Island Rush

by Marien Dore

  After he had flipped the snake to cook it on its other side, he removed it from the fire, letting it cool for a moment. A minute later, he took it off and handed me my half, the other half in his hand. I looked at it, able to make it out quite clearly since we had the moon and the fire. It didn’t look any better than what the fish looked like. I knew it would taste different. Hopefully better.

  “Are you sure it’s safe to eat?”

  He chuckled, looking down at me, “You’re asking me this now, right as we are ready to eat it and not when I first said this is our dinner?”

  I smirked and shrugged, “I trust you. I’m just checking.”

  “Yeah, it’s safe. My parents ate snake once before, and they told me it was perfectly safe. They said it tastes good too, but we’ll find that out for ourselves.”

  I sighed as I took a bite. The crunching sound it made was sickening, and I tried to forget that I was, in fact, eating a snake. I chewed it and felt it was a little slimy in my mouth. I didn’t gag though since the taste of it… well, it wasn’t bad. I chewed it and swallowed and looked at Casey to see he was swallowing it too. He looked to me, shrugging as he took another bite as I did of my piece.

  “Better than the fish,” he said after he finished that piece and I was still eating mine.

  Once I swallowed, I nodded. “It does taste a little better than the fish. It’s too bad that fishes are way more common in our diet than snakes.”

  He nodded as he turned to his other side, and with a disgusting sound, he tore another long piece off of it so it would fit when he twined it with the twigs.

  “That’s not all though we will have to eat,” he said as he finished, letting me guide it and hold it over the fire, cooking it. “Fish and snake aren't all that’s on this island. We can probably find crabs and lobsters. There must be some trees with fruit that survived that storm. There must be more on the island. Plus, there are most likely more animals deeper into the woods, deeper than where our camp is.”

  Watching the snake burning and checking to see if it was done on one side, I flipped it and let the flames take it over. I cooked it a little longer than Casey, recalling that slimy taste.

  “Yeah, you’re probably right.” After I knew the snake was done cooking, I pulled it off and watched it sizzle. I looked up at Casey as I waited for it to cool. “You know something?” I asked.

  “Hmm?”

  “We know a lot about each other, right?” I pulled the snake off, breaking it in half and handing him his piece. I set the stick down and began to eat it.

  He was watching me, wondering where I was getting at. “Yeah.”

  “Then what’s my favorite movie?” I asked, smiling. I thought about this and realized that we knew everything important about each other. We knew secrets and about our background, about family. We had no knowledge of the small innocent things.

  His eyebrows dipped, thinking. “I… I don’t know.”

  “Exactly. We know a lot about each other, but not the small things. So, you start. Favorite food? More specifically, dessert.”

  He smiled and liked that I wanted us to know more about each other. From his warm gaze, I knew he wanted to know those small things too. Not just because we were curious, but I also wondered how much alike we were. I mean, sure. We understood each other, had the same sense of humor, both respected and loved each other to death. But what about the little things? It wouldn’t make a difference, but I really was interested.

  “Well, if we ever get off this island, I’m never eating another fish in my life.” He laughed and said, “My favorite food or dessert is carrot cake. What’s yours?”

  I scoffed, “Not carrot cake. Carrot cake can go kill itself. Simple chocolate ice cream is the best.”

  “Simply stupid is what it is,” he muttered smiling. “Have you ever even had carrot cake?”

  “Yeah, and it’s disgusting,” I said. He laughed at my words as he took the last of the snake and wound it over the twigs. He let me put it over the fire again, and I cooked the last of our dinner. Surprisingly, I was nearly full.

  As I cooked it, he went on speaking, “Okay, what about games? Favorite game.”

  I thought about it, nodding, “My favorite game is Trouble.”

  He laughed, “Well, it sure fits. You are trouble. I can see it.”

  “Jesus, a little respect for the game, please? What’s yours?”

  He laughed, “Hangman. I am the king at Hangman.”

  “I’m sure you are. You’re an English teacher. That should be considered cheating if you’re playing. You would pick words never heard of outside of the dictionary.”

  “That’s why I always win. I use words that are really hard. Then sometimes, I make up words because the person I’m playing knows how good I am since I’m a teacher. They assume I would pick a word they don’t know. So, I make them up when I feel a little risky.”

  I gaped as I took the last of the snake off the fire. Letting it cool, I looked up into his eyes, my heart skipping from the happiness flowing from them.

  “Ooh… that’s pretty bad especially for you. I thought you always were for doing the right thing. I guess I fell in love with a complete stranger.”

  “Hey, if they checked, they would have caught me, and I would have respected that. Besides, you of all people know I’m more than an innocent school teacher.”

  I blushed and turned back to the snake, taking it off and breaking it in half, handing him his piece and biting into mine. As I put the stick aside, I looked back up at him. He smiled down at me and spoke after swallowing.

  “I like this game,” he said.

  “So do I.”

  When we finished up with our dinner, we got up, shedding off the makeshift blanket and walked out to the ocean. The wind we faced as we walked was brutal. We raced to the edge of the water that happened to be much closer up shore than it usually is. We quickly ran our hands in the water, scrubbing them and getting the smell and slime off before we splashed water up to our mouths, wiping around our lips.

  When we were done, Casey and I quickly made our way back up the beach. When we got to the fire, we nearly sat right in it. Our knees pulled up to our chests, we moved so close to the fire, our feet, hands, and mouth becoming dry quickly.

  He grabbed the clothing that was wrapped around us before when we were sitting. Only now, Casey stretched out on his side, close to the fire that he was facing. I saw his skin was covered in chills as he worked to get comfortable. When he did, he looked back up at me.

  “Come here,” he said in a shaky voice.

  I crawled over to him, and he guided me to lay in front of him, between him and the fire. He pulled my back into his chest, both of us facing the fire as we rested on our sides. My breath wavered, but it faded at how close we were to the fire. With that, I felt him shift again, draping the fabric over our feet. He took another piece of clothing and draped it over his shoulders and mine as he spooned me, his breath hot in my ear. I rested my head on his arm.

  His other arm came over and around me, tucking it around me against my chest. It gave his fingers the chance to twine with mine.

  “Are you warm?”

  “Yeah. Thank you.”

  “Warm enough to go on with the game?” he asked, his voice playful.

  I chuckled, “Sure. Favorite movie?”

  “Star Wars. I can’t pick which one because I like them all,” he said.

  “Star Wars is more than one movie?”

  He gaped at me as if I were crazy. “You never saw the movies? Are you serious? And yes, of course, it’s more than one movie! You should have at least known that.”

  I smiled and bit my lip. “Nope, never and yeah I’m serious. It’s not that crazy,” I mumbled, chuckling.

  “You have never lived a day in your life if you haven’t seen Star Wars. Oh my God! I don’t think I can even talk to you right now.”

  “Would it help if I offered a distraction? I could tell you my favorite movie before you
blow up,” I said with a small smile.

  “It wouldn’t hurt.”

  “Well, I like the movie, Forrest Gump.” Watching him after I spoke, he only nodded. I chuckled, “Well, are you going to talk to me now? Christ, I didn’t know you were such a nerd over Star Wars.”

  “Hey, don’t diss Star Wars! I am not a Star Wars nerd either! If you haven’t seen it, you’re the nerd.”

  I laughed, “Fine. Can we move on now?”

  “Fine. If you had a million dollars, what would you buy?”

  I thought it over for a minute. “I would buy an airplane. That way, I can go wherever I want, travel the world. And with my own plane, I’ll get my pilot license, so I am the only one who will be in charge of flying the plane. No more plane crashes for me.”

  He smiled. “Where would you travel to?”

  “Everywhere! The Grand Canyon maybe.”

  He raised his eyebrows. “What? The Grand Canyon. Sure, go to the Grand Canyon. ‘Wow, look at that rock! Oh, look how high up we are from the bottom. How exciting! I’m standing and observing!’ Janice, pick a better place before I die of excitement at The Grand fucking Canyon.”

  “Fine. I’d go to Europe and check out the sights there. But then after that, I am going to The Grand Canyon whether you like it or not!”

  “Whatever. You win.”

  “Where would you go?” I asked.

  “A better place than The Grand Canyon. I’d take you hiking in the mountains. I would take you skydiving in your plane. Then we would race down The Great Wall of China before we visit the national parks. Then we would have sex on your airplane so we then can say ‘we had sex in seven states in under four hours.’ That, my dear, is what I would do.”

  I laughed and went on, “Tell me what your most embarrassing moment is.”

  He groaned into my ear, and I smiled, staring into the fire. “Now it’s a game.” Casey thought about it for a second before he finally spoke. “You can’t laugh, got it?”

  “Sure,” I said.

  He tilted my head up so I could meet his eyes, knowing I wasn’t serious. His eyes in mine made my smile falter and heart race for a moment. He spoke very dramatically, a smirk still on his face. “Don’t laugh.”

  “I won’t, okay?” He let my chin go, and I pressed back into his warm chest, watching the fire and waiting. I was anxious to hear about this.

  “In high school, Brad and I went to this one party. It was a party this girl threw when her parents were out of town. I really liked this girl. The thing was, I was a little too young to understand what I wanted. At the time, though, I liked her for the fact that she wasn’t willing to go out with me. She rejected me, over and over, when I asked her out. Naturally, I wanted to try harder. So, I made it my goal to get with her. When I found out about the party, I had to go. Had to try and knew this was a good chance.”

  “When we got there, I noticed she was talking with her friends, and I wanted to get her alone. But Brad talked me into waiting, into waiting later into the night so I didn’t look desperate. So, we hung out around the pool she had. We were in the pool, goofing around for a while. By the time I decided to get out and go talk to her, most of the kids were drunk, including the ones in the pool. I boosted myself up on the side of the pool, getting out and standing up. I remember looking around as I was standing there on the side of the pool, not paying attention to the jackass below me in the pool.”

  “When I saw her, she was standing on the other side of the pool, talking to some of her friends again. Then, I felt something, and it was too late. The drunk guy in the pool was close enough to jump up, grab my trunks, and pull them down while he was below me in the pool. Not a second later did he yell ‘Wow, look at the size of that one!’ He yelled loud enough everyone heard, and they all looked at me. I remember my stomach dropping out from under me as every eye landed on me. There were at least fifty kids that saw, and I watched as their eyes popped open and started to laugh. I was frozen, shocked and scared. I looked down and felt my breath increase so much…. Brad later told me I looked ready to throw up. Of course, it might not have been as embarrassing for me if I wasn’t wet. I was though and apparently, it gave off a weird look since I was wet. When I looked up, I remember my eyes meeting with the girl I was going after. The girl that I knew would never be mine at that moment. She stared at me, her eyebrows rose, and face disgusted. Then she started laughing. She shook her head, and her eyes read as if she was thinking ‘What the hell is wrong with it?’”

  “I stood there, traumatized. When Brad finally was able to get out of the pool, he rushed over and blocked me, telling me quickly to pull up my trunks. I had enough sense to do that. Brad and I left as fast as we could. That Monday, it was much worse than I thought it would be. Unfortunately, someone had a camera at the party and took a picture of me. I walked into school and found posters hanging up all over the walls. There was no caption or anything, but it didn’t need one. The picture itself was damaging enough. By the time I saw them, the teachers and principal were running around, trying desperately to tear them down. It didn’t matter because even more people saw than who was at the party. I was teased, harassed, and embarrassed. Brad gave me good advice, and I took it. It helped too. He told me to act as if I was the one that put up the posters. Told me to be proud and laugh about it with the jerks that teased me. I did, and those jerks gave me a pat on the back for being a ‘good sport.’ In reality, that had to be the most embarrassing time no matter how I acted.”

  Casey finished his long story and sighed, waiting for me to laugh or respond. I didn’t see how I could laugh at that. I turned into his chest, meeting his eyes as I squeezed into his chest, hugging him before I pulled back.

  “Oh Jesus Christ, Casey. I’m sorry.”

  He only gave me a smile. “It’s fine. That was a long while ago, and it blew over fast when I started joking around about it myself. Just please tell me this. Is my ’little friend’ really that repulsing?” he asked, joking and getting the light mood back.

  I chuckled. “Try the exact opposite. I love your ‘little friend,’ Casey Rush and don’t you forget it!”

  He chuckled, kissing my forehead. “Your turn,” he said, smiling.

  I smiled, “Well, I don’t have anything that can top that, but I can think of something. I know it happened when we were on this island.”

  He thought about it for a moment. “Was it when you shoved all those bananas in your mouth? Was it when you fell out of that tree? Or when you were naked in front of me for the first time?” he teased.

  I laughed and blushed. “No, though those were all embarrassing moments. I can say though that I was embarrassed every time I acted immaturely or like a child in front of you.” I blushed just saying that. “Maybe the moment that stands out the most was when I kissed you after I had that dream. Then you told me off and called me a slut.” I scoffed, shaking my head. “God, I felt so bad and embarrassed. Still kind of do.”

  “No, don’t be embarrassed!” he said, horrified at hearing that. “I don’t want that to be embarrassing when I didn’t even mean it.”

  “I know,” I nodded. “At the moment though I was embarrassed.”

  “I never did apologize for that. I am very sorry about that. I know you know that.”

  “Oh I know, trust me. Don’t worry about it, silly man,” I said, chuckling.

  With the heat of the fire reflecting in his eyes, my breath picked up. After being with him for a while, I figured his effect on me would have died down. Nope, I was still easily mesmerized by his eyes. I stared, drowning in his deep brown gaze.

  I didn’t realize what I was saying when I started to speak, “Did I ever tell you that your eyes are your best physical feature?”

  It was his turn to blush and surprise lit his face. “No, I don’t recall. So, it’s not my muscular body, not my beautiful mane?” He shook his hair for effect, making me chuckle. “It’s not my skillful mouth, my smooth skin, or my sexy dance moves?”

 
; “Nope,” I said, staring at his most glorious feature. “Your eyes make me weak at the knees. They always did. Your deep brown eyes light up your heart and tell me what you feel when you let them. Your eyes caress me when you look at me, light up in excitement, express all the beautiful things you are to me.” I laughed, recalling just how deep his eyes could go in mine. “I remember when you asked me those questions, tried to get information out of me. It was hard not to slip up because your eyes seemed to beg sometimes. It was hard to obey myself. I remember when I caught you looking at me in class. My heart would jump, and I could never do anything about that feeling.” He watched me, his eyebrows creasing with emotion as his eyes swam with feeling. I smiled up at him and went on, “You’re doing it right now. Your eyes are making me feel vulnerable.”

  Lips parting as he breathed harder, his eyebrows dipped with feeling. His eyes were swimming with a fire more powerful than the one I had a hard time starting.

  I pushed my face up and closer to his, hitting his lips with mine and sliding my arm up and around him. The moment I kissed him, his hand tightened around my back, pulling his chest flat against mine. His warm mouth and lips consumed me, giving me overwhelming body heat. When I broke away from him, I kissed his prickly cheeks down to his neck.

  “I love you, Casey,” I said, brushing the words over his neck before kissing his skin again.

  When I said those words, his arm around my back left and grasped my hair, pulling me away only to bring my lips back up to his. His hand stayed in the long strands of hair, turning into a greedy fist. I felt him shiver, and I knew it wasn’t from the chilly air,

  When he broke away from me, he spoke quickly, as if needing for me to hear this. “I love your voice. That’s your best feature,” he said in a rush as he rested his forehead against mine.

  “My voice?”

  I was surprised by this. I didn’t think it would have been my voice that stood out to him. In fact, I didn’t think anything about me really stood out. He loved me, and that was that. I didn’t know there was something that stood out to him, let alone my voice.