"Oh, Bryn. What are you doing up at this hour?"
"I should probably ask you the same question." *Yes,* Bryn thought, *Perfect timing. Up here, alone under the stars, oh yes, perfect timing.....*
"Couldn't sleep. You?"
"Same. Actually, I was just thinking....." Bryn said cryptically.
"Thinking what?"
"Oh, nothing really. It's just that... well... I feel like there's something missing in my life."
"You mean your past?"
"No, something more than that..." *Come on, Sinbad, take the hint.....*
*I know the feeling,* Sinbad thought. His mind wandered to a certain red-haired beauty... "Do you have any clue as to what it is?"
Bryn moved a little closer to Sinbad, not that they had been very far apart to start with. "I don't know... companionship? A little warmth, maybe? Perhaps even... love..." Before Sinbad could answer, Bryn leaned toward him and kissed him sweetly on the mouth, hoping he would respond. He didn't. Bryn pulled away. "Sinbad? What's wrong?"
"Bryn, I--"
"You what? I thought you had feelings for me..."
"I do, just... not like that. I'm sorry," Sinbad said slowly. He hated to hurt his friend this way, but it had to be done. He couldn't keep leading her on like this.
"Oh, god, I feel such a fool!"
"No, Bryn, it's not your fault--"
"It's her, isn't it?" Bryn said, refering to Maeve. "Sinbad, I hate being the bearer of bad news, but you know she'll probably never come back. She's been gone over a year now! You have to move on!"
"And I will! As soon as I'm sure."
"What's so wrong about.... doing ~this~..... with me? You've had plenty of other women in the last year! Why not a woman who you could actually have a ~relationship~ with? Why not me? What's so wrong with me?"
"Bryn, I don't know how to explain it, but it was somehow different with the others. There's ~nothing~ wrong with you. You're beautiful, intelligent, strong, everything any man could want in a woman--"
"Except you," she finished for him. At this point, Bryn was too frustrated to continue. She turned on her heel and went down below, slamming her cabin door so hard that Sinbad could hear it all the way from the bow of the Nomad.
*Allah, what is it with me and women?* he silently asked. *I can't live with the one I want, and I can't live without the one that wants me.* Sinbad sent up a silent prayer for understanding and then headed down below to his own cabin.
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The Captive - Part 3