I'm back and raring to go! Here's your next chapter, hope you enjoy! This chapter was written mostly to the songs "If Only" by Hoobastank, "Slide" by the Goo Goo Dolls, and "The Memory Will Never Die" by Default.
It was almost sunset by the time the two men returned to their beach shelter. Both men hobbled, panting with scratchy gasps, out of the cluster of palm trees and onto the sandy white shores. "That was horrible" said Jack, placing the back of his palm to his brow dramatically, and letting his knees collapse under him till he was sitting. "And we didn't even catch the monkey!"
Will walked past him slowly, holding onto multiple long, smooth palm tree leaves that he had picked up on their way back. Jack watched him walk over to the skeletal shelter and begin to apply the covering of leaves, slowly working them into place with his already calloused hands. He winced after getting a splinter from the wood, and suddenly turned to face Jack, glaring slightly.
"Would you at least help me with this?" he asked, keeping his voice as calm as possible. He was pissed at Jack, who had been of little help during the chase of the monkey. The 'man-child', as Will was now referring to Jack in his mind, had mostly been tripping either himself or Will up throughout the ordeal; Jack was quite the klutz. Will blamed his boyfriend for the now twisted ankle he had to deal with, which had happened when Jack tried to 'help' Will when they had the primate cornered. It had resulted in both a new injury for Will, as well as the monkey escaping. And now he's not even helping to finish the shelter! Will thought, waiting for a response from the other man.
"Awwww, alright."
Will fumed at this response. Alright, alright! Like it's so hard for him to help at once when I've been doing all the work here! How can he be so… so ungrateful!
"Never mind if you're going to whine" barked Will, as Jack overdramatically began to get off of the ground. "I'll do it myself, just sit on your ass and wait." Jack's face slumped into one of hurt and annoyance; he recognized the signs of what he called 'bitchy Will' coming on. It started with curt orders and eventually led to Will turning into Grace's mother, chiding him about being lazy and childish.
What'd I do now! he thought to himself, watching Will work slowly but fiercely on the shelter. He's always getting mad at something or someone. Hey, I did work too, I'm tired. Isn't he supposed to be the big worker bee anyways? He continued to watch the man work, saying nothing so as to not incite any fighting early, so that he could prepare his usual defenses.
After the last leaf was put into place, Will strode down the beach into the ocean and dove in to the calm waves, flipping onto his back and floating in the water. Jack, surprised at the move and unable to contain his anxiety over the situation any longer, stood and walked into the shallow water after him. He noted the dark clouds forming overhead and shuddered; their presence was ominous of the argument and the storm he knew was coming.
"So are you going to say anything, or are you just going to try to use your death glare on me?" Jack asked, tapping his foot impatiently as his boyfriend floated in the shallow waters in front of him. Will ignored him and continued staring up at the sky, pretending not to hear Jack's semi-subtle sighs of annoyance. "Will, come on! You always get cranky over the stupidest of things, this isn't any different! Plus, don't you know that bitchiness attracts fat molecules?" he asked with a sly smile, trying a fat joke to lighten the mood. "Looking at your waistline, I'm guessing not."
Will sat up in the water as a crackle of thunder plunged through the sky. "This isn't stupid, Jack McFarland!" he yelled, standing up suddenly. Jack took a step back, surprised at how angry Will seemed. "This is a dangerous situation, and you're acting like it's a trip to the park!" He stepped towards Jack, ready to explode his frustration on him.
"I've been working all day to make a place for us to safely sleep in, and you've been sitting on your ass, playing with monkeys and reading People Magazine! And when I ask you to do one thing for me, one thing, you whine about it, as if it's the most impossible task in the world! You, Jack McFarland" he said, pointing at him, "are lazy, irresponsible, and take advantage of people!"
The last accusation cut deeply into Jack. He'd heard all the others about being lazy and whiny. But taking advantage of people? No, impossible, he'd never do that, especially not to Will. He loved Will; he'd never take advantage of him, right? Do I really do that?
Will sighed, letting out the last of his frustration, and walked past Jack, out of the water. The sun was just clipping the end of the horizon, and storm clouds were gathering in bundlefolds as he walked up the beach. "I'm turning in for the night" he called back to Jack. "Hopefully someone will pick us up tomorrow. Get some sleep." He strode into the hut and left the astonished Jack still on the beach as the clouds broke open and rain began to fall.
I need time to think thought Jack, looking towards the darkened palm trees in front of him. As the wind began to whip around him, he descended into the foliage to ponder Will's accusations, plodding along depressed into the cooling night.
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At 4:15, the power went out.
Both women instantly noted the power outage. Karen was drying her nails under her portable nail hardener, and Grace was using a lamp to read the ridiculously fine print on a document in front of her. "Oh crap" said the redhead, looking up from her lamp at Karen. The other woman just shrugged and put the nail hardener away, deciding to read from a magazine instead. Grace pulled a flashlight out from storage and went back to her work.
A half hour later, the block began to get a lot noisier. Both women ignored the sounds outside until it was too much; they had to see what was going on. Grace put down the flashlight and pulled open the window shades. Peering out of the window, she gasped when she saw crowds of people walking down the street before her, a flood of commuters like she'd never seen. "What the hell is going on?" she shouted out the window. A few people turned up to stare at her.
One guy shouted out from the crowd. "City wide power outage!" he said, stopping to speak clearly. "It's shut down the subways and most commuter traffic!" Grace waved thanks as she turned back into the room.
"Karen, ther-"
"No need honey" said Karen, a pair of headphones on her ears. The headphones were attached to a portable AM/FM radio; apparently there were still hidden depths of Karen's purse that Grace didn't know about. She removed the headphones and put the radio away. "And it's not just the city; it's the entire East Coast. From Mooseland to Amish Country, there's no power to be seen." She sipped her martini, watching Grace's jaw drop even lower than its former position.
After she was done gaping at both Karen and the news she had revealed, Grace pulled her jaw back up and thought a moment. "I guess we're done with work for the day" she said, beginning to pack up. "Hopefully this will all clear up before I get back home, I've got to walk anyways, so that should take a while."
Karen's stomach twisted into knots as Grace moved to collect her things. What if I need to subtly ask someone for advice about this problem with Lorraine! Rosie's no good, I need someone oblivious to talk to! I need Grace Adler!
"Shit" Karen said suddenly, coming up with an idea. Grace looked up as Karen furrowed her brow in a pretend look of anxiousness. "The Manse just got a new security system of card key locks, I can't get in without electricity running" she said, the lie pouring out easily from experience. She gave an exaggerated sigh and sipped her martini again. "Guess I'll have to hang out here until the power comes back on." Her eyes darted over to Grace, who took the hint and put down her briefcase.
"Guess I'm staying with you here then" she said. "I'll order a pizza and get some candles for when it gets dark." She dialed the phone as Karen sat back in her chair, satisfied. A candlelight dinner with Grace Adler, what fun. The thought shocked her slightly, so she gave herself an internal scolding. Keep your mind out of that particular gutter, Karen Walker!
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Jack had found a slightly protected area of foliage next to a tree trunk that had fallen over and was rotting. He crawled up next to the trunk, soaked from the pounding thunder storm and the tears running down his cheeks. He looked like a small child, huddled in silence in the damp sandy dirt, his knees up to his chest and hit chin resting on top.
As he had been wandering through the darkened forest, his mind was awash in waves of distorted thought. Am I really that cheap? he had thought over and over, stumbling over branches and plants as the rain soaked into his t-shirt. His hair was matted to his forehead in black spikes, and his normally brilliantly bright eyes were dulled and pained. I made him hate me. Damnit Jack, you did it again! Will was always right; I can never have a long term relationship with a guy. Maybe he just told me the real reason why I can't have one…
Jack sighed into his knees as he huddled against the rotting wood. He stared at himself in the pools of water condensing on the ground before him. You've waited thirty something years just to fuck it up? You should be ashamed of yourself Jack McFarland. You couldn't even realize the truth in front of you; you're so needy that you can't stand up and do things for yourself. You can't even go back there to apologize, can you? No, you can just sit here and cry. He let his subconscious win without a fight, and continued to sit there in the cold night.
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Will was inside the hut, still dry and fairly warm despite the pounding rain outside. He'd laid down a few blankets on the sand that he found on the boat to keep the sand off of him, and he'd made a pillow out of a few remaining palm leaves. All in all it was a fine accomplishment for someone who had few skills with architecture and survival. But despite this, Will wasn't happy. All he could do was think about Jack.
At first, yelling at his boyfriend seemed like the right thing to do, and it certainly gave him some relief. But as he lay in the hut, his mind kept bugging him with the issue, and his stomach began to twists into knots. I really hurt him, he's so sensitive. Damnit, why did I have to get so mad? I already know what Jack is like, and I love him for it anyways, so why was this any different?
His fingers brushed the light layer of dusty dirt off of the wood above him as he quietly began to fix the hut up even more. He re-flattened the blankets, brushed particles of sand off that had gotten on, and straightened the flap of the blanket he'd used as the entrance. Even if the hut wasn't large enough to stand up in and was barely wide enough for two people, he was able to move around enough to get it how he wanted. However, even after perfecting the inside of the hut, he still felt the urge to fix up more things. As he began to contemplate fixing up the outside, a light bulb went off in his brain.
You always clean when you've been a bad friend to Jack.
"Damnit Grace" Will muttered, crawling out of the hut onto the rain soaked sand. "Stop being right at the most inconvenient times." Instead of working on the hut, however, he took off towards the forest, determined to find his boyfriend.
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There was a loud clap of thunder, and Jack jumped as the ground rumbled beneath him. I hate thunderstorms! he thought, huddling closer to the tree trunk he was leaning against. Will knows that, why hasn't he come yet? That's right, he hates you. A second clap of thunder made him tuck his head even closer to his chest. He'd always had a fear of thunder since he was a child, and as an adult he still hadn't fully gotten over it. Being in the middle of one on a deserted island while feeling abandoned by your loved one wasn't helping the situation. How am I ever going to get out of this…
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"Jack!" yelled Will, stumbling through the soggy undergrowth of the island forest. The wind whipped furiously around him as he thrust himself through the downpour, waves of water blocking his view. The storm seemed to have increased tenfold inside the cluster of trees, and there had been no sign of Jack amidst the chaos. Will couldn't even remember how long he'd been searching, but he didn't care if it took all night, there was only one thought on his mind. Jack, WHERE ARE YOU!
A yelp escaped his lips as he tripped over a tree trunk and landed hard against the soggy ground. He stood and wiped himself off, but stopped mid-wipe as he caught movement in the corner of his eye. He turned his head to see Jack, huddled against the log, his white shirt matted with mud and his hair tousled and messed from the rain. His head was firmly planted between his chest and knees, and he was shaking slightly.
Will knelt in front of him, frightened and disturbed by Jack's current state of mind. "Jack?..." he asked, hoping that the man would respond. His wish was granted as Jack lifted his head slightly to see Will, who could see the fear in his boyfriend's eyes. The thing that made Will's heartstring twang was that he knew the fear wasn't just from the thunder.
"Come on Jack, let's get out of here" he said, helping the younger man up. He slid one arm around Jack's shoulders and placed his other hand in Jack's, ignoring how tightly the other man gripped his fingers. Together they began to navigate out of the chaotic foliage, oblivious now to the storm and only wrapped up in thoughts of what their next conversation would be like. Jack's heart was heavy at the prospect of what he believed was to come, and half wished the storm could swallow them up and never let them reach the beach.