Stranded | ✓

two

RORY

"So..." I started.

"So..."

"This is your fault."

"My fault?"

"Mhm."

"Okay, whatever you say, queen bee." Beckett scoffed, walking down the beach.

"Where the hell are you going?" I exclaimed, following after him.

"Away from you."

"Why?"

He halted and spun around. "Because you were so dead set on arguing with me you made us miss the plane. And now they're out of sight. Is that enough of a reason why?"

"This is not my fault!"

"Yes it is. Now if you don't mind I'm going to look for things so I will be able to survive on this island. Don't follow me."

As he walked down the beach with his fists clenched, realization started to dawn on me. Fuck, this really was my fault.

I contemplated following after him and apologizing — which was something I usually didn't even consider doing — but I deemed it best if I stayed away while he cooled off. I'm surprised I wasn't panicking yet. I'm stuck on an island in the middle of no where for heck's sake.

I swung my backpack off of my shoulders and onto the soft sand, plopping down next to it. I dumped everything out onto the ground to see what all I had.

Gum, deodorant, tampons just in case, spare clothes, a first aid kit, a fire starter, a knife...

An idea popped in my head. The sun would be setting soon, meaning we needed to make some place to sleep. I figured that the best place to sleep would be on the beach. I decided to go a little ways into the trees to get leaves and sticks and stuff. And then figure out what to do from there. I left a note in the sand in case Beck came back, then I set off to the woods.

A while later, huge leaves were piled up in my arms on top of twigs and branches. I stumbled my way back to my bag, my vision blocked by the stack of nature. I dropped the supplies on what I thought was the ground, but when the ground grunted I knew I had missed my intended target.

"Sorry." I grimaced, immediately talking notice of the cut going down Beck's arm.

"It's fine." He surprisingly said.

"You should clean that up so it doesn't get infected." I told him, fishing for my first aid kit.

"I could say the same to you." He said, nodding towards my knee. I only then felt the dull throbbing pain growing through the skin.

Once I pulled out the first aid kit I placed it between us, and we both got out what we needed before silently tending to our wounds.

Beck was the first to speak. "I'm sorry about earlier. I was just—"

"You don't have to apologize." I said. "You were right. If it weren't for me and my—"

"Its not your fault, Rory. Its our professor's fault for not taking role before the planes left."

I slowly nodded. "I guess you're right." I muttered.

I finished up bandaging my knee a few minutes before Beck did, so I took the few minutes of silence to take in the sun setting over the horizon. I've always had a love for watching sunrises and sunsets, so seeing the sun set over a vast ocean for the first time was breathtaking.

"Still like sunsets, I see." Beck commented, a small, infinitesimal smile on his face.

"Yeah. Not much has really changed about me." I said after a moment.

"Well, something certainly has."

"If you dare say my boobs—"

"You sure are a lot more annoying than you were four years ago."

I stared at him for a second, then rolled my eyes and huffed. "I'm only annoying because you started being annoying first."

"I was not! You were the one who poured lemonade on me!"

I glared at him. "Only because you poured glue on me!"

He rolled his eyes and huffed. He aimlessly started to run his hand over the soft sand beneath him as he thought about something. "You know, if we're going to be stuck on this island for an indefinite amount of time, bickering with each other every time we speak isn't gonna help us at all."

His eyes flickered up to mine, and I could barely see them from how dark it was now. The sun was now gone, only leaving a rapidly disappearing orange color across the horizon. As much as I hated to admit it, Beck was right.

"I guess you're right." I mumbled. I gazed down at the pile of leaves and twigs sitting between us. "We should probably try and start a fire. Its getting cold and dark."

Working in silence as we built up the leaves and twigs was very awkward, to say the least. Whenever we were in each other's presence, there was never silence between us. What was there to talk about? I could easily insult him on his looks or something, but since we had agreed to not bicker— at least for the time being— I kept my mouth shut.

"How long do you think we'll be here?" He asked after a couple more minutes of silence. I handed him the fire starter I had in my bag. The starter should hopefully last us a few days. If not, then we're basically going to starve.

"I dunno," I mumbled. "You think they realized we're not on the planes yet?"

He sighed. "I doubt it. They surely would've turned back by now. They'll realize once they land and get off the plane."

I frowned. "Its an eight hour flight back to the mainland. So that means we'll be out here for at least one day...Or longer."

The panic was starting to set in. Despite being with Beck, I had never felt more alone. There was absolutely zero human activity on this island except for Beck and I. We were all alone with bugs, animals, and fish. Great. What if I die out here? What if I get some kind of flesh eating disease? What if I catch some kind of parasite? How are we going to eat? What are we going to eat? What if we—

"Rory, I can hear you thinking from here."

I looked at him, my skin pale in fear. He sighed softly and crawled around the now crackling fire to where I sat. He sat next to me and slung an arm across my shoulders, pulling me into his side.

"We're going to be okay, Rory. You're going to be okay."

I relaxed into his side, breathing in a deep breath. "Promise?"

"I promise."