Disclaimer – I don't own flight 29 down or any of it's characters.
Nathan watched Daley work from afar, letting a small smile appear on his face. Being Daley's secret boyfriend was turning out great! Today they got a little carried away doing, well, what a boyfriend and girlfriend do when no ones around and lost track of time. On the way back to camp they decided on telling the group that they had gotten lost. It was such an easy lie that it made Nathan feel guilty but he didn't let it show to Daley. It was killing him inside not to let Melissa know about them. Things got around fast on the island. He loved Mel but last time he told her something about Daley she blurted it out the whole camp. This was a secret he couldn't even trust Melissa with.
"Hey, what are you smiling about?" Melissa asked in her best attempt of channeling one of the detectives she read about in her novels. Nathan's smiling disappeared and he had an expression on his face as though he had been caught red-handed.
"Um, ah, nothing." Nathan stuttered. With that he got up headed towards the beach. Melissa watched him flea the scene of the offense. Guess my detective impression was a little too good.
Melissa walked over to the fire and sorted through all the pieces of charcoal. She tested the darkness and width of each piece on the back of her hand until she found the perfect piece. She then grabbed her notepad and sat down on the shelter Lex had built. She started to sketch the camp, including Daley filtering some water. Was Nathan watching Daley? I mean she is the only one in camp. Melissa shrugged it off thinking it would be normal for Nathan to be smiling in Daley's direction if he liked her so much. She continued to sketch the camp and let her mind wander off.
"Wow, that's really good." A voice said tickling her neck with their breath. This statement broke Melissa's short tranquility and made her jump a little. She turned her head around and saw Eric looking at her drawing over her shoulder. He flashed her a smile then picked up the water jugs he'd been carrying and brought them over to the fire pit.
"Th-thanks" Melissa responded stuttering a bit out of the surprise that Eric would ever give her a compliment.
"Don't mention it." Eric replied. Ok, what was Eric up to? Melissa stopped her self from accusing him and realized she'd been doing a lot of that lately. Just take the compliment Melissa. She returned to her drawing but she was still thinking about what Eric had said.
Eric picked up two empty water jugs and headed back down the path to the well. He felt bad that all it took was one compliment to win Melissa back over. He wasn't totally scummy, I mean, he did mean it about her drawing. It was really good. Eric remembered back to when he had had a giant crush on her through out elementary school and middle school. Some times when he looked at her he felt those old feelings would rise up again. As soon as they would he'd just push them back down. He didn't mean to make his feelings for her sound like heartburn but they were an inconvenience. He remembered that sick feeling in his stomach he got after he had seen Melissa's face when he and Taylor played her video diary. He just smiled along with Taylor but he secretly couldn't bring himself to look at Melissa's reaction.
"Hey, have you seen Melissa?" Jackson asked Eric snapping him out of his thoughts.
"Uh, yeah. She's back at camp." Eric couldn't help but feel a little protective of Melissa when it came to Jackson. Funny he would feel that way when he was the one that hurt Melissa and Jackson had been the one who scolded him for it. Jackson made his way back to camp and left Eric with just two empty water jugs and his thoughts to keep him company.
"Hey Mel, can I talk to you?" Jackson asked Melissa cautiously. He didn't want to screw this up.
"Sure." Melissa responded abandoning her drawing and walking with him down to an empty part of the beach.
"Look, since we've crashed everything's gotten… complicated." Jackson explained as best he could.
"No kidding." Melissa said with a sarcastic ring to her voice. Damn it Eric! His sarcasm seemed to be contagious.
"I just wanted you to know tha-"
"Did you tell her about us yet?" Taylor asked coming up beside Jackson. Just as Jackson was about to protest to Taylor's comment he was cut off again but this time it was by Melissa.
"Us?" She echoed in confusion. The statement started to sink in and all she could do was let out all her frustration with the situation. "US? You took me out here to confront me about you and Taylor's relationship?! Well spare your breath Jackson. I knew about you guys long before you even told me."
"But I…" Before Jackson could even find the words to tell her how wrong she was and how Taylor was saying words with absolutely no substance Melissa stormed back to camp.
"I didn't think she'd take it that hard." Taylor pouted looking at Jackson for some sympathy. All Jackson could do was stand there shocked retracing how exactly that conversation had played out. "I'll go find her and try and calm her down."
What the fuck just happened? Jackson stood paralyzed watching Taylor run off to find Melissa. Jackson had intended to tell Melissa how he felt about her, about how he wanted them to be together. What the hell could go wrong next??
A/N: What's Jackson gonna do now? And what about Daley and Nathan, they can't keep their secret forever! Guess you'll just have to review so I update faster…