The Bluff
Title: The Bluff
Author Eglantine_br
Rating not quite G
Word Count 700
Spoiler William Bush's pure thoughts
Disclaimer: Bush is not mine, Ed Gorey and
Basil Hall are real, Amy is all mine
The Bluff
He bent forward obediently. The linen settled over his eyes and nose. Laughing they tweaked it up. He felt
the knot tighten. It was a poor knot he knew, and he longed to redo it properly, but he did not. It would do. It did not have to hold for
very long anyway.
“Can you see anything Mr. Bush?”
“Not a thing, Miss.”
“On your honor Sir-- no peeking.”
“I won't” His eyes were firmly
closed.
“Well then-” Laughing, the girls
took him by the elbows, whirling him dizzily, round and round.
His head was buzzing when they
stopped, not so much from the rotation, as from Amy's small hand on his arm.
“Now, Count to ten!”
Counting loudly he heard them scatter, Amy and two other girls, Basil Hall, and the odious Ed Gorey.
Will had met Midshipman Hall this evening, and found him amiable. Hall was not the sort of person who
would block a staircase, or draw a depiction of a persons knees. Certainly not. He was a few years younger than Will, 14 perhaps. He
was deft on his feet, and quiet in his speech. He looked just a little like an otter. He had been the one to suggest lawn games.
Dusk was pink in the sky, and the breeze had gone cool off the water. William could hear the small
birds speak of the coming night.
He stumbled after the sound of giggles, with his hands outstretched.
“Larbord, Mister Bush, bear to your larboard, and watch out for the rose bush--- oh f-I-mean-oh-dear.”
Will, struggling in the grip of the roses, had a moment of gratitude that Hall had caught himself before
completing the detestable word. From the renewed laughter he could tell that Miss Amy had noticed everything.
“Careful Mr. Hall.” She sputtered.
She was close, Will could hear it. He could hear the rustling of her feet in the grass, and he could could
picture her so clearly. He could see the wrinkle of her lip over her even little teeth, and the constellation of freckles across her nose.
She was more vivid than anything he'd ever seen. The other girls were shadows in comparison. He was going to catch her. Blindfolded as he was, she was the one he was going to catch.
He was thinking just this, with the blindfold falling down, and his feet slipping in the dew, when she
caught him.
“Will.”
She said his name, and he liked the sound of it from her mouth. He felt her draw the muffling cloth from
his eyes.
“Come here-- They'll never find us here.”
She drew him behind the shelter of the box hedge.
She laughed up into his startled face, and drew him close.
“Don't you want to kiss me again? You could go look for Ed if you'd rather.”
“No.”
And he need not have worried. He knew just what to do. He had spent so many nights worrying, 17 and never
even kissed anyone...But her mouth was very warm. He could feel the push of her hard little chin against his own. One her hands was
pressed against his chest, the other around the back of him. Her mouth opened to his, and that was an astonishment, although he knew
the theory.
She was pressed so close against him, and her small breasts moved with her breath, and all against his
chest. He knew she could feel how he was now, how she made him. He tried to ease back a little, but she chuckled and moved with him. Her hand was on his neck now, under his hair, and he shivered.
She nuzzled her nose against his, and he felt her chuckle.
And now he could hear the sound of the others, out of hiding and searching for them.
William Bush, hard as a hawser, hidden in the hedge, heard himself make a startled “Oh.” It was both
misery and delight.
“They're here-- I found them!”
It was Ed, detestable now for always. Will had just touched her clothed breast.