island love // grayson dolan

seven

the next morning crimson was the first one to wake up, she walked over to the fruit and took a banana for breakfast. once she was finished, everyone else started getting up.

"good morning guys." crimson greeted.

"good morning crimson. sleep well?" justin asked, sitting down next to her with his breakfast.

"i guess. it's still hard being here. how do you do it? being so positive and productive." she asked him.

"that's how i do it; by being super productive is how i keep busy and that's the only way i keep my mind off the fact of being here." he told her.

"i never saw it that way, i just thought you were a jerk." she laughed, he did too.

"yeah i'm not surprised and i'm sorry for always being so bossy. it's just how i deal with things, you know?"

"yeah i get it. it's really hard being here and learning how to survive." crimson said.

soon taylor joined them with some fruit for herself. all three of them talked and got to know each other better. grayson had woken up but he didn't join them, he ate his breakfast alone.

"gray! come over here, man!" justin called out. crimson thought it was sweet that he didn't want grayson to be alone.

grayson waved him off, "he mad at one of us or something?" justin asked.

"don't think to much into it justin; we talk about how everyones got different ways of handling things maybe his is being alone." taylor said.

"you're right." justin agreed.

after everyone finished breakfast they wasted no time and got to work. grayson had joined them after he finished eating though he avoided crimson at all costs.

"okay, so crimson you and i can make a tent over here and taylor and grayson can make one over there and then hopefully we'll have time to finish the last one off but if we don't we can finish it tomorrow." justin said. "everyone cool?" 

"yep, let's go grayson." taylor said and grayson nodded and followed her.

"i'll talk to you later, crimson." grayson said.

"okay." she nodded and walked off with justin.

--

two hours into making tents, they were done. "that wasn't that bad." crimson noted.

"yeah that's cause i had your help and not taylors." justin laughed and crimson turned around and saw grayson and taylor still making their tents.

"come on, let's go into the jungle and find dinner!" justin said.

"alright let's go!" crimson said and copied justins enthusiasm.

--

at first crimson thought it would be weird being alone in the jungle with justin but it turns out when he isn't bossing everyone around, he was actually a really nice and funny guy. 

"okay so how do we catch a bore?" crimson asked. 

"first off, we don't catch a bore, we hunt it." justin clarified. 

"wow okay mr jungle man." crimson teased. 

"i'm just using correct terminology." justin defended. 

"alright well how do we 'hunt' a bore?" she asked again. 

"we set a trap and then kill it and then bone it then we bring it back to the beach to cook." justin explained.   

"okay let's make a trap." crimson said. 

-- 

an hour and half later they were back with a dead bore ready to cook, "hey where did you guys go? we were worried." taylor said as they walked back onto the beach. 

"getting dinner." justin said and showed off the dead animal. 

"you a vegetarian hunted an animal and killed it?" grayson questioned. 

"i'm not a vegetarian anymore, grayson." crimson said. it hurt to say that, being a vegetarian was one of the things she was most proud of. 

just another thing this island has taken away from me.

during dinner things were still awkward between grayson and crimson but after he asked her to go for a walk with him. wanting to clear the air, she said yes.  

once a safe distance away from the others they started talking, "i'm really sorry for last night." grayson started off. 

"sorry for kissing me or sorry for running off?" crimson asked. she hadn't meant to come off harsh but she did. 

"both. i was just confused okay? cause i shouldn't be kissing you because i don't want a relationship with you." he said. crimson was really trying to not cry, she knew she couldn't cry, they had only known each other for a few days, it didn't really seem appropriate.

"oh okay." she said, holding back her tears. she turned around to walk back but he grabbed her wrist. 

"wait, i didn't meant it like that. i think you're really pretty and nice, it's not that i don't want a relationship with you it's that i don't want a relationship with anyone. i just lost my brother and my uncle and i don't want to have to worry about losing anyone else." grayson told her. 

she nodded, "it's okay grayson. i understand. i'm just going to sit at the rock pool for a bit then walk back to the tents." 

she watched as he walked back to the beach, she kept her eyes glued on him even though he didn't look back once. 

crimson sat on the rock and started crying but not because of what happened with grayson but because she just wanted to go home and she was over being stuck on the island, she had tried to stay optimistic but when she was alone and looking out into the open ocean knowing that this was probably going to be her view for the rest of her life it was hard to stay positive. 

"i miss you ricky, i miss you so much." she said crying. after about an hour, she cried out all her tears and walked back to tents. 

she went to the last empty tent and climbed inside and fell asleep.