She crossed her legs and bringing her ankles in towards her, her floral dress puckered at the skirt, creating sea-like ripples in the blue chiffon where the pink flowers made navy boats. She fiddled absentmindedly with the hem, her fingers running along the stitching as she inquired, "And what is your father like?"
"His name is Harley, like those Harley Davidson cycles the officers use. He was a lieutenant in the Great War, so it wasn't really a question as to whether I joined this generation's army when Japan hit Pearl Harbour. My ma never wanted me to go, since I'm her only boy, but she's always been like that. She's called Helen," she hadn't been looking down at him, but from what she could tell in her peripheral vision, he shrugged, "You?"
"I don't have any brothers or sisters. My parents really ... struggled, with that sort of thing, so they absolutely poured every single morel of their love and dedication into me when I was born. I've always been sort of sickly, even since I was young. Nothing major, but my Aunt Beatrice used to call me an anaemic little thing. My dad, his name is Samuel, is a copper, and my mum, Annie, is a secretary at the Rendezvous Hotel. I was told that they met when my mum's handbag was stolen once in Federation Square and my father was assigned to help her. She never got her handbag back, but she always assures me and says that day she found something even better ..."
The blonde trailed off. The lack of movement by the khaki bundle to her right had made her suspicious — he'd even stopped puffing from his cigarette completely, and it sat stagnantly in his mouth, which was beginning to slack. Glancing over, Hoosier's eyes were closed, and he was unresponsive. Perhaps it had been the sun, or perhaps it had been her voice, but something or another had sent him right to sleep, like a baby in a carrier.
She simpered to herself, a small smirk dancing on her lips as she pulled the cigarette out of his mouth and began smoking it to the butt herself. Catching on, Jackie giggled, but her mouth was pinched and the glee hardly reached her eyes as she remarked, "My mother would say they're as they say on the tin, aren't they? Over-sexed, over-paid, and over here. You can't help but love 'em though, can you? Some girls love a bit of riff-raff," she sighed, and inclined her head as if to look at Bill from a different perspective, "I like him for you."
"He doesn't give up so easy, I'll say." Ginny remarked, her words punctuated by the crack of a bat as one of the Americans whacked the ball so far over their heads that it may as well have landed in New Zealand. "I don't even know what he wants from me. I mean, I'm not exactly the brightest button in the box, am I? The reason Mason Davin said he didn't fancy me when we were ten was because I had eyes like a bug. It's haunted me ever since."
"You'll never know what these men want from you unless you ask them, Ginny." Jackie shrugged as Chuckler hit the ball, sending it so far that an Australian man had to hurdle a fence to grab it out of someone's back garden. The brunette cheered and clapped giddily, despite the glares she received from her fellow countrymen, "Whatever it is, you know your dad would kill you either way."
"Jackie, it's none of my dad's business," Ginny said sternly, "If it concerned him so much, he would already know. Besides, he was my age when he met my mother."
The brunette looked over at her friend, her pretty eyes serious and cold, "It's not to do with how old you are, Ginny. We both know it's not that," she bit down on her bottom lip, "I heard the men are being sent marching soon. They don't want them to get too comfortable around here ... but you see this?" she held up her hand, where she was wearing a silver signet ring with a black gemstone, "Lew gave me his class ring. To remember him by when he goes away."
If Hoosier left Melbourne tomorrow, she'd have nothing to remember him by. She didn't know how she felt about that. There was a twist in her gut, and thought about when she'd taken him to the Lonely Sock before even knowing who he was and scrubbed his shirt clean for him, whilst he'd stood and smoked wearing only ball-chain dog tags on his upper body. Who knew how entangled she'd become after that day? Ginny herself had had no idea, evidently, as she was already waist-high in the quicksand of attachment, little to her knowledge.
She'd only given in to his advances the day before, but she was unbeknownst to the things that had been brewing beneath her uncaring façade since August. Of course, there was a reason why she'd been blushing so incessantly over the past couple of months. Ginny had a crush.
The Australians won the game, of course, despite the score coming rather close in the end. To celebrate, they all went to the local bars for victory drinks, and the remaining Marines slumped back to their billet for some well-deserved rest. Somehow, Jackie convinced Ginny to come with her to walk Lew all the way back to the MCG across town. Luckily, she had Bill for company as the couple walked together in front of them, but he wasn't very talkative that afternoon.
After an uncomfortable moment of weary silence and a exchanged glance, she mentioned offhandedly, "You know, if I'd have known my life story was so boring as to put you to sleep, I wouldn't have bothered."
For a moment, silence succumbed the two of them as he looked over at her, unsure of what she was talking about. She was joking, but only sort-of. She hadn't liked that he'd fallen asleep whilst she was talking. If he truly cared, he'd have been hanging onto every single word like a lifeline. Ginny knew she was being petty with him, but she couldn't help it — she didn't know if she was just due on her monthly or if she was just being iffy with him because of what Jackie had mentioned to her about her father.
He sighed, "Look, I'm sorry Ginny, it's not like I could help it. I didn't mean to, or nothin'. I was tired."
"You always are," she rolled her eyes.
His eyebrows scrunched together, which she noticed, were very blonde and almost not noticeable from certain angles, but even then, she could tell he was being wound up by this by the expression his eyebrows gave his face. He snapped, "Is that my fault? I sleep outside in a goddamn stadium every night. Sorry if I'm not as fresh as a fuckin' daisy."
"You could have mentioned you were tired," she said through gritted teeth. For some reason, she was almost seething at this point, but had no idea where this unwarranted anger was sprouting from all of a sudden. See: you know your dad would kill you either way, Ginny. "We could have rearranged."
"Look, I said I was fuckin' sorry, woman!" he snapped back, raising his voice and taking her by surprise, her breath catching in her throat, "What else do you want me to do, huh?"
"Stop swearing, for Pete's sake, and do not call me that," she spat, almost stopping midway in her tracks, "I'm sure there are thousands of other women in Melbourne you can dip your wick into. Go and sleep to the sound of one of them talking."
She wasn't sure if Lew and Jackie could hear them, but she wouldn't have been surprised; they were only a couple of paces ahead, but still within earshot, and not exactly acting as cutesy as they had been only moments before, and seemed as if they were probably walking silently in order to eavesdrop on the escalating argument that was ensuing behind them.
"God's sake, Ginny, I don't wanna hear this shit. Stop acting like a goddamn child!"
His words stung the nineteen-year-old deeply, and in the moment, she felt like she was being drawn through by a red-hot poker. I am not the woman you think I am, quite clearly. "Child!" she reiterated, her eyes widening in an incredulous way, "Child?"
"I'm not some heartless asshole, no matter what you think, and I'm allowed to get pissed off if I like," he told her, his jaw set and his face the same deadpan that had given her chills so many times over the last couple of months. Even now, she almost shrank back at the sight of him, his eyes a horrible haunting blue that she knew would stick with her for forever, burned into the underneaths of her eyelids for whenever she shut her eyes. He said, "Go home, I'll find you tomorrow."
She swallowed. "For what?"
"A proper date, that's what."
She stopped in her tracks, dumbfounded. He continued walking, and she watched him disappear into the tunnel that lead towards the inner portion of the MCG, not bothering to turn and wait for Lew and Jackie to kiss goodbye. It was more like neck goodbye, actually, and Ginny ended up standing and watching for the awkward duration of it. Over his shoulder, Bill Smith called, "C'mon Chuckler, put 'er down," and that was that.
Chapter Seven: OVER-SEXED, OVER-PAID AND OVER HERE
Comincia dall'inizio
