Claire was already conjuring up a kind of dinner when I got back and she spoke, “Hey.”

It was so nonchalant, as if we were best friends again, I spoke, “Hey.”

She handed me a bowl or bananas and coconut, it was a simple dinner, but it was food and I was starving. I gratefully took it and began eating near the fire as I watched the sunset over the blue horizon. I couldn’t stop thinking about Claire and I just wished she would try and let me back into her life the right way. 

I sighed, “Ok, so tomorrow, I think we should hike up to the mountain.”

“Why?”

“Because I think it’ll be a good vantage point, so we can see exactly where we’re at on this island.”

She nodded, “Alright, sounds good.”

I smiled at her compliance, I didn’t think she would just come along so easily, but I was wrong. I saved the bowls and crawled into the camp, zipping me and Claire in alone. I lied next to her, she didn’t seem tired like she was ready to just turn over and ignore me, so I took it as a good sign. I whispered, “What you thinking?”

She shrugged, “Just about everything.”

“Like?”

She stared at me while we were face to face, as if she was trying to figure me out. I knew she couldn’t read me but she was trying really hard, “Being here, my family, my friends… me and you.”

I nodded, “I’ve been thinking about all of that too.”

“How’s it for you?”

I shrugged, “I don’t know, it hurts, thinking about Mallory and my friends… and my parent’s.”

She nodded, “Yea, it hurts.”

I touched her face slightly, pulling her out of her thoughts, “We’ll see them again.”

“I hope.”

I smiled, and for a split second we had unbreakable eye contact, and I knew there was something in her that wanted me. I could see it behind those hard confused  eyes of hers, and I wanted her to show me what she really wanted. 

I smiled, “Now what are you thinking about?”

She shrugged, “You.”

“Are you being honest?”

She nodded, “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Because you might still be indecisive.”

She knew what I was referring to, but I wasn’t sure if she was ready to approach that subject. I wanted to though, I was ready to get through it with her because being here with her really sparked back up a lot of feelings, even in this fucked situation. 

“Alex…”

I shrugged, “Look, if you don’t wanna talk about it you don’t have to.”

I peered through the dark atmosphere surrounding us, the fire flickering over Claire’s tan face. I pulled my gaze away from the waves crashing on the shore to Claire, who was actually looking at me. I wanted to know what she was thinking so bad right now, but I didn’t want to pry. 

She would tell me when she was ready. 

“Alex, look… what I did to you… it was selfish.”

I nodded, completely agreeing with her because it was true, it was a guilty act. I waited for her to continue on.

“When I met you, I had felt something in my stomach, I had never really felt that. It scared me, and I didn’t want to accept the fact that I started to like a girl, who actually became my best friend. I didn’t want to commit to you because of that reason, I could lose you as my best friend, but in the end, I lost you completely.”

I shrugged, “And now look at where we’re at.”

She tilted her head, “I just poured my heart out to you…”

I smiled, “I was never going to completely leave you, all I wanted was an answer, friends or more than friends.”

She sighed, resting her head on her hands, “I’m just sorry, you mean a lot to me, and when you left…”

“It hurt.”

She looked at me, nodding, “Yea, it really did.”

“But you never made any sign that you wanted me back in your life.”

She nodded, “I know, because I figured you wouldn’t want me back in, and I didn’t want to get rejected from you…”

I couldn’t believe what  I was hearing, but it was a shocker, and I wanted to pray this wasn’t some stupid dream. I stood, letting her know I was ready for bed as I made my way to the camp, “I wouldn’t have.”

I crawled into the camp, and Claire followed me in, allowing me to zip it shut. I looked at her, seeing her eyes peer at me through the dark. 

And suddenly, I was no longer afraid of making moves as I cupped her cheek in my hand. I slightly stroked her warm cheek, and then I moved in, kissing her lightly on her lips. The spark we had back then, it was still there, somewhere beneath the surface.

I pulled away, “Goodnight Claire.”

She whispered slowly, “Goodnight Alex.”

~ ~ ~ ~

The kiss last night had showed me we still had something, and she wasn’t denying it. Hopefully it would stay that way because I liked the kiss a lot, it had ruptured my heart in a good way. 

Today was the day when we would travel to the mountain in hopes of revealing something important, whether it was people or the truth about this island. 

And how to get off of it.

I began lacing up my shoes, grabbing a banana and eating it slowly as I waited for Claire. We would stop at the water hole and fill up an empty shampoo bottle we had washed out with water, just in case, then we would be on our way.

She laced up her shoes and ate a little bit as we made out way to the water hole. I wanted to ask her about last night, about the kiss, but I was a little nervous. I didn’t know why, I mean obviously she had liked it, or she wasn’t threatened because she allowed me to. 

So what was I nervous about?

Maybe it was my mind telling me it was to soon, I didn’t want to rush her into admitting something that she might not even feel. I wanted to make sure, but I didn’t know how long she was going to make me wait. 

I dipped the shampoo bottle into the water, filling it up and screwing the cap on, handing it to Claire as she tucked it away in her bag. She looked up at me and I crossed me arms, smiling, “Ready?”

She winked, “Ready.”

Then she shoved me back, and cool water surrounded me as I fell into the water pool. I came up completely soaked, appalled that she had done something like that, “What the hell?”

She smiled, “That was for practically stealing my clothes!”

I wanted to be mad at her, but looking up at her petite body with her seductive smirk, I just couldn’t. I pulled myself out of the water, looking at Claire with a smile played on my face, “So we’re even?”

She smiled devilishly, “Sure.”

I rang out my clothes as best as I could as we started our trek to the mountain, I had estimated if everything went well on the way up it should take maybe three to four hours. So we started up, Claire on my side as we both listened silently to each other’s breathing. I remembered the kiss we had shared last night and how it had made me feel, I could only wonder how it was for her. 

She broke the silence, “So, you kissed me last night.”

I smiled to myself, glancing at her from the side, “Yea, I did.”

“Why?”

It wasn’t a quick and snobby why, it was a curious and sentimental why, and I didn’t feel threatened. I shrugged, “Cause I can.”

She shoved me slightly, “Really though, why?”

“Because, I don’t know, I was just in the moment and got caught up in my feelings.”

“So you like me.”

I shook my head, “I don’t think I ever stopped liking you, Claire.”

I could see the tint of red on her cheeks, and I couldn’t decipher if it was because of my comment or the extreme heat. She grazed my hand as we stepped over a fallen palm tree, “I don’t think I did either.”

The comment had actually caught me of guard, I knew Claire had liked me but it was an on and off kind of thing. She had never really admitted it to me although she showed it while we were still civil with each other, and now we were here.

“So you admit you liked me.”

She touched my hand again, moving around the brush on the ground, “Like you, not liked.”

I smiled, so she was flirting and telling me she currently liked me, I could only pray she wasn’t just doing this cause she felt bad for me. 

The rest if the trip consisted of her and I reminiscing on the good memories, and repairing the bad ones. It was nice to finally talk to her about it and finally get it off of my chest, I didn’t have to guess what she thought about me cause now I knew. 

She had liked me back then, and she still did. 

Finally we found ourselves coming to the tip of the mountain and I could feel myself getting excited, hoping something important would be revealed. I pulled Claire up as I stepped onto a ledge of rock, feeling the rushing wind blow my hair around my heated face. Our arms touched as we peered over the tree tops, seeing way more land than we knew existed on this island. 

It had to be at least two or three more miles in the other direction, away from our camp, and it was all left unexplored. Claire spoke, “Wow, this island’s bigger than I thought.”

I nodded, “Definitely.”

Then something strange caught my eye, and at first I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me, until Claire recognized the same thing I had. She spoke, “Is that…?”

“Smoke. It’s smoke. Did you light a fire before we left?”

She shook her head, and then suddenly I panicked, wondering if it could be a forest fire, but there was no bad weather. 

That could only mean one thing….

There were other people on this island.