Author's Note: Finally! I was actually afraid of this chapter because it was becoming so looong, but then my muse shifted and Ta-Dah! Chapter 9, peoples. Oh, and read my official (yet unnoficial) disclaimer on my profile. You know, if you really do believe that I own Flight 29 Down. Because I don't, okay? Can we move on? It's kind of a touchy subject. :P Oh, and reviewers? You seriously rock. *holds up glass* A toast- to you!
"Jackson, I don't think I can fish," I told him. He had decided that he needed to "lecture" me on my cruel and unusual "punishment" yesterday. All I'd done was bite my lip! Either way, he'd used his hypnotic powers of forceful persuasion (i.e. he kissed me) to drag me out to an isolated spot on the beach that he claimed was a good fishing spot. So, now we were sitting on a large outcrop of wet rock jutting a little into the ocean, holding two flimsy, handmade fishing rods and fishing. Well, he was fishing. I was actually attacking the water with the fishing line and trying not to hit him. Hard.
"Of course you can, Mel. Everyone can fish," he said languidly, stretching back before reeling in yet another fish.
"That's your fifth one," I observed, barely keeping the resentment out of my voice. He shrugged.
"And?"
"And? And I haven't caught a single one! This isn't working, and you know it." I did my very best to mimic a Taylor-patented pout, but I think I looked like a fish. Of course, I wouldn't actually know since I hadn't caught a single fish.
"Stop giving up. If Taylor can do it, you can, too," he persisted. He rolled up his pants before dangling his bare feet in the cool water. I figured that the fish would probably hurt me for practically thrashing them. Now, if I could only kill one and get it up here… I suddenly scowled. Abby would kill me. I could NOT let fishing ruin my mood, especially since I'd just been self-diagnosed as bipolar.
"What does Taylor have to do with this? This is you dragging me here against my will to do something I'm not good at," I protested, resisting the urge to stick my tongue out at him.
"You seemed pretty willing to me," he said, holding back a grin. My jaw dropped.
"You forced me here! You hypnotized me!"
"I kissed you, Mel. You kissed me back. No hypnotism."
"Kissing, hypnotizing- they're all the same," I said, waving off his logic. Jackson shook his head and reeled another stupid fish in. Stupid fish.
"C'mon, Mel. Relax."
"Relax? We're on a deserted island with no way home; no search ships have come after us, and we eat coconuts, bananas, and fish every day! Why should I be relaxed?" I exclaimed. Alright, I do admit that I may have gotten a bit overemotional, but I swear it was just the heat.
"Because," he began, his eyes twinkling as his face broke out into a grin, "you're on a deserted island away from home with no adults and we eat coconuts, bananas, and fish every day. Why shouldn't you be relaxed?" I tried to speak, my mouth moving up and down like a fish out of water- stupid fish.
"Captain Russell is an adult," I pointed out.
"Nah, he's really a toddler's brain packed into an overweight, 40 year old man who's got no talent for flying."
"Jackson!"
"What?"
"That was… rude!" I exclaimed.
"And true," he said nonchalantly. I shook my head.
"Sort of," I conceded reluctantly. "Wait, no! That was rude!" He just smiled at me before reeling in another fish. Geez.
"Mel, you gotta be patient with this," he coached. "Stop trying to kill the ocean."
"The ocean is what's keeping me away from home," I joked lightly.
"Exactly," he muttered darkly.
"Jackson."
"Mel."
"You still don't want to go back?" I asked.
"I want to go back home, sure. I don't want to go back and face whatever stuff I have to go through," he replied shortly. "Can we not discuss this?"
"Yeah. Yeah, sure." I sighed a little to myself. I'd wanted to help Jackson- I always had. From the very beginning, all I'd wanted was to know him and help him and make him feel better. And now, even though we were already a couple, he still wasn't letting me in. But, he'd let Taylor in before they'd even become a couple. He'd played his song for her, first.
"You okay?" he asked me, interrupting my dismal thoughts. I nodded, not trusting my voice.
"Are you sure?"
I swallowed before answering.
"I'm sure," I answered, managing a small smile.
Come on, Jackson, let me in.
How did Taylor manage to get Jackson to open up when I still couldn't? I left the question unanswered, afraid to know the answer.
"We caught fish," Jackson declared, a string of fish slung over his shoulder as he walked past Nathan and Daley. I followed him, holding our fishing rods and feeling very, very down.
"By 'we,' he means 'he'," I called out, dumping the rods on the sand before flopping down beside them. He lowered himself beside me.
"No, no, you did a pretty good job out there," he tried. I shot him a half glare through partially opened eyes.
"No. I did horrible, just like always. I told you I can't fish!"
"And I told you that you needed to be patient," he said firmly. I turned away from him, waving him away.
"I'm not Taylor," I mumbled. He hesitated slightly, and I felt a little nervous, hoping for him to say something. I waited, holding my breath, for his response. Maybe I shouldn't have been so depressing...
He walked away. "I'm gonna go fish some more," he said over his shoulder.
I felt sick inside, with worry and regret. I worried over why he hadn't said anything. I regretted saying anything at all. Why couldn't I have just let him tell me I was good? Oh, no. No, no, no, I was over this and had defeated this and I was cheerful Mel and I couldn't go back and I couldn't think that… No, I couldn't think that! But I did, anyway. Because, maybe my life hadn't become perfect suddenly. Maybe…
Maybe Jackson wasn't as completely mine as I wanted. Maybe he was… hers, too.
A monster roared to life within me, and I felt my stomach churn with that familiar feeling.
Jealousy.
Welcome back.
"I never can stay completely at peace for one moment, can I? Nooo, I have to have the crazy emotions. And she has to change. And he has to change. All the time! Why me, Daley? What did I do to this world?" I ranted, pacing back and forth in front of a very disgruntled Daley. She sat on a big, dry rock, conveniently situated in a clearing not far from camp in the jungle where I could rant to her. "Daley, what do I do?"
The redhead nervously ran a hand through her unruly hair and cast a quick glance to the general direction of camp before her eyes flickered nervously back to me. "Look, uh, Mel," she began. I narrowed my eyes. What, she didn't remember my name? "I'm not really, uh, sure if I can help you with your, um, personal problems," she said. Her lips curved in a tiny smile as she became more confident. "Personally, I was disappointed when you and Jackson got together. I was hoping for some girl power! You know?" she asked me expectantly. I glared at her.
"No, actually, I don't know. Tell me."
"Well, Jackson totally led you on," she said matter-of-factly. "So, I always thought that you should move on. You know, make him jealous. Make him come to you. Get it?" I stared. It took all of my strength to keep my mouth closed. I nodded slowly.
"Yeah," I ventured. "I think I get it. Thanks, Daley."
"Glad to help," she chirped. "But, I really have to go. Important stuff to do, you know."
"Right," I answered, trying to smile. She smiled back.
"Maybe you should talk to Nathan! He is your best friend."
"Right! Great idea, Daley!" I exclaimed, finally excited. It was about time that the redhead became the bossy know-it-all with answers that she used to be. Granted, her idea had really just been a trick to get me out of her skin, but I didn't care much. Nathan. Nathan was a guy, and he was (once) my best friend. He'd help me.
Said superhero stared at me blankly, his fingers twitching with that constant need of his to do something.
"Why me, Nathan? What did I do to this world?" I finished ranting for the second time that day, fixing Nathan with a helpless stare. I had asked to talk with him, and yes, I did feel guilty when he gave me a look of surprise. Had I really been that bad of a best friend? I waited expectantly for the guy's perspective, which was sure to clear things up.
"You didn't do anything, Mel," he told me firmly. I smiled at him. Finally, a sane human being who gave me real answers!
"You didn't do anything. He didn't either."
My smile froze.
"But-but-" I began.
"But nothing! Lighten up, Mel. Aren't you glad that Taylor's back? Shouldn't you be? And Jackson's Jackson; he's always accepting people and stuff. You should be used to it by now. I mean, just because a guy talks to more girls than his girlfriend, doesn't mean he's flirting with them! Geez, girls never seem to get this. First we're all, 'Hey! What's up!" to a 'gal' friend, and then you're all 'You were checking her out! How could you!' You know? It's hard to deal with all the drama."
I stared at him. Typical boys, having no relationship advice.
"Nathan?" I asked hesitantly, interrupting his rant.
"Yeah?" he asked.
"Um, I need to go. Thanks for, er, helping." He smiled sincerely.
"'Welcome, Mel. Hey, do you remember what day of the week Daley and I, you know, started dating? Last week she was the only one to remember our… I think it was 2 weeks? One week? Well, she remembered it and I didn't. Man," he said, shaking his head, "this relationship business is tough. So," he said, rounding up on me, "do you remember?"
I groaned.
"Eric?" I asked, suddenly feeling awkward.
"Mel? What's up? And have you seen Taylor? It's our, um… one week anniversary? I think it's our one week anniversary. It is our one week anniversary- right?" I could sense the panic rolling off of him in waves.
"I'm pretty sure it doesn't matter," I told him, rolling my eyes.
"It does!" His eyes were wild. "Taylor's totally gonna dump me if I forget this!"
"Taylor likes you too much," I informed him. He instantly perked up, momentarily forgetting his panic.
"She does?" he asked, a smirk tugging at the corners of his lips.
"Oh, definitely," I cooed, resisting the urge to slap sense into him. He popped his collar, the smirk now spreading from ear to ear on his face.
"I knew she couldn't resist all this," he boasted. I rolled my eyes.
"Eric."
"Yes, Mel?" he asked in a sweet voice.
Well, I'm not going to bore you with details, but that's about the part that I lost it and snapped. I ranted and raved and waved my hands high in the air with every word.
"I mean, Taylor's your girlfriend! She's not his anymore!" I finished, registering Eric's wince at my words.
I paused. "Um, right?" I asked, suddenly feeling very much on edge.
"She's mine," he confirmed, and I sighed in relief. He shot me an odd look. "Insecure much?"
"Shut up, Eric," I retorted. "Ok, fine, yes. Very. I don't know, it's just… Jackson took me fishing this morning-"
"Been there, done that," Eric cut in with a nod.
"Right. He took me- wait, what? You went fishing with Jackson?" I asked, confused.
"No," he told me, slowly enunciating every word. "Taylor took me fishing. Taylor, my girlfriend."
"Oh," I replied intelligently. With scrambled thoughts, it was hard for me to remember what I was talking about before, but I remembered after an embarrassingly long pause. Why me? "So, he took me fishing this morning and I didn't catch a single stupid fish- didn't even stab one! And he was all Captain Fisherman and being absolutely perfect at everything as usual, and I was just being a pain, whining his ears off. A stick in the mud. A party-pooper," I rambled. Eric reached over to physically shut my mouth. I made an odd (highly unattractive, but for the sake of my self esteem, we're gonna call that a Mel kind of sexy) noise of protest.
"Melissa Wu, didn't you tell me you were tired of feeling this way?" he demanded, surprising me. Eric, even sweet Eric, was never this serious.
"N-no," I stuttered, my voice barely audible through his hand. He rolled his eyes.
"Well, it was all over your face and it would take a complete idiot to not know it. Can you stop being so jealous? It's just Taylor."
"Just Taylor? Taylor's absolutely perfect!" I cried. "And Jackson did ask her first!" Eric removed his hand sharply.
"When you talk, it tickles," he informed me.
"OK, whatever, but help me here!"
"I'm not worried."
"But I am! And what do you have to do with this?"
"Well, Taylor is my girlfriend now," he said offhandedly.
"Is it official?" I asked him pickily. His eyes widened considerably.
"Well," he said slowly, " I kinda thought it would be… you know, obvious even without me asking her… you know, since we kiss and all… I mean, it's not like we're friends with benefits… and we do have that anniversary thing… Wait, no, she didn't do anything! She hasn't said anything about the anniversary! What if we're not official and we are friends with benefits?" he cried, horrified.
I nearly broke into tears. No one on this deathly island had a single stable relationship!
"What's going on?" Lex asked suspiciously as he walked in on us.
"Nothing… why?" I asked. Eric was clearly not in a state to talk to Lex.
"Well, it's kinda like when Jackson and Taylor were…" Lex wrinkled his nose, "… 'together.'" I gulped.
Oh, no. No, no, no, no-
"No," I answered, gritting my teeth.
"Well, it just seems that way," he said, still leveling a suspicious gaze at us.
"How?" I asked.
"You guys are talking, and Nathan's acting weird again, and Jackson and Taylor are fishing together, and Da-"
"They're fishing together?" I exclaimed. Lex nodded, his gaze becoming concerned now.
"Yeah, for, like, half an hour now," he said, checking his ever-so-accurate watch.
"Ha-half an hour?" Eric asked weakly.
"Mm-hmm," Lex nodded. His eyes suddenly narrowed again. "Why?"
"Um-"
"We're not sure," I cut in. "Where are they?" I asked him. He looked me over carefully, as if mentally going over a checklist of symptoms of insanity. I almost screamed.
Guess I'm insane, then.
We left Lex hurriedly after he pointed us to the right side of camp, over a few jagged rocks. To be more precise, I dragged Eric down the beach and plopped him down when I caught sight of Jackson and Taylor.
"OK, shut up, Eric," I whispered to him, peering through the rocks. "I want to hear them."
"We're spying on them?" he asked incredulously.
"Well, yeah. We never did get the chance to do that other 'plan' of yours before Jackson and I got together-"
"And Taylor and me got together," Eric cut in importantly. I didn't bother correcting his grammar.
"Uh-huh, sure. So now we're doing something. Can you please be quiet and listen to them?"
Jackson and Taylor sat a mere two feet in front of our position, shoulders barely brushing each other. I felt my stomach churn when I noticed that Taylor had already caught more fish than Jackson. Their voices were clear, and I felt my stomach drop when I heard the light, carefree tone in their voices. It was like nothing had ever happened.
"You weren't like this after I asked you out," Jackson said, a curious tone underlining his words. I tensed. He had a girlfriend. Me. Right? Taylor didn't respond, taking the time to reel in another fish. He nudged her, and I could see his grin as he turned to her.
"So tell me what happened," he teased. She turned to him finally, the salty ocean air playing with her blonde hair, and sighed.
"You don't want to know," she informed him quietly.
"I do, actually," he said in a more serious tone. She huffed a bit and chewed her lip. I smiled a bit when I noticed that his eyes did not darken the way they did when I bit my lip.
"Fine. But only if you answer my question."
"You go first."
"Scared?" she taunted.
"No, I just asked you first," he said with an easy smile. She shrugged nonchalantly.
"Fine. It's possible that I did like you a little. But when you asked me out… I don't know. It didn't really click like I kinda thought it should. And… now, don't take this the wrong way, ok?" Her head was bowed, but she peered up at him through her hair. He nodded slowly. "I was disappointed when you asked me out," she said bluntly. I turned to see Eric grinning like a maniac.
"I see," Jackson said after a moment. He turned back to the ocean and reeled in another stupid fish. It was Taylor's turn to nudge him.
"But, come on, it's okay, right? 'Cause we both know you weren't happy with me. We both know you always liked Melissa," she said.
"You know, you still haven't answered my question. I get that you didn't like me as much as Eric, but why did you act different so suddenly?" he asked. He avoided the topic so obviously, so easily, it hurt my heart.
"Well, you know, um… maybe I wanted to make Eric jealous?"
"You used me?" Jackson asked incredulously.
"Kinda," she answered guiltily. They sat in stony silence for a moment, and I dared myself to smile, as horrible as it was. Was I jealous for no reason? I hoped so.
"It's alright. I probably shouldn't be so mad. I, uh, I might have been trying to make Melissa jealous, too," he conceded reluctantly.
"Mel," Eric's voice whispered in my hair. I jerked in surprise.
"What? You're ruining this moment!" I hissed back.
"I just wanted to let you know that your eyes are bugging out."
Let's all take a moment to appreciate the quality of self-control. Without the smidge I have… Eric's eyes wouldn't have been the only thing bugging out. Not that I'm violent or anything…
With a huff, I turned my attention back to Taylor and Jackson.
"Why?" Taylor asked. "She liked you a lot to begin with."
"Well, I wasn't really sure, you know. She hadn't really said much about it, and she started acting normally around me, so I figured the crush had worn off. So, I wanted to make her jealous," he said. "Now that I think about it, that probably wasn't my smartest idea," he chuckled, and I held myself from laughing with him.
All this time…
I smiled. Oh, jealousy. You get me every time.
Author's Note: Like it? Hate it? Too corny? Let me know in a review, please! They make my day, guys, and inspire me to update sooner. This chapter was totally about to become some long novel thing, but muses are weird like that. I sense a closing chapter! But at the same time, I've been thinking of writing a sequel, just because I was originally going to make this a very long 30-somethin chapter story, but realized I don't have the energy for that. Divide and conquer, my friends. So, sequel? Review and let me know! In the words of an adorable 1 year old I know, "Huggie!" (And no, I'm not advertising diapers.)
