"Oh, come on!" Taylor whined. "Why do I have to carry those heavy jugs? They weigh, like, a thousand pounds each!"
The next day had dawned the same as before with a hot sun, warm breezes, and a lot of work to do. Every day, the group would divide the chores amongst themselves with someone getting a different chore each time. Today it was Taylor and Eric's turn to take care of their water supply. One would carry and fill the water jugs while the other waited by the fire, slowly filtering the water through a piece of cloth and then boiling it to get rid of the germs.
"We all have to take turns, Taylor," Daley frowned. She had little patience for Taylor and Eric's laziness and her short temper didn't help things.
"Can't I just braid the stupid rope things?" Taylor looked around the group.
"That's Mel's job today," Jackson said.
Taylor turned to look at Mel and she knew that she would trade jobs with Taylor. None of the chores were exactly fun and at least Taylor would be helping. "Alright, I'll help Eric with the water."
Taylor flashed her perfect smile that had won over most of the boys at their school. The others drifted off to do their work and Mel walked over to the campfire with Eric. She looked up at him, "You want to carry the water or clean it?"
Mel was fully expecting Eric to take the easier job of boiling the water so she was completely shocked when Eric shrugged his shoulders and said, "I'll carry it." Picking up two empty jugs, he walked off into the trees. She was watching him with a puzzled expression when a shadow fell over her.
"Why did you let Taylor take your job?" Jackson frowned down at her.
"Honestly, I don't really care which job I get and at least she's actually doing something," Mel nodded her head in the direction of the beach where Taylor sat cross-legged on the sand making rope.
Jackson didn't get a chance to respond because at that moment Eric reappeared with the water jugs. He placed them next to Mel before dropping down on the sand beside her, "Phew, I'm beat. Your turn." He gestured to the other empty bottles.
"Eric," There was a silent warning in Jackson's tone.
"He's joking, Jackson." Mel turned and swatted Eric's arm, "Aren't you?" She raised an eyebrow at him and he grinned before getting up and walking off with the empty jugs.
"What was that about?" Jackson scowled.
Shrugging her shoulders, Mel started filtering the water, "I can usually tell when Eric doesn't mean what he says." Jackson's shadow disappeared and she looked up to see him walking away. What did I say?
Letting out a sigh, Mel pushed the question to the back of her mind and kept cleaning the water. After the fourth trip getting water, Mel motioned for Eric to come sit. She handed him a bottle of cleaned water and drank most of it in one gulp.
"After I finish cleaning this last bottle, I'll take a turn doing the carrying," Mel carefully guided the water into the group's homemade filter.
"That's fine, just give me a minute," Eric stretched his legs out in front of him.
"Alright, what's going on?"
"What?"
"You haven't complained at all today. Not when you got this job, not when Taylor got an easier chore, and not even after lugging the jugs of water back and forth."
Eric frowned before standing up, "Maybe I just don't feel like complaining today." He grabbed two jugs and left to fill them.
Mel felt awful, she hadn't meant to hurt his feeling. She was just so used to loud, lazy, and usually obnoxious Eric she was a little freaked out by quiet, hardworking Eric. After two more trips back and forth, the silence was driving Mel crazy. When Eric turned to leave again she grabbed hold of his arm, "I'm sorry, Eric."
Eric scrunched his eyebrows together, "For what?"
"For what I said before. I didn't mean to be, well...so mean."
Eric sat down, "I don't think I'd ever call you mean."
Mel huffed, "See, this is what I meant. You're even being, I don't know, nice to me. Why are you acting so different?"
Eric paused for a second and seemed to be deciding what to say, "I guess because I owe you."
Raising her eyebrows, Mel looked at him, "What did I do?"
"You'd think you'd remember stabbing a guy in the leg with a giant needle," Eric smirked and Mel remembered their first week on the island. Lex had found oysters on the beach which meant a new source of food for them. After they'd found out they weren't poisonous they'd all eaten a ton of them. Within a couple of hours, Eric had gotten sick and couldn't breathe. Mel remembered the same thing happening to her cousin when she got a bee sting. She'd used the epi-pen from the plane's first-aid kit on Eric and it only took a few seconds to reverse the allergic reaction.
"You don't owe me anything," Mel shook her head.
"I kinda do. But it's not just that." Eric waved his arm towards the rest of their group scattered around the beach, "You're...different from the others."
"Thank you?"
Eric laughed, "Look, Daley bosses me around, Nathan thinks I'm an idiot, Taylor's fun to hang out with pull pranks with, Lex...well, I don't even know what he's saying half the time, and Jackson just glares a lot."
Mel smiled at his descriptions of everyone. They didn't cover everything but they were pretty accurate, "And?"
"And you treat me different. Even after all of the pranks I've pulled on you, you still help me out. You saved me with that medicine and then you volunteered me to get that giant lizard out of the tent for my punishment for breaking the lighter even though you knew I had a lizard at home and I wasn't freaked out. I guess maybe you've grown on me."
To say Mel was surprised would be a good description of how she was feeling after Eric's speech. She didn't normally see him give a serious and honest response to someone's question, and although she'd always suspected he had a deeper side that he didn't want other people to know about it was still unexpected to find out she was right. She kind of liked the idea of having Eric as a friend. It used to be Nathan and her when they were growing up but after he'd discovered his newfound crush on Daley, he'd spent most of his time around her.
"Just don't tell anyone I said that," Eric added on. "I've got a reputation to protect." He leaned back and tipped his hat down over his eyes.
Mel shoved him over, making him lose his balance, "Tell you what? I won't ruin your reputation and whenever we're alone you have to talk to me like you just did. I like this side of Eric."
She held out her hand and Eric grinned as he grabbed hold of it and shook, "Deal."
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
Why was Eric being helpful? Why did he take the harder part of the job instead of making Mel do it? Jackson was once again using the large camp knife but this time he was chopping down some of the sturdier trees in the nearby part of the forest. They could use the lumber to help reinforce their makeshift house against future storms. The usually painstaking work was taking a shorter amount of time today since every time Jackson thought back to Mel and Eric, he hit harder.
He didn't like that Mel was working with Eric and he liked it even less when she said she could tell when he was kidding. After storming off, he'd stood behind a nearby tree. It wasn't in Jackson's nature to spy on people and he'd often gotten mad at anyone else in the group who did so. He couldn't hear what they were saying but he could see everything, including Mel when she reached out and grabbed Eric's arm. The shaft of the knife dug into his hand as he watched them talk, both smiling and then playfully shaking hands. Unable to watch anymore, Jackson had found a small grove of trees and started chopping.
I shouldn't care what they do. So what if they hang out? So what if she smiles at him? Jackson gave one final whack, knocking down the tree he'd been working on. He put it with the other trees he cut down and lifted the ends over his shoulder, dragging them back to the camp. When the firepit came into view, he saw Eric and Mel filtering the water. He stopped a few feet away and dropped the logs, the sand muffling any sound they would've made from hitting the ground.
Jackson crossed his arms, "I thought you were supposed to be getting the water?"
Eric glanced up quickly before focusing back on his task, "Chill, dude. I finished so now I'm helping clean it."
"I think Mel can do that on her own just fine. Come hold these logs together while I tie them together," Jackson grabbed some of the rope they'd been making and looped it over his arm.
He saw Eric roll his eyes and Mel smirk before he pushed himself up and went to help Jackson. He knew the others thought he was intimidating and his generally quiet personality often made them uncomfortable, but it could be used to his advantage...like getting Eric away from Mel.
They spent the better part of two hours strapping the logs to each other before it was sturdy enough to lift. During the entire process, Jackson made sure to keep his eyes trained on the knots he was tying. Any glimpse of Mel would distract him and he couldn't risk anyone finding out how he felt. After tying the last logs together, Jackson beckoned everyone to come help. With each person lifting, they were able to move the structure to the spot where they slept. They tilted the wall on its side and hammered until it was sunk halfway into the sand. They let go slowly, ready to catch it if it started to fall but the wall stayed straight. The group was sweaty and breathing hard but they smiled at one another over their triumph.
"Who thinks we should take the rest of the day off to have some fun?" Eric looked around at the group.
Jackson watched as one by one, each person raised their hand high into the air. He saw the struggle on Daley's face between insisting they keep working and wanting to take a break. She finally let out a sigh as she raised her hand up and they all looked to Jackson. As the elected leader, he had the final say.
"I think taking a break is a good idea," He gave a small smile. Taylor wasted no time in setting herself up on the beach. Nathan followed Daley on a walk down the beach, and Lex ran off to work on some invention.
"Hey Mel, want to go explore the island?" Jackson's head whipped around at the sound of Eric's voice.
"Yeah. Jackson, you wanna come?" Mel turned to him but he knew he wouldn't be able to control his temper if he had to watch Eric with her.
"I think I'm going to go that way," Jackson pointed to the stretch of rocks to the far right of their camp.
"Oh, okay," Mel turned quickly and pulled Eric after her.
"See ya later, dude," Eric threw over his shoulder as he and Mel left Jackson with a pit in his stomach and anger flowing through his veins.
