Chapter 7
The heat was unbearable. Vicky could hardly stay in bed. She uncovered herself and stepped outside. Joey, Chris, and Sam were already out there talking on the beach. She walked over to them and sat down beside Sam and Chris.
“Hey, how are you feeling this morning?” Chris asked. He wrapped his arm around her as she laid her head on his shoulder.
“I’m still a little tired, and I’m not feeling really good. I think I’m a little sick,” Vicky answered. She closed her eyes and just rested.
“Well, you do feel strangely warm. Let me take a look at your arm,” he replied. She stretched it out in front of Chris as he unwrapped the bandage. The cut didn’t look that bad, but there was a slight discoloration around it. “Damn, it’s infected,” he said.
“Oh, shit! I’m in trouble. I hope I have something in the first aid kit to stop the infection from spreading,” she informed. Vicky stood up and walked into Justin’s tent. He was still asleep. She carefully opened the first aid kit and took out the peroxide, medicine, bandages, and a clean piece of cloth.
Justin groaned and turned over to see Vicky. He reached out and took her hand. Their fingers interlocked. “Hey,” he quietly whispered.
“Hi, how do you feel?” she asked, thinking the cut on his forehead might also be infected.
“I’m fine. I’ve never felt better,” Justin answered. He kissed Vicky’s hand as she moved closer to him.
“You’re so sweet when you’re tired,” she said, bending down to kiss his forehead.
“I’d say that to you, but I don’t know how long you’ve been up.”
“Well, you can say it now because I’ve only been up for a couple of minutes.”
“Okay, you’re really sweet when you’re tired,” Justin repeated. “And you look so cute too. All that tangled hair and no make up, you’re a regular person.”
Vicky laughed and kissed his forehead again. “I’ll be back later. I have a few things to do.”
“Okay, I’ll stay in bed until you come back.”
She left the tent and went outside to Sam, Chris, and Joey. “Can one of you guys help me?” she asked. “I need someone to put the disinfectant over my cut.”
“I’m out,” Sam quickly replied.
“So am I,” answered Joey afterwards.
“Well, Chris. That leaves you,” she said, walking over to him as if she knew he wasn’t about to get out of it.
“Okay,” he finally gave up. He poured some of the peroxide on the cloth and wiped it over Vicky’s cut. She winced as the pain rushed through her body.
“Ow!” she cried when she couldn’t take it anymore. It was just when Chris started to pour on the disinfectant.
“Okay, I’m done. Don’t worry. It won’t hurt anymore. I promise. Just let me put the bandage on and I’m completely done,” Chris comforted. He wrapped the bandage around Vicky’s wrist and added, “Done.”
“Usually I have a high tolerance for pain, but this hurt like hell. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”
“Hey, it’s okay.”
“Alright, I gotta go. I’ll talk to ya later.” Vicky left to go back to Justin, who was still waiting in bed.
As she walked into his tent, he looked at her and saw the red eyes. “Hey, what’s wrong? Why are you crying?” he asked.
“Nothing, Chris was just helping me with my wrist. It hurt like hell,” she confessed.
“At least nothing’s broken. Lance told me that he and Chris found you under your boat. That must have been the worst position to be in,” Justin sympathized. He moved closer to her as she also did.
“Well, that was a painful position, but I feel lucky,” Vicky agreed. “You know something? I haven’t really been honest with you.”
“What haven’t you been honest about?” he asked.
“You know that kiss we had last night? Well, I really didn’t tell you about how it made me feel.”
“How did it make you feel?”
“Like I was in heaven,” Vicky confessed as she looked down at Justin with passionate eyes.
“So was I,” he replied, moving closer to her lips.
“Could I kiss you again?” she whispered, closing her eyes.
“Yes,” he whispered back as they locked lips. Their hearts were racing as they kept kissing. They felt as if never wanting to let go. This moment was too sweet to forget. They parted and just stared for a few minutes.
Justin waited for everything to sink in. Vicky slid next to him on the blanket and laid her head on his chest. He breath in the scent of her hair and closed his eyes. His hand slid down her back as she kissed his neck.
“Why wasn’t I able to find you before I met Chad?” Vicky questioned. She stared Justin in the eyes and waited to see what he would say.
“I don’t know. I wish the same thing,” Justin replied. He held Vicky closer as they shared an intimate moment. For some reason she was beginning to feel a little uncomfortable.
“Are you thirsty?” she asked, changing the subject.
“Yeah, really thirsty,” he answered.
Vicky got up and walked out of the tent. For some reason, she was beginning to regret kissing Justin. There was some part of her that kept thinking about Chad.
“Vicky, are you okay?” Justin asked as he walked behind her.
“No, I’m fine. I just remembered something that I had to do.”
“Which was?”
“I need to find some water. We don’t have any. Want to come with me?”
“Yeah, just make sure to tell Chris where we’re going,” Justin said as he walked over to the guys on the beach. “Okay, let’s go,” he yelled, coming closer.
Vicky began to walk away as Justin reached her. They entered the lush forest together in search of fresh water. The thick jungle growth was hard to get through. Vicky began to hear something, and walked towards it. As she pushed away some leaves, she saw a majestic waterfall leading into a pond beneath it. Her eyes widened at how clear it was when she came closer.
“Justin! Come over here!” Vicky yelled.
“Oh, my God! It’s beautiful!” he exclaimed once he saw the water.
“That’s what I though. It’s so peaceful out here. I love it. I wish I could stay here all day and swim around,” she admitted.
“Would you mind if I joined you?” he asked, dipping his foot into the freezing cold water.
“Maybe,” Vicky teased. She jumped in and pulled Justin with her.
They splashed around for a little while before realizing that this wasn’t the time to be fooling with each other. Vicky climbed out of the water and fell onto the warm earth. She let her head drop to look at the sky above. It was a clear blue like the ocean and Justin’s eyes. As she drifted into her inner most thoughts, all remnants of the real world ceased to exist. It was like a fantasy coming true. There was nothing on this island that could be a threat to her.
All of a sudden, something began to crawl up her leg. Vicky shot up into a sitting position to see what it was. A large black spider crept up her foot. She was about to scream when Justin clasped his hand around her mouth. He took a leaf from one of the trees and gently brushed the spider away from her.
“That was so scary,” Vicky said as Justin released his grip. She wrapped her arms around him to feel safer.
“I know. I was watching when it crawled up your leg. I saw that you were about to scream, and I knew that would be a bad thing. Sorry if I did anything to hurt you,” he apologized.
“Justin, you saved my life. What if that thing was poisonous? Thank you so much,” she praised as her arms reached around his neck for a tighter hug.
“Hey, it’s no problem.” Justin stood up as Vicky let go. They walked back to camp in silence still dripping wet.
As they reached the tents, Sam walked over to them and asked, “What happened? You look like you fell into some water.”
“We found a waterfall. It’s so nice. There’s fresh water out there. I’ll take you later to get some. Right now, I have to change,” Vicky replied. She walked into her tent and opened her suitcase.
“I know that’s not all that happened,” Sam walked in after her.
“What do you mean by that?” Vicky questioned.
“Well, from the looks of it, you two probably did a little more than just get into the water. I saw the dirt on your back. What were you guys doing?”
“To tell you the truth, there was a spider on my leg, and Justin took it off for me. That’s all that happened. Don’t think we did anything crazy,” Vicky confessed. She took out a new shirt and pair of shorts then some sandals. Sam wasn’t buying it. She knew there was something else going on between them.
“No, really. What happened between you two out there?”
“God, Sam, nothing happened out there. We just splashed around in the water and that’s all,” Vicky yelled. ‘What the hell does she think we did?’ she asked herself.
“Whatever, Vicky. I don’t care anymore. You don’t have to tell me anything,” Sam smirked as she left the tent in a very bad mood.