Lovewrecked

by Halle, Karina

  Whatever glacier my heart used to be has fully dissolved and I am nothing but a puddle. A sappy puddle of love.

  Ugh.

  Is this the person I’ve become?

  One madly in love? Yup.

  “Well, you have no idea what I’d do for you,” I tell him, kissing him back, my hand sliding down his rock-hard abs, toward his swim trunks. “And I mean, sexually. In case you didn’t know.”

  “You’re never not obvious,” he says, lying on his back and watching me as I take his already hard cock out of his trunks and make a fist. I start running my hand up and down his soft, rigid shaft, watching him watch me, before his eyes roll back and his head flops down on the sand.

  I can’t remember the last time I’ve done a good old-fashioned handjob. It’s a skill that’s sorely overlooked.

  “God, don’t stop,” Tai says through a groan. “Keep going.”

  My hand goes faster and faster and—

  “Hey! Hey you guys!”

  Oh my god.

  I quickly let go of his cock, and look up to see the dinghy approaching us from across the lagoon.

  Lacey is sitting at the front, waving her arms at us, looking to be smiling or something. Richard and Fred are behind her, also looking joyous.

  Tai sits up, quickly tucking his dick away with a frustrated groan. “What the hell is she so happy about?” he grumbles. “Cockblocker.”

  Lacey was supposed to come over here later, and we were going to have a spa day, where I’d light my candle and give her a pedicure (sand makes the best foot scrub), but I have a feeling that’s not it. Unless the boys want pedicures too. There’s no way I’m touching Fred’s feet.

  The boat is barely at the shore when Lacey is climbing over the bow, and jumping into the water, running through it toward us, grinning.

  She looks insane.

  “What’s going on?” I ask her warily.

  “We’re getting rescued!” she yells, barreling right into me and pulling me into a hug. “We’re getting rescued!”

  I stare at Tai over my shoulder, confused, too afraid to believe her.

  “Is this true?” Tai asks them.

  “It’s the truth, Captain,” Richard says, grinning. He points to his missing tooth. “And not a moment too soon, I think I was getting used to this look.”

  “We’re getting rescued!” Lacey continues to squeal, jumping up and down as she holds me. My brains are getting jostled, it’s hard to know what’s right.

  I look to Fred for help.

  He nods, standing in the water beside the boat. “We have two hours to pack and get ready. Plane is already on route from Nadi as we speak.”

  “This is happening so fast,” I say. “What happened?”

  Lacey stops bouncing. “I told you that it would happen.”

  “Well, actually I told you all it would happen,” Fred says, adjusting his ball cap. “It’s been two weeks.”

  “Yeah but…I thought that we’d get a bit of warning first...” Tai says.

  “No warning. Everything’s last minute. But it’s great isn’t it?”

  “Are you coming back with us?” I ask Fred. I’ve grown to really like this man. And his goat.

  He wiggles his mustache. “Nah. I’m staying. Can’t leave Wilson behind. But they’re bringing in a new researcher, so that’s very exciting. His name is Owen. Supposed to be brilliant. As long as Owen doesn’t smell weird, I’m good. I put in a request for better coffee too, so here’s hoping.” He makes a show of crossing his fingers.

  We’re getting rescued.

  WE’RE GETTING RESCUED!

  It hits me like a jackhammer.

  This is actually happening.

  We’re actually leaving this place.

  We’re going home—wherever home may be.

  “Oh my god,” I whisper, the tears coming to my eyes as I’m overwhelmed with awe. “This is happening. We’re being rescued.”

  “We’re going to be okay,” Lacey says to me tearfully.

  She hugs me again, hard.

  Then Richard hugs the both of us.

  Then Tai hugs us three.

  And finally, Fred wraps himself on the end.

  “Group hug,” Fred says. “You were the finest castaways I’ve ever known.”

  He sniffles.

  Great, if Fred’s crying, now I’m crying.

  I’m pretty sure all of us could have stayed in that group hug for a while, sniffling tears of joy, had Richard not said, “How large is the aircraft, Fred? Do you think it’s big enough for Daisy’s luggage?”

  Everyone breaks apart and starts laughing, even though Richard was earnest in his question.

  “You’ve seen the size of the dirt runway,” Fred points out. “Supply planes are large, but the passenger ones are itty bitty. Daisy, I’m afraid with so many passengers, your luggage might not make it.”

  Everyone looks at me, expecting me to freak out.

  I only feel relief.

  “Are you kidding me? I hope I never see those suitcases again. Not my clothes, not my souvenirs, not my bag. I’m starting fresh, buying just what I need. Only things I’m leaving this island with are you guys, my phone, and my wallet.”

  “I’m impressed,” Tai says. “Took you getting stranded on a deserted island to stop overpacking.”

  “Hey, I’m a changed woman, what can I say?”

  “Okay well, if that’s the case, grab what you need to and I’ll come back for you two,” Fred says, pushing the dinghy back out. “Your sister wanted to make sure we could all tell you the good news together.”

  At that, Lacey and Richard get back in the boat with Fred, and off they go.

  I turn to look at Tai, totally dumfounded, shaking my head. “I can’t believe it.”

  He grins at me. “I can. It’s happening. We’re getting out of here.” He grabs me, one hand going to the small of my back, the other going to the side of my face, holding me. “Daisy,” he whispers, his lips just grazing mine.

  My heart flip flops.

  “Yes?”

  He swallows hard, his lips moving, wanting to say something.

  Please say something.

  Say what else I want to hear.

  “This is it,” he finally says.

  I give him a small smile, ignoring the pinch in my heart. “This is it.”

  “Come on, let’s at least clean up if you’re not taking your shit with you,” he says.

  He kisses me and then walks off to the barracks.

  I sigh and pick up the book from the beach. This is definitely coming with me.

  * * *

  Two hours later, and we’re all gathered at the dirt runway that runs behind Fred’s camp, facing the outer reef.

  Except for Fred, who stands stoically with Wilson by his side, we all have our luggage ready to go. In the end I decided my beat-up LV Speedy was still worth taking. Not because it’s worth anything on the resale market anymore, but because it went through a lot and it still works. It’s not as pretty as it once was, but it’s become more useful. In some ways I feel like I have become the bag and the bag has become me.

  In other words, it’s about time I get off this island. If I’m talking this way about a bag, talking to goats is the next step. It’s a slippery slope.

  “There she is!” Fred yells, looking through binoculars.

  It’s hard to see anything in the blindingly blue sky, so I wait until the binoculars are passed to me. I eagerly peer through them.

  The plane is coming. A prop plane, which makes me just a little uneasy considering we have to cross a lot of water in that thing, but a plane nonetheless.

  I can’t believe this is happening.

  We all look at each and burst out laughing.

  It’s real!

  The plane starts to make its descent, getting closer and closer, and then its wheels are hitting the runway, kicking up red dust, and bouncing along past us, the pilot saluting us.

  “Yaaaaaay!” I scream.
/>   Tai whoops and hollers.

  Lacey is jumping up and down, clapping.

  Richard is doing some kind of dance?

  It made it. It’s here.

  Tai puts his arm around me and squeezes me tight, kissing the top of my head.

  “Time to fly, Gingersnap.”

  I look up at him. I can’t stop smiling.

  Eventually the plane turns around, and then taxis closer to us before the propeller is turned off.

  The pilot’s door opens and the pilot steps out, coming around the side of the plane.

  “You must be the castaways,” he says to us as he passes by, going to the passenger door. “I heard Fred has been taking very good care of you.”

  “Aw shucks, Maurice,” Fred says. “They’ve been taking good care of me.”

  Maurice laughs and opens the back door.

  We all wait eagerly, expecting Owen, the new researcher and Fred’s new roommate.

  To our surprise, Owen is a woman. A very stately, pretty woman in her 50s with long grey-blonde hair.

  “Everyone, this is Dr. Owen Stapleton,” the pilot says.

  I steal a look at Fred.

  He is absolutely smitten with her.

  He suddenly stands up straighter, taking his hat off and smoothing back his hair, he’s blinking hard. “Dr. Stapleton. I’m Fred. Dr. Fred Ferguson.”

  He holds out his hand, then takes it back and wipes it on his shorts, then holds it out again.

  It’s so cute and awkward it’s painful.

  “Nice to meet you, Fred,” Owen says, shaking his hand firmly. She gives him a coy smile. “You can call me Owen. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

  “Oh is that so?” Fred says, wiggling his mustache impishly.

  They’re still shaking hands.

  That is until Wilson goes right underneath them and lets out a deafening “BLLLLEEEARRGH!”

  I swear Owen jumps a few feet.

  She looks down at Wilson. “Oh hello. Who do we have here?”

  “BLLLEAAAAAARRRGH!”

  “That’s Wilson,” Fred says proudly.

  Please don’t translate what Wilson just said, please don’t translate what Wilson just said.

  Stay cool, Fred.

  “Here,” Fred says gently, resting his hand on her arm to guide her. “Why don’t I show you around?”

  We all watch as they walk off toward the dinghy.

  “Uh, bye Fred!” Tai yells at him.

  He just looks at us over his shoulder and motions for us to go on our way.

  I roll my eyes. “Figures. The minute someone better comes along…”

  “So, you folks look all packed and ready to go,” the pilot says. “How about we throw your stuff in the back, get you all buckled in, and let’s ditch this place.”

  We look back at Fred who is down by the water, laughing at something Owen said.

  Wilson stands between us and the lagoon. He watches us as we start getting in the plane, gives us one last little bleat, then runs toward the researchers.

  Bye, Wilson.

  There are five seats on the plane, one beside the pilot, four in the back. Tai volunteers to sit in the front with the rest of us buckled in the back.

  Then the pilot turns the prop on and the plane roars back to life.

  Lacey reaches across and holds my hand, giving it a squeeze.

  It’s too loud to hear anyone talk, but I know what we’re all feeling.

  The plane gets to the end of the runway and then starts going, faster and faster and faster, going over bumps and rocks, shaking like hell, then the pilot pushes the throttle forward and we’re lifting off.

  We all crane our necks to look at the land as it drops away from us.

  I manage to see Fred and Owen, standing by the lagoon and waving up at us.

  I wave back.

  Goodbye!

  Then Wilson takes the opportunity to headbutt Owen from behind.

  I laugh. They’re going to be just fine.

  We’re all going to be just fine.

  Higher and higher we go, until we can finally see what Plumeria looks like from above.

  Well, I’ll be.

  Cock and balls.

  Bye Dong Island, I think to myself.

  Then I sit back in my seat and close my eyes.

  Twenty

  Daisy

  “Oh. My. God,” I say, leaning back in my chair and patting my stomach. “That was mind-blowingly good.”

  “Fucking right,” Tai says, munching on his last onion ring, eyes closing in bliss.

  The four of us are sitting around a table in a bar just off Main Street in Nadi, Fiji. The remains of our first real meal after getting off the island are scattered in front of us. When we poured in here, like thirsty desert wanderers finding an oasis, the first thing we did was talk the ear off the waitress (obviously we were all dying for someone else to talk to), then order everything on the menu.

  Everything except fish. We’re kind of over that.

  I had chicken fingers with tons of different dips, fries, a big fresh salad, and two pina coladas. I’m on my third one right now.

  Lacey had a giant cheeseburger with fries and a Mai Tai.

  Richard is still finishing his personal pepperoni pizza, sipping comically from a blue drink in a gigantic fishbowl, garnished with paper umbrellas and pineapple and those little plastic monkeys.

  Tai had a double bacon cheddar burger with onion rings. He’s also drinking countless bottles of beer, going through them faster than the waitress can bring them.

  We are stuffed.

  Blissed out.

  Drunk, with a borderline food coma.

  “Room for dessert?” the waitress asks as she comes over. Her name is Layla and she knows our whole life story by now. “It’s on the house. Castaway discount.”

  I shouldn’t eat dessert. My stomach is already freaking out after I just stuffed it with fried food after over four weeks of living on fish and canned shit.

  But still I say, “Yes please.”

  We all do.

  “All right,” she says. “I’ll get the menu.”

  “You know what,” Tai says. “Just bring us one of everything.”

  She raises her brow. That’s probably not what she meant by the castaway discount, but she walks away to put in the order.

  I grin happily at everyone and take another long sip of my drink, the sugar and alcohol going straight to my brain. It’s hot here in Nadi, more humid than it was on Plumeria, but there’s a fan overhead creating a warm breeze, and all the windows open to the street. Cars drive past, tourists do their shopping as they enjoy the day.

  I can’t believe we’re out in the real world again. I feel like I’ve been waiting for this moment forever. It was worth the wait, even as exhaust fumes come into the restaurant, even though there’s a baby screaming in the corner of the bar.

  At least we’re all in clean clothes.

  The flight from the atoll to Nadi was less than two hours, but it felt like forever. The plane was so tiny, and there was some turbulence from time to time, enough that it felt like we were dropping and pins and needles kept swirling inside me. What a way to go, to survive being shipwrecked, then end up in a plane crash.

  But the plane handled it just fine—if it was a passenger jet, we probably wouldn’t have felt a thing—and eventually we were touching down at the airport.

  The first thing we did, before we hit up the bar, was to check into a hotel. We could have opted for any of the resorts on the beaches nearby, but we decided to go for a modest one, right downtown in the middle of action. Even a hostel would feel like a luxury resort to us, and the last thing we want to see is a beach.

  Then, after we checked in, we went shopping for new clothes in the hotel gift shop. I’m currently wearing a pink dress that says Nadi on it. Tai and Richard are wearing matching shirts as a joke, a horrendous tie-dye with dolphins on it, and Lacey has on a tank top that says “Live, Laugh, Love, Fiji,” which makes m
e laugh every time I look at it, because she is the opposite of the people who usually buy that slogan.

  Richard even managed to get a new pair of glasses. I don’t think the prescription is strong enough, but at least both eyes are evenly matched. Tomorrow he has a dentist’s appointment since it’s cheaper here than in New Zealand to get dental work, and then the day after that we’re flying back to New Zealand.

  Or, at least they are.

  I’m supposed to fly home to California. Because I missed my last flight, they gave me a credit for another one.

  I just haven’t booked it yet.

  That’s not where I want to go.

  I look at Tai beside me, drinking his beer.

  I want to go where he goes.

  That’s my home.

  “So, Daisy,” Lacey says. I look over at her. She’s been studying me as she smashes the mint leaves into her glass with her metal straw. “What’s next for you?”

  “Lacey Loo,” Richard chides her. “We just got rescued hours ago. No one has to make any plans, let alone Daisy.”

  I give Richard an appreciative smile and straighten up in my chair. “Actually, there’s something I wanted to tell you guys.”

  “Oh?” Lacey says.

  “Yeah,” I lick my lips and glance at Tai. He’s staring at me with approval. I clear my throat. “I, uh, have been thinking lately about life, as you do, and about the fight we had.”

  “Daisy,” Lacey says softly, looking reprimanded.

  “No, no, no,” I tell her. “It’s not like that. I mean, the things I admitted. That I wasn’t happy? That I didn’t know who I was? Well, it got me thinking, what would make me happy? It got me thinking about the kind of person I want to become. Someone to strive for. And I decided…I’m going back to school.”

  “School?” Lacey repeats.

  I’m totally prepared for her to get a bit patronizing with this, but I refuse to get defensive.

  “Yes, college. I want to study marine biology.”

  Silence.

  Lacey looks at me, then looks at Richard.

  “I know it seems silly,” I say quickly. Then I correct myself. “Or, maybe it seems silly to you. But it doesn’t seem silly to me. It really interests me, really excites me. I think I’d be good at it, and more importantly, I think I’d be really passionate about it. It’s what I used to dream of and after all that time on the island, I realize that dream never went away. It was just dormant for awhile.”