11. Wait til Tomorrow
With only a little bit of a struggle, the guys pulled themselves out of the turbulent waters and onto the raft. I'm ashamed to admit that I found myself staring at the way their shirts clung to their sculpted chests. Biceps and forearms flexed and strained and I couldn't tear my eyes away from the beauty of it. Somehow, I made my way into the middle, allowing the others room to work their way in, forcing my eyes away from the perfection that surrounded me. This really wasn't the time for enjoying the scenery.
Victor, Kota, Mr. Blackbourne, Silas and North fell in. Then Nathan, Dr. Green, and Gabe; followed by Luke, who pulled me to sit between him and Victor. It was a tight fit, but that would be perfect for sharing body heat.
It was awkward on the raft. There wasn't much room to begin with, and then add in ten bodies (nine of which were full grown men) and it felt more crowded than a clown car at the circus. Exhaustion was evident on the faces of all the guys. It had been one hell of an afternoon. We'd fought for our lives and come out on top. We all needed a rest. I leaned my head back against one of the bags and shifted, trying to get comfortable. Luke adjusted himself around me, waiting until I had settled before wrapping around me once again, trying to share body heat to keep warm. Victor on my right, shifted as well allowing me to situate myself. We all laid with our heads on the outside of the raft and our feet tangled together in the middle.
There wasn't much we could do right now. Night was rapidly approaching and visibility was reaching close to zero. Action was futile at this point, and Mr. B had given the order to wait until morning. In the meantime were to rest and try to get some sleep. For me? Wasn't. Happening.
I was sore and cold, and not to mention FREAKING out. Our plane had just crashed in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. We were floating on a make shift raft that may, or may not make it through the night. We had no food or water and I didn't see how that would change any time soon. If I was being honest with myself, it was bad. Really bad. I prayed to any god that listened that we would make it out of this alive.
"Fucking shit!" Gabriel's outburst broke through the eerie quite of the night, startling me slightly. "You know what the worst part of this whole situation is?" When no one answered, he continued," The fucking waiting! I want to do something now, I don't like just sitting here, doing NOTHING." The others nodded along as he shouted to the blackened skies.
"There isn't much we can do now, Gabe. So just calm down and wait it out until tomorrow." Kota's soft command helped to settle my nerves… a little. Gabe continued to mutter under his breath. "Get a good night's sleep and then we can work things out tomorrow morning."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah…" Gabriel's grumbling trailed off as he shifted around, trying to find a spot fit for sleeping.
Once again, the night was quiet as we all lost ourselves in thought. Luke wrapped himself around me so that my back was tucked tight into his chest and he nuzzled into my neck, placing a soft kiss just under my ear. I froze. Not because his actions were unwelcome, but because it was so sweet and unexpected. "It's ok, Cupcake. Just let the waves rock you to sleep." Luke stroked his palms along my arm as he whispered to me. "Things will look better in the morning." Without my permission, my eyelids drooped and each time they did, it took more force to open them. Luke continued to stroke my arm and softly whisper reassuring words to me. Before I knew it, I was asleep.
Things did NOT look better the next morning. On any other day calm seas and clear skies meant it was going to be a good day. Today it just meant the endless pounding of a hot sun upon our already tender flesh. After just an hour I was ready to cry. My skin felt raw and chapped, mix in my flayed emotions and I was a wreck. Yesterday, I had pulled myself out of the frying pan and I somehow found myself flung into a large pot of rapidly boiling water.
There wasn't much room to work but it had been decided well before the sun had officially risen that we needed to build some sort of protection against the burning rays. Using parts of luggage and debris, and multiple pieces of random clothing they worked together to build a canopy to shade us during the day. Even though I was itching to busy my hands, I wasn't allowed to help. Doctor's orders… and Mr. B's, North's and, well, everyone else's, too. They were such a bunch of overprotective brutes, and I secretly loved every minute of it- though I did feel kind of useless at the moment and felt bad that I was the only one not doing anything.
As I watched the guys work in such perfect tandem, I couldn't help but return to my earlier thought that they'd done something like this before… or had trained for it somehow. They spoke without words and moved before being asked by the other. Even in such a desperate situation I was able to appreciate the beauty of it. Gabe, Luke and Victor were ripping the edges of fabric and tying them together to form the canopy. The others were building the 'poles'. Kota and Nathan with Sean and Owen had fashioned poles from the bars they'd pulled out of the carry-on luggage. North and Silas worked together to fashion them to the raft. Most of them were shirtless at this point and I didn't know where to look. At first I pretended to be interested in what they were actually doing but gave up after only a few minutes. The sheer perfection of their bodies demanded my attention. Nine different guys. Nine different body shapes and sizes. Nine different personalities. Each perfect in his own way. Somebody pinch me.
"Right, Sang?"
Had someone said my name? Luke and Gabe's laughter snapped me back to reality and I surreptitiously wiped my chin. NO drool. Why were they laughing at me? My brilliant reply of "huh?" made them laugh harder.
Luke decided to take pity on me. "I said that it got pretty cold last night and it will probably be the same tonight and we should probably figure out a way to keep warm." He started chuckling when Victor had kicked halfheartedly at his feet.
Gabe joined in. "Yeah." He got out through his laughs. "I suggested that sharing body heat was our best option." He wiggled his eyebrows up and down at me as he spoke. "And everyone knows the best way to share body heat. Am I right?! You can sleep next to me tonight, Sweetie. I'm excellent at sharing and I promise to be a perfect gentleman." Gabe's grin turned halfway wicked and I felt my face flush fire engine red.
Having overheard our conversation, the others had turned in our direction. I hated being in the spotlight and their attention made me blush even more. "Shut your fucking mouth, Gabe. No one's stripping down on this raft… not unless it becomes necessary. And we haven't reached that point yet." I couldn't tell if North's red face was due more to the sun, or his anger. "Try anything like that and I'll personally flay you and throw you overboard." There were a couple of "Oohhhhs" from the others while North muttered under his breath. I didn't see what the bid deal was. Obviously, he was teasing. But everyone knew that the best way to keep warm was to share body heat with skin to skin contact. Never mind the fact that I would personally DIE if it ever came to me having to strip down in front of the guys. I hoped we were rescued before it ever came to that. Although… no. I felt my face beginning to flush again and distracted myself from that train of thought by asking questions.
"Once we get the canopy built, then what? Are we just going to go where the current pushes us? We can't see any land. What are we going to do for food? Water? What if-"
"Miss Sorenson." The gentle command in Owen's voice dampened my rapidly growing hysteria. "Everything will be ok. I'm sure you've noticed by now that we are not the average 20 something collegiate. We have indispensable knowledge and training in many areas of problem solving and survival situations. In fact, we were on our way to a training exercise in Jacksonville when we met you. Fortunately, we've come mostly prepared."
"Yeah, Peanut. No worries. We got this." Nathan smile was infectious and I found my mood picking up, if ever so slightly. Maybe things would be ok.
"Aggele, trust us. We'll take care of you. There isn't anything we can't handle." Silas gave me an adorable smirk, and I felt my insides flutter. And just like that I found my thoughts during down a different path. What was wrong with me? I shouldn't be thinking about anything but how we were going to get out this endless ocean alive. Snap out of it Sorenson! I shook my head back and forth to help myself refocus. How we were going to make it to tomorrow? To tonight even?
Though our situation seemed anything but promising, I couldn't doubt the calm conviction in Mr. Blackbourne's words. He had faith in his team, and I needed to trust in that faith, and in them. I just needed to hang on. I exhaled a deep breath and lay back against a random bag, settling in to watch the guys work. But the lull of the waves and the soft murmurs of the guys quickly soothed me into a restless sleep.