Desolation

Chapter Twenty

((aww here is ian and tessa!!! and thanks again for over 1,000 reads!! please keep reading, voting and commenting! i will be doing more shoutouts to my best readers in the next chapter!))

My cheeks immediately burn bright red when my eyes meet with Tristan's. He looks at me for a moment, then looks down at the ground furtively.

"What are you doing here?" Ian calls out, sounding agitated.

Ian's arms are still wrapped around my waist, keeping me close to his body. Tristan looks back up at the two of us, his cheeks red as well.

"I...I was just checking to see if Tessa was feeling okay," he says.

Before Ian can say something rude to him, I quickly say,

"Thanks Tristan. I'm feeling better now."

Ian glances at me, then back at Tristan, who is still standing there.

"Well is there anything else you want?" Ian asks.

I can't tell if I am detecting a slight edge of hostility in his voice.

"I guess I'll go back now," Tristan says awkwardly.

He puts his hands in his pockets and after glancing one last awkward time at me, he turns and walks away. My heart pangs for a moment, feeling bad for Tristan. I want to call after him, but I don't know what to say.

Once Tristan is gone, Ian turns back to me.

"You know you didn't have to be so unfriendly to him," I say, looking up into his eyes.

"He was stalking us," Ian says flatly.

"No he wasn't. He was just coming to see if I was okay," I say.

Ian nods.

"So try to be nicer to him next time?" I ask, raising my eyebrows.

"Okay," Ian says, smiling slightly.

He looks into my eyes and pushes a stray piece of hair behind my ear. My hair is an absolute rat's nest. Thank god that there are no mirrors on this island because I don't want to see how awful I look.

"You know, you're beautiful," Ian says softly, pushing another loose strand of hair behind my ear.

My cheeks immediately burn bright red. I smile, looking down at the ground then back up to him.

"Ian, I haven't showered in days and I've been sleeping on the jungle floor. I'm pretty sure I look like crap," I say.

"Well then crap is pretty damn hot," Ian says, grinning.

I lean up on my tiptoes and kiss him softly on the lips, letting my lips linger on his for a few moments before I pull away.

"We should probably head back," I say.

"But I want to stay like this; just us," Ian whispers, leaning forward and pressing his forehead gently against mine.

Butterflies flutter in my stomach as his breath intermingles with mine.

"No, we have to go back to them and figure out what we are going to do," I say.

He nods. We began to walk back through the jungle to the cliff. Ian slips his hand into mine, which sends tingles throughout my entire body.

We finally arrive back at the edge of the cliff. Dylan and Nikki are still sitting together at the edge of the cliff, Dylan's arm wrapped around Nikki. Tristan is standing by the edge, alone.

He turns around, looking at us. I give him a small, weak smile, which he returns. I see his eyes dart down to our hands, which are still clasped together. My heart pangs again.