Island of Men

Chapter 6- The King of Douche-dom

Emma had never felt so accomplished in her life.  There they all were- Miles, David, and the despicable Luke- gathered around the fire that she had started.  Not the boy scout, not the french egomaniac, or the incredibly kind and suddenly attractive Miles- her, just Emma.  It was nice to do something for once.

You know those days where you don't have to do anything, so you just... don't?  The ones where you sit in bed, all day long, oozing  into your sheets and pajamas, living solely off of Netflix and chocolate covered pretzels?  Then remember how good it feels to finally do something, to get out of bed, to take a shower after a day like that?  That's how Emma felt.  Like she had finally climbed out of the sketchily sordid bed of her attraction to Luke, washed off the grime of his personality, and finally felt clean for the first time. 

Miles' hair definitely wasn't hurting the situation.  He had always kept it cut pretty close to his head, in a neat, tidy sort of way.  The day before their marooning it had been the longest it had ever been, doomed to the guillotine of the buzz cut.  Now it was simply charming, thick and spiked up in the front with a bit of sweat and dirt and perfectly matching the chocolate color of his eyes.  

"I can't believe  you got a fire started, Emma.  You're a genius."  Miles said, between bites of refreshingly toasted mango.  

"Yah, how did that happen, anyway?  I thought Luke was working on the fire?"  David would never miss a chance to poke fun at Luke, and reveled as everyone stopped to look at the subject of their conversation.  For once, Luke blushed.  He was used to everyone looking at him for a different reason.

"Well, um... you see, I was just..."   Luke tried to regain his masculinity but found that his membership had been declined.  Miles didn't like to see people uncomfortable.  He politely changed the conversation.    

"So, how did you start the fire anyway?"  

"Well, I was taking my phone apart a couple months ago, to see how it worked.  I realized that there was a mirror inside of it, behind the front panel.   Luke lent me his pocketknife and I got it open, and used the mirror to start a fire."  For once, Emma didn't blush.  She didn't know why.  

"That is pretty rad.  We owe you our lives, fair lady."  Said David, with a saucy Gascon wink.  By now, Luke was ready to regain his dominance in the conversation, as well as in the tribe.

"Don't get me wrong- all this fruit is great.  But we do need some protein.  Tomorrow we should concentrate on finding some fish."  

Everyone agreed.  While the mango and coconut seemed filling at first, it left their stomachs empty and they were starting to feel the energy loss.  Looking around the group, Luke was glad to be in control again.  But something seemed different to him.  He wasn't sure what it was, but something was off. As he looked around their motley crew, he realized what it was.

Emma wasn't looking at him.  

Whether or not he knew it, Luke had always fundamentally assumed that Emma would be there.  I mean, he didn't like like her.  And he didn't think to return the favor, but she was always there for him. Anytime he wished to talk to someone, he could just turn and spill all his spleeny guts to Emma.  He didn't consider himself conceited, just more of a proud realist.  And while it had never crossed his mind that Emma might have liked him, he still had considered her a bit of a lackey, a follower, a secretary.   But there she was, sitting across the fire from him, hair down and laughing at some joke that Miles was making.  He saw her wince as she laughed, then carefully bring a hand to her stomach.  

Oh, she must be hurting, he thought.  This was definitely a big step for Luke.  With a dad that ran away to be with a younger, Brazilian woman when he was a child, he had always had enough hurt to go around.  He had always assumed that anyone else's pain was incomparable to his insurmountable wounds.   But there was Emma, with a real, physical hurt, and he had the strangest urge to comfort her, to help her.  

In the light of the fire, Luke noticed something else too- her hair wasn't just brown, it looked gold.