Playing for Keeps (a PIL fanfic)

Chapter 24

( Eduardo's POV )

Damn woman, making me feel things...I thought, as I followed Penelope to the event sign ups at the pirate games. I'm letting her pick the event, not really having a particular preference. If I was honest with myself, the katanna wielding pirate had intrigued me, and made me feel things that I had always avoided, and thought I would never feel.

I think back to how I lived when the crew was just all men, and how we would go out to bars, not really caring, and none of us really the relationship type, and sure, we would enjoy a woman for a night or two, before leaving and be done with it. I had always tried to avoid getting close to people. I saw what it did to my mom, when my father ran off. Yes, he sent money and wrote her, but he wasn't really there for her. People could be apart of your life one minute, and leave the next. So why get attached? When they could so easily leave you.

Hell, most of us would just look at women for enjoyment, until Arabella came on the ship, and she slowly befriended all of us, worming her way into our hearts in different ways. I used to get pissed watching her and Nate, not really sure at the time why. I realized though, that I wasn't actually jealous of him having her, more of I was jealous of what they had, and how seemingly easy they seemed to open their hearts to each other, when I had never really opened mine for anyone.

I had avoided feelings for as long as I could, but lately, I couldn't ignore what I was starting to feel for Penelope. The beautiful emerald green eyed young woman, who was kind yet fierce. She had a way of talking to others easily, very much the social butterfly. She had a fire in her though,which surprised me that first night when we were picking roommates. I have always been pretty sarcastic, and was used to people either ignoring it, or just getting pissed but not saying much back. Penelope on the other hand, could match my sarcasm. She surprised me that first night, when instead of just taking it, threw it right back at me, with fire in her eyes, and one hand already reaching for her katanna as she put me in my place. That was what started it all, and intrigued me.

As I watched her more though, other things intrigued me. I found her reading, books from when I went to school, books most of the crew wouldn't even touch. She was very intelligent, without being arrogant about it, and had a talent for drawing as well. I'd seen her scribbling away on her drawing pad, as she sat on deck before, and she had even made copies of some of my maps, and unless you knew which was the original copy, you couldn't really tell them apart.

"Don't they have anything different." She murmured, glancing through the list once again.

"I'm sure they do. What are you looking for anyway?" I ask, watching her as she runs a hand back through her hair while she reads.

"Just something different. There's mostly fighting, and sports, and a few other things, but something different..." She trails off, scanning the last page, before her eyes light up. "Like this! it's a puzzle of sorts, with riddles." she exclaims excitedly, showing me the event.

I nod in agreement."It does look different, lets go." I say, letting her lead the way. When we signed up, they directed us to a different part of the island, handing us a map, and a list of riddles. We followed the map, which lead us to what appears to be some form of ancient ruins on the island. Like an old temple of sorts.

"What is this place?" She asks, her eyes widening at the sight of it.

"I don't know, but lets get started." I answer simply, walking towards the entrance. It looked old, and slightly run down, the structures inside not fully intact, but enough left for you to see it was a palace or temple of sorts, possibly a mixture of both. Whatever civilization had been here was long gone, from the looks of it, they had been gone many years. "What is the first one?" I ask, looking over at her, since she had the paper with the riddles.