gold rush [the wilds, toni shalifoe]

chapter 21

Day Twenty-Two

"I uh... I have to pee," Toni announced as Shelby and Hunter continued to walk ahead of her. Hunter sniggered a little at how young her girlfriend sounded, the dark haired girl sending her a playful scowl as Shelby slowed to a halt.

Shelby and Hunter both turned their backs to Toni as she squatted behind them, the two Texans standing awkwardly as they waited on her to finish. It reminded them all of their first day on the island, when Shelby had needed to pee and Hunter and Toni had been the ones who stood awkwardly.

"It's not happening," Toni told them both, Hunter sighing in slight disbelief as Shelby tried not to turn around to talk to the girl. "Performance anxiety."

"I can walk further away?" Shelby asked before looking to her side where Hunter was shrugging in agreement. "We can walk further away."

"Or you know, you could sing?" Toni suggested, Hunter almost face-palming at the suggestion. It was clear Toni was remembering their first trio trek in the forest and was wanting to lift the mood a little - since it had been Shelby who insisted on singing when she had peed.

"Oh dear god, no," Hunter muttered, Shelby and Toni both letting out small laughs at her expression. Shelby looked to Hunter for approval almost, the other blonde sighing once more but while motioning with her hands for Shelby to take the imaginary microphone.

There was a slight moment of silence before Shelby started singing. Hunter and Toni were both confused by her choice of song, but at the same time Hunter kinda felt like it was a good vibe. 

They had all seemingly picked up a habit of singing at weird times - something that had started with Jeanette's funeral and their heart-warming rendition of "Raise Your Glass". Hunter just knew that if this was some sort of reality TV show that the people watching them would have been in hysterics at it - but as much as she wished it was, it wasn't. Jeanette's death had been very real and it still caused a shiver to travel down her spine at the thought of it.

"I'm gonna pop some tags, only got $20 in my pocket," Shelby started to sing, nudging Hunter's side a little with a smile and trying to get the other girl to join in. She knew fine well that the Boyd girl knew the song, for she'd heard the cheer team perform to it more than once in their high school career.

"Absolutely not."

"Macklemore, where did that come from?" Toni laughed, knowing that there was no chance Hunter was going to join in.

"First thing that came to my head."

"It's random, I like it," Toni told them before looking at how Shelby and Hunter were both exchanging knowing looks. "What? You two making some secret pact to take me out?"

"Yeah, obviously," Hunter replied sarcastically before rolling her eyes with a laugh. Shelby giggled a little her antics before Hunter continued. "It's just the song. I did a few cheer routines to it back in the day."

"Back in the day?" Shelby asked, her voice cracking as she tried to hold back laughter. "You were doing it a week before we ended up here!"

"Shut up," Toni replied, her voice also breaking with laughter as Hunter tried to cover her now bright red face. "Macklemore and cheerleading? Wow Boyd, didn't know you could get anymore basic."

"Ah ah, I'm hunting, looking for a come up, this is fricking awesome," Shelby continued, causing all three of them to burst into laughter at the teasing. Toni slowly rose back to her feet as the trio began to walk again, Shelby willingly opening up to the other two as they moved. "You know the first time that song came on the radio, I thought they were saying 'pop some caps'."