Josh's Bizarre Adventure

Paradise

"Why couldn't we have booked a resort?" Ben grumbled partly to himself as he exited the bathroom, ruffling his chunky blond hair in a towel.

Josh was on the floor by one of the two queen beds in the motel room they were in. He was packing his clothes neatly into his (rather large) suitcase, readying himself to check out in a couple of hours.

"They're too far," Josh replied simply, now trying to zip up his suitcase. Perhaps bringing four types of conditioners and a winter coat was a bad idea. Especially the coat. He was in Bermuda in the summer for Pete's sake.

Ben sighed dramatically, childishly bouncing back first onto the nearest bed. "What's the point of this trip again? I miss Gaby... and Hammer," he whined.

Josh groaned. "It's a cool bonding trip," he said, repeating himself for the umpteenth time since they'd left New York. "And it was also given to us for free by my brother. So we have to do it."

Although Josh was annoyed with him at that moment, Ben would have always been the first person he'd choose to go anywhere with. It was the reason why they had managed to live together for so long, and it was why when Andrew Burrage gifted him two tickets for the "Beautiful Bermuda Vacation Package", Josh decided to go with Ben.

Ben suddenly giggled. "I think he gave those to you because he expected you to have a girlfriend by now," he said before rolling off the bed and stepping to look out the window.

Josh made himself laugh for the sake of not being angry at Ben for the rest of the day. Perhaps his friend needed somewhere relaxing to be, other than the small, musty motel room they'd spent the night in.

"You'll have fun," Josh assured, finally getting his suitcase closed.

Ben hummed and stood still for a moment while Josh looked over the day's plan.

"Isn't it kind of weird that this whole 'vacation resort' thingy is no where near any of the tourist sights?" Ben asked as he gazed around the outside view.

Josh stepped beside Ben and looked around with him.

The beach they were by was seemingly empty, except for a sad looking man in the distance with a pretzel cart (at the beach?). At the other far end was a boat deck, with only two boats parked near it. That was where they would be heading as soon as they checked out of the motel.

"The description did say 'private beach'," Josh mentioned, reading over the pamphlet again.

"Right..." he trailed off. "Do we even know where this boat is going to take us?" Ben questioned, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Will you stop with the questions?" Josh exclaimed, thrusting the paper under Ben's nose. "Look, we're going to another island with a hotel. We'll be just fine," he said with a grin.

Ben exhaled and smiled at him. "You're right. I think I watch too many movies about shipwrecks," he chuckled.

Josh patted Ben's shoulderblade. "Hey. If this doesn't work out, blame Andy."

Ben nodded. "That's why you are my best friend."

----

Now it was Ben who was calling out for Josh.

"Dude, hurry up!" Ben shouted, waving his arm around in the sky.

Josh trudged through the sand, trying his best to pull a suitcase, carry a duffel bag and a backpack all at once. Already he was sweating furiously with the sun blazing on his body, which was working hard on carrying all the luggage. When he finally reached Ben he exhaled loudly, dropping everything by his feat.

He pressed his hands on his thighs as he tried to catch his breath. "Are you sure your arm is still broken? That happened weeks ago. Couldn't you have at least carried the backpack?" he wheezed.

"Oh yeah, definetly," Ben said, raising an eyebrow. "You should have asked. I just thought you were being nice."

Josh moaned. It was only ten fifteen in the morning and his day had already begun with a rough start.

"Sorry..." Ben sang softly. "I'll make it up to you."

"Good."

"Ready to begin?"

The boys jumped, for they had not seen the man that had so suddenly and mysteriously appeared by them.

"Geez. You're scary," Ben grumbled.

Josh had to laugh at Ben even though he very-well was spooked too.

"I get that a lot," the big man laughed. "Are you two Josh and Ben?"

"Yeah," Josh said, standing up straight again. He pulled the pamphlet out of his back pocket. "Are you... Sailor Bongos?" He now realized how strange this all was. Maybe Ben was right.

"Yessir, I am!" Bongos puffed out his chest. "Congratulations on getting married, you two!"

The two immediately stepped away from each other, waving their arms out as if they were shooing each other way.

"No-no-no. We are not toge-- we're not like that. We're just friends," Josh explained quickly.

Ben leaned towards Josh's ear and whispered, "It's not too late to cancel this thing, right?"

Josh was about to reply when Bongos laughed heavily again.

"It's a Bermuda Tri-- I mean a Bermuda Tribal joke," he said, starting to walk away. "Come with me." He gestured them towards the dock.

"Maybe it'll be fun?" Josh shrugged, handing Ben his duffel bag and backpack.

"Maybe." Ben sounded just as unsure as Josh did.

They followed Bongos to the end of the dock where he began to untie a boat. "Today, you guys will be riding the Ho-Ho Express," he announced, tugging the boat to the end of the dock.

"Good choice of name," Josh stated under his breath.

"You'd say," Ben replied, lightly chuckling.

It really was a stupid name for a boat, but Josh had to stand up for his Brooklyn newsie name.

"Alright boys," Bongos said, guiding them to the sail-boat. "Step on in! You may put your stuff in the downstairs. We will be heading off in five minutes."

Josh and Ben shared a wary glance before silently making the decision to stepping onto the boat's deck.

"If we get stranded," Ben began, taking in his surroundings, "at least I won't have to be stranded with this guy by myself," he giggled, pointing a thumb at Bongos who waddled to the driver's seat.

Josh scoffed. "Yeah. Maybe we'll get lost in the Bermuda Triangle."

Ben began walking to the stairs. "I hope we do. Then this trip wouldn't be such a waste."

"Very funny."