Chapter Text
OLU
Hello, Rockyledge Public Library, how can I help you?
JIM
Hey, babe.
OLU
Oh, hi hon! What’s up?
JIM
Not much.
OLU
Well, you know I love to hear your voice, but I can’t talk long.
JIM
Fine. Just one sec.
(Beeeep. Beeeep. Beeeep.)
ARCHIE
I’m not here.
JIM
Cariño, it’s us. Remember?
ARCHIE
Ohhhh! Hi, Jim. Hi, Olu.
OLU
Hello, Archie. To what do I owe the pleasure?
ARCHIE
What, don’t you miss us?
OLU
‘Course I do. Just. You know. Working.
JIM
Too busy to take lunch?
OLU
Oh. (Sighs) That’s what this is about. Yeah. I don’t know.
ARCHIE
But you promised to ask her!
OLU
I…don’t think I did, Archie. Said I’d think about it.
JIM
You know she wants you, chica.
OLU
No, I don’t!
ARCHIE
Can’t stop eye fucking you every time you’re in the same room.
OLU
Okay, that’s not— I’m at work, Archie! The library! There are children here. I’m gonna go.
JIM
Promise first!
ARCHIE
Yeah, she’s been in town for like two months and hasn’t even been to the beach, bro! She works too hard running that stupid movie theater.
OLU
Yeah…that’s true. Not stupid though. She’s showing some pretty keen films!
ARCHIE
Yeah, whatever. Besides, getting a bit boring just the three of us. No offence.
JIM
True, though. (Pause) But Lucius said she and Pete might bring New Girl to the beach.
ARCHIE
Really?!!!
JIM
Yeah, apparently she also works too hard and is boring and needs to get out more. Lucius’ words, not mine.
OLU
Okay, well, this is all very exciting, but I have to go. I’ll see you there.
JIM + ARCHIE
Ask her!
ARCHIE
Then kiss her!
OLU
Bye.
(Click)
JIM
She’s gonna do it.
ARCHIE (Sing songy)
Yeah, she’s in loooove.
JIM
Yeah. Would be annoying. If it weren’t so cute. Or whatever.
ARCHIE
Yeah. Oh! Gotta go, race is about to start.
JIM
That’s today?
ARCHIE
Yeah, like in a few minutes!
JIM
Maybe I’ll come with.
ARCHIE
Cool! See you outside!
JIM
‘Kay. Bye.
ARCHIE
Bye.
(Click)
* * *
Ed sighed. The sun was shining stupidly. The road stretched out long and dusty in front of her, winding above the disgustingly picturesque seaside town that lay nestled below the rocky cliffs. Queen Anne vibrated beneath her, and the crowd roared like television static. Ed closed her eyes and envisioned turning the dial to something pleasant, some rock and roll music she could get lost in, or fuck, just birds chirping or even silence.
But no fucking dice. Just static. The same static that was always there lately, underneath it all. Ed opened her eyes and glanced over at the competition.
Jack, fucking Jack tossed her (teased to the sky) hair and shimmied her shoulders. She was dressed completely impractically for a drag race, in a pink bikini and a cowboy hat.
Ed made sure to look cute, of course, but at least she had almost-full coverage in her tight black jeans and leather jacket with the patches of the kraken logo and “Inked Ladies” in purple script on the back.
Jack shot Ed a look that was probably supposed to be sultry, but it just seemed like she had something stuck in her sticky spiderweb mascara. “Get ready to choke on my fumes, Eddie!” she yelled over the roar, astride her bike, an absolute junker that looked like it had crashed into a few concrete barriers on its way here.
Ed rolled her eyes, then patted her trusty purple bike—she kept Queen Anne pristine and shiny, as befits a queen—and revved the engine a few times for show.
All for the show.
Then Ed tried to focus. Tried not to see Jack acting like a fool out of the corner of her eye. Watched the green flag that Ivan was holding above her head. Her vision tunneled in, and everything disappeared but the flag.
Waiting…
Waiting…
Go! The green flag dropped and they were off.
Look, Ed knew she was going to win. She always won. Never a question. Half the time, her competitor forfeited ten seconds into the race because of some imagined equipment failure or whatever. Ed didn’t even need to be there, probably. Could send Queen Anne down the road on her own and she’d still win.
There was just no challenge in it anymore, was the thing. Ed was asleep. She was a ghost. She was—
Well, right now, she was yelling, “Fucking watch it!” to Jack, who was driving erratically. As Jack drifted closer and closer, Ed realized that she was actually trying to force her off the road. What the fuck?! Apparently that’s what Jack considered “strategy.”
But, whatever. Jack wanted to play dirty? Her funeral.
Ed purposefully veered off course to hit the concrete embankment at just the right angle to catch some air, and then she was flying. Yeah, this part was still kind of fun; she could feel the wind in her hair, and knew it looked amazing, at least.
Because Jack had been hanging onto Ed’s side like a crusty barnacle, she needed to swerve to avoid a tire to the face. Ed didn’t have to look over her shoulder to know that Jack had lost control, was spinning out. The squealing tires and plumes of dust were evidence enough.
Ed cruised to a stop at the finish line where the crowd was going wild. As usual. She hopped off the bike and did the waving to the fans thing you had to do to not seem like a total dick. Then Jack hobbled up, one shoe down and much worse for the wear.
So she wasn’t dead. That was probably good. She looked pissed off, though. And like she’d be nursing a nasty case of road rash for a few weeks. Jack was lucky; Ed had seen others come out of similar crashes in much worse shape.
“Eddie! What the fuck?! I saved your life, remember?”
Ed snorted incredulously. “Yeah, but you also completely fucked me over! Twice!”
Jack rolled her eyes. “I can’t believe you’re still pissed about that.”
“Go away, Jack.”
“Fuck youuuuuuu, Eddy,” she said backing away with both her middle fingers up. Then she tripped on a rock and went sprawling.
Ed was done. She could see Fang heading over to give Jack a hand up that she didn’t deserve. Ed turned away.
The crowd was finally dispersing now that the drama had died down. Izzy came up to Ed, flawlessly made up, as usual, and standing with an authority that belied her small frame.
“Nice work. Eighty-nine in a row. You did it.”
Ivan hopped off her bike, having rode up from the starting line, and joined them. “That was a fucking awesome jump move there.”
“Thanks.” Ed looked around. Nothing left to do. She had played her part. Fulfilled the requirements of her role. So she climbed onto Queen Anne. “Alright, then.”
“Where are you going, Ed?” asked Izzy, with a hint of annoyance in her voice.
“I don’t know, Izzy. Home. Where else?”
“Thought you’d maybe want to celebrate the milestone.”
Ed shrugged. Didn’t fucking matter.
“You’re spending too much time wallowing, Ed. You’ve got to get out.”
“Why? And do what?”
“The uzh. Hang out in the square. Scoop the loop. Maybe go to Jackie’z. Have a few.”
“Ugh.”
“You know you can’t just disappear on me, Ed. You’ve got to maintain a presence. Keep up the image.” Izzy looked over to Ivan for support, but Ivan just crossed her arms and looked away, apparently done with mediating these arguments.
“No, I'm out. I’m fucking tired of ‘the uzh,’ Iz.”
“Well, what would you rather be doing?”
“I don’t know! Watch TV. Sleep.” Ed noticed that Jackie’s bar manager, Jim, was still hanging around with one of their partners. The fun one who was always doing shots and dancing on the bar until Jackie got mad, but Jackie seemed to actually like her, so she got away with a lot. “Hey! You!” Ed said to the girlfriend, who pointed to herself quizzically then looked behind her. “Yeah, you. I recognize you from Jackie’z. You seem to know how to have a good time. What are you up to today?”
“Aw, yeah, I’m Archie!” She bounded up like a golden retriever, looking relaxed in a loose leather pants and vest combo. “Good race, mate.”
“Thanks.” Ed reached in her back pocket for her cigarettes, tapped one out.
“We’re going to the beach today,” Archie said, gesturing with her elbow to Jim.
“The beach!” Now that was a thought. Ed hadn’t been to the beach in a while. She lit the cigarette and took a drag, enjoying the burn and buzz. “What do you do there?”
“Swim, build sandcastles, fly kites. You know!”
Ed considered. “Sounds fun.”
“It is, mate. You should come.”
“Hmm. Maybe.”
“Lucius told me she’d be there with New Girl.”
“New Girl?”
“Yeah, New Girl, that new lighthouse keeper.”
Ed cocked her head quizzically. She remembered hearing something about the last lighthouse keeper dying suddenly; she had been like a hundred years old or something. And yeah, the lighthouse had been dark for a while, but had been back on for the last week or so, hadn’t it? Huh. Ed could see it in the distance now, the cheerful white and red pillar standing out stark against the blue sea.
Ivan joined in. “Yeah, I’ve seen her. She bought a whole truckload of lumber from the lumber yard yesterday.”
Fang appeared at Ed’s elbow, having apparently gotten rid of Jack somehow. “I heard she’s been renovating the lighthouse. ‘Beautifying’ it, she’s been saying.” Fang said the word “beautifying” with a pleased smile.
Jim had abandoned their casual lean against a concrete barrier to wander over. “Lucius said she stabbed her fiance in the eye with a sword before running away and coming here. Lucius swore me to secrecy, but…” They shrugged.
Ed couldn’t remember if she knew this Lucius character, so no guarantees that the story was true, but she could still feel a little prickle of interest growing with each nugget of information. “Wow,” she said. “Sounds like a bit of a lunatic. What does she look like?”
Ivan shrugged. “Got nice hair. Dressed kind of like a man but…a fancy man.”
Izzy grimaced. “She’s an idiot. Heard she didn’t even know how to run a lighthouse when she started the job. Had to learn how to do it from books.”
“What’s her name?” asked Ed.
“Stede,” said Jim. “Stede Bonnet.”
So. Stede Bonnet had nice hair, dressed like a fancy man, had all sorts of “beautifying” projects going at the lighthouse, and was crazy enough to stab her fiance in the eye (with a sword?) then run away to take a job she knew nothing about? Fascinating. Ed wanted to know more.
This interest, this desire to do anything other than lie in bed, caught her by surprise. It was a nice feeling to be interested. Intrigued, even.
“We’re going to the beach.”
Izzy groaned. “We don’t need to go to the beach, Ed. It’s neutral territory.”
“We’re going to the beach!” Ed stubbed the cigarette out under her boot and walked to Queen Anne, knowing the rest of the Inked Ladies would follow. They always did.
* * *
The beach was fine, if you liked sand up your ass crack, wind that kept blowing your hair into your mouth, weird ocean bugs, and unrelenting sun that was making Ed sweat (ugh). She was wearing the white novelty sailor cap she had won from the arcade claw machine; she loved wearing it because Izzy hated it, but it wasn’t protecting her much from the harsh rays. Next time they should set up an umbrella, at least.
Ed looked around. Fang and Ivan were alternating between splashing in the waves and lying out. Currently they were face down on their beach towels, chatting. Izzy was on her back on a towel, magazine over her face. A ways down the beach, Ed could see Archie and Jim flying a kite, as promised, with their other partner, Olu. A little too cute, if you asked Ed. Someone in a red bikini appeared over a sand dune and walked up to join them. Olu handed off the kite string to her and she held onto it, smiling at Olu, wind whipping her pigtails about. Ed finally recognized her as the new movie theater owner. Interesting.
But not as interesting as she had hoped. No New Girl Stede Bonnet so far. This was turning into a bust. Ed remembered why she didn’t usually go to the beach. Too much fucking nature. This may have been a complete waste of time, but Ed was determined to give it a bit longer, just in case.
She lay down and closed her eyes. Might as well bake in the sun like a potato. She adjusted her purple bikini and fanned her hair out around her. She was getting a few streaks of silver that actually looked quite nice. Maybe the sun would highlight them a bit. She arranged her cap over her face.
And then time got a little hazy. Ed’s not sure if she fell asleep or not, just that her skin felt warm and glowy, and the breeze came by every once in a while with a cooling whoosh, and the chatter and shrieks and sounds of the waves ran together into a comforting background buzz. She was actually kind of annoyed when she felt a soft hand on her shoulder, heard Fang’s voice.
“Hey Ed.”
Ed opened her eyes. Fuck, it was bright. “Mmph, what?”
Fang was sitting on her towel, looking at something off in the distance. She tilted her head. “Look who’s here with Lucius and Pete.”
Ed followed her gaze, to where she saw a familiar face—yeah, now Ed remembered Lucius. Ed didn’t know her well, but she was occasionally at Jackie’z with her girlfriend, who must be Pete. They were both on the beach, playing a game involving a ball and a net. And there was someone else there. The someone was facing away from them, but had long long legs and strong shoulders and unruly curls peeking out from underneath a green cap. They jumped up to spike the ball and barked a laugh of surprise when Pete dived for it and missed. When the person turned to give Lucius a high five, Ed could see soft curves beneath the masculine sailor-style striped top and green trousers, a delighted smile on a face turning pink in the sun, and a nose with more personality than most individuals contain in their entire person. “Stede Bonnet,” Ed whispered.
“What is this fucking game? Fuck!” exclaimed Pete as she ran back with the ball. She was wearing cutoff shorts and the shirt equivalent of cutoffs, a baseball cap protecting her bald head from the sun. “Okay, this is starting to get unfair! Two on one.”
Lucius shrugged, adjusting her tits in her red and white polka-dotted bikini. “Oh, it’s perfectly fair. You’re the athletic one, babe! You’re doing great!”
“Stede said she’s never played volleyball!”
“Beginner’s luck, I guess,” said Stede, an obviously proud smile playing at the corner of her lips.
“Okay, fine, whatever,” said Pete with a put-upon sigh.
Ed could feel Fang and Ivan rustling about, standing up and dusting sand off, chatting about getting back in the water, when Pete served the ball and Stede jumped for it again. But this time after she batted it with a fist, the ball deflected straight towards Ed and the crew. Ed could see it coming as if in slow motion, arcing toward them, a purple and green meteor against the bright blue sky. Stede’s eyes grew big and horrified. Ed felt like she herself was also moving in slow motion, limbs like sun-melted taffy, and there was no way she could catch the ball in time. It landed right next to Izzy, hitting her in the side and spraying sand across her body.
“What the fuck!” said Izzy, sitting up, face tense and fists clenched. She clocked the volleyball crew and pushed down her sunglasses to glare at Stede while Ivan picked up the ball. “That fucking twat.”
* * *
“So, remember when I told you about how there’s a biker gang, the Inked Ladies, who basically run the town, and they’ve gotten rid of most of most of the assholes who used to hang around, so we’re happy to have them here, but they’re also kind of scary and you don’t want to get on their bad side?” Lucius whispered to Stede.
“Uh huh,” Stede said, feeling the prickle of eight eyes upon her.
“Yeah, that’s them.”
Pete sidled up next to Stede and added, “Yeah, I used to hang with that crowd but they’re pretty rough, so I got out of there.”
Lucius patted Stede on the shoulder. “Right. Okay, go get the ball. Good luck.”
“Lucius, I… Is this really necessary? We could just get a new—”
“Go get ‘em, tiger!” And with a little shove from Lucius, Stede found herself walking towards the foursome with dread in her belly as if she were approaching her executioner. Which was ridiculous! Stede had every bit as much right to be on this beach as they did! Of course, it was unfortunate that the ball had gone astray so horribly. Stede cursed her clumsiness, which was always getting her into trouble. Especially with that snail fork and Nigel’s—
Oh never mind, one didn’t need to think about such things.
Surely this intimidating gang couldn’t be all that bad, right? From Lucius’s description, they were actually…good at heart? Just a bit rough around the edges? There was the one holding the ball, tall with a very cool asymmetrical haircut; Stede couldn’t quite discern her expression behind the sunglasses, but she made no move to step towards Stede and return the ball, so…
And then next to her, a woman with striking white hair and were those…studs and chains decorating her black swim suit? And some sort of animal tooth hanging around her neck? Certainly bold fashion choices! Stede could appreciate that. Though she preferred to from a distance.
And then there was the disagreeable one, who had given her that icy stair and called her a “twat,” and there was simply no call for that! Such rudeness for a simple mistake! Stede realized she was staring at the woman’s prosthetic leg, which was actually quite tactless on Stede’s part, but she couldn’t help wondering what sort of violent encounter would have led to that! Certainly sharp weapons must have been involved and—
Oh dear.
Stede swallowed. She turned her gaze to the last member of the foursome, and oh. Why hadn’t she started here? The woman was shading her eyes with a hand and watching Stede with a slightly amused expression. Her onyx curls were streaked with alabaster, and she wore a purple two-piece swimsuit and that revealed quite a lot of skin and…oh the tattoos! Stede had never seen so many tattoos on one person; honestly, she didn’t think anyone else could pull them off so perfectly. They were beautiful. Stede could see at a quick glance a snake and a knife and a spider, amongst many others. She wondered what the stories were behind them.
But there was no more time to wonder, because Stede had arrived and now she had to be…what? Charming? It wasn’t her forte, but she could be polite, at least.
“Terribly sorry about that! I never was good at sports, but, you know, trying something new!”
Crickets. The woman holding the ball and her white-haired counterpart glanced at each other while the rude one just glared, an expression Stede had no trouble discerning, even through the woman’s green cat-eye glasses.
Stede tried again. “Okay, well I’ll just…umm…take that off your hands…ha.” Why was no one moving? This was starting to get actually sort of infuriating. She was just taking a deep breath to really let them all have it when her tattooed savior intervened.
“Oh for Christ’s sake, will you give her the ball already?”
“Why?” said the rude one. “So she can just lob it at us again?”
“I’ve had enough of this.” The very kind stranger in purple stood up. “Is this any way to treat someone new to our town? This is Stede Bonnet, the lighthouse keeper. We should be welcoming her. We need her. Can’t have sailors cracking up all over the rocks.”
Stede blinked. “You…you’ve heard of me?”
“Uh, yeah, of course,” the woman said with a laugh. Then her voice dropped as she stepped close to Stede, so close that Stede could smell her coconut-scented tanning oil. “I’ve heard all about you.”
Stede’s mind went blank. Her mouth was dry. “Oh,” she said. Like an idiot.
“I’m Ed. Ed Teach.” Ed Teach proffered her hand. Stede resisted the odd urge to kiss it like a knight would the hand of a fair maiden, instead giving a simple handshake, trying not to squeeze too hard the soft, spider-adorned hand. “And this is Izzy. Ivan. Fang.” Stede tried to file away the names, even though her mind was spinning.
Ivan tossed the ball and Stede barely managed to catch it, almost tripping in the process. Then there was a bit of an awkward silence, until Ed said, “Welcoming!” in a stage whisper with a somewhat menacing look towards the other women.
“Oh!” said Ivan. She bent down and grabbed something from her bag. “Smoke?” she asked, offering the opened box to Stede.
“Um, I don’t really…” Stede started to say, then wondered, well, why not? She came here to embrace new experiences, right? “Actually, sure!” She took the cigarette.
“Stede, you don’t have to…” Ed said quietly, but it was a little too late for that. Stede was leaning forward to accept the light that Ivan was providing, hand cupped around the silver Zippo.
It was a mistake. Stede tried to keep the smoke inside her lungs, but her body expelled the toxic fumes and she coughed and coughed, eyes and throat burning. It felt like her windpipe was turning inside out. The only comfort was Ed’s hand, light on her back.
As she continued to wheeze, she heard Fang’s voice. “Why’d you give her that one? The others are much smoother!” Stede tried to stop the coughing, mortified that she was making such a fool of herself. She felt the cigarette removed from her fingers and then a flask was placed in her hand. “Here, try some of this.”
The vodka burned too, but in a more familiar manner, and Stede managed to catch her breath. She noticed that Ed was now smoking Stede’s abandoned cigarette, and Stede wasn’t sure why that made her feel a bit fluttery. She took a second swig to clear her head, then passed the flask back to Fang. “Thanks.”
“Any time!” said Fang. “We’ve always got some on hand!” She smiled a smile that seemed almost genuine, and Stede was thankful for it.
The pleasant moment was interrupted, though, by a bitter and husky voice. “Well, this has been illuminating,” said Iggy. “And speaking of illuminating. How’s the lighthouse going? See you finally managed to turn it on.”
Stede bristled. She’d like to see Iggy run the damn thing. “Actually, it’s been going swimmingly, Iggy,” she said.
“It’s Izzy.” Izzy spat the words with contempt.
“What?” Whatever. She didn’t care. She’d known a lot of mean girls, and wasn’t particularly interested in interacting with any in her new life. Fang and Ivan were whispering to each other and giggling. Stede tried to figure out how to leave gracefully. While she definitely didn’t care for Izzy, and the jury was still out on the two others, she knew she didn’t want to leave Ed with a bad impression of her.
But before she could come up with an exit plan, Ed did it for her. “Think that’s enough of this welcoming committee,” she muttered. “Wanna get out of here?” she asked, turning to Stede, hand on her hip, head cocked to the side.
Out of here could mean literally anything, anywhere, but Stede didn’t hesitate for a moment. “Yeah. Yes, I do.”
“Ed!” Izzy hadn’t touched a cigarette but practically had smoke coming out of her ears.
“See ya later, Iz,” Ed took off down the beach. Stede stood there frozen for a moment, still a bit in shock, then ran to catch up. Her eye was drawn to the bare skin of Ed’s back where, though it was partially covered by swimsuit, she could still easily make out a dramatic tattoo of a skull with a snake slithering through the eye holes, and the words: “Trust No One,” written below.
Stede was struck with a sudden flicker of anger at whomever had hurt Ed in the past.
As she was running to catch up with Ed, Stede saw Lucius and Pete standing there with wide eyes. Pete looked away when Stede attempted eye contact, then Lucius quickly elbowed her and gave Stede a big double thumbs up with a bit of a crazed, overly enthusiastic expression. Stede tossed the ball to Lucius, who let it bounce off her thigh without even attempting to catch it. Stede gave them a little wave. She was making a friend!
* * *
Ed was relieved to finally have Stede to herself. “Sorry about that crowd,” she said, as Stede caught up and fell into pace beside her. “They can be a bit much.”
“Oh, not at all!” said Stede. “It was actually quite nice for Ivan to share a cigarette with me. I just…”
“You don’t smoke.” Ed was still holding Stede’s cigarette, taking the occasional drag.
Stede looked at it and sighed. “Oh! Well, of course I have. You know. I did smoke a bit when I was…younger and edgier, I guess. I still remember when Chauncey Badminton convinced me to cut gym class and smoke a cigarette in the bathroom with her. And then, when we were caught, she blamed the whole thing on me!”
“Yeesh, what a bitch!” Ed exhaled smoke through her nose and the wind whipped it away.
“Yeah. Well, I had a bit of trouble fitting in when I was younger. As you might imagine. But it took me a little while to learn that it wasn’t worth it to try to befriend people like her.”
“Glad you figured it out. And anyone who doesn’t want to be friends with you is clearly missing out.”
Stede looked a bit embarrassed. “Ed, that’s very sweet, but you don’t even know me!”
“Know enough. You saved me, actually,” she said. “Was going bored out of my skull there.”
They were walking out onto the pier now. Seagulls squawked overhead and the breeze grew breezier.
Stede looked at Ed with a quizzical expression. “Bored? On the beach?”
“I dunno…sand, water.” Ed gestured. “Not much else, mate.”
“Ed, are you kidding? The beach is an amazing place!”
“Yeah? Enlighten me.”
“Did you walk around at all? Look at all the tide pools? The little critters in there?”
Ed shuddered. “Ugh. Critters.”
“Really, Ed? Crabs? Starfish?” Stede’s expression grew incredulous. Adorable.
Ed almost hated to disappoint her, but at the same time, she enjoyed the little movements that Stede’s eyebrows made every time Ed said something that needled her. “Yeah. Not for me.” Eyebrows. Ha.
“Hmm. I think you’d enjoy seeing them if you gave it a chance.” Stede said.
They were about three-quarters out onto the pier now, so Ed stopped walking and leaned back onto the railing. A seagull landed right next to her. “Dunno. Maybe I’m just not built for it. Beach stuff.”
“Not built for ‘beach stuff,’” Stede huffed out. “Okay, fine. What do you like to do, then?”
Well, wasn’t that a question. Honestly, Ed couldn’t think of anything she liked to do, really. “Hang out with the girls, I guess. Been doing a lot of drag racing lately.”
“Drag racing? Wow!” The excitement in Stede’s expression quickly morphed into something more concerned. “But…isn’t it…terribly dangerous?”
Ed shrugged. “I guess. I’ve got good bike handling skills, though.”
“You drag race on a motorcycle? That’s even more dangerous!” Stede’s eyes looked like they were going to pop out of her head.
“Yeah, you’re probably right.” Ed would usually try to put some spin on it, make it clear that she wasn’t afraid of death, wasn’t afraid of anything. But something about Stede took all the bravado out of her, so she just shrugged.
“What do you like about it?” asked Stede.
“The speed, I guess. The thrill. The high. Nothing like it.” Stede nodded. She was really listening. “Doesn’t hit like it used to, though.” Ed turned around and perched her arms on the railing, looking out into the ocean. She tried to imagine a life without the cheers, without the intoxicating exhilaration. Without the bravado. The posturing. It wasn’t as difficult as she thought it would be.
Stede joined her in leaning against the railing, gazing into the vast blue surrounding them. “Well, I think if you’re open-minded,” she said thoughtfully, “you might be able to discover some more…quiet thrills.”
Ed looked at Stede out of the corner of her eye. “Yeah? Quiet thrills? You know anything about that? Anything you could…show me?” So, maybe Ed tilted her head a bit flirtatiously there, who’s to say?
Stede smiled and flushed a bit, but maybe it was just the sun. “Well, starting here, for instance,” she said, gesturing outward.
“You really love it, don’t you?” Ed stubbed her cigarette out on the railing. She refrained from throwing the butt into the ocean, thinking that Stede probably wouldn’t appreciate that, so she just held onto it awkwardly.
“Yes, I do. Honestly, it really feels like home to me. And I’d never even seen the ocean before coming here. I can’t believe what I was missing!”
Ed laughed. “You came here to run a lighthouse and you’d never even seen the ocean?”
Stede raised an eyebrow. “Guilty as charged.”
“You’re a lunatic, you know that?” Stede’s expression became a bit less confident, possibly a bit wounded even, which was not okay, so Ed added, “And I like it,” with a little nudge to Stede’s arm.
Stede relaxed and laughed. “I guess it is a bit unconventional. But I’ve never been happier.”
“Bet you see all kinds of ocean creatures out there, by the water all the time.”
“Oh, Ed.” Stede’s hand gripped Ed’s forearm in excitement, and Ed thrilled at the touch. “Yesterday I saw bottlenose dolphins!”
“Dolphins? There are dolphins out there?”
“Oh, yes! They’re amazing creatures! Might be as smart as humans, even.”
“Guess I should come out here more.”
Stede seemed to suddenly realize her hand was still on Ed’s arm and she pulled it away, looking a bit flustered. She gazed out at the waves for a spell, then asked. “How long have you lived here?”
“Grew up in Rockyledge,” said Ed. “But…never really came out to the water as a kid. My mum was too busy to take me. We lived way out past the railroad tracks. Literally, wrong side of the tracks.” And of the few times she did make it out to the beach, she mostly remembered the stares from the posh white people there; whether it was because of the color of her skin or her shabby hand-me-downs, she wasn’t sure. Probably both.
“I see,” said Stede. “It must have been hard. To feel like parts of your town didn’t really belong to you.”
“Yeah,” said Ed, surprised at how Stede seemed to get it, despite her whole fancy rich white-girl thing. Though Ed knew to be cautious on that front. Still, something about Stede made her feel like throwing caution to the wind. “Things are better than they used to be, I think. I hope. We do our best to make this town a less welcoming place for bigoted assholes. And it’s changed a lot. But you can only do so much.”
“Of course, Ed. You must feel so proud of what you’ve achieved! I’ll be honest, I’ve never lived anywhere where it feels like people are welcome to just…be themselves, I suppose. I’m sure you and your crew have had something to do with that.”
Ed nodded. It was true enough.
Then Stede was looking at her, seeming to see straight into her soul. Ed shivered a bit as a huge gust of wind blew Stede’s hair into her face. Stede pushed the hair behind her ear and said, “But it must feel like a lot of responsibility. And pressure. I hope you still get to do some things for yourself. Have fun!”
Ed couldn’t remember the last time she had really had fun. Until— “This is fun,” she said.
“Good!” A soft smile lit up Stede’s face.
“Stede Bonnet.” Ed turned towards her, and Stede tilted her head expectantly. “Maybe you’ll turn me into a beach person after all.” Stede smiled, looking pleased as punch. From this angle, though, Ed could see Lucius and Pete waving from the beach. “Hey, uh, looks like your friends are trying to get your attention,” Ed said, with what she hoped wasn’t an obvious frown.
“What could they possibly want?” said Stede bitchily, which made Ed laugh. “What?” Stede asked.
“Nothing,” said Ed.
They started walking back down the pier towards the sand.
“Um, Ed,” said Stede.
“Yeah?”
“I’m sure since you’ve lived here your whole life, you’ve seen the lighthouse tons of times…”
“Nah, ridden past it but never actually been there.”
“Then please, come out to see it! I’d love to show you!”
Ed felt like a warm blanket was nestling around her heart. “Really? I’d love that.”
“Oh, it will be so fun to have a guest!”
Their shoulders bumped as they traveled down the long pier, back to shore.