Page 70 of Resistance Training
“O Captain, my captain…” she says in a singsong voice that is meant to scrape at the door to my soul as she takes the three steps up to my domain.
Shit.
“Mind if I join you?”
“I need to concentrate until we get to the channel.”
“I get it,” she says, sitting behind me on the wraparound seat. “I won’t distract you. I brought my John Green book.”
“Mm-hmm.”
“Did you? Bring the book?”
“I did.”
“Good! We can chat about it later. When you’re available to concentrate on something other than being the captain of this ship. How’s the kitten?”
“Good, actually.”
“Yeah? Have you decided to keep her?”
“Yes, I have.”
“I knew you would.”
“She sleeps a lot. That’s normal, right?”
“Definitely. For kittens and senior cats. Hairy sleeps a lot now—it’s nice. What are you going to call her?”
“Don’t know yet.” That’s a lie. I’m going to call her Bella.
“You should call her Niall, since he was your favorite member of One Direction.”
“He wasn’t my favorite. I’m a guy. I don’t have a favorite member of One Direction. I believe he has the most interesting personality of all the former members of One Direction.”
She giggles. “Oh my God, you should call her Bella. Too soon?”
Fucking hell, get out of my head.“Like I said, I need to concentrate.”
“Right. I’ll go down to the cockpit until we reach the channel, then. If that pleases you, my captain.”
“As you wish, First Mate.”Fucking nautical terms.
“I wish I was your first.” The sincerity in her voice is a jab to the heart.
To the back.
To the gut.
Who washerfirst? I don’t want to know. I can’t think about it.
“Well…as you were, Seaman.” And we’re back with our regularly scheduled sassy programming. “Keep up the good work.” No reply from me. “Oh, do you want me to bring you anything from the galley? Water? Coffee? Protein bar?”
“Nope. I’m good—thank you.”
“Okay. Well. I’ll be in the cockpit if you need anything.”
I need you to stop sayingcock.
