The Spark

The Apology

"So, Y/n." I ground my teeth and bent down to scoop up some sand. "You and me. Me and you. Alone on the top of this mountain." I could practically hear the smirk in his voice.

"Anything can happen," Jack said, bending down and scooping up some sand, trying to look me in the eye. I averted my gaze and stood up, tossing some sand on the fire.

"You're right," I admitted. "Anything can happen. If I pushed you into the fire, there would be no witnesses to sell me out."

"And if I lived?"

I turned to face him and made myself meet those attention-demanding blue eyes. I widened my eyes, trying to look as innocent as possible.

"I'll try again."

"Okay, what did I do?" Jack laughed, scratching the back of his neck. "I apologized for your old man-what else can I do?"

"You apologized and then you laughed at me for falling out of a tree and getting scared over Roger, who apparently won't hurt a fly but needs to know about evil sacrifices!"

"You're the one who was threatening to push me in the fire," Jack pointed out, throwing more sand on the fire.

"That's different, I was just joking," I said, scooping up more sand. "Kind of," I added in an undertone. Of course I wouldn't really push Jack in the fire, but the way he acted sometimes made my fists itch.

"Oh, so you don't hate me that much, then?" he asked hopefully.

"Who said I hated you?" I asked, pointing accusingly at Jack. He smirked, took my pointed finger, and turned it so it was pointing at me.

"I never said I hated you," I said accusingly. "I just don't like being around you is all."

"Pretty sure that means the same thing," Jack said, an arrogant smirk on his face. Dear lord, how I wanted to hit him again!

"Look, can't we just put out this fire?" I asked sourly, bending down to scoop up more sand. "We're almost done." I threw more sand on the fire, which hissed and shrunk. I scooped up another handful and threw that as well. The fire sparked and went out with a hiss, a thin trail of smoke curling up into the night sky.

"There." I brushed my hands clean and turned to leave. "Fire's out, so let's go."

"All right, all right, I'm sorry!" Jack said loudly, making me turn back around. "About your old man and about Roger and about anything I said or did. There, I..." He took a deep breath and met my eyes. "I apologized."

"You're...sorry?" I asked hesitantly.

"Yes!" Jack insisted.

"All right, then," I said, a challenge in my voice. "Prove it."

"That's easy," he said, gesturing down the mountain. "I could be sleeping right now, but instead I'm up here, helping you put out the fire and apologizing."

"It's also not that late out," I pointed out rather cynically.

"Well, I'm sorry," he said. "I don't care if it's late or not. I'm sorry either way." I stared at him, trying to figure out whether he was being honest or not. The mischievous gleam in his eye was gone, and his eyes didn't seem to demand the attention of everything and everyone for once.

"Apology accepted," I said firmly. "Just don't do it again, all right? Life is hard enough already without you making it worse."

"Pretty sure you meant 'entertaining'," Jack corrected me. I rolled my eyes.

"No, I meant exactly what I said," I replied. "Let's just go back, okay?" Of course, the second I stepped off the mountain, my foot slipped on a loose piece of rock, and I tripped. Before I hit the ground, Jack slid his arms under mine and pulled me up, preventing me from falling.

"Whoa," I gasped, eyes on the piece of rock skittering down the mountain. It wasn't terribly steep, or even terribly high, but I was still a little scared.

"You're welcome," Jack said, pulling me up from the ground. "Milady," he added, faking a bow.

"Yes, thank you," I said, starting to make my way down the mountain. "Let's just go, okay." We walked down the mountain in silence, and all the way back to the huts. Right before we went off to our respective huts, Jack cleared his throat.

"Listen," he said. "I don't hate you. I just like poking fun at you. But I understand if it's bothering you."

"Why do you like poking fun at me?" I asked curiously.

"Because you're fun to poke fun at," he said teasingly, poking at my side with a finger. A giggle rose in my throat, but I mashed my lips together and swallowed it down. "See what I mean?"

"No," I said, struggling to remain stoic. Jack's eyes gleamed, and he poked at my side again. Ooh, how it tickled! "I don't see what you mean."

"Okay, why don't I help you there?" he said before his fingers were at my sides, dancing up and down. I laughed loudly, folding my shoulders in.

"Stop it, Jack, that tickles!" I giggled, both amused and furious.

"You like it, don't you?"

"I-don't-I want you to-I want you to stop!" I cried, tears of laughter streaming down my face. "Oh hee hee hee, I can't stand it, it tickles so much!" I tried slapping at his hands without much effort, but they were too quick. I didn't understand it-I wanted him to stop just as much as I wanted him to keep going. I was laughing and trying to back away from him, but he was laughing and wouldn't let me get away from him.

"Oh, I can't stand it!" I gasped, doubled over with giggles. "That tickles, that tickles! Oh my!" I tried backing up, but Jack stepped on my foot and we both fell back on the sand, him on top of me.

"Oof!" I grunted, the wind knocked out of me. "Now look what you did!"

"Don't tell me you didn't have fun," Jack said, brushing aside a stray lock of hair that had fallen across my face. "You know you liked it." It suddenly occurred to me how close we were. I'd never been this close to a boy before, especially when one was on top of me. Back home, being physically close to a boy usually meant going steady, and then you'd go on dates to the ice cream after school. That was the unspoken social norm.

The thing was, unspoken norms within the confines of society didn't seem to apply to us, not while we were on the desert island.

"I guess I did," I found myself saying. "Thank you for that, I needed to laugh a little today. Now get off me, Merridew." Jack stood up and held out a hand for me to take. I took it and he pulled me up.

"Well, goodnight Y/n," he said. "I'm glad I made you laugh today."

"Goodnight, Jack."