The Island of Apples

"You think someone's going to come get us," I asked him.

He shrugged his shoulders. He wasn't much of a talker. I could tell I was probably annoying him. I really didn't give a fuck. It was annoying me that he was here as well. It was annoying me that I was stuck on this god forsaken island in the middle of no where.

"We need to find the rest of the plane. That is what we need to be worried about."

"So who were you again Rome," I asked, "Like what hood do you represent?"

He gave me a look and didn't say anything. What did I say wrong? He just rolled his eyes and walked to the other side of the fire. He started to sleep there silently, rolled up against a rock. It was comfortable to him I guess. Maybe where he was from that's what people did on a normal basis.

I went closer to the fire. It was warm. It was dark everywhere though. Wasn't he afraid? How the fuck could he just sleep like that.

I could hear him snoring lightly. He was really comfortable. What the hell.

We were in the fucking woods. Surrounded by God knows what.

Suddenly there was a roar.

It was loud. It was an animal. I was sure that it was an animal. I jumped to my feet immediately grabbing onto my chest. What the fuck?

I couldn't do this shit. It was dark outside of the cave by now. The fire was the only light whatsoever. Behind it was nothing but darkness and shadows. The moon was barely even there. My heart beat faster...harder than usual.

"Rome," I stated.

That was his name right? Rome. I was sure it was. He didn't even budge. He just laid there like he didn't hear it. Like he didn't hear that...creature...

"Rome..."

I tapped him on his shoulder.

"What the hell do you want?"

"I heard something."

He didn't even turn over or open his eyes. He just quietly whispered, "I'm sure you did. We are in the wild bro. What the hell..."

"I can't do this. I can't do this."

"I don't care man. I don't know you. Do what you want. I'm going to sleep. If you want to panic, just do it quietly man. Jesus."

Fucker. I moved on the other side of the cave. Why the fuck was he so damn mean to me? I sat quietly in the darkness. What if there were snakes out here? I couldn't do a snake. What if it found it's way right into our cave.

All I could think about was that snake. All I could think about was what would happen if anything happened to me and my mother didn't find out.

I didn't know how I fell asleep, but I found myself waking up by Rome. He was in front of me. He had his shirt off again. He was such a fucking show off. Like just because we were outdoors and he had a nice body didn't mean he had to show it off every fucking second.

He smiled. I had to admit. The smile was perfect, even though god knows what he was using to clean his mouth out here. I had to find out my breath was horrible. I stunk. I felt like one of those guys who begged for money in New York.

"Here, eat this," he stated.

He handed me something. I looked down and realized it was a few bananas. I hated bananas but right now my stomach was killing me.

"Thanks."
He nodded, "That's all I could find this morning. The other day I got lucky and found some oysters that came up on the shore. There may be something deeper into the island but honestly I didn't want to go by myself."

"So bringing me bananas is your way of getting me to come with you?"

He shook his head, "No, in all honesty, I just wanted to kind of apologize for last night. I've just been going through a lot lately."

"I'm sure. SO HAVE I! I don't know where the fuck I am."

"No even before the island."

"Tell me about it."

He shook his head, smiling none the less, "Nah, I'll pass. We have to find out where we are though. We have to find that plane. It crashed in the water, but maybe something floated on sure. Something we can use. Maybe the radio on the plane still works..."

He changed the subject so quickly from his past. He didn't look at me as he did either. He was looking out of the cave towards the water.

"What's the chances of that?" I asked him.

"You really don't want to know."
I ate the bananas, watching him. I couldn't help but to watch him. He caught me a few times, moving his eyes to me and when I'd move my eyes away, he'd just continue staring at me for a few more seconds. They were awkward seconds. It was as though he was basically saying, "Yeah, boy, I saw you" but he didn't. He just stared back at me when he caught me and then returned back to looking out of the cave.

I grabbed a branch that he had gathered probably to light the fire. My leg was still hurting a little bit but it was much better. He had offered to look at it, but I said no.

We started to walk out of the cave, me following close behind him. He seemed like he knew what he was doing.

"So how did you light the fire?"

"What do you mean, you never went camping?" he asked.

I shook my head. Really I wanted to smack him for asking me something so damn ridiculous. Why the fuck would I just go camping? Who does that? Only reason I'd be in the woods would be to pick out my own personal fur off some unlucky bear bastard.

He shook his head, "Jesus. Were you a scout by any chance?"

"A what?"

"Do you fish?"
"Ha..."

"Please tell me you can at least swim."

I just stared at him. He looked back at me as though waiting for me to answer. Hell. Ok. I never learned to swim. It was embarrassing. I mean, I just didn't get into water AT ALL. I felt like it was needed only to drink and bathe and go on a yacht or something.

Rome didn't seem even slightly impressed. He wasn't even seeming amused. He just seemed completely shocked and irritated. That was the word to describe him most. He just looked irritated. I felt my face get red with embarrassment. I really didn't know how to do anything...at all. I was horrible with shit like this.

"Stay close to me if you want to even slightly have a chance," he stated.

We started a long hike. I supposed he knew where he was going but I wasn't sure. The beach was long. Behind the beach there were all these trees and stuff. They went back pretty far. There was this whole tropical feel about this island. The heat was amazing actually. It wrapped around me, excruciating me.

We made our way up a path towards this path.

"Chew these," he stated, grabbing some plants out of the ground.

"What the hell are they?"
"Eucalyptus," he stated, "Your breath kind of smells."

"Oh my god."
My face went red again. I COULD not be here with a cute guy telling me that my breath smells. I couldn't believe this was happening to me. I went completely silent as he continued to walk It was crazily silent and I knew that it wasn't hard to notice.

"Are you upset I told you your breath smells?"
"No I'm fucking happy. You made my damn day."
"Why are you being dramatic about it?" he asked, "Your face looks devastated. Relax. I don't think you're dirty. I mean, you are. But not...you know what the hell I mean."

"Jesus Christ...please just stop now."

I couldn't help it anymore. I was crying. The tears were coming down my face quickly. I was a cry baby. I knew it. I knew it was just a matter of fucking time.

"You've got to be kidding me."
"I can't be here," I whined, the tears flowing as I plopped down on a rock, "I can't be the Wild Thornberrys. I need civilization. And now you're saying I'm dirty."

"Calm the hell down. You're acting like a kid right now. You need to man up. We've only been here for a day. You don't know how long we have to be here. Calm down. "

"NO! This is horrible."

"CALM DOWN!" he stated, pushing me.

He pushed me hard. Hell, he pushed me harder than I thought. I fell off the stone and went rolling down a hill. What the fuck? I screamed in agony as I went rolling down the hill. It seemed like I hit everything imaginable. I couldn't stand it. The pain rampaged through me with sharp incision.

Here I was at the bottom of a hill. My face was covered with mud. My face was covered with fucking muddy sand.

"Damn yo, I'm so sorry."

I saw him there next to me trying to help me up.
"Get the fuck off me," I screamed pushing him away from me, "What the fuck? What are you trying to do...GANGBANG or something!"

Rome looked at me with a hard look, "I said sorry, damn. I just hit you. I didn't even mean to do it...it just...happened."

I was mad. My blood was boiling. I am stuck in the middle of no where, being hit on by some random guy. I managed to get up alone and started wiping myself off. My body was already beat up as it was.

"I'm going back to the fucking cave."

"Why? It's still daytime. We need to look for food. We need to see if there were any remains from the flight."

"Fuck that I'm going to the fucking cave. I'm not going anywhere with you."

"No. You can't go back. That's my cave."

"YOUR cave? You took out a mortgage on the fucking cave?" I asked him, "You leasing the fucking cave?"

"Baron. I'm not trying to fight with you in all honesty," he stated, "But you know damn well you need me and I need you. We need to get over the fact that we most likely would NEVER be friends off of here so we can work together."
The way he said it was horrible. We would "never" be friends. It was like he was trying to say that he didn't like people like me or something. It was almost like he was trying to attack me in a roundabout way. He was making an inference about me and I knew it.

"I'm going back to the fucking cave."
"You go back and you'll be on your own."

I did go back to the cave. I couldn't help it. I wasn't going to let this guy disrespect me. I didn't care who he was. I had way too much pride. The idea of just letting someone walk over me was very unacceptable.

I didn't go right back to the cave. I scoured the beach. He said oysters were on there, maybe I could find some more. I would start my own stockpile of food. That'd be best.

The beach was long. The water that came up on the shore was clear.

Hours later...nothing.

I wanted to punch something but instead ended up back at the cave around dusk. He was already there. He'd found more fruit. We didn't say anything to each other that night.

Or the next night.

Or the night after that.

Each night he seemed to have more food and each night I seemed to get nothing at all. We didn't speak at all. He usually left out before I came so we didn't see each other usually until after dark. He would light the fire and I would sit next to him. I didn't watch him eat. I pretended like I'd eaten already. I was fucking lying to myself over and over though.

It wasn't until the third night that he finally said something to me, "Are you hungry?"

I shook my head.

"I'm good."

Just as I said that my body betrayed me. The thought of eating made my stomach whine out crazy. It was almost like my stomach was speaking for me now, telling Rome to ignore everything that I just said.

"Baron, I know you're hungry. You going to let your pride kill you. Take some of my fruit man."

"Just a little bit."

I walked over to his side of the cave. Yeah, I had given him a partial side of the cave. He probably didn't draw out the difference, but I definitely did. He could stay on his side and I'd stay on mine. That was how things were going to be.

He was laughing as I ate. He was such asshole.

"Take your time man."

I stopped eating and turned to him. I wasn't even eating that damn fast. He was making it seem like I was desperate for his help. He seemed like one of those guys. One of those guys who got off of making people depend on them.

"This is the last day I'll eat your food. I'll find my own tomorrow," I told him making sure that he wouldn't have to get too comfortable feeding me.

"Suit yourself. We have to find something better than fruit anyway. I can't live off this shit."

:Like what?"

"Like meat. Fish...something..."

"We don't even have spices though."

He laughed a little bit, "You can't be serious. Where are you from Baron?"
` "Why so you can laugh and make fun of me even more?" I asked.

"I am just trying to understand you."

"You said we wouldn't be friends so lets leave it at that."

"I said if we weren't on this island we wouldn't be friends. Maybe shit happens for a reason. Tell me about you..."

I paused for a minute. He wanted to know about me? What the hell. He looked interested too. I couldn't believe it at first. He as one of those athletic guys, one of those guys who probably got all the ladies. I was a sissy. We had nothing in common.

"My mother is launching a new line in may..."

"I didn't want to know about your mother. I wanted to know about you."

I was shocked. It was a weird question.

"I don't know. No one asked me that before."

He just looked at me and shook his head, "So basically you don't know who you are."
"I know who I am."

"Then tell me."

I sat there for a minute. What the fuck was he trying to do? Trick me or something? Was that a trick question? I was my mother's son. That was who I was.

"I really don't do much. I didn't go to school or anything. Hell, I barely finished high school. My mom kind of like takes care of me. I don't know. I guess I'm kind of old for that. I should be doing my own thing by now, but this is so much...easier..."

He nodded, "So you live off of her."
I nodded, "Yeah, I guess. Ugh how about you?"

He shook his head, "I live alone."

That was all he said. He just said he lived alone. I could tell he was being kind of secretive. I didn't mind so much though. I felt like if I dug too much I would find something that I didn't too much like.

"You're a natural loner?" I asked.

He nodded, "Yeah, a little. Never been in a real long relationship if that's what you mean. Never been in love."

"Never?"

"No."

"Guess that's one thing both of us have in common."

He smiled a little bit and gave a slight humph, as though finding it amusing. I could see why he would think it was amusing though.

"Why would a guy like you be single?" he asked me.

I shrugged my shoulders, "I don't know. Never even been kissed."

"Wait how old are you?"
"21."

"And you've never been kissed?" he asked me, his mouth stretching open.

All of a sudden he started to laugh. This motherfucker started to laugh. I couldn't believe it. The laughter was coming out hard.

"Thanks. That was very polite," I stated sarcastically.

"I'm not laughing at you," he stated, "I just...I tend to laugh at things I don't understand. I'm sorry. I really am. Oh god, you are mad again aren't you."

I turned over and started to cuddle up next to the fire. I didn't want to talk to him. Truth was I never was kissed. I never really had the chance or opportunity to. I was with my mother so much. I was living her life. That life didn't leave much room for romance.

"Mother and I dress people. It's all about the glamour. That is what love is about you know...what you wear. We dress people. We make them fall in love. We give them that High Fashion love. That real love. There's no room for love for me."

"That is fucking ridiculous."

"I guess. Good night."

"Don't good night me. That's ridiculous. You really believe that? You can't find love because of your MOTHER's career. You think fashion has anything to do with love. It's not what you wear. It's in the eyes. You fall in love with the eyes."

"Regardless. Some people aren't made for love."

"True. But you're probably not one of them."

"I won't look damn it."

Rome had taken me to the waters where he bathed. I wanted to take a bath with clothes on but it wasn't working with Rome. He wouldn't go for it. He said it's best to just take a bath naked so that our clothes could stay dry.

Why did we have to go under the waterfall at the same time though.

I got naked first going underneath the waterfall and Rome followed. I tried my hardest not to even think about him being there...it was horrible though. The setting was so perfect. The waterfall was the most beautiful thing I'd seen since Milan fashion week earlier in the year. The water cascaded off of the rocks at a high peak . It drifted down slowly streaming over the rocks and flowed off the creeks. It was beautiful and glistened with this pure elegance right into the lagoon underneath.

Rome and I were naked underneath the rocks of that cliff, where the water peaked off. I caught a glimpse of him, splashing in the water. He was so well aware of his body.

I tried not to think about it at all as I rinsed under the waterfall.

"Baron."

Fuck.

"Yeah?"

"Stay completely still ok."

"What why?"
I didn't stand still. I turned around and I heard a large hiss. It was a fucking. Oh my god...a fucking snake. The snake had crawled up on the rock and was making its way towards me. It was near me with it's fangs out. I could swear I saw it's venom dripping next to me.

"Be completely still."

"I'm not moving."
"Yes you are."
I was moving. I was trying to back away from it. I couldn't help it. The snake was just there! I hated snakes with a passion. I couldn't take it at all.

"AH! Rome, help me please. Like I swear. Seriously. Oh my god."
It felt like my life was on the brink of ending. I couldn't do this. I couldn't be here and risk my life with these CREATURES lurking around ready to kill me. My heart beat.

That was when the snake started to make it's move. Or at least I thought it was making it's move.

I couldn't take it anymore. I ran to Rome.

Hell. I completely forgot we was naked. Hell with being naked. I completely forgot where we even were. All I could see was me jumping into his arms.

I hadn't screamed so loud before.

He caught me and immediately I buried my head into him and started to cry like a fucking baby. Just as I leaned my head over though, he seemed to lose his footing and we tumbled over. Fuck on the ground, with the snake.

"Stop, stop, stop calm down."

"It's going to get us! It's going to get us!"

"Baron. That was just a baby snake. It was more scared of you then you were of it. It's gone."

He was being serious. I looked beside him and noticed that it was definitely gone. I also noticed something else. Baron was on top of me. His meat was resting on my inner thigh. His arms were enfolded around, hugging me. His touch was amazing. It warmed me up almost completely.

The water was still spilling on us, but it was different with our bodies so close. It was almost like the water was pressing up against us, finding ways to sneak between our bodies that were woven together.

God...I was in heaven. I didn't want it to ever end.

The weirdest part of this was I felt comfortable. You would think laying against a stranger who you didn't know would make you feel uncomfortable, even awkward.

It felt good...too good and I knew it wasn't just feeling good to me. It felt good to him too. I knew that because well, he wasn't...moving."

"I'm sorry for saying we wouldn't be friends if we weren't stuck out in the middle of no where. We probably got off the wrong foot with one another."

"I'm sorry too. You're not so bad," he stated.

Just then sitting next to each other I could hear something else. I turned around to noticed that there were someone else. It was a woman.