Chapter 5
Steph goes about tidying up a bit, the others had all gone out looking for wood and to see if their home made fishing nets and traps would work. She had her personal stereo turned right up and was singing away to herself as she started rolling her their sleeping bags and putting them up onto the ledge. Chris sees her at the far end singing and dancing around, not aware of her surroundings. He sneaks up on her and grabs her wrapping his arms around her waist.
"Someone's in a good mood this morning" Chris whispers after pulling the headphone out of her ear
"God Chris, you scared the life out of me" Steph sighs startled at his sudden appearance "I thought you went with the others" she says letting the walkman fall gently to the floor and turns to face him. She puts her arms around his neck and looks up into his face trying hard to resist the urge to kiss him. In only a couple of days she was already feeling so close to him and being in this environment was great, she could spend time alone with him and they would talk for ages about everything. It was like they had been best friends forever.
"I did go with them but I got bored so thought I'd come back here and see you, I'm sure those idiots can work out how to use those nets themselves but we could take a walk or something and go and see them on the way back if you want" Chris suggests pulling away from her a little bit and placing his hands lightly on her hips.
"Yeah ok, I'll get our towels we could go for a swim" Steph walks over to their bags and chucks him his towel, he wraps it round his neck as she walks back over to him and takes her hand slipping his fingers between hers. Steph looks at him and he just smiles at her, she didn't know what he was doing but everything he was doing now were such couple-ish things to do. They head out onto the beach and see the others standing at one end of the cove on the rocks testing the nets.
"How bout we put our stuff here" Chris drops his towel down and sits in the sand with his legs tucked up beneath him, Steph kneels down in front of him. She looks over to where Paul and Andrew are trying to throw Adam into the water and smiles, "I.er have a present for you" Chris says reaching into his shorts pocket and pulling out a necklace of shells "I made it this morning, I found a reef with loads of shells and stuff and thought you might like them, I know it's not much but it's all I could find" Chris laughs as Steph lets him put it on her, she holds it in her hand looking at it; The bright blue, pink and yellow shells sparkling in the sun.
"It's beautiful" Steph smiles at him. She leans in and kisses him softly on the lips, she'd meant to pull back out of the kiss but it continued and he was kissing her back. He pulls back and smiles at her she puts her arms around him and hugs him "Thank you" she whispers.
"Your welcome.." Chris says looking at her "So." He says awkwardly not knowing what to say to her, Steph just laughs, this must be the first time she'd ever seen him speechless. "Stop laughing at me, it's not my fault I'm all embarrassed now," Chris says linking his fingers together and placing them on top of his head.
"Embarrassed about what? Embarrassed that you kissed me back and enjoyed it" Steph laughs; she pushes him back into the sand and climbs to her feet brushing the sand off of her. Steph goes to walk away.
"Whoa, where are you going" Chris jumps up and runs after her, he wraps his arm around her and pulls her into him and kisses her again "So what if I enjoyed it" Chris laughs, he picks her up and starts running down the beach with her in his arms back towards the camp.
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"We never did go swimming" Steph mumbles tracing her finger along his jaw line as she lays in his arms next to the fire. The others still hadn't returned "It's getting dark, I wonder where the others are?.maybe we should go and look for them or something" Steph says sitting up, she puts some more wood on the fire and leans against Chris again.
"They've got an hour or so till it's completely dark" he says looking up at the darkening sky "They'll come back when they're hungry" Chris laughs, he picks her up and lays her down on the ground and kisses her.
"CHRIS! STEPH! WE CANT FIND PAUL!" Adam and Andrew coming running over to them through the jungle, Chris quickly stands up brushing himself off, he looks at Steph after hearing this and walks over to them.
"What do you mean you can't find him?" Steph says getting up and walking over to them "He was with you" Steph's voice was shaking, Paul was on his own somewhere, in the dark on a strange island. Chris puts his hand on her back for comfort realizing how worried she sounded.
"We've..been looking for.him for.hours, about.an hour.after we.saw you two.leave he just.disappeared, we've searched..everywhere for him!" Adam says still out of breath, he sits down on the ground and puts his head on his knees bringing them close to his body "We couldn't find him"
"We thought he was messing around at first, just trying to wind us up and get us worried. We thought he'd just show up and make a big joke of how much he scared us but this was hours ago. We searched all along the coast for him and as far as we dared go into the jungle but there was no sign of him" Andrew takes over explaining.
"Steph!" Chris yells after her as she walks away, she didn't know where she was going to look but she had to find Paul. They could just leave him out there on his own, Chris runs after her and grabs her arm trying to stop her "You wont find him now, it's dark!" Chris protests as she pulls away from him and carries on walking "Please, just listen to me! You wont find him on your own!"
"Then help me!" Steph shouts back at him before collapsing into his arms crying, "We have to find him," Steph sobs. Chris holds her tightly letting her cry into his shoulder.
"We will, I promise, we'll find him" Chris whispers smoothing out her hair "It'll be ok, Paul can look after himself" Steph knew Chris was right but she couldn't help but worry about him. Paul was one of the best friends she had and didn't want anything to happen to him.
"This shouldn't have happened yet" Andrew moans "They aren't supposed to have got together so soon," He says sitting down next to Adam. Adam puts his head up and looks over to Steph and Chris.
"Well at least we didn't have to do much, just keep to the plan and it'll be fine.how did you like my acting by the way? Did I fool you about how worried I was about Paul?" Adam laughs, "We couldn't find him" Adam pretends to sob before bursting out laughing.
"Yeah you were great, this is just too easy" Andrew laughs giving Adam a high five.
Steph goes about tidying up a bit, the others had all gone out looking for wood and to see if their home made fishing nets and traps would work. She had her personal stereo turned right up and was singing away to herself as she started rolling her their sleeping bags and putting them up onto the ledge. Chris sees her at the far end singing and dancing around, not aware of her surroundings. He sneaks up on her and grabs her wrapping his arms around her waist.
"Someone's in a good mood this morning" Chris whispers after pulling the headphone out of her ear
"God Chris, you scared the life out of me" Steph sighs startled at his sudden appearance "I thought you went with the others" she says letting the walkman fall gently to the floor and turns to face him. She puts her arms around his neck and looks up into his face trying hard to resist the urge to kiss him. In only a couple of days she was already feeling so close to him and being in this environment was great, she could spend time alone with him and they would talk for ages about everything. It was like they had been best friends forever.
"I did go with them but I got bored so thought I'd come back here and see you, I'm sure those idiots can work out how to use those nets themselves but we could take a walk or something and go and see them on the way back if you want" Chris suggests pulling away from her a little bit and placing his hands lightly on her hips.
"Yeah ok, I'll get our towels we could go for a swim" Steph walks over to their bags and chucks him his towel, he wraps it round his neck as she walks back over to him and takes her hand slipping his fingers between hers. Steph looks at him and he just smiles at her, she didn't know what he was doing but everything he was doing now were such couple-ish things to do. They head out onto the beach and see the others standing at one end of the cove on the rocks testing the nets.
"How bout we put our stuff here" Chris drops his towel down and sits in the sand with his legs tucked up beneath him, Steph kneels down in front of him. She looks over to where Paul and Andrew are trying to throw Adam into the water and smiles, "I.er have a present for you" Chris says reaching into his shorts pocket and pulling out a necklace of shells "I made it this morning, I found a reef with loads of shells and stuff and thought you might like them, I know it's not much but it's all I could find" Chris laughs as Steph lets him put it on her, she holds it in her hand looking at it; The bright blue, pink and yellow shells sparkling in the sun.
"It's beautiful" Steph smiles at him. She leans in and kisses him softly on the lips, she'd meant to pull back out of the kiss but it continued and he was kissing her back. He pulls back and smiles at her she puts her arms around him and hugs him "Thank you" she whispers.
"Your welcome.." Chris says looking at her "So." He says awkwardly not knowing what to say to her, Steph just laughs, this must be the first time she'd ever seen him speechless. "Stop laughing at me, it's not my fault I'm all embarrassed now," Chris says linking his fingers together and placing them on top of his head.
"Embarrassed about what? Embarrassed that you kissed me back and enjoyed it" Steph laughs; she pushes him back into the sand and climbs to her feet brushing the sand off of her. Steph goes to walk away.
"Whoa, where are you going" Chris jumps up and runs after her, he wraps his arm around her and pulls her into him and kisses her again "So what if I enjoyed it" Chris laughs, he picks her up and starts running down the beach with her in his arms back towards the camp.
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"We never did go swimming" Steph mumbles tracing her finger along his jaw line as she lays in his arms next to the fire. The others still hadn't returned "It's getting dark, I wonder where the others are?.maybe we should go and look for them or something" Steph says sitting up, she puts some more wood on the fire and leans against Chris again.
"They've got an hour or so till it's completely dark" he says looking up at the darkening sky "They'll come back when they're hungry" Chris laughs, he picks her up and lays her down on the ground and kisses her.
"CHRIS! STEPH! WE CANT FIND PAUL!" Adam and Andrew coming running over to them through the jungle, Chris quickly stands up brushing himself off, he looks at Steph after hearing this and walks over to them.
"What do you mean you can't find him?" Steph says getting up and walking over to them "He was with you" Steph's voice was shaking, Paul was on his own somewhere, in the dark on a strange island. Chris puts his hand on her back for comfort realizing how worried she sounded.
"We've..been looking for.him for.hours, about.an hour.after we.saw you two.leave he just.disappeared, we've searched..everywhere for him!" Adam says still out of breath, he sits down on the ground and puts his head on his knees bringing them close to his body "We couldn't find him"
"We thought he was messing around at first, just trying to wind us up and get us worried. We thought he'd just show up and make a big joke of how much he scared us but this was hours ago. We searched all along the coast for him and as far as we dared go into the jungle but there was no sign of him" Andrew takes over explaining.
"Steph!" Chris yells after her as she walks away, she didn't know where she was going to look but she had to find Paul. They could just leave him out there on his own, Chris runs after her and grabs her arm trying to stop her "You wont find him now, it's dark!" Chris protests as she pulls away from him and carries on walking "Please, just listen to me! You wont find him on your own!"
"Then help me!" Steph shouts back at him before collapsing into his arms crying, "We have to find him," Steph sobs. Chris holds her tightly letting her cry into his shoulder.
"We will, I promise, we'll find him" Chris whispers smoothing out her hair "It'll be ok, Paul can look after himself" Steph knew Chris was right but she couldn't help but worry about him. Paul was one of the best friends she had and didn't want anything to happen to him.
"This shouldn't have happened yet" Andrew moans "They aren't supposed to have got together so soon," He says sitting down next to Adam. Adam puts his head up and looks over to Steph and Chris.
"Well at least we didn't have to do much, just keep to the plan and it'll be fine.how did you like my acting by the way? Did I fool you about how worried I was about Paul?" Adam laughs, "We couldn't find him" Adam pretends to sob before bursting out laughing.
"Yeah you were great, this is just too easy" Andrew laughs giving Adam a high five.