Thanks to all your awesome reviews, here's the next part, sooner than I expected. Thanks to everyone who left a review.. and anyone else who's reading :)
Chapter 5 - Better to Have Friends than Boybanders
The kiss was short, but she'd never experienced one like it before. Granted, she hadn't much to compare it with, but she didn't need experience to know it was special. That maybe he was something special. Who was she kidding? This was Little Tommy Q she was talking about, and he just kissed her! Did he even realize what he was doing! He had to be a good 6 years older than her, at least.
He felt her slowly pull back, and licked his lips, savoring the taste of her. His eyes fluttered open, and there was nothing he wanted more than to desperately to reattach his lips to hers.
" I'm sorry, I guess you're boyfriend wouldn't have liked that.." he whispered, his warm breath teasingly lingering on her moist lips. She pressed her forehead against his, and shut her eyes again.
" I don't have a boyfriend.." she answered quietly, expecting him to pick up where he left off, but instead she felt him move his head away, and look at her, a smirk forming on his face.
" So, does that mean you were dreaming about me..?" He asked teasingly, but she caught the smug tone, and immediately regretted her admission, but it was too late to take it back.
Jude looked away from Tommy, getting up from her spot on the floor. As she began to make her way for the small opening where they'd walked in, he got up and blocked her way.
"Jude, wait!" He uttered desperately. It seemed like no matter what he said, she always took offense.
Shaking her head, Jude turned around and ran the only other way out; under the waterfall. As soon as she did it, she regretted her short temper. She was now soaking wet from head to toe, with no change of clothes, but there was nothing she could do about it now.
As she waded through the thigh-deep water of the small river, Tommy ducked under the waterfall and tried to catch up to her, "Jude I didn't mean for you to get mad! I just wanted to know!"
"Do you always have to be so smug about everything?" Jude said, continuing to walk away from him. Tommy jumped forward, putting more distance between his steps and eventually he caught up to her enough to grab her arm and stop her from running away.
When she turned around, stopped by his grabbing hand wrapped tightly around her forearm, the look on her face was of pure shock. It still hadn't occurred to her how much nerve this guy had... and it hadn't occurred to him why she was always getting so mad.
"I'm sorry," he said sincerely, looking into her cold, angry eyes.
Nodding her head and looking away again, Jude said grumpily, "Well for the moment, you're forgiven." Turning, away from him as he smiled and let go of her arm, Jude continued walking down the river. She was still a bit ticked off at him, but for now she'd just have to deal with her anger.
"Do you have any idea where we're going?" Tommy asked after a few more minutes of hiking through the water.
"We're going downstream, this river will eventually empty into either the lake or the ocean," Jude answered matter-of-factly. She still wasn't back to her happy self... and being both wet and cold didn't help the situation much.
As the minutes passed, it appeared that both of them were getting a little bored. Tommy walked a little slower so he was just behind Jude. At the perfect moment, he clapped his hands in the water so a giant splash came up and drenched her even further.
She whipped around, but when she turned to look at him, Tommy was glancing around as if it wasn't him. As a mischievous grin appeared on her face, Jude splashed back, getting water in his eyes.
"Hey!" he laughed, cupping his hand in the water and sending another stream of water into her gut. Before long, the two of them were engaged in a full-fledge splashing fight. As the noise of two people laughing like little kids and water splashing all over the place filled the air, the two of them forgot their cares and just fooled around, having what turned out to be a really good time.
"I'll get you for that one!" Jude said, running at Tommy after he sent a huge wave of water over her head. She jumped on him, knocking both of them over in the river. She was straddling Tommy, with just his head sticking out of the water. Soon both of them erupted into laughter that couldn't compare to anything happy they'd done the whole time they were stuck here. For once, they were getting along.
As they finally made their way back to the camp, they emerged from the lake, completely saturated, but with wide smiles plastered on their faces. Jude walked up the beach, peeling off her shoes and socks, and threw them against the rock wall, letting them land near the cave's entrance.
" Now what?" Tommy asked as he came up behind her, neatly placing his shoes by the entrance, then fixing hers.
She raised an eyebrow at him, but couldn't help but smile.
" Oh no, someone's a neat freak..." she said, noticing the lined up shoes.
" Not a neat freak. Organized," he said smartly, and she shrugged. "Same thing.." she answered, and stuck out her tongue.
" We're gonna freeze to death tonight if we keep these wet clothes on..." she said, almost regretting their escapades in the water.
Now he raised his eyebrow, and she rolled her eyes. " You know what I mean.. We gotta dry off... Stop looking at me like that... we'll freeze without clothes too!" she said giggling, and he felt himself drawn to her smile.
" Hmm... let's see..." she muttered, looking at her surroundings. How in the world are we gonna make it through tonight in these clothes... " A fire!" She shouted excitedly as the idea popped into her head.
" Nice thinkin' red... we better get movin on that.. I doubt we have much sunlight left..." he glanced at the sky, and she noticed it was beginning to turn orange.
" Hey, I'm gonna be keepin you warm tonight, so I'd shut it and go get some kindling..." she said shaking her head, " and don't forget logs! And stones.. Oh heck, I'll just do it!"
They started walking towards the woods, looking for fire supplies that fit Jude's standards, which wasn't too easy. After she collected the perfect stones to make the pit, he went off to find kindling and logs.
She kneeled down in the sand, about 25 feet away from the cave entrance, digging a small hole and outlining it nicely with the stones she had found. Just as she finished, Tommy walked up, dumping a large bundle of twigs and logs beside her, then dusting off his now damp clothes. She finished setting the fire, then ran off to the cave, returning shortly after with her box of matches.
They sat down, and Jude started striking the matches, using a few at a time, but the twigs never seemed to catch in time.
" Well, looks like you'll have to keep me warm some other way.." he said teasingly, and she laughed.
" Keep dreamin', Quincy..."
" Hey, I'll leave the dreaming up to you..." she felt her cheeks get warm, but laughed it off.
" You do that... I hope your better at conjuring up those dreams than you are at picking out kindling, cause this is soo not working," she said, throwing the used matches aside, and looking up at him defeated.
" What are we gonna do?" she asked sadly, and for the first time he realized the seriousness of their situation.
" Well, for one, it's not my fault... because I actually never knew what 'kindling' was before today.. And two.. All we need is something that catches fire faster... maybe leaves..."
" Or paper!" she said smiling, and quickly jumped up.
She returned with her copybook, ripping out pages and crumbling them up, placing them underneath the sticks in her fire pit. After only two matches, the twigs began to catch the flame, and a full out bonfire quickly developed.
" Yes!" she shouted, raising her arms above her head.
" Hey, I believe I earned some of the credit..."
" Eh, you sorta helped.." she joked, scooting closer to the fire. They sat in silence, Jude gloating, and Tommy just smiling at her now happy disposition.
" Sun's goin' down..." he stated, and she laughed. " Thanks Caption Obvious..." then broke out into a song.
" Don't let the sunnn, Go down on me, yeahhhhh"
" You can sing... and you like the classics," he noticed, and she shrugged.
"And you can play guitar?" he asked, remembering the picks in her bag.
"I'm no Jimmy Hendrix..." she said, not letting anything on. He just smiled.
" How long do you think we'll be here for?" he asked quietly, and he immediately noticed a change in her expression.
" I hope not much longer..." she almost whispered, avoiding eye contact, but he didn't miss the single tear that fell down her cheek, and he knew it was probably twice as hard on her as it was on him. He wasn't even sure if he had fully accepted the situation yet. Almost as if by instinct, he moved a little closer, and cupping her face in his warm hands, brushed away the tear with his thumb. Her eyes finally met his, and he was completely mesmerized. She had the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen, even when they were glossed over by unshed tears. He pressed his forehead to hers, never breaking eye contact, and quietly promised, " Everything will be fine..."
