A Pirate's Life for Me

Chapter 28: Blighters

Chapter 28: Blighters

Nora stared at her phone. It had been days and Levi hadn't messaged her. Yes, she was aware that she'd told him not to, but it was still weird that he wasn't trying to win her over in one way or another. She hadn't been back to Disney, hoping a bit of reality would settle her into something more like normalcy. And, if she was honest, despite knowing Levi didn't go to the parks all the time on his days off or after work, she didn't want to have any chance of accidentally running into him.

Which meant a lot of Netflix (Disney Plus reminded her too much of Levi), binging shows and not getting any joy out of anything when she wasn't doing schoolwork. Not that she was doing a good job focusing on that either. Which did not help her when it came to her parents' deal with her—get good grades, get a Disney Annual Pass. So far, she'd been doing spectacularly. But any semester she slacked on, the more she'd have to pay herself, which meant she'd have to get a job, which would result in less Disney time, less potential for good grades, and just overall less magic.

She had it really good and had some money saved up from working the past few years, especially once she knew they were moving to Orlando, but not enough to live her Disney dream. 

Nora nuzzled her head against Daisy's back. "Oh, Daisy. You have it made, girl. No boy drama for you, my fine doggo."

Her tail wagged softly as she yawned. 

Her phone buzzed. Nora glanced at a text from Maddie, which was a gif of Anna and Elsa hugging. She'd been so sweet since Nora had opened up to her the other day about all the craziness with Levi and Oliver and Jack Sparrow.

She remembered the conversation well as Maddie had sat across from her and huffed, "Your life sounds like a movie. Like a really cheesy one where I want to kill all the guys."

"Please don't murder anyone," Nora had pleaded. "Can you tell me what you think about it all?"

Maddie crossed her arms. "I mean, what's your goal in life, Nora?"

"What do you mean?"

"I'm going to be straight with you. You can have whatever goal you want, but if you're serious about being a follower of Jesus, it shouldn't matter what you want, but what he wants. And it's not because of rules and being strict and all. It's about it being good for you and what's going to make you happiest, especially in a relationship, whether that's friends or something more. If you're with someone who also loves Jesus and you both get to be invested and help each other, a marriage and kids or whatever you do want in the future is going to be a lot easier."

She hadn't really thought about that before. The world usually said you should be with whoever made you happy, and that differences were a good thing. And they were a good thing, but sometimes they weren't. You couldn't be with someone who wanted totally different things. It just didn't work, so that made sense to her.

"And also know I don't know Levi. Not really. I just want him to have more friends. So he can be looked after and loved, which is seems like he's doing now."

"What do you mean?"

"He hung out with Kayden the other day. Considering Kayden thought I might kill him, he asked me not to be there. I may have been there anyway and threatened him with a horse head."

"Sounds like you."

"Don't worry, I wasn't too harsh." Maddie frowned. "Anyway, I really do hope Oliver and Levi start coming around too. I don't know if they're Christian or not, or maybe kind of like you were when it came to growing up kind of sort of going, or thinking it must be real but not knowing anything about it, but it's important for Christians to watch each other's backs. And other peoples' backs too, of course. It's just that we should all have people who know us well and love us, especially that we can trust to give us wisdom about anything."

"Yeah. My parents never seem to want to talk to me about anything unless it's school related, and even then they don't seem to have the same things in mind that I do. It's more about making a lot of money, which I get seems like a good thing and I know they want good things for me, but I don't know if that's what I'm supposed to do." Not that she wanted to do what God had in plan, whatever that was, if she didn't want to do it. She was still figuring that part out.

"I'm sorry about that. I'm sure they really love you, regardless of how well they communicate it."

Nora was sure of it, too. Even if it didn't really feel it. "So you're thinking more in terms of relationships right now because you think I like one of them?"

Maddie grimaced. "I don't know how you feel, I just know you all can't be in this weird bubble, just the three of you, without people seeing how you interact with each other and making sure you're all making good choices. And I know that probably sounds kind of Big Brother, but I swear it's just about having people being able to see us and making sure you're doing okay. That we let people give their honest opinion in a loving way. And I know how hard that is for people, especially concerning relationships. A guy becomes your whole world sort of thing. I'm going to be like that when it happens to me." She brushed at her hair nervously. "But yeah, I just want you to be in a safe, healthy place and I know right now you don't really feel like you're in one."

"Yeah. I'd like that too. So what do you think I should do?"

Maddie sighed. "I don't know. I'd pray about it. But I really don't think it's that smart to just hang out with these guys with all of your free time anyway, especially if they gave you a red flag like that."

Nora didn't like it, but it made sense. "Do you think guys and girls can stay friends without it evolving into something else?"

"I hate that question so much." Despite hating the question, Maddie leaned forward, eyes eager. 

"Here's a scenario. Let's say you have a great guy friend. You spend a lot of time together, hang out in person just the two of you, and nothing romantic ever happens. No drama."

"Sounds nice."

"And then life happens. You get married to some other guy. Do you think that guy is going to be fine with you hanging out with some other guy all the time? And this isn't a sexist thing—think about it the other way. Do you think you'd be fine with him hanging out with some girl, just one on one?"

Her face soured. "Not all the time. I don't mind if he had friends that were girls or all, but that sounds super weird."

"And I'm sure some people don't mind that at all, like maybe they'd be fine with their partner hanging out with someone so intimately even if it was a friendship, but it could lead to problems down the road. Complaining about your spouse to them, affairs, all the bad things. No, I'm not saying that happens to everyone, and yes, you can still have guy friends that you see in groups, but it's just best to try to love your spouse more than any other person, right? Sounds fair after that intense of a 'I'll love you until I die and put you first' vow to me."

Nora sighed. "Fine. Yeah, it makes sense." 

Already, it was hard to think about hanging out with either Oliver or Levi, like she was cheating on one of them despite not being with either of them. Which was dumb, but at the same time, was it really? Wouldn't she rather not cause drama?

"Are you still mad at him?"

Nora rested her chin on her pulled up knees. "Kind of."

"Pray about it." Maddie patted her shoulder. "Your relationship with God is what's most important. If that's in order, even if everything else in life is crazy, you're going to be okay."

Nora looked up at her. "How are you so smart, anyway?"

She smiled. "I have a great family."

Nora had gone home and prayed. And thought about what God would want. And decided to make some big changes in her life.

She just wasn't sure exactly what those were yet. 

Nora scratched Daisy's head as she scrolled through pictures she'd taken of all the good times. Most of them were of her and Levi, but there were some of her and Maddie and the other girls at small group. She even had some of her and Oliver during their not-date. He'd taken them, of course, and sent them to her. He'd even made them get a picture at Be Our Guest, forcing a Cast Member to take their picture as a memento. 

He'd even acted like he was going to kiss her cheek in it, before pulling away and grinning. He'd only gotten away with it because, by that point, she had been so deliriously full that her guard had disappeared. And, of course, he knew it.

She rolled her eyes at the picture.

Someone knocked on her door. Brook popped her head in. "Mom says dinner will be ready in fifteen."

Nora put down her phone face down. "Thanks."

Brook let herself in, making herself at home at Nora's desk, spinning around on her chair. "You've been so mopey lately."

Daisy made a grumbling noise. 

"Just exams getting me down," Nora lied.

Brook snorted. "You haven't been to mouse land in days."

World, she corrected internally, as if calling it mouse world made the insult better. But Brook knew that and knew that Disney people couldn't stand when you got the parks mixed up. "I've been busy studying."

"Right." She slung her arm over the chair. "You know, you can always convert to Universal if you're ready for thrills."

Nora's nose shriveled. From what she'd heard, she'd probably end up getting sick within the first hour because of the intensity of their rides. Most were just watching screens while you got shaken around. "Never."

"You're so stuck up."

"So are you," Nora said tiredly. "You know, you're the one who named Daisy. And you named her after your favorite character, Daisy Duck."

"Yeah. And she ended up loving you and not me."

Oh, the horror. "That's because I spend time with her. And feed her. And walk her. You always get mad at her."

"She peed in my bed."

"So have you."

Brook snorted. "At least I outgrew being a child. I bet even your stupid phone has a Disney screensaver—"

Before Nora could stop her, Brook had swiped her phone, finding the picture of Nora and Oliver, the last thing she'd looked at. His lips looked a lot closer to her cheek than they did a minute ago.

Well, this was great. She sat up slowly, watching as Brook's eyes widened to the point where her soul might pour out of them, shrieking like some possessed demon.

"Is this some prank?"

Nora pressed her lips together, wanting to go for some sort of joke, but knowing that would only escalate things. She decided to say nothing. 

Brook started swiping, finding the rest of the pictures. "How do you know Oliver?"

Her fingers twitched. Did she go for the whole truth, which would be super boastful and probably too much for Brook to handle, or some level of it?

Her eyebrows pulled down. No, Levi hadn't told her the truth, and she wished he had. She was done with trying to appease Brook, anyway. The only thing she'd keep from her was the fact that he worked there, especially as Gaston, for his own safety. "We ran into each other months ago at Disney, because he loves it there and he's there all the time. He approached me first, not the other way around. We became friends considering we share the same favorite thing, and that was before I knew he was some hotshot on TikTok."

"Friends?" Brook repeated, shoving the picture of them at Be Our Guest, with Oliver's eyes doing that smirk thing they did when he was being unbearably him. "Is that what this is?"

Nora sighed. "He's a flirt is all. Not that I should have to explain my life to you or anything."

"That can't be the real story. You must be stalking him like some psycho freak!" Brook scoffed. "You're the one who's been telling me not to trust the guy, but all you've wanted was to have him to yourself!"

Oh, for the love of Mickey. "You're delusional. You'd seriously not trust me, your sister? Why do you think I told you he isn't who you think he is? He loves Disney, which you hate. Clearly you're not a match made in heaven—plus he's, what, four years older than you?"

"Age is just a number."

"Try telling that to a court when they judge you for being a minor in a fantasy relationship."

Brook threw her phone, almost hitting Daisy. 

"Hey!" Nora pushed Brook. "Don't hurt her."

"Of course you care about a dog more than me. You're always acting like you're this perfect person. Miss Always Happy. Miss Perfect Daughter. When are you going to tell dad you're not majoring in architecture and following in his footsteps, huh? That you have no idea what you're going to do with your life, besides ruining mine!"

"Right. Because if I don't have it figured out in everyone's cookie cutter planned timeline, I'm ruined." Nora sighed. "Brook, I'll be fine. I was actually planning on talking to dad about it this week. You know, like a mature adult."

She'd had conversations with Maddie and Naomi about it. She'd been pretty on the fence, too nervous to set a date, but everything with Levi had made her value honesty a bit more.

Brook's hands formed into fists. "Because you're just so mature, acting like you're better than me."

"Am I? I'm just telling you how it is. I'm not perfect."

"I know that," Brook seethed. "And I need to tell Oliver all about you. You must have swindled him somehow."

She'd had enough. "Right. Because that's why he bought me dinner that night."

Brook's shoulders raised. "I hate you."

She stormed out of the room, slamming the door shut. Daisy sat up on the bed, meeker than usual.

"Tell me about it," Nora murmured to her, kissing her nose and looking into her deep, beautiful doggy eyes. "You're a sweetheart, Daisy. Don't you go modeling after Brook, you hear me?"

She was rewarded with a nose lick.

Nora locked her door, grabbing her phone and holding it to her ear, not having to listen to ringing long before he picked up. "Nora?"
            
"Hey." She tried to stop the blood from rushing to her cheeks, to no avail. "I was wondering if we could meet up."
            
"Sure." His voice cracked. He cleared his throat. "Anytime."

Oof. Some siblings. Sooo, who do you think Nora called? Probably not the Ghostbusters.

I almost wrote Chapter of the Question. Apparently I'm turning into Jack Sparrow.

Question of the Chapter: If you had a pet (or do have a pet) and could name them after a Disney character/thing, what would their name be?

Make sure to like and comment! It helps a lot.

-Flips