Chapter 7
Mikey had woken me up a few minutes ago. I hadn't remembered falling asleep on the beach. I don't think I ever stopped crying. I tried and failed multiple times to get myself together. 'Who cries this much over a fight they supposedly won?'
My face still stung where I'd been hit twice before and my tears had eventually dried on my face.

"Jo?" I heard Mikey say as he tapped me lightly. "Come eat something, please" He said when I eventually opened my eyes.

I slowly sat up. I was still wearing the dress which I immediately felt like tearing off my body but I didn't want to be walking around in the panties that had become my own in the last two weeks.

"Oh my God, Jo. Your eyes"

I was going to ask what about them but I decided I didn't care enough.

"They're all red and swollen"

I started to rise to my feet. He took my hand to help which I took back instantly

"I'm fine" I managed to say "And it's Jonathan" I said weakly

He took a breath. "Coach is bringing the food out to the beach. Let's go take a spot"

"I'm not hungry" I was starving "I need a bath. I need to.." I didn't finish my sentence before I started walking away.

"I'll come with you"

"I said I'm fine" I replied without turning to look at him. I needed to cleanse myself.

=^_^=

On the path back to the cave, Coach and the others had a roasted animal I didn't recognize in the pot which Doug carried. I scanned for Ollie but he wasn't there. Nobody said anything as I passed them but I could feel the curious stares.
I made sure the cave was empty before I walked in.

It felt lonelier than it ever had. I made my way towards the trunk that had started all this. I wondered if it would have been better if it had never washed ashore. It now doubled as water storage and mirror.

I opened it and stared at myself. I softly started crying. The left side of my face had visible finger prints where Ollie had hit me. It felt like a depraved tramp stamp. My eyes were red from all the crying. Both eyes were swollen but the left even more so.

I closed it and went to the large pile of clothes in the corner. I fished through it and it took a while before I found what I was looking for. The grey button up shirt and dark jeans I had brought to this island. Even if they had been clean the entire time, I hadn't worn them since that first day. I wondered if I'd somehow encouraged this. I was the one that wore short dresses and 'underwear jeans'.

I only knew I needed to get out of this dress. I took the clothes and the large sponge that the mystery girl had packed fully intending to scrub my skin off.
I left the cave with everything I needed and made my way to the spring. It was quiet. Very quiet except for the light rustling of the trees.

=^_^=

I dropped the clothes on the floor finally glad that I had begun to calm down.
I took the dress by the skirt rolling it up and then over my head. I was about to take off the panties when I heard him and took three steps back clutching the dress to my chest covering myself.

"Jo." Ollie said coming out of the forest.

I picked up a stick waving it at him "Stay the fuck away from me!" I yelled

"Please, I just want to talk" he said walking forward slowly with his palms facing me.

I threw the stick at him which he dodged. I picked up another.

"Stay away from me!" I shouted again.

"Jo, what I did.." He paused

"Don't you fucking talk to me!"

"I'm sorry. My dad, he..." He paused again. He had his head down.

"Do you expect me to feel sorry for you, you son of a bitch? You tried to..." My voice broke. I was crying again. "You tried to..."

He didn't say anything, just stood there with his head down
.
"Oh my God, you tried to ra..." My voice broke off

The tears were flowing now. I hated standing there in my underwear. I wanted to take the dress away from my chest but I couldn't.

"I'm sorry. Normally I would never... this island..."

"Just please leave me alone" I begged through the sobs.

"I will" He said sharply "I want you to know that I won't ever so much as look at you again. That's what I wanted to say"

I didn't reply.

"Thank you for not saying anything" He said before he left.
When he was out of sight, my legs gave way and I sat on the ground beside the spring.
I sat there in my underwear with the dress in my laps crying for a while but eventually I stood. I didn't even know it was possible for a person to cry this much.
I took off the panties, threw them to the floor and jumped into the water. I needed to get rid of everything. I needed to wash it all off.

Eventually, I decided to join the group on the beach mostly because I was starving. Ollie was somewhere else but I was told that he had shown up while I was taking a bath, eaten sharply and left.

"Fahey" Coach said smiling "Glad you could join us"

I smiled back as I took a seat between him and Mikey. Coach had also started eating with us sometime during that first week which was my doing.

"Those clothes really don't suit you, Jo" Gabe said laughing

"Yeah, you running out of things to wear?" Doug added.

Mikey looked really worried but it was more than that. It was almost sadness.

"It's Jonathan" I said just loudly enough for everyone to hear.

"Come on, you can't really expect us to..." Doug started but I interrupted him

"Please"

Doug looked at me for a second then asked "Alright. tell me 'Jonathan', why the sudden change?"

I didn't reply.

"I think he's entitled to that much, Doug. Don't you think?" Mikey asked him.

We ate in silence after that and got up to head in at nine.
I lay on the cold hard ground inside the cave but I couldn't sleep. I couldn't even close my eyes without imagining his body pressed against mine.
A while later, after everyone seemed to have gone to bed, Ollie walked into the cave.
He took the spot closest to the entrance probably because I was the farthest in.

"Oliver." I called
"Yes, Jo?.." He paused "Jonathan"
"I want to get off this island. I know you do too. Which is why from tomorrow, I'm going to pretend you never tried to..." My voice trailed off. I still couldn't say it.

He didn't say anything, just sat there nodding.
"We'll need to work together" I continued "I'm willing to do that so I don't have to die here with you. So one day, I never have to see you again" I said calmly

"I understand but you don't have to change who you are because of me. If you want to..."

"That's as far as this conversation goes. If I want to discuss my mental state, I'll talk to a human being" I said sternly

"Fair enough" He replied. When he realized I wasn't going to say any more, he laid back down.

I'm not sure how long he stayed awake after that but eventually, I fell asleep.

After that day, things seemed to continue in the same tense vein. Coach still looked at me expectantly and never gave me any orders. He also never asked anyone to accompany me anywhere unless I requested it. We had decided that the greatest dangers on the island were the wasps and poisonous ants and as long as everyone stayed away from them we should be fine. So unless there was a two man job, we mostly stayed on our own. Tate still mostly hung around coach and Gabe and Doug stuck together except when they had to go hunting and trapping.

Ollie seemed to grow a shell and would retreat into it whenever Mikey and I were around. I think the others sensed the lingering tension between us but never said anything about it.
I wore my own clothes for two days straight before I started missing the dresses. The heat never eased up and wearing sweat soaked clothes after a bath is not the most pleasant feeling.

I had to re-evaluate a lot of things when I came to the realization that I missed the feeling of skirts and dresses. 'Is it still a survival thing or do I really like wearing dresses?' I thought as I stared at the folded clothes in the corner. One day, when the guys were out with their chores, I picked up a baby blue bra and held it to my chest imagining what they'd feel like. I tossed them back when I heard noise outside the cave.

The next day, I took a loose, cropped polka dot blouse and a black skater skirt I'd worn many times before as I went to take a bath. It took a while to convince myself to wear them because I thought I might be inviting another attack but decided that I had to stop living for other people.

As I slipped the skirt on over the pair of panties I had picked out, I felt a smile creep on my face which worried me. I felt relieved to see the tattered clothes I had taken off earlier lying on the floor.

I slipped on the cropped blouse and instantly felt at home. Next came the flat lace-up retro suede boots that I had fallen in love with a few weeks ago.
They were precious so I only wore them on days like today when there wasn't a cloud in the sky and I didn't have to do anything other than hang around the camp.

It had taken everything in me to get back to this point where a single thought of that day didn't send me into tears. I might have even been in a better place if I didn't have to see him everyday.

I picked up the old clothes and made my way back to camp. When I got back, the dead rabbit in the grass told me that the guys had returned which made me feel a bit uneasy but I didn't stop.

They turned to look at me when I entered the cave. They were all in various stages of work or some sort of preparation and thankfully returned to it after only a few glances.
Ollie turned and left the cave deliberately avoiding my gaze as he hurried past me.

"You and Ollie really need to patch things up" Doug said "It's just a fight, shit! Just get over it"

I didn't reply. I just looked down. Could I really get over it? Sure he tried to do all that stuff but other than that kiss, nothing happened. 'And he does seem really broken up about it' I thought

"Doesn't that rabbit need cleaning, Ripley?" Coach asked.
Doug mumbled as he started to leave

"And Ripley" Doug turned "Hurry up this time, you know how long smoking that thing takes"

"How about I make something?" I asked

Everyone turned to me with good reason. I hadn't made anything since that day. We had eaten exclusively roasted meat which had depleted our meat storage.

"Those potatoes are going to go rotten if we don't use them soon" I reasoned.

Everyone seemed pleased.

"Good to have you back" Coach said in my ear as he took his tools and left the cave.

The others left the cave one by one until it was just Mikey and I. He flashed a coyly "How are you doing?" He asked
I thought for a second.

"I'm okay actually"

"Really?" He kept smiling

"Yeah, really" the smile was infectious

"Okay enough to go somewhere with me?'

That caught me by surprise "Go where?" I asked
"It's a surprise. Come on, it'll be fun"

"I don't know..."

He had those pleading eyes again. The ones I could never say no to.

"Please" He said stretching the word and smiling.

"Ugh, fine" I said giving in.

"Yes!" he exclaimed "It's a bit of a hike though"

"Oh, shouldn't I change then?" I asked as I started walking towards the pile.

He took my hand, "No no no, you look great" he said as he pulled me out the cave.

We made small talk as we made the long journey. He walked past the areas I'd explored and came to a rocky area. When we started walking up an elevated path, I stopped.

"I don't know if this is a good idea, Mikey. Maybe we should head back"

He took my hand again.

"It's fine, I promise" he said as he lead me up a path

=^_^=

Eventually, we got to a narrower path that didn't seem too stable. He must have sensed my hesitation because he turned to me still holding my hand and I had made no motion to let go.
"Do you trust me?" He asked.
His hands were bigger than Ollie's but they didn't feel threatening, they felt safe. I let out a smile and nodded.

One step at a time, we got through the narrow path. Eventually, we got to the top of this little hill

"Here we are"

The view was breathtaking. I could almost see the entire island and some other surrounding islands that I hadn't known were there. The forest was full and lush and the island had other hills like this one.

"It's beautiful" I said subconsciously squeezing his hand that neither of us had made any motions to move.

"Yeah"

A gust of wind pushed passed us and blew my skirt wildly. I left his hand to hold the skirt down.
When he saw what had just happened, he started laughing. I instantly felt embarrassed. He sensed this and stopped.

"What did you see?" I asked pouting

"Huh?"

"Did you see anything?" I asked again

"No, you covered up expertly" He said chuckling

I let myself relax wondering what I was so worried about him seeing.

"I'm glad you're dressing like this again"

I wasn't sure how to answer that. "Why?" I asked simply

"Oh.. you just seem way happier"

He was right. But I didn't reply.

"Hey, it's nothing to be ashamed of. It suits you. You're beautiful even"

That hit me like a ton of bricks but I wasn't angry. I was flattered. I blushed.

"We can head back if you want" He said.

"A bit longer. I just want to be here a bit longer"

So we sat on a flat rock and talked about everything. I found myself studying him more and more. He was really quite handsome. I kept smiling at him.

At some point, if felt our hands touch and we both turned to look at each other but we didn't turn away. I just got lost in his eyes. I saw him lean forward and I pressed my lips against his.

'What are you doing?!' My own voice shouted in my head
"Oh my God, I'm so sorry" I said panicked

"Jo, it's okay" He put a hand on my cheek. I pressed my face into it and let out a slight moan as I felt the creases of his palm on my face

'Oh my God. What the hell is happening to me?'

I looked earnestly into his eyes and melted "I just..." He leaned forward slowly and our lips touched again only this time, I let out an audible moan.

I pressed my lips into his followed by my body. His arms went around my waist pulling me even tighter. I opened my mouth. I'd never felt anything like this. My whole body shook with passion.

He moved and started kissing my neck as I kept moaning. I cursed Ollie for making something so amazing feel so horrible.
As he kept kissing me, I moved one hand from his chest to his pants. I felt his hard-on threatening to tear through his jeans. I felt his hand go up my short skirt massaging my own junk through the panties in smooth up-down motions.

I shook with pleasure as I kept moaning. It wasn't something I'd ever done before but it came so naturally. Like a primal instinct. It was like my body's involuntary response to his touch.

While still kissing me, both of his hands went under my skirt trying to remove the panties. I still pressed my lips on his during the entire thing. I didn't know kissing could be... electrifying.
And in one instant, his lips, his hands, all of that passion ceased.

"Jo, jo, look!" He said pointing.

I saw a flare light up in the sky, almost overshadowed by the burning sun but clearly there. But that wasn't it. In the distance, a ship.