“I’ll help you; just tell me what to do,” Kirsten said coming closer to Max.
Max stepped alongside a cannon, making it so the large steel barrel blocked her from getting too close to him. He quickly grabbed the rope on his side and said, pointing to the opposite side, “Take that rope there and lace it through the bolt on the floor.”
Kirsten looked at him strangely. Max guessed she knew what he was trying to do. He looked away shyly, noticing her head beginning to shake. Max focused on tying his rope down when Kirsten addressed his behavior, “Why are you acting so weird?”
Max paused halfway through the knot he was tying, “Umm, I’m not being weird.”
“Yes, you are,” she said, placing her arms on the cannon and leaning over to look at him more closely. “You are acting strange.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Max said.
“It’s like you think I'm going to getchya,” she said lunging playfully at him.
Max flinched, then closed his eyes, snorting angrily. He carefully finished off his knot and rose to see her leaning dangerously close to him over the barrel. “Look, Kirsten,” he started. “I think you are a really great girl and I do enjoy your company, but...”
“Hold up,” Kirsten said. “I know where you are going with this.”
“You do?”
“Yes. I’ve been wanting to tell you for a while. When I was affected by the goblin poison, I think it did something to how I felt toward you.”
“That’s what I’m trying to tell you,” Max said. “I’m into Britt.”
“Yeah, I know,” Kirsten said.
“You know? Then why have you been making passes at me?” Max asked.
“That’s what I’m trying to tell you,” she replied. “I think I got a little turned around in my head by that venom. Once I was rid of it, I felt all those emotions I had been developing for Bo rushing back.”
“Okay, so you don’t want to kiss me then? Because the other day I could have sworn you were going to try,” Max said.
“I was going to try. I wanted to try,” Kirsten said, and Max raised a questioning eyebrow at her. “But those feelings are gone, and they’re going to stay gone,” she said firmly.
“Does Bo know?” he asked.
Kirsten shook her head, “Whatever he thought he knew was reset when we started,” she paused and motioned.
“I get it,” Max said pumping his hands in motion for her to stop. “So, we’re good?” he asked.
“Yes, we’re good,” she confirmed. “And Britt doesn’t need to know about this,” she added.
“I don’t need to know about what?” Britt said, stepping off the stairs and into the hull where the two were standing close together.
“Britt,” Max said with a gulp as he backed away from Kirsten and tripped over a box of cannon balls, nearly falling over. Catching himself, he could see Britt’s dark eyes glaring at him through the dappled light. Max felt nervous sweat break out across his forehead.
“We were just talking about the guns,” Kirsten said.
Britt narrowed her eyes at them, “About the cannons? What do I not need to know about the cannons?” she asked.
Max looked around the low-ceilinged hull and rubbed at the back of his neck, “That, um.”
“What are you stammering about?” Britt asked.
“I think I’d better go,” Kirsten said, stepping out from behind the cannon and walking toward the stairs.
Britt snapped her attention to Kirsten, “No. You will stay here until Max tells me what it is that I don’t need to know about.”
Max wiped at his forehead and said, “Well, you see we were just talking about, um. Talking about how the goblin poison might have made her feel, um. Feel something for me.”
“But I promise, nothing ever happened between us. We never kissed or anything, no matter how badly the poison wanted me to,” Kirsten said quickly.
Max winced knowing that that didn’t make it sound any better.
Britt raised her eyebrows, pursed her lips and flared her nostrils. Staring at Max, she asked, “Did you know that she wanted you?”
He chewed at the inside of his lip and admitted, “I had my suspicions.”
“And why didn’t you tell me?” Britt asked.
“I didn’t think it mattered. I only wanted to have a relationship with you, and I would’ve turned Kirsten down if she had actually tried anything,” Max said. He glanced at Kirsten, seeing she’d been trying to sneak toward the stairs again.
Britt kept her eyes on Max but asked, “Where do you think you’re going?”
Kirsten stopped and Britt focused her attention on her once again.
“Did you know that Max and I had a thing for each other?” she asked.
Kirsten shrugged, “I saw how he looked at you, like how Bo looks at me, but I swear, I didn’t know you had already claimed him. Besides, like I just told Max, once the venom was gone, I got the fuzzy warm feeling I had for Bo again. I’m with him now, so there isn’t anything for you to worry about.”
