Ride the Wave

by Natasha West

  Natalie looked down at the top of Eden’s bedraggled blonde hair. ‘Worth a go.’

  ‘OK, but I’m pretty tired from trying to climb out by myself, so if I do this, I’m not sure how long my arms will be able to hold,’ Eden warned.

  Natalie was warming to the plan. ‘I just need one good shove, that’s all.’

  Eden nodded. ‘Ready?’ she called up.

  ‘Ready,’ Natalie answered with all the confidence she could muster.

  She felt Eden’s hands on her bare feet, pushing them as she got in position. Whoosh! She flew up a few more crucial inches, enough to get one foot over the edge of the pit, half her body out. With her last reserves of strength, she snaked her hand around the tree and found a thick tree root in the ground. She grabbed ahold of it and threw her other leg over the edge. She was out.

  Natalie collapsed on her back next to the tree, panting and exhausted. A smell drifted from the ground, a familiar one. She suddenly put two and two together.

  ‘Eden, did you fall in this hole while you were having a pee?’ she asked quietly.

  There was a pause and then Eden’s voice, tiny and embarrassed, drifted out of the hole. ‘I did, yes.’

  That’s right, Natalie was lying in a puddle of Eden’s pee. She considered jumping up and shrieking, but she didn’t have the strength. She started to laugh instead. Once she’d finished, she got to her feet and began to look around. She found an old branch on the ground, hopefully, big enough. She dragged it to the edge of the pit. ‘Stand back.’

  ‘OK, standing back,’ Eden called.

  Natalie pushed the branch in, holding onto one end. ‘OK, grab ahold, and I’m gonna pull you up,’ she instructed.

  ‘Do you have the strength?’ Eden asked nervously.

  ‘I’ll find it,’ Natalie promised her. She felt a pull on the other end of the branch, and she began to drag it backwards, pushing her heels in the dirt until she didn’t think she could anymore. But then a hand reached over the side and got hold of the same root that had helped Natalie out. ‘I need a hand,’ Eden said desperately, and Natalie dropped the branch and grabbed the hand, yanking Eden over the side with one last, almighty burst of adrenaline. They tumbled back together on the ground next to each other, sweating and panting.

  After a moment, Natalie felt she should say something about their achievement of getting out of the hole. But all she could think to say was, ‘I left my flip flops in the hole.’

  ‘I left my dignity in there,’ Eden replied breathily.

  ‘You win,’ Natalie conceded.

  They lay there a moment more and then Eden said, ‘Natalie?’

  ‘Yes?’ Natalie breathed.

  ‘We’re in my pee,’ Eden told her.

  ‘Oh. I suppose so.’

  ‘You don’t care?’

  Natalie found it wasn’t really at the forefront of her concerns. She was just glad they were free. ‘I’ll care in a minute.’

  They lay in the urine-soaked mud for some moments before they finally got up. ‘Jesus Christ,’ Eden exclaimed. ‘That was a mission.’

  ‘Yeah, I don’t even wanna think about how my arms are gonna feel tomor… Shit! The boats!’ she almost screamed, grabbing her bag from the ground before grabbing Eden’s hand. ‘Come on!’

  Eden didn’t argue, and they ran through the trees, reaching the beach a few minutes later and hotfooting it toward the jetty. But as it hove into view, it was clearly a dead scene. No boats, no drunk staff, no tourists.

  They were stranded.

  Twenty-Six

  Eden was looking at an empty jetty. She didn’t really know what to say now. She was stranded, and so was Natalie, and it was all her tiny bladder’s fault.

  ‘Well,’ said Natalie tiredly. ‘That’s not great, is it.’

  ‘No, it isn’t.’

  ‘How far is the ship?’

  Eden looked out at the horizon, at the ship floating peacefully. It looked awfully small. ‘I don’t know, I’d say at least a couple of miles.’

  ‘Is it silly to try and swim it?’ Natalie asked.

  ‘I couldn’t swim that far even before I spent half an hour trying to drag myself out of a pit,’ Eden said. ‘My arms are shot.’

  ‘Mine too,’ Natalie said. ‘And there’s no rowboat that happens to be moored at the jetty?’ she said peering around hopefully. But no rowboats.

  ‘So we’re stuck,’ Eden said. ‘Jesus, I’m so sorry.’

  Natalie shook her head. ‘If I’d been looking where I was going, we wouldn’t be in this position.’

  ‘No, if I’d been looking where I was going, we wouldn’t be in this position,’ Eden corrected.

  ‘Well, either way, we’ve got to figure out a way to contact the ship.’

  ‘Is your mobile as useless as mine is?’

  Natalie pulled her phone out of her bag. ‘Not too many telephone towers around here, no. My phone has absolutely no signal.’

  ‘But this island belongs to the cruise company. There’s got to be some way to contact the ship from here.’

  ‘You’re right, there’s got to be. Let’s go and look. The dining hall probably has a landline.’

  ***

  The dining hut had a freezer full of burgers, hot dogs, and ice-cream. And no landline. Oh, and the toilet was in there, the sign on the door slightly obscured by an overgrown plant. Eden had just missed it, she realised with embarrassment.

  ‘Shit,’ Natalie muttered.

  ‘What about the bar?’ Eden proposed.

  ***

  ‘Shit, shit, shit,’ Natalie said, standing behind the bar with her hands on her hips. All she’d found was spirits, mixers, and nuts. She pulled a Coke Zero out of the fridge despairingly. ‘You want one?’

  Eden realised she was completely parched. ‘God, yes.’

  Natalie gave Eden the Coke and got another out for herself. They cracked them open and both took heroic swigs. Once Eden felt less like a husk, she reached over the bar and grabbed a bag of salty nuts. She opened the packet, poured half the bag into her mouth, washed it down with more Coke, and then poured the other half in. Once she’d finished chewing, she realised Natalie had watched her little pig out session. ‘Sorry, I needed the protein.’

  ‘Hey, go nuts,’ Natalie said and then frowned. ‘I didn’t mean to pun.’

  Eden gave a small laugh. ‘Puns happen.’

  ‘You were stuck in that hole a while, then?’ Natalie asked.

  Eden didn’t know for sure, but she thought she’d been in there somewhere between thirty minutes to an hour, most of that time spent yelling or trying to get out. Speaking of which, she was a mess, muddy and sweaty, with a dash of urine added to the blend for good measure. Worse, she looked and smelled bad in front of Natalie, who was a lot less unkempt, having only been in the hole for five minutes. She was also properly dressed, in a loose top and shorts, where Eden was still in her now scuffed up bikini. ‘One second,’ Eden said to Natalie, walked over to the pool, and jumped in. She swam from one edge of the pool to the other and climbed back out via ladder. She was clean now. Though a bit cold. The sun was nearly gone. ‘I don’t suppose there’s a towel back there, is there?’ she asked Natalie.

  Natalie looked a bit dazed. She blinked. ‘What?’

  ‘Are you OK?’ Eden asked.

  ‘Yeah, I guess I’m a bit wiped out too,’ Natalie said quickly, shaking off her stupor. ‘I played way too much volleyball today.’ She looked around her and pointed over at a sun lounger. ‘Is that your stuff?’

  Eden looked over to see her own towel, along with her sunglasses and bag, and a trashy novel. She ran over and towelled herself off. When she was dry and semi-warm, she went into her bag to find real clothes to put over her bikini. Shorts and a vest. Not a lot warmer, but an upgrade on what was basically polyester underwear. Though Natalie had seen more than that, Eden felt a bit self-conscious about standing around semi-naked in front of her.

  Once she was better attired, she turned to Natalie. �
�So, what should we do now?’

  Natalie gave a giant shrug, going through her own bag, pulling out a spare t-shirt, and turning to change. Eden realised her old top probably had pee on it. ‘I don’t have a clue,’ Natalie said over her shoulder as she swapped tops. ‘But I mean, it’s not that dire, is it? Eventually, we’ll be missed on the boat, or another cruise ship will dock here, maybe even tomorrow, I don’t know. In the meantime, the freezers in the kitchen are stocked with stuff to eat, so we won’t starve.’

  Eden thought it over. ‘I suppose you’re right.’ She sat down on a lounger, the first proper sit down she’d had since the hole. It felt good. Five minutes later, her body feeling a little better, her brain seemed to find a bit of charge and began to think through the situation. ‘Where the hell will we sleep? I don’t think there’s a bed anywhere on the island.’

  ‘I think you’d better get comfy on that sun lounger.’

  ‘It’s getting cold. We’ll freeze when the sun’s gone,’ Eden pointed out.

  ‘Not if we drag them into the restaurant,’ Natalie replied instantly.

  ‘Doesn’t matter what I throw at you, you always know what to do,’ Eden said admiringly.

  ‘Just trying to impress the boss,’ Natalie said with a little laugh.

  Eden tried not to look as wounded as she felt. ‘I’m still just the boss?’

  Natalie shrugged. ‘That’s what you are, aren’t you?’

  ‘If you say so. Right, I think I’m going to need more than a packet of nuts, I’m going to look and see what the kitchen’s got.’ She walked off toward the dining hut, trying to tamp down her hurt. They’d been through all this, and that was still all Eden was to Natalie? A colleague? It shouldn’t have really rated high in her list of problems, seeing as she was currently stranded on a desert island, kind of. But damned if it didn’t sting anyway. As she walked off to the beach to ransack the kitchen, she didn’t look back to see if Natalie was following.

  Twenty-Seven

  Natalie needed to get her shit together. Here she was, actually marooned, no real idea how long she was going to be stuck here, but she was dealing with it. What she could not deal with was Eden walking out of the pool all wet and glistening and toned and semi-nude, causing a wobbly sensation in her legs had nothing to do with being tired from volleyball or the big hole escape. This was no way for a grown woman to behave. That was what had caused her to make that crack about Eden being the boss. Eden didn’t seem to find it very amusing, though.

  ‘Right, I think I’m going to need more than a packet of nuts, I’m going to look and see what the kitchen’s got,’ Eden said a tad coldly and walked off down the path to the beach. Natalie wasn’t sure whether to follow. She stood where she was like a statue for a couple of uncertain minutes before deciding that just on the off chance there were any more unmarked dig sites on the island, she’d better stay close to Eden. Yeah, that’s all it was that had Natalie jogging after Eden. Practicality. Not the image of Eden sliding out of the water like a sexy dolphin.

  When Natalie reached the dining hut, she saw Eden through the serving hatch, looking into the deep freeze. ‘Is there anything in here not made of offal?’ she was muttering to herself.

  ‘I don’t think beggars can be choosers,’ Natalie said with all the casualness she could muster, joining her in the kitchen. She went to the big industrial cooker and switched on the grill. ‘Come on, give me anything, I’ll cook it right now.’

  Eden didn’t respond, and for a moment, Natalie thought she wasn’t going to answer her, that she’d be stood here with a blazing grill and nothing to put on it, feeling stupid. But eventually, Eden turned to her with a packet of burgers in one hand and a packet of hotdogs in the other. ‘Which of these contains the least animal anus?’ she asked.

  ‘That’s easy, the burgers,’ Natalie said, and Eden tossed her the packet. Natalie set to cooking, glad to have something to do. It was always better like this when there was a problem to solve. Natalie was at her best when the chips were down. Like the hole. Problem, answer, problem, answer, easy-peasy.

  Soon, she had a plate full of cooked burgers. Eden hadn’t just been standing around; she had plates, buns, and condiments ready to go. Natalie slapped four burgers in buns and put two on each plate. She handed Eden a plate, and they went out to a table, sitting down across from each other. Natalie grabbed a burger and began to eat. She noticed Eden take her burger back out of the bun before she ate hers. ‘What are you doing?’

  ‘I don’t want a bun, the burger is plenty,’ Eden explained.

  ‘Then why did you get buns out?’ Natalie asked, mystified.

  ‘For you,’ Eden said. ‘Most people don’t want to eat burgers without buns, do they?’

  ‘That’s what I can’t understand,’ Natalie said. ‘Why on earth do you?’

  Eden looked down at her plate, cutting a piece of burger as she answered quietly, ‘The nuts were my carbs for the day.’

  Natalie was still flummoxed. ‘What? If anyone can afford a few carbs, it’s you. You’re in perfect shape,’ Natalie said, not even embarrassed. It wasn’t a come on, Eden’s flawless body was objectively obvious.

  But Eden didn’t seem to notice the compliment, her expression dark. ‘If I’m in OK shape, it’s precisely because I abstain from things like bread.’

  Natalie wanted to laugh. So that’s what it took to look like Eden? It wasn’t just good genes? She couldn’t touch bread? Natalie was a little bit horrified. Not to be able to have a sandwich, or some toast, or the burger in a bun she held in her hand? Could it even be worth it? ‘Wow,’ she breathed.

  ‘Wow, what?’ Eden asked defensively.

  ‘I just… I didn’t realise it was so tough to maintain… all that.’

  Eden shrugged. ‘Not everyone lucks into a good body,’ she said with a look to Natalie.

  Natalie paused to process and then cried, ‘Wait, you’re talking about me?’

  ‘Yes, of course.’

  Natalie looked down at her own, quite imperfect form. She started to feel peeved. ‘Are you trying to be funny?

  ‘Not at all. You’ve got a great figure,’ Eden said, clearly embarrassed.

  ‘But it’s… I’m obviously heavier than you,’ Natalie said self-consciously, getting more annoyed by the second. This was ridiculous. Eden must have thought she was an idiot to believe that she had any envy of Natalie’s body.

  But Eden shook her head, dead serious. ‘You’re perfectly proportioned. If I put on weight, I go pear-shaped. It all goes to my bum and face.’

  Natalie had no response to that. So she stuffed her burger into her mouth and chewed.

  ***

  Natalie sat on the beach in the dark. She was looking out at the inky water, at the cruise ship on the horizon. Eden came and sat down next to her. ‘You wishing you were on there?’

  Natalie considered. ‘They’ll be finishing up pudding about now. Then out for drinks, Caz and Saz will probably insist on karaoke.’ She smiled. ‘No, I’m not wishing to be on there at all.’

  Eden looked at her. ‘You’re not enjoying the cruise?’

  Natalie tried to find a positive spin. She couldn’t find it. ‘I, kind of… No, not really.’

  Eden gave a small laugh. ‘Yeah, me neither.’

  Natalie looked at her, pleased she got it. ‘What do you hate about it?’

  Eden chewed her lip thoughtfully. ‘You know what it is? It’s meeting new people. Normally, you might meet one or two people a week. But on that boat, I seem to meet a new person every ten minutes. It’s bloody exhausting.’

  ‘That’s it,’ Natalie agreed. ‘The energy it takes to meet people… You swap names, you give the basic details, and then you’re expected to get a sense of who they actually are. It’s too much work. And it’s wrong half the time.’

  Eden smiled. ‘It’s funny you should say that. You never seemed to want to get to know me.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Whenever I tried to say anything non
-work related, you’d… You have this wall. It’s always up. For me, anyway.’

  ‘Yeah. I’m sorry about that,’ Natalie said simply.

  ‘What was the problem with me, anyway? I never really got a good answer on that,’ Eden said.

  ‘I told you, it wasn’t anything really,’ Natalie said quickly. ‘Just… jealousy, I guess.

  ‘Yeah, I don’t buy that at all,’ Eden said quietly. ‘It sounds like the kind of answer you’d give someone to shut them up.’