crybaby ghost writer

The storm rolled in that afternoon, making the ship pitch a little roughly. Nick did actually attempt to work on his map some more, but it was clearly going to be a pointless effort while the weather was acting up. He put everything away so it didn’t get tossed around or ruined in the storm. Tara had taken over his chair, and Nick glanced over at her as he finished tidying up.

“You seem awfully calm for someone who’s afraid of thunder,” he teased.

“Oh no, I’m terrified,” she said. “I’m not sure I can even get out of this chair, I’m so worried about the storm.”

“Is that so? Well, I don’t want you to be stuck there all night in that chair. It’s bad for your back.“

Tara squeaked and then laughed as he picked her up out of the chair. He set her on the bed and then flopped ungracefully next to her.

“I always liked the rain,” he remarked. “A lot of people think it’s gloomy and depressing but I think it’s quite pleasant.”

“You really don’t try to follow the pack, do you?” Tara asked. She was sitting up and watching him, looking amused.

“The pack usually goes dumb places,” Nick said. “Besides, if I didn’t like the rain before I’d have to like it now.”

“Why’s that?”

Nick sat up, brushing some of her hair out of her face. “Well, all that howling rain and thunder is keeping my pretty partner here in my room.”

Tara’s cheeks turned pink but she smiled so hard he thought it might hurt her face. He lightly flicked her nose and she laughed.

“You say you’re not suited to parties and people, Mr. Thatch, but you happen to be very charming.”

Nick laughed quietly. “I tend to ramble about history and language because of my nerves. I guess I’ve run people off by boring them in the past and no one gave me much chance to get charming.”

“Their loss,” Tara said. Then her eyebrows scrunched. “Did you call me your partner? Technically Will is-“

“Will is an idiot,” Nick interrupted. He flopped back down and this time he pulled her with him. “The author of the Kerelian history books is my partner on this expedition. And the author is you, so, you are my partner.”

“But we can’t tell people that.”

“Why not?”

“Well…I mean, people probably won’t believe that I wrote the books, for starters.”

“Tara, I’m not letting you go home and continue allowing your brother to take credit for your work. I’m going to make sure the world knows that you were the most essential person I brought on this trip.”

She still seemed a little unsure but she was smiling. Nick supposed that was a start. Frankly he wasn’t that adverse to just tossing William over the side of the ship and leaving him stranded on some tiny island. Since that probably wasn’t a real option though, he’d settle for trying to get Tara to stop letting her moron of a brother call the shots all the time and push her around.

He pulled her into a kiss and they both forgot about William for a while. Nick really had intended to get Tara back to her own room once the storm cleared a bit, but the rain had continued late into the night and the two of them had fallen asleep at some point; so she was still in his room, nestled next to him in bed the next morning. Tara stirred and blinked up at him sleepily, and then blushed.

“People will definitely notice if I come out of your room,” she squeaked. “They’ll know I spent the night in here.”

Nick knew they should keep their romantic activities a secret, though he didn’t care as much as he probably should have that she spent the night in his room.

“It’s a bit late in the morning now,” Nick pointed out, realizing he’d slept in later than usual. “If anyone asks, we’ll tell them you came back early to catch up on the work we missed out on during the storm.”

“But I have the same dress I had yesterday, and I’m all disheveled,” she said. Nick cracked a smile.

“I take full credit for that,” he said and she swatted his arm.

“A bunch of sailors won’t notice if it’s the same dress,” he said, pulling her hands away from where she was fussing with her hair and planting a kiss on her temple.

“Just wait here for now,” he said. “I’ll go and fetch something for you to eat, since I think we forgot to have lunch yesterday. And later while the crew is busy you can sneak back to your room and change. Okay?”

“Okay.” She grabbed his face and kissed him again and he had to gently pry her off so he could find a shirt and head out on deck. He was coming up out of the galley with some oranges and water when Captain Montanez came sauntering over and fell in step beside him.

“Morning, Nick,” he said cheerfully. “Though it’s nearly afternoon now.”

“Yes. I’ve been trying to catch up, you know, with the map. Couldn’t work on it with the storm.”

“Ah, of course not. Storms are no good for trying to draw maps. They can be good for other things though. I haven’t seen our lovely Miss Palmer yet today, is she feeling well?“

“She’s fine,” Nick said, willing his ears not to get red. “She came back after the storm calmed down to bring me some older notes that she had been looking for.”

“For her brother’s assistant, she certainly seems to interact with you more than Mr. Palmer himself does.”

“Mr. Palmer and I have clashing personalities,” Nick muttered. “It’s just a bit easier to have Tara serve as his liaison.”

“You two are on a first name basis now, hmm?” Luis’s eyes twinkled with amusement and Nick’s traitorous ears turned red after all.

“Well we are working together a lot,” he said, and the captain chuckled.

“Yes, yes, so I’ve noticed. Working in very close quarters no less. I hope your accommodations aren’t too small for the two of you.”

“My quarters are just fine. For maps and journals and such. Which is what we do there,” Nick said, cursing himself for sounding so stupid. Luis was wearing an annoyingly knowing smirk on his face.

“Of course. You’re a man of research and exploration, Nick. I’m sure you’re getting plenty of that done on this voyage.”

Nick felt heat crawl up his neck and he wanted to melt through the bottom of the boat. Montanez laughed and clapped him cheerfully on the shoulder.

“Relax, my boy. I’m just glad the expedition is already proving successful for you, that’s all. Now get on back to your maps, I’m sure they’re getting lonely without you.”

He walked away still chuckling and Nick resisted the urge to scowl at his retreating back. Montanez clearly suspected that there was something between him and Tara. At least Nick knew that the captain would keep it to himself, even if he’d happily tease Nick about it. He returned to his quarters to find Tara seated at the desk, trying to wrestle her curls back into a bun. Nick set her food and water in front of her and promptly messed up her hair again when he kissed her and intentionally ruined her bun.

“Nick,” she whined. “I was trying to fix that.”

“It doesn’t need fixing,” Nick insisted. “Besides, what does it matter, when your dress is on backwards?” he added with a smirk. Tara looked down and huffed when she realized he was right.

“Great, now I need to take it off to fix that too,” she grumbled.

“Do you need any help?” Nick asked innocently and she swatted his arm again, though her stern look turned into a laugh pretty fast.

“Some help you are,” she scolded when she finally got herself righted. “It took me twice as long as it should have thanks to your brand of help.”

Nick laughed, spreading his map across the desk again. “I just wanted to be thorough about making sure the dress wasn’t still backwards. I’m a perfectionist, you know.”

“Then why do you like my hair all mussed?” she snorted. Nick grinned and fluffed her auburn curls as he sat down to resume work on the map.

“Because,” he said. “Your hair down and wild is perfect.”