The Deck of Destiny - A Caraval Oneshot Collection

Games With a Sailor

Setting: pre-Caraval, during the month Julian arrived on Valenda, part two of "Doughnuts and New Beginnings" (I'm still not sure what to name this mini-series yet)
Inspiration: A scene from the movie 'Gifted'

"Falling For The Sailor"
2/5

Scarlett had been waiting on the docks for fifteen minutes. No Julian. She showed up five minutes early, so he was really only ten minutes late, but she had begun to question if he was even going to show up. To be truthful, she felt rather foolish standing there alone.

Scarlett began to feel nervous as she looked around, the waves rocking the boats gently. She felt like she was getting deja vu, she remembered when she met a friend here two years ago. Her heart began beating a little faster which did not help her already bundling nerves.

A pair of hands clamped around her eyes and mouth. She screamed.

And then laughter was heard. It sounded like...

"You scoundrel!" Scarlett yelled at Julian, smacking him across the chest gently.

It only fed his laughter, making the sound grow even louder.

"Don't worry, Crimson. I'm not going to kidnap you... yet," he said between laughs.

"It's Scarlett. And I don't appreciate it," she huffed reluctantly, but she couldn't help but think how angelic his laugh sounded. "You're late."

"I was debating whether or not to show up. You see, because of the reason I'm here on Trisda, I really shouldn't be here with you. But I want to be here with you, and I do what I want," Julian explained while tightening the rope on what she assumed to be his boat.

"And why are you here on Trisda?" Scarlett pushed as she watched his muscled arms work at his boat.

"We're not that close, Crimson."

She rolled her eyes.

"But we can be, why don't you come inside the boat? I believe it would be the gentleman thing to do," He goaded.

"You just pretended to kidnap me. I think you're past pretending to be a gentleman."

"Touche," Julian turned away from the boat to face her. "So is that a yes?"

"It's a, 'how do I know you won't just sail away with me on your boat?'" Scarlett crossed her arms.

"As I said, I won't kidnap you. I wait at least a full twenty-four hours before I sweep away ladies I just met. It's only been around ten hours, I'd be careful around me tomorrow, though."

"So you do this with all of your lady friends?"

"Just you."

She let out a deep breath before hesitantly boarding the living quarters of his boat.

"Welcome, welcome to the inside of my boat." Julian pulled out a chair at the bar-style table-for-two, "I have a fun idea for us to get to know each other."

"Oh? And what's that?"

He removed a bottle of a light yellow liquid from his cupboard along with six shot glasses, "A drinking game."

Scarlett's cheeks flushed.

"Absolutely not." She shook her head.

"You won't even get drunk, only tipsy at most. We each get three shots and we take turns asking each other questions. If we refuse to answer, we have to take a shot. If we do answer, we don't have to drink, but if the other asks about our answer, we have to elaborate. Whoever drinks all of their shots first loses," he explained as he poured six shots and took the seat on her left.