Jasmine didn't have a watch. She'd made the mistake of packing it in her duffel, which was now buried in a planewreck in who-knows-where. Luckily, she was a survivalist who was well-acquainted with using the sun to tell time. Based on its position in the sky, it was probably around six o'clock in the evening. The campfire ceremony wouldn't start for another hour, and Jasmine did not want to spend that hour playing thirty more tic-tac-toe rounds with Max.
"Okay!" She abruptly stood and cracked her back. "I think I'm gonna go on a jog now."
Max looked up at her, annoyed, from his seat on the treehouse balcony. "You're just upset because I've beaten you five times in a row!"
"Trust me, I'm not." Jasmine had begun letting him win as soon as she'd tired of the game. "I'll see you and Scarlett later."
She left him sitting there, carving out another tic-tac-toe board into the wood, and headed off into the forest. There wasn't much to do in the way of entertainment; Chris had literally dropped them into a deserted island. Some of her fellow competitors might have found island living boring, but Jasmine didn't. The woods called her name, and she'd gladly spend hours exploring every nook and cranny it offered.
She'd been walking for a while when who should she happen upon but the final member of her team.
"G'day, Topher." Jasmine waved. His hands were shoved deep into his pockets, and his eyes were fixed pointedly on the ground. At her greeting, Topher looked up, and she was treated to the full beauty of his green eyes.
...huh. Where had that come from?
"Hey, Jaz," Topher said with the enthusiasm of an ankle-biter who'd just been denied a choccy biccy. That, combined with his body language, convinced Jasmine she definitely wasn't imagining the disinterest in his voice. Strange.
"Something the matter?" Jasmine fell into step beside him (which was hard, because her strides were much longer than his, but she did her best to slow her pace).
"Yeah, but I doubt you'd be interested." Topher glanced at her wryly. "You didn't seem to care about me earlier."
"Gotta be more specific, mate." Jasmine had spent all afternoon trying to forget the cave challenge; excuse her if she didn't know what he was blathering on about.
"When you used me as a battering ram?" Topher clarified, gesturing to his hair. "You didn't seem to care that my hair got messed up in the process."
Jasmine's nose wrinkled. "I'm not apologizing for that. Did you really think I was gonna stay in that cramped, dark tunnel any longer than we had to?" She shuddered. "I'm sorry you think I don't care about you, but I did what needed to be done."
"Sure." Topher didn't look convinced. But it wasn't her job to convince him.
"The point is that I'm not preoccupied with saving our lives anymore, and I absolutely care about your problems," Jasmine said. "So if you want to, you can tell me about it."
Topher sighed like she'd just asked him to walk straight into a dingo nest. "Alright. I was trying to talk to Chris earlier. Y'know, get in some face-to-face time with him."
Jasmine nodded. She didn't understand Topher's Chris-mania, but whatever.
"And he—" Topher's voice dropped to a mumble.
"What?" Jasmine cupped a hand to her ear.
Topher stopped walking at this point. "He called me cringe!" he blurted out. "Chris said I was a cringe fanboy who'd never make it in the entertainment industry."
His words hung in the air, a shameful admittance of failure, while Jasmine struggled to think of a way to console him.
"I'm sorry" was what she came up with. "You know he's a jerk, right?"
"He's not a jerk," Topher snapped with the most energy he'd shown thus far. "I'm… I don't know, Jasmine. He's everything. And I'm cringe to him."
"Topher, listen to me." Jasmine bent slightly so they were eye-level. "Chris is a grade-A mega jerk. You shouldn't be seeking his approval. You are better than Chris. Okay? Don't let him ever make you think otherwise."
This was true by virtue of the fact that literally any human being on earth was better than Chris McLean. But as Jasmine spoke, she found herself believing those words, and more.
"You might be a tad obsessed with yourself, and with Chris," Jasmine continued as her hands found their way into Topher's, "but you've got passion. You've got drive. Those are good qualities, Toph."
"But it's Chris," Topher protested. "He has passion and drive too!"
"Not like you," Jasmine assured him. "Plus, you're way more attractive than Chris is." Where had that last part come from? Jasmine couldn't exactly say that her assessment was wrong.
"You think I'm attractive?" Topher perked up, and Jasmine was startled by the shine in his eyes.
"Yeah, but you shouldn't be getting your validation from me, either." She leaned in. "Topher, the only one you need to prove yourself to is you."
"I am pretty gorgeous," Topher admitted. A smile tugged at his lips.
"There's the Topher I love to see." Jasmine returned his smile with one of her own. "So let me ask you: are you cringe?"
"No," Topher said.
"Are you cringe?" Jasmine asked again, louder this time.
"No!" Topher yelled.
"There we go." Jasmine straightened up. She went to release Topher's hands from her own, but he held tight. So now they stood there, both at their full heights, hands interlocked, staring at each other.
"Attention campers!" the megaphone blared. "Please report to the campfire ceremony for a special elimination!"
Chris.
"I guess we better get going," Jasmine said.
"I guess we should." Topher dropped his left hand from hers. Then they walked on, towards the campfire ceremony, hand in hand, together.