Skull and Dagger

“ ‘Not really’?” Elizabeth repeated, one eyebrow raised curiously.

“It was just a dream!” Annabelle insisted.

“Ooh, a dream?” Elizabeth squealed in delight. “I want all the details!”

“It was nothing!” Annabelle repeated. “I was just…”

“Yes?” Elizabeth demanded excitedly.

“I was just in bed, and then…he was there, too,” Annabelle admitted, embarrassed, “and then he started, um…” She looked around furtively before lowering her voice to a furtive whisper. “Kissing me…and then our clothes kind of vanished and he…”

“Oh, yeah,” Elizabeth was breathing heavily at the lovely images in her mind. “Mmm…Frank…”

Annabelle gave her arm a playful swat, and Elizabeth batted back at her good-naturedly. “It was just a dream,” Annabelle insisted before blushing once more. “Although, when I woke up…”

“And?”

“Oh god,” Annabelle shook her head, not believing that she was admitting this. “I was…touching,” she said vaguely.

Elizabeth blinked once. Twice.

“You know, down there,” Annabelle whispered.

“Oh, wow,” Elizabeth's eyes widened. “You were really…?” she trailed off in disbelief. “While you were dreaming about…?”

Annabelle nodded meekly.

“And you haven’t reenacted this fantasy, why?” Elizabeth demanded.

Annabelle's expression turned flustered. “H-He’s a pirate!” she exclaimed in disbelief. “I couldn’t possibly…not with…I just can’t!” she finished lamely.

“Why not?” Elizabeth asked, truly puzzled. “It’s obvious that you desire him, and if he desires you as well…”

“I do not desire him!” Annabelle protested loudly enough that several of the men on the other side of deck looked over at them curiously.

Annabelle's voice instantly dropped once more. “I could never desire…him!”

Elizabeth just shook her head. “Ah, young love,” she said despairingly.

“I’m only three months your junior,” Annabelle countered.

“Yeah, but when it comes to men, you might as well still be a child,”
Elizabeth countered. “Trust me on this – if you’re having dreams like that about him, then it means something. Have you really honestly not been tempted? You’ve never once noticed that if you just got a little closer…”

Annabelle blushed as she recalled the position they had been in before
Gerard had interrupted that morning.

“And I’ve seen how much trouble you cause for him,” Elizabeth added. “You’re practically screaming, ‘Tackle me back onto the deck, you gorgeous pirate, you!’”

“I am not!” Annabelle protested.

“Oh, please,” Elizabeth said with a teasing smile. “You just can’t wait for him to stick his massive hunk of man-meat straight into your—”

“Lizzie!” Annabelle exclaimed, mortified.

“And, ooh!” Elizabeth announced in delight when she found the means to bring her teasing up to a whole new level. “Here’s your hunk of burning pirate love now!”