Uggh! Soooooooooooooooooo sorry about the long wait. If you've read my profile you'd know that my current fandom is Kingdom Hearts so I REALLY havent wanted to get into my story. But whaddaya know, I beat my ass and a chapter fell out of it. There's lots of Jalph in it so that's good. Thank you to those who still are loyally reading this. I love you.

Disclaimer: If I owned LotF I wouldnt need a disclaimer

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Chapter Eleven— Apologize

Jack kicked the sand and glared at it. Ralph was mad at him. Because of stupid Lucinda! He was always going to side with her, wasn't he? The anger swelled up in Jack and he threw his spear across the beach, glaring all the while. Damn her. She was going to ruin everything wasn't she? Jack ran the heel of his hand down his face, wiping off some of the paint on it. Looking back now, the paint was a little odd, an unnecessary idea. Sure it was fun at the time, but now it all seemed stupid.

He stared down at the black covering on his hand and sighed. Stupid pride of his, stupid envy of his, stupid wrath of his, stupid lust of his. If he wasn't going to hell before, he was surely going there first class now. He scowled—since when did he believe in heaven and hell? — Damn Lucinda was rubbing off on him, even if she was a little more lax in her values now. He snickered, remembering her swearing spree but he fixed his lips back into a scowl. He had to apologize to Ralph. He didn't want to— hell he didn't want to! — But he had to.

It wasn't that his conscience was telling him to, but he wanted Ralph so bad that it hurt. And once Jack had his mind set on something it stayed on that track until he got it. He paced across the beach, took his spear back in his hand and turned to the huts. Ralph was there. Simon was there. Lucinda was there. Everyone was there. Building, trying to make amends for letting the fire out, trying to hold onto civility. Jack snorted. This was just like penance for sins. Exactly like penance for sins. Pathetic. Yes, he was always bitter about religion. His mom dragged him and his brother to church every Sunday. Sunday…the only day that his parents were in the same room. It almost amazed Jack that on everyday of the week people turned a blind eye to Cheyenne Merridew's continuous drinking and Daniel Merridew's steamy affair with his secretary and somehow on Sunday, they became the perfect, sober, faithful, loving married couple. Perhaps his parent's hypocrisy was his reason for bitterness. But Jack never was one to rationalize things.

He sighed, heavily and mumbled a string of curse words under his breath before he shuffled off over to the huts. Unsurprisingly, Roger was the first to look up. He was always so observant, a trait that he'd developed in the years of friendship with Jack. After all, you couldn't snoop around and watch from the shadows if you were distracted. His cold eyes stopped Jack dead in his tracks for at least a minute. Finally, the dark boy finally looked away, leaving Jack to clear his throat. Then everyone except for Roger looked up with mixed expressions. Some were confused, some didn't care, some smiled, some nodded, Lucinda glared and Ralph blushed before looking away.

"What do you want?" The female hissed, still looking at him. He had never noticed up until then, how cold her eyes could be. No they weren't cold…they were scorching with hate. Jack flinched and wrinkled his nose, as if her presence made him sick.

"Cinda…" Ralph tried, touching her arm. But she ignored him.

"Haven't you caused enough damage?"
"Lucinda!" Ralph and Roger snapped at her at the same time. She let out a 'humph' and continued her work.

"Bitch…" Jack grumbled under his breath, making sure that the female definitely wouldn't hear. "Hey Chief?" Ralph's eyes widened as Jack called him that. Chief… was that a sign of respect or mockery.

"Mmmhmm?" The fair boy looked up, meeting the hunter's icy blue eyes.

"Can we…" Jack almost groaned. He could back out now, he could say never mind. Ralph would forgive him, he always did. No! This time he'd screwed up too badly. This time he couldn't just leave Ralph to forgive him on his own. Otherwise he might lose any chances of having him. "…talk?" He mumbled, shoving his hands into the pockets of his tattered gray shorts. Shorts that had once been tailored to fit him, but now, the only thing holding them up was his knife belt. The other boys had all taken to making belts out of vines. All except for Ralph, Piggy and Simon who still insisted on using their normal belts. Belts that didn't seem to ever fit properly, but still, they looked slightly more civilized.

"Um…sure…" Ralph blinked, shocked, as if someone had just asked his hand in marriage, not asked him to talk. The fair boy stood up slowly, never taking his eyes off of Jack's. "About what?" The redhead gestured, with a nod of his head, over to the beach.

"C'mon." He insisted, shuffling off slowly in that direction. Ralph should've known. He and Jack always walked along the shoreline when they talked about anything important. He nodded and took off after the other male.

"So what's up?" He asked when the two had arrived at their usual walking / talking spot. "Wait, you're not here to complain about Lucinda are you?" Ralph groaned, running his tanned hands through his dirty hair, wishing that he had some shampoo with him. Jack snorted, rolling his eyes.

"Pfft, course not! I don't wanna talk about her." He wrinkled his nose and glared. His expression softened quickly. "I just…I…I…" Jack had never done this before. He'd never wanted anyone enough to apologize to them! Never had he apologized to Philip— his dumbass of a brother—for taunting or hitting him with a baseball bat. Never had he apologized to his mom or dad about the snarky remarks he made about their dysfunctional family. Never had he apologized to his teachers for jokes at their expense, even though the principal insisted he repent. Never had he apologized to a single classmate or friend about the not so kind things he'd done. He'd never even apologized to Roger for ordering him around. He swallowed hard and met Ralph's curious stare for the briefest of moments before reminding himself why he had to do this. His eyes traced over the other boy's features: his unruly mane of dark blonde hair, his wide, kind, light brown eyes, his high cheekbones, his plush lips, his athletic, muscled body… so damn cute… And that wasn't even all of it! Ralph was perfect! He was good, smart (though not in the way Piggy was), determined, diplomatic, kind, friendly, passionate, he was perfect! The perfection almost stung Jack, so he turned away, figuring it would be easier to do this if he wasn't paying attention to the other boy. This was why he had to apologize. To make this piece of perfection his. "I'm…I…uggh! Ralph don't you understand what I'm saying?" He turned back to the fair boy, flustered and angry. He was surprised, when the chief's lips were pulled into a smile.

"Yeah…" He grinned, chuckling. "You're apologizing." The grin spread even wider, however it never touched his eyes.

"Yeah…" The hunter grumbled, running the point of his spear along the sand, leaving a long, thin line across it. "…So?" The redhead glared. Ralph laughed again and turned to face the hunter.

"You're…funny Jack. All of your reactions I mean…They're funny…" The redhead was so incredibly aggressive that it was humorous.

"What are you saying?" He snapped, flushing deep crimson.

"Nothing! Nothing!" Ralph insisted, taking Jack's hand and lacing his fingers through. "But apology accepted."

Jack stared at the strong, tan hand, intertwined with his and blushed but his face quickly turned back to a normal color. No! He was not some blushing, innocent little boy like Simon and he wouldn't get as embarrassed as easily as Lucinda. He'd win Ralph over with confidence. The hunter smirked and pulled Ralph around so that he was facing him and smirked. He placed a finger on Ralph's jaw and ran it up and down his cheekbone. He'd seen guys do this all the time on TV; he just didn't figure it would work as well as it did.

"Good." His eyes smoldered and he leaned in close so that his mouth was right at Ralph's ear. "Cuz I'd hate if you were mad at me." His voice was husky. Ralph's body tensed up, his knees weakened and his face over heated. Jack couldn't actually tell if the other boy was breathing or not, which caused him to chuckle and draw away, shuffling aloofly back to the jungle with his spear at hand.

Today was good. Jack'd have to apologize more often.