89 Days (A Josh Ramsay Fanfic)

Chapter 5: its not you, its me.

Melissa had made it clear that she wanted nothing to do with me. I wasn't sure if she actually thought she had a chance with Josh, or if she thought I actually had a chance with Josh... Either way she wanted him and I nowhere near eachother, she was almost like his personal body guard. Jack had taken Melissa and Jacob to find something to use as shelter and that left Josh, cat, Dylan and I alone at the beach. I was sitting in the sand with Cat and Dylan, and Josh had seemed to be pouting, his back turned to us and he faced the soft waves of the water.

"I'll be right back." I said to cat and Dylan as I stood up and walked toward Josh. he hadn't heard me approach him but as soon as I took my seat beside him his head snapped up.

"Hey." he said with a small smile.

"Hey." I smiled back. his voice sounded drained, as if he had no more energy.
"Are you okay?" I asked softly.

"As okay as any of us are... I guess I'm not dead so that's something..." he trailed off.

"They'll find us. They're probably out searching right now, we'll be off this island in no time at all!" I said, trying to be enthusiastic. Josh didn't say anything, and I realized that maybe enthusiasm wasn't what he needed right now. sometimes to get over something you have to let yourself mourn, and that's what Josh was doing. I put my arm around his shoulder and leaned my head against his arm. when people mourn they find a way to comfort themselves, because bringing their sadness onto other people makes them feel worse. For Josh, his way to comfort himself was music, but what happens when you have no access to the source of your comfort? What happens when you're stripped of everything and torn away from your life? That's when you let those around you in, that's when you're aloud to bring your sadness into other people's lives. Josh however was determined to keep everything inside, and then made it my job to make sure he didn't feel alone.

"Quinn?" He asked.

"Hmm?"

"What if they don't find us?" He asked in a shaky whisper.

"Then at least we have eachother." I said soothingly. I felt his muscles relax as he started to accept the reality of things. He wrapped an arm around my waist, and in that moment neither of us felt quite so alone. We stayed sitting like that for a while. We finally got up off the ground when we heard Jack's voice.

"We've gathered a ton of large sticks and leaves. If we work together I think we can build a few small shelters." Jack said as he came near us. Melissa held armloads of giant looking leaves and Jacob was dragging large sticks.

"This is perfect! Except how is this supposed to work?" Cat asked.

"Easy. Use the sticks as the framework for the tent, the leaves as the walls and then cover it in mud to keep it insulated." Jack grinned.

"How many of these are we going to try and make?" Josh asked.

"Well.. They can't be very big, considering the lack of strong materials we have... maybe 3? Two people per tent." Jack suggested with a raised eyebrow.

"That's perfect!" I enthused.

"I'm sharing a room with Quinn." Josh said right away. I felt my face get hot and I could feel Melissa's glare burning holes into my back.

"Yes, I thought you would want that... of course Cat will want to be with her baby, and since the child doesn't take up much room Melissa can be with Cat and Dylan." He smiled brightly. I glanced at Josh and he smiled at me with warn eyes.

"We better get to work on building these tents then." Jacob said.