Everyone laughed. Everyone, that is, except Kip. His face just purpled a bit under his tan, and he glared at the rest of us. Kip now had the smallest basket, and I’d have bet money that it contained a coconut and water.
I couldn’t help it. I smiled broadly.
Then Chip was at my side, holding out the near empty bag to me. I put my hand in and pulled out the last remaining rock - bright blue. I showed it to everyone with a faint smile on my face and strode over to Jendan’s side. He gave my shoulders a squeeze as I moved next to him, and looked delighted.
I was conflicted. So conflicted. Part of me was so thrilled to be Jendan’s partner.
Part of me was horrified. Because if we went to Judgment and lost…what was I going to do?
The answer was obvious, of course. Just don’t lose. But that was easier said than done.
Chapter Fourteen
“I can’t tell you how happy I was that Annabelle was my partner. Not only do I get to rescue her from that jackass, but I get to be around her twenty-four seven. Which means constantly fighting my attraction to her. She’ll have to be the big spoon in the shelter at night, because I don’t think I’ll be able to not react to her presence. Which makes me so screwed, since we’re doing the friendship thing. The only thing keeping my libido in check is how NOT thrilled Annabelle looked to be my partner. What’s up with that?” — Jendan Abercrombie, Day 14, Endurance Island: Power Players
The boat dropped Jendan and I off at a new section of beach I didn’t recognize. It was an entirely different island, and I mourned the loss of the waterfall. At least I’d gotten the secret word - kere kere - before we’d left. We hopped off the speedboat into the knee-deep water, me carrying Jendan’s blanket, and him carrying the basket. A cameraman hopped off with us and kept a few feet away, always filming. I ignored him.
“Well,” Jendan said as we walked onto the beach. “Looks like we’re starting from scratch.”
“Kinda looks like it,” I told him, raising a hand to my brow to shield my eyes from the sun as I gazed down the beach. “Do you suppose this was someone else’s camp? Maybe they had a shelter somewhere.”
“We can check it out,” he said, then pointed in the opposite direction of where I was looking. “I think I see a flag in that direction.”
I turned and sure enough, there was a patch of blue in the distance. “That’ll be where our machete is. Let’s go.”
After a quick walk, we found the flag, the remains of a nearby shelter that hadn’t survived last night’s storm, and the crate for the machete and cooking pot. To my surprise, it was intact. “We can take the crate apart and use the wood as part of the base of a new shelter,” I suggested.
“Good idea,” Jendan said, setting down the basket and opening the crate.
I started forward, remembering the clue to Pandora’s Box from before, but when we opened the container, there was nothing but the pot and the machete. No canteens, no maps, no notes. “I guess they didn’t leave their map.” Or their clue.
“Huh.” He dug through the box for a moment, then shook his head. “Not here. Should we head off and find water before we do anything?”
“Let’s check what we have in the basket,” I suggested. I was starving, and the thought of food sitting right there, just waiting for us to eat, was enough to make my shrunken stomach do flips. “Maybe we’ll have enough to last the day.”
“Here’s hoping we got something better than coconut and water,” Jendan told me as he undid the latch on the lid. We pried it off…and gasped.
Inside was a jug of fresh drinking water, a small round loaf of bread, some cheese, and a couple of grilled chicken breasts. A few pieces of bright, juicy fruit rounded out the meal.
“Oh my God,” I moaned, dropping to my knees next to the basket. “If this wasn’t the big prize one, I can’t imagine what was in it. This is amazing.”
“I could cry,” Jendan said with a laugh. He picked up the water jug. “And look. We can keep this and use it over and over again.”
“Perfect,” I exclaimed, thrilled. I couldn’t have asked for better. “Let’s put the blanket down and have ourselves a picnic, shall we?”
“No,” Jendan said, and his hand grabbed mine, stopping me. I looked up at him in surprise and he gave me a sheepish look. “If that blanket touches the sand, we’ll never get the sand out.”
“Oh.” I quickly wadded it back up again and clutched it in my arms. “Sorry about that.”
“Don’t be sorry,” Jendan said. “It’s your blanket now, too. We’re sharing everything.”
Hearing those words reminded me of the shit we were in. Jendan and I were team-mates. What should have been amazing was now just bothering me with its potential for failure. Ever since I’d started the game, I’d planned on voting out my partner.
Now, Jendan was my partner. And to make matters worse, I was uncontrollably, irresistibly attracted to him. I peeked up at Jendan…and realized he was gazing back down at me in a not-entirely-platonic sort of way.
“So,” Jendan said. “Should we talk about this?”
I juggled the blanket in my arms, pretending that I was trying to keep it from skimming the ground. “It does make things a little weird, doesn’t it?”
“I can’t say I’m disappointed to have you as a partner. Not in the slightest. You’re the person I like best out here. You work hard, both in and out of challenges.” His smile curved. “At least when your foot isn’t hurting you.”
Boy, that was going to come back to haunt me, wasn’t it? I gave him a faint smile. “I’m just worried about going to Judgment. What if we go and one of us has to go home? That will be…” I swallowed. “Really bad.”
Really, really bad, because I knew it wouldn’t be me going home. And I didn’t want to do that to Jendan. I was stuck.
“We just won’t think about that,” Jendan told me. “We’ll just go into every challenge and kick ass.”
“Oh sure,” I said, unable to keep the teasing out of my voice. “Why didn’t I think of that?”
He just gave me that sexy smile that made me regret my no-romance vow.
Hard.
Blushing, I looked over at the pathetic shelter. “After we eat, we should probably work on that, right? So we have someplace warm to sleep tonight?”
“Yup.” He looked over at the shelter, then back at me again. “Are you feeling weird about the whole you-and-me thing? Being attracted to each other?”
“A little,” I confessed. “It wasn’t so bad before because it wasn’t like we were around each other constantly. But now…”
“Now it’s a little more difficult. Yeah.” Jendan thought for a moment, then pulled me against him in a one-armed hug. “We’ll just have to touch a lot so neither of us freaks when the occasional contact happens.”
That…was either the best idea in the world, or the worst. “We’re still sticking with the plan, right? Just friends until the show’s over?”
“Just friends,” Jendan agreed, and squeezed my arm again in a thoroughly platonic way that made me wish that I wasn’t so intent on sticking to my guns.
I couldn’t help it. I smiled broadly.
Then Chip was at my side, holding out the near empty bag to me. I put my hand in and pulled out the last remaining rock - bright blue. I showed it to everyone with a faint smile on my face and strode over to Jendan’s side. He gave my shoulders a squeeze as I moved next to him, and looked delighted.
I was conflicted. So conflicted. Part of me was so thrilled to be Jendan’s partner.
Part of me was horrified. Because if we went to Judgment and lost…what was I going to do?
The answer was obvious, of course. Just don’t lose. But that was easier said than done.
Chapter Fourteen
“I can’t tell you how happy I was that Annabelle was my partner. Not only do I get to rescue her from that jackass, but I get to be around her twenty-four seven. Which means constantly fighting my attraction to her. She’ll have to be the big spoon in the shelter at night, because I don’t think I’ll be able to not react to her presence. Which makes me so screwed, since we’re doing the friendship thing. The only thing keeping my libido in check is how NOT thrilled Annabelle looked to be my partner. What’s up with that?” — Jendan Abercrombie, Day 14, Endurance Island: Power Players
The boat dropped Jendan and I off at a new section of beach I didn’t recognize. It was an entirely different island, and I mourned the loss of the waterfall. At least I’d gotten the secret word - kere kere - before we’d left. We hopped off the speedboat into the knee-deep water, me carrying Jendan’s blanket, and him carrying the basket. A cameraman hopped off with us and kept a few feet away, always filming. I ignored him.
“Well,” Jendan said as we walked onto the beach. “Looks like we’re starting from scratch.”
“Kinda looks like it,” I told him, raising a hand to my brow to shield my eyes from the sun as I gazed down the beach. “Do you suppose this was someone else’s camp? Maybe they had a shelter somewhere.”
“We can check it out,” he said, then pointed in the opposite direction of where I was looking. “I think I see a flag in that direction.”
I turned and sure enough, there was a patch of blue in the distance. “That’ll be where our machete is. Let’s go.”
After a quick walk, we found the flag, the remains of a nearby shelter that hadn’t survived last night’s storm, and the crate for the machete and cooking pot. To my surprise, it was intact. “We can take the crate apart and use the wood as part of the base of a new shelter,” I suggested.
“Good idea,” Jendan said, setting down the basket and opening the crate.
I started forward, remembering the clue to Pandora’s Box from before, but when we opened the container, there was nothing but the pot and the machete. No canteens, no maps, no notes. “I guess they didn’t leave their map.” Or their clue.
“Huh.” He dug through the box for a moment, then shook his head. “Not here. Should we head off and find water before we do anything?”
“Let’s check what we have in the basket,” I suggested. I was starving, and the thought of food sitting right there, just waiting for us to eat, was enough to make my shrunken stomach do flips. “Maybe we’ll have enough to last the day.”
“Here’s hoping we got something better than coconut and water,” Jendan told me as he undid the latch on the lid. We pried it off…and gasped.
Inside was a jug of fresh drinking water, a small round loaf of bread, some cheese, and a couple of grilled chicken breasts. A few pieces of bright, juicy fruit rounded out the meal.
“Oh my God,” I moaned, dropping to my knees next to the basket. “If this wasn’t the big prize one, I can’t imagine what was in it. This is amazing.”
“I could cry,” Jendan said with a laugh. He picked up the water jug. “And look. We can keep this and use it over and over again.”
“Perfect,” I exclaimed, thrilled. I couldn’t have asked for better. “Let’s put the blanket down and have ourselves a picnic, shall we?”
“No,” Jendan said, and his hand grabbed mine, stopping me. I looked up at him in surprise and he gave me a sheepish look. “If that blanket touches the sand, we’ll never get the sand out.”
“Oh.” I quickly wadded it back up again and clutched it in my arms. “Sorry about that.”
“Don’t be sorry,” Jendan said. “It’s your blanket now, too. We’re sharing everything.”
Hearing those words reminded me of the shit we were in. Jendan and I were team-mates. What should have been amazing was now just bothering me with its potential for failure. Ever since I’d started the game, I’d planned on voting out my partner.
Now, Jendan was my partner. And to make matters worse, I was uncontrollably, irresistibly attracted to him. I peeked up at Jendan…and realized he was gazing back down at me in a not-entirely-platonic sort of way.
“So,” Jendan said. “Should we talk about this?”
I juggled the blanket in my arms, pretending that I was trying to keep it from skimming the ground. “It does make things a little weird, doesn’t it?”
“I can’t say I’m disappointed to have you as a partner. Not in the slightest. You’re the person I like best out here. You work hard, both in and out of challenges.” His smile curved. “At least when your foot isn’t hurting you.”
Boy, that was going to come back to haunt me, wasn’t it? I gave him a faint smile. “I’m just worried about going to Judgment. What if we go and one of us has to go home? That will be…” I swallowed. “Really bad.”
Really, really bad, because I knew it wouldn’t be me going home. And I didn’t want to do that to Jendan. I was stuck.
“We just won’t think about that,” Jendan told me. “We’ll just go into every challenge and kick ass.”
“Oh sure,” I said, unable to keep the teasing out of my voice. “Why didn’t I think of that?”
He just gave me that sexy smile that made me regret my no-romance vow.
Hard.
Blushing, I looked over at the pathetic shelter. “After we eat, we should probably work on that, right? So we have someplace warm to sleep tonight?”
“Yup.” He looked over at the shelter, then back at me again. “Are you feeling weird about the whole you-and-me thing? Being attracted to each other?”
“A little,” I confessed. “It wasn’t so bad before because it wasn’t like we were around each other constantly. But now…”
“Now it’s a little more difficult. Yeah.” Jendan thought for a moment, then pulled me against him in a one-armed hug. “We’ll just have to touch a lot so neither of us freaks when the occasional contact happens.”
That…was either the best idea in the world, or the worst. “We’re still sticking with the plan, right? Just friends until the show’s over?”
“Just friends,” Jendan agreed, and squeezed my arm again in a thoroughly platonic way that made me wish that I wasn’t so intent on sticking to my guns.
