had gotten herself into. How would she explain the missing rum to the pirates once she got back on ship? She knew how much they liked to drink. Then again, Captain Hook always seemed to have a ready supply. Itâs not like they would miss it â or her.
The only one on that ship who might miss her presence was Rylo.
Rose looked at Damien. Oh, how similar Damien and Rylo were, yet how different. She tried to remember her encounters with both of them. Last time she had seen Damien, he had gone bezerk, and then made up for it by saving her life. One of the first times she had seen Rylo, though, was when he almost killed her while drunk and injured.
Damien may not be injured, but he certainly was drunk. She hoped he didnât get injured in any way. Rose then remembered what triggered Damien when he went bezerk on her. Blood.Â
Thank God no one is bleeding, Rose thought. She couldnât imagine any girl on her period feeling safe around the guy.
Roseâs entire body felt warm, and she blamed the alcohol. Why did she have to drink so much? She hoped that the uncomfortable warmth would go away. She figured that, with time, her body would go back to its normal state, and her head wouldnât feel so loose and unsteady. Rose sat on her knees beside Damien and took a good look at him. She figured he was just as messed up as she was, if not more.
âDayyyyy-meeeee-ehnnnnnn,â Rose said, her head hovering over his. âHellooooooo.â
Rose let out a giggle. Everything about this was absurd. Neither of them should have drank as much as they did. The only one who could really hold her liquor was Lilly.
She lightly tapped his cheek. âHello? Are you there? Damien?â Rose then used her hands to hold herself up as she leaned over him. âAre you breathing?â she giggled.
Rose then cocked her head to the side. âDonât make me go mouth-to-mouth on you like I had to after that mermaid attack.â
Rose waited for a response, but she didnât get one.Â
She moved her head up and mockingly took a deep breath, holding it in as if she were about to dive underwater. She then rapidly lowered her head until her lips almost touched Damienâs. Rose held her position for a while. She held her mouth shut, and air slipped in and out through her nose as she remained still.Â
Rose could only hold her position for so long. The more she stared, the more amusing Damienâs face became. Rose let out a giggle, her breath blowing on Damienâs lips, and she cupped Damienâs face because it began to endear her so much. Perhaps it was being around his baby-faced self, or perhaps it was the alcohol, but Rose was beginning to feel impossibly lighthearted. In her giddiness, she steadied her face so that her eyes, nose, and lips lined up with the boyâs. Her hands left his face and planted themselves just above his shoulders, holding herself up just above him.
âI was just kidding,â she chuckled. âI wouldnât do that,â she said, shaking her head.
When she had made such a gesture, the tip of her nose brushed against Damienâs a few times, making Rose giggle even more. Had she been sober, she would have realized that such an action would have made Lilly suspicious at best, but at present moment, Rose was losing it. She rubbed her nose against Damienâs again. Why was she like this? Again, Rose blamed it on the alcohol. Whatever she did that night, she had a way of excusing it. Rum was wonderful in that way.
âOh, Damien,â she said, pushing herself up far above him. âYou shouldnât lie flat on your back. Seeing how much of a lightweight you are, you might puke.â
Rose turned him over on his side and patted his shoulder, reassuring him that he would be just fine now. If he puked, he wouldnât risk choking on it. That is, if he didnât lie on his back again.
Rose turned attention to Lilly, who still had the flask of rum in her hand. I gotta get it back. She shot up in Lillyâs direction. Rose successfully got one foot over the log, but when she tried to complete her jump, her other foot got caught on both the log and her dangling sword. Such a move caused Rose to fall flat on her face. Luckily, that didnât stop her from getting right back up.
Rose managed to get to Lilly and snatch the flask from her hand. She gave it a shake to see how much there was left. Shit, she thought. Not much left. She put the flask back in its proper compartment and tightened her sword belt.
âLetâs save some for later,â Rose said, her words already slurring. âWeâre already drunk off our asses.â
Rose crossed her arms and cocked her head, gazing at Lilly. Perhaps her eyes were just glazing thanks to the booze, but the light from the fire did odd things to the girlâs face, and Rose couldnât take her eyes off her. Something about the way Lilly smirked made Rose think of her toughness.Â
Rose remembered how Lilly stood up to Rylo when Hook gathered the pirates in a secret meeting. Watching Lilly defy Rylo was something else. Sometimes Rose had no way of knowing how to act around the man, and she knew how easily he could kill someone if he really wanted to. Though Rose had survived her encounters with the man she called a mentor, she heard of many others who didnât. The fact that Lilly was brave enough to stand up to Rylo gave Rose a bit of hope, in a way. Then again, it kind of scared her. What if Rylo decided to show Lilly his demonic side? Rose had seen it before, and that wasnât something she wished on anyone.
Rose stared at Lilly for quite some time, unable to figure out her feelings. They were friends, in that girls-need-to-stick-together kind of way, but something put them at an odd distance. Rose couldnât figure out the ways they were alike, but she knew they were there. However, Rose could see the ways they were different. Lilly wasnât vulnerable in the same way Rose was, nor did she seem to feel nearly as alone.
Rose laughed at herself when she thought of the main difference between them: Lilly wasnât the one pathetic enough to cling to Rylo as a mentor.
Fuck, why am I thinking about this? The alcohol was fucking with Roseâs head. Surely, if she were more sober, sheâd actually be able to figure out how she felt about Lilly. This friendship was getting more complicated than Rose liked. It was far more complicated than any relationship any pirate should be dealing with.
Rose looked at the fire, and then at Damien, who was still turned over on the ground. Heâs still there?! Rose had to laugh. When she thought of Damien stupidly falling over the log, she lightened up a lot, and she turned her attention to Lilly again. Finally, she could have a little fun.
âDamien said they dance and shit around the fire,â Rose said, giggling. âDo they literally shit around the fire? Eww, that sounds gross.â Rose couldnât stop herself from slurring her words a bit. âI deal with enough shit with the pirates. Literally. They poop on deck. Gross fucks.â
Rose then looked at the ground around them. Appears shit-free, she thought. She shrugged at her thoughts. What had she been thinking about? Fuck, I donât know. Rose looked at Lilly and Damien again, and she remembered she was saying something about dancing.
Rose, in her drunkenness, threw her arms on Lillyâs shoulders. A bit high up. Rose hadnât realized Lilly was so tall. She stood on her tip-toes and began to sway.
âWelp, Lost Ones dance and shit around the campfire,â Rose said, giggling at the word âshitâ. âCome on. Letâs dance, pirate girl.â