i could never hate you {toni shalifoe}

12 . smitten again

After swimming around for a few more hours, the girls - now clean and a lot more positive - headed back to their makeshift camp and began boiling the water that Dot and Marley had collected in their few water bottles and empty coke cans. All the girls were sat in a circle - aside from Fatin and Leah - and Marley leant against Toni, who instinctively brought her arm around the girl's waist as a small smile made it's way onto each their lips, finding a semblance of peace with each other despite their situation.

"Alright," Dot broke the silence, handing some water over to each of them, "Be careful, it's still gonna be hot."

"Bring on the third degree burns," Toni spoke up, taking the can from Dot with her free hand, "I'm thirsty as hell." Marley couldn't help the slight snicker that escaped her lips as her mind ran a little off track at the girl's comment, her eyes now trained solely on Toni.

"You know what would be great with this water?" Rachel asked, all gazes turning to her.

"Some fucking food." Marley replied, snapping out of her Toni-induced daydream and turning to face the athlete. Rachel clicked her fingers in agreement before pointing at the girl as the two high fived, leaning across an unimpressed Fatin to do so.

"Exactly."

"After the revelations earlier with the animals, though," Dot spoke up in a slightly more morbid tone, "I'm not so worried about us going hungry. I'm more concerned with something hungry coming after us."

"What a way to bring the conversation down, Dotty," said Marley, sarcasm hinting in her tone as she leant back against Toni attempting to discreetly steal the bottle from her grasp as Toni inched it further away from her grip rolling her eyes with a smile before kissing the girl's head. Dot simply nudged the girl's leg, encouraging her to be a little more serious. "But yeah," Marley continued, managing to take the drink from Toni and finishing it for herself, "You have a point." Marley placed the can back in Toni's hand, ignoring the heated gaze sent her way by the brunette beside her as Toni's eyes solely focused on her lips, specifically on the small drop of water clinging to them.

"How long does it take for the water to boil?" Martha piped up, her tone much quieter than usual as she was eager to change the topic of conversation. As the girls delved into their conversation of water boiling and timing, Marley was once again too entranced and enamoured by Toni to be paying any sort of attention to them, not caring about the sideways glances the couple were earning from the others.

"You're not even pretending to listen, Mar," Toni whispered, leaning closer to where her lips were ghosting mere inches from Marley's. Marley simply shook her head with a soft smile, their noses brushing together as they sat blissfully ignore those around them. Toni chuckled slightly and cupped Marley's face between her hands.

The two were drawn out of their trance as Fatin cleared her throat and they realised how everyone's eyes were on them. Not even discreetly. Just full on staring as if they were watching a movie. Pulling away, Marley pulled her hair back into a bun, cheeks tinted pink as Toni kept her eyes locked on her, a smile gracing her lips.

"Well," Fatin spoke, somewhat awkwardly, "I hate to break up the little love-fest over here. But I've got some treasures for us."

Without waiting around, Fatin handed each of the girls an expensive watch she unrolled from an old shirt, brushing off the questioning looks sent her way.

"I'm here because my dad is an absolute asshole. I took these as my own form of vengeance and I now gift them to you. Some of my new friends." Her voice faltered slightly towards the end as she looked uncertainly upon the group. "I mean don't embarrass me now and say we're not friends after this shit show?"

"Of course not," Marley was the first to assure her, leaning out of Toni's grip and enveloping the musician in a fierce hug, sensing the smile on the girl's face as she buried her head slightly into the shorter girl's neck. "You, Fatin Jadmani, are my ride or die."

"Come on, girl, don't go making me cry." Fatin joked, pulling away from the taller girl, gratitude clear in her eyes. "Anyway, we can use these to help time the boiling and everything so none of us die from something that trivial."

"Fatin, you can't be serious about giving us these?" Marley asked, sitting back next to Toni as the two looked at the watch in her hands with bright eyes. "I mean, these are like fifty-thousand dollars aren't they?"

"More like seventy-eight thousand," came Fatin's reply, causing the girl's eyes to widen even more. "So we'd better make them worth it, right?"

"This is great, Fatin, it's really going to help." Dot spoke up, a small smile on her face, not entirely noticeable to most.

"Of course it is," was Fatin's 'duh' response, "so use them people!"

With that, Fatin walked back over besides Leah, their backs facing their group.

"Don't you guys think we should come up with more of a long term plan, just in case?" Marley asked, laying to rest her head in Toni's lap, the girl's fingers immediately running through her hair. Marley kept facing to the others, adamant to not be caught in another smitten situation so soon, no matter how distracting Toni's fingers were as they ran through her hair.

"We will," Dot reassured her, sending the girl a small grin as if she could sense her determination to seem unbothered, which she was truly failing at. "But for now we rehydrate. We think later."

"Cheers to that." Leah spoke up, her and Fatin having rejoined the circle, holding her precious book out to Rachel, sheer will on her face. "Fire's low."

"Are you sure?" Rachel asked softly, not entirely sure what the switch up with Leah was towards the book and not wanting to push the wrong buttons. Leah simply smiled with a tip of her chin, unaware of the pride shining in Marley's eyes as she looked upon the brunette before she finally sat down between her and the swimmer.

After a moment's hesitation, Marley quickly sat up again. wrapping her arms around the brunette and it was as if the camp were all holding their breaths, especially Toni and Fatin. Marley simply squeezed her arms around Leah a little more, uttering how proud she was of her and it was all Leah could do to hug back, resting her head against the side of Marley's head.

-----

Hours later, as night was starting to fall and the conversation was starting to fade, Marley found herself restless in Toni's arms before she slipped from the confused girl's grip, placing a soft kiss to the top of her head before walking towards the ocean and sitting in the sand, slipping off her shoes to rest her feet in the sand. Finally feeling at peace, she laid back staring straight up at the stars in the sky, arms out at her side.

"When is this going to get easier?" she quietly uttered out. "I know I tease Shelby but maybe she has a point with all this God talk. I mean, hey, if you're really out there .. up there .. whatever, can you just maybe help us out? These girls don't deserve to be stranded out here. Not when they have families out there .. people that care about them .. people that matter."

Unbeknown to Marley, she wasn't the only one who was restless and Dot found herself turning her ear close to where the girl had isolated herself, hearing every little word she uttered and not having a single clue on how to help her see that there were people that thought she mattered as well.

"I hate to ruin this peace we seem to have come to," Dot spoke up, drawing the dazed and confused looks away from the girl laying in the sand in the dark, "but there's something we seriously need to figure out."

Marley sat up in the sand, crossing her legs and turning towards the group as they all heard the faint howls through the night.

"Predators, right Dot?" After an affirmative nod Marley stood, the other girls automatically following suit. "Field trip, then, anyone?"