Sunshine in the Rain

54. Bon Voyage

A few minutes later, JJ and Kie aren't back yet. They should be.

"Guys, I don't know what the fuck they're doing but we need to at least try to get the Twinkie out of here." I say.

"I'll grab some drift wood." JB says. The water is basically halfway up the Twinkie now.

I get into the water and look for driftwood too. Then JB yells. "Ash! I found some! Can you help me out?" He asks.

"Yeah, sure!" I say. I start walking towards him in the higher than waist deep water and then he's dragged under the water. "JB!!!" I yell. I jump into the water after him and I know what happened immediately. A momma gator.

I start wrestling the gator with JB. "Ash! Get out of here!" He says.

"Hell no!" I yell. I hit the gator on the head and I see blood go into the water as the gator swims away. "JB, who's blood is that?" I ask.

"Mine." He says. He lifts his leg out of the water and his blood covered calf.

"Fuck." I say. I help him onto the roof of the Twinkie. "What do I do?" I ask. I start panicking.

"Hey, Ash, calm down, I'm okay." JB says. He hands me his bandana and I wrap it around his calf. Sarah helps keep pressure on his calf.

"Shit." I say. I look at my arm and I have a few big punctures in my arm. Probably from the teeth of the gator.

"Jesus!" JB says, he looks worried but then he looks up and me and gives me a small smile, knowing that I'm freaking out. "Why are you always getting hurt?" He asks, trying to cheer up the mood.

"I-I don't know." I say. JB takes off his shirt and hands it to Pope. Pope rips it and wraps it around my arm. I look down at JB's blood dripping leg and I feel like my breathing stops.

"Ash, you good?" Pope asks.

"I-I can't breath." I say. I put my hand over my heart and chest because it's something that I've starting doing when I get little anxiety things. Not exactly panic attacks, but just short moments where I feel like I can't breath. My breath gets really shallow. I guess it's a panic attack. I don't know.

JB wraps his arms around me. He rocks us back and forth. "Breath with me, Ashie." He says.

I slowly breath in and out with him and my breathing goes back to normal. I lean my head on his shoulder. "Thanks JB." I say. I look at his leg and help keep pressure on it with Sarah.

About 20 minutes later, JJ and Kiara get back. The Twinkie is almost fully submerged in the water.

"Guys! What the fuck?!" I ask, frustrated. "If you were back 25 minutes ago, John B wouldn't have been bitten by a gator!!" I yell.

JJ's eyes go straight to my arm. "Ash! Your arm!" He yells.

"JJ! I don't care about my arm!! I care about my fucking twin! Now get this thing out of the fucking water!!" I yell. I'm pissed at him. First, he cheats on me, then he cheats on me again, then he goes with Kiara to probably flirt with her, and then he shows up so late that it almost gets John B killed.

"Where the hell were you guys?!" Pope asks.

"Paternal complications." Kie says. JJ looks frustrated and sad at the same time. His dad had something do with this. My expression softens a little bit, knowing about JJ's dad.

"Luke was at the Chateau." JJ says.

"Great, while you were showing family time with your pops, all of this gator shit happened!" Pope yells.

"Pope, shut up." I say. "It's about his father." I say, knowing about JJ's father's crazy shit.

Everyone starts arguing. I'm sitting on top of the Twinkie thinking, what the fuck. Why are we all arguing? What is happening? My breathing increases a bit and then JJ yells.

"Stop!! Everybody just stop! For one second, please." He says. He looks frustrated as well. What has breaking up done to us? We're both frustrated. "Seriously guys, I can't take it anymore." JJ says. "Everyone cut it out for a second."

"Well your dad-" Pope says, I cut him off.

"Pope! Just shut the fuck up!" I yell.

"Look, I just helped my dad leave this island." JJ says. "For good, like he's not ever coming back. He's straight up like the Spanish just, Bon Voyage." He says.

"J, thats uh, not the right language." I say. "Sorry."

"All I got is you guys." JJ says. "Okay? You're it. I've come too close to losing you." JJ says. He looks at me. "All of you!" He says. "I mean, Kie, you almost drowned! John B, you were almost dinner for a gator bro, Ash, you have a giant ass cut on your calf from a fence! Pope almost got kidnapped!" He says. "Sarah, you got shot. Blaming each other is some Kook ass bull shit." JJ says.

"I agree." I say, looking down. I can't look into those eyes. I'll fall for him again just for him to cheat on me and break my heart again.

"We're Pogues." JJ says. "Sorry, that was a lot." JJ says. He chuckles. We all start clapping.

"I've gotta be honest with you, that was an amazing speech." JB says. "You should think about a Rosetta Stone. Your Spanish and French got mixed up." JJ sticks up the middle finger on both hands.

"We should Bon Voyage outta here." Sarah says.

We get the Twinkie out of the water. "Woooo!! The Twinkie lives!!" JJ yells. I smile inside of the van and JB looks at me and comes and sits next to me. JJ is out in the back of Kie's truck.

"You still love him?" He asks.

"I don't think I'll ever stop." I say.