Day Sixteen
Shelby
"Here they are, the brave young women whose tale of struggle and survival has gripped the nation. The Unskinkable Nine, as we have come to know them. Ladies, you must have dreamed of coming home for so long. Now that you're here, what do you wanna do most?"
"Honestly?" Dot asked, her smile spreading across her face as she answered the question. "Smoke about a hundred cigs, you know? Like really rip through a carton or two."
"Okay! How about the rest of you?"
"I don't know, maybe hit up the OG for a never ending pasta bowl and just - I don't know, get back to our real lives," Toni replied, her fingers playing lightly with Hunter's as she looked at the blonde beside her on her right and to Martha who was on her left.
"I'd like to read The Odyssey again," Nora said, Hunter smiling softly at the innocence of the girl sometimes. "Rather than like, live it."
"Leah, what about you?"
"Oh, um, I just wanna reconnect with certain people... people who may have been worried and-or felt like we had unfinished business," Leah admitted before turning to face forward, her eyes staring straight ahead. "And if that person is watching right now, I just wanna say that I did not not miss you every day. Ehm, Hunter?"
Hunter smiled at how Leah had just realised what she had said before passing the spotlight over to the blonde girl who was wedged in between Fatin and Toni at the end of the couch.
"I'm just mostly excited to see my brother, and to see new beginnings," Hunter said, everyone a little confused at what she meant by the last part minus Toni who knew exactly what the new beginnings were.
"My turn, Brooke," Fatin said, bored of the other answers. "I've got a nice, straight answer for you. I am going to fuck the rowdiest guy with the biggest dick as soon as I fucking can."
Everyone's heads snapped to the side to look at where Fatin was sitting at the end of the line, the illusion of a talkshow immediately gone from their head at Fatin's certainly unaireably response to the question.
"I don't think you can say that on live TV," Leah pointed out, her eyebrows scrunched up as she looked at the girl who had wrapped herself back up in her fluffy pink coat.
Leah and Hunter both smiled at each other as they chuckled under their breaths, their earlier alteration completely gone from their minds now that the chance of rescue seemed like it was coming. Hunter was just excited to get back to Hudson and tell him everything, but she wasn't lying if she said that the island had certainly changed her more than she ever thought it would - she was finally getting back to her usual self.
"Okay, make it more media-friendly," Fatin told them as she raised the hairbrush back up to her mouth as if it was a microphone. "I am going to fornicate with the healthiest penis ASAP."
"All right, I wanna change my answer! You remember that guy I was telling you about?" Dot asked them all, and Hunter nodded as she faintly remembered a conversation prior about this guy that Dot had kissed before all of this.
"Nurse Mateo Caliente?" Fatin and Hunter asked at the same time, erupting into laughter as they both imitated each other without even realising. Toni sniggered from where she was sitting beside Hunter, looking at the blonde and grinning as she noticed how carefree she seemed.
"I'm 100% going to jump him as soon as I see him," Dot admitted, everyone grinning at that - minus Shelby, whom Hunter had noticed was yet to even smile since they had realised that they were probably going home after the plane had flown overhead. Hunter wanted to speak to the girl but after watching her kiss Toni she knew exactly why Shelby wasn't excited to go back to their Texan town: her very openly homophobic family gave that one away for Hunter.
"Atta girl," Fatin replied, looking down the line at Leah. "While we're working on our responses, you wanna work on that emo shit show of yours?"
"Was it maybe not that great?" Leah asked, knowing fine well that her reply had been a little desperate.
"LEAH!" Fatin exclaimed as she sat up, winking at Hunter as the girl groaned at her dramatics. "You are going to be trending! Romeos from all over the world are gonna be blowing up your DMs!"
Fatin moved down the line, dropping herself in between Martha and Leah, the former who turned excited at the words that the girl was saying. Toni smiled at Martha's excitement, but her smile only grew bigger as Hunter rested her hands behind her on the sand and linked her left fingers through Toni's. Toni didn't look at her, but squeezed her hand gently to let her know she appreciated it.
"Um, do you think Romeos will be in my DMs too?" Martha asked, praying that she was finally going to get a boy to like her, although Hunter found it hard to believe no boy ever had liked the girl.
"Martha, angel, your DMs will be overflowing," Fatin exclaimed as if it was obvious, smiling warmly at the girl. Martha grinned as she leaned backwards, her hand wrapping around the neck of the vodka bottle as she raised it to the sky.
"WE'RE GOING HOME BITCHES!"
As Dot dragged Nora to her feet in a celebratory dance as they all got excited about the prospect of going home, Toni and Hunter watched as Shelby finally got up from the line and walked away without saying anything.
Hunter went to move after her, but instinctively stopped herself as she realised that the girl needed more time alone with her thoughts. Toni nodded in agreement, but knew that they couldn't leave her there herself forever but for now, it was time to celebrate.
____
"So, um, according to the others you were the resident optimist."
"Oh that's sweet. Though I'm sure that's not how they put it," a bald Shelby replied to the men, an unsettling grin on her face as her eyes flickered between them.
"No, no, not exactly. What was that one expression?"
"'Shelby's a Pollyanna mall girl who probably shits confetti'."
"Fatin, bless her heart."
"Yeah, but once you thought rescue was imminent, that uh, enthusiasm flatlined. Do you care to explain why?"
"Adrenaline had been pumping for so long, you know, as soon as I knew I could relax, I just sort of crashed. Only so long before you run out of stamina."
_____
"So you're saying we can eat everything?"
"Hell yeah," Dot told them all as they sat around the bags of supplies, a huge grin crossing Hunter's face at the words. She had been desperate to get a real good meal especially since the mussels incident and this seemed like the perfect opportunity. "Major closes sale, everything must go!"
Hunter laughed along with Dot as Toni took a heavy swig out of the bottle of vodka, passing it to Hunter who did the same as Dot through a can of diet coke in their direction, making sure that they had something to either mix it with or chase it down with.
Hunter shimmied over to the space beside Martha, noticing that the girl was looking through Jeanette's bag again since they never really got a proper look as Leah had accidentally punched Hunter and then not so accidentally accused Shelby of being some spy or something.
"The ration queen lets loose, I'm into it."
"We were robbed of our island vacay. Here's our chance to take one day of it back, maybe live a little."
Hunter barely looked at the packet of sweets in Martha's hands as she offered them to the girl, instead taking one of the little gummy bears as she popped it into her mouth. As soon as it hit her tongue, she squinted slightly at the taste before turning to look at the packet.
"Hey, the hell Martha, you've got candy?" Toni asked as she noticed Hunter and Martha had ate the gummy bears, not noticing the confused look on Hunter's face.
"Hey! Where'd you get those?"
"Side pocket of Jeanette's bag. Am I in trouble? I thought everything must go."
There was a moment of silence before Hunter finally spoke, her eyes wide as she came to a realisation. She looked between them all with a amused grin on her face as she realised exactly what her and Martha had just digested.
"Guys, I don't think we've just ate candy."
"Yeah no, Martha, Hunter, these..." Leah laughed before continuing, "these aren't candy: they're edibles."
"Well I know they're edible, we just ate them," Martha said as Hunter burst into laughter, Toni trying to hold it back as she realised exactly what Hunter and Martha had accidentally just taken. Toni was glad that Hunter didn't seem to care that she was about to head on a trip journey, which eased her nerves a little.
"No, no, like THC. POT! Martha, they're marijuana bears," Leah explained to the girl as she passed the packet to Fatin who was howling with laughter too, everyone not sure what to make of the situation other than the fact it was fucking hilarious.
"Oh man, these are potent! I had a foot once and I couldn't feel my feet for like 24 hours. I didn't know I had them."
"So... what would happen if someone accidentally ate three?" Martha asked, panic across her face as everyone erupted into more laughter at the look of sheer confusion on her face, Hunter howling as she leaned against Toni for support from the laughs that were racking her body.
Rachel's jaw dropped in shock but also amusement at Martha's announcement, Toni and Hunter now both rolling on the sand as they tried to stop laughing but just couldn't.
"Oh Martha, you're gonna be tripping motherfucking balls dude. Hunter, don't think you're off the hook either, you're in for a journey too."
"And they won't be alone," Rachel announced, holding out her hand for the bag and accepting it from a gawking Fatin. "First-timer. Fuck it."
"I'm in too," Toni said, accepting the bag from Rachel as she looked between Hunter and Martha and knew that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity most likely. "Solidarity, baby."
Leah was next to snatch the bag, deciding that if everyone else was gonna do it then she might as well too. Besides, it wasn't like anything horrific would happen since they were kinda stuck on an island. Fatin, Nora and Dot followed the others, all popping one bear into their mouth as they all looked across the circle at each other in anticipation.
"Alright, I'm gonna go take a piss before it happens involuntarily," Dot announced as she rose to her feet, smiling at them all. She grabbed the bottle of vodka and looked at Hunter for a moment, the other Texan understanding that she was going to go and make sure that Shelby was okay while she was going. Hunter nodded subtly, smiling as Dot walked by.
_____
"I am so fucking blissed out," Fatin said as she sat cross-legged in the sand, all the others lying on the ground around her as the effects of the gummies started to kick in. Martha was certainly hitting it the most, having already been calling out for Marcus the dummy. "Not even from the dummies, just the thought that in 48 hours I can have an orgasm."
"Wait, you haven't like... self-induced?" Leah asked as the rest chuckled at Fatin's words.
"No," Fatin said, shaking her head. "I can't do it with my hands, actually. I have this weird cello-vibrato PTSD. It's a whole thing."
"So your electric toothbrush hasn't seen any action? I mean, we've all just assumed," Dot asked as Fatin laughed and shook her head again, causing Hunter to snort from where she had been laying on her back between Toni and Dot and staring up at the sky.
"I might be a honey bitch but I'm not gonna scrub my teeth and my labia with the same brush."
"Hold up, didn't you put her toothbrush in your mouth Dot?" Hunter asked, her words a little slurred as she stumbled over the sentence a little. They all laughed at her attempt to speak, but also at the avoid point that she made.
"Wait, who has got off here?" Fatin asked, changing the subject as Dot stuck her middle finger up at Hunter. The blonde sniggered as she raised her hand without any hesitation, looking around and noticing that everyone minus Martha and Rachel also lifted their hands.
Rachel sat up as she looked around them all in amusement, also noticing how Toni and Hunter were holding their hands after lowering them but not bringing it up.
"Can I ask, where do you all even go to do it?"
"YEAH!" Fatin exclaimed, looking between them all in fake surprise as she watched them chuckle. "Where do you go? Where are the pleasure nests?"
Dot was the first to speak, definitely taking the piss as she began to tell her story.
"What I like to do is take Martha's suitcase..." Everyone laughed as Martha spun around on the sand in utter horror as Dot continued with the story. "Open it up and just get inside it."
"What's everybody talking about?"
Hunter looked over at Shelby as the girl appeared at the edge of the circle, sending her a reassuring smile that the girl hesitated before returning, confused as to why she was being so nice to her after kissing Toni when it was clear that the two girls had something going on.
"Yeah, I do it too- uh- with the, the uh, the bath jets at our home Jacuzzi," Shelby said, her fist still clutched around the bottle of vodka. Toni's smile fell slightly as she let go of Hunter's hand and rolled on to her stomach to get a good look at how wasted Shelby actually was. "I might be a virgin but I'm not just some prude. Love me an orgasm."
"Wow, I mean, just when I thought this place couldn't surprise me anymore, turns out Shelby likes to fuck her Whirlpool," Fatin announced, everyone sniggering slightly as Shelby looked at Fatin with an emotion that Hunter couldn't quite place.
"Yes I do. So let's cheers to our orgasms!" Shelby announced as she raised the bottle of vodka in the air.
Toni turned to Dot and Hunter, lowering her voice ever so slightly in concern of the blonde girl that was standing at the edge of the circle. "Jesus, she's trashed."
"Yeah," Dot laughed back, not even noticing that Toni suddenly seemed a little concerned about the blonde when she had hated her days prior. "That's a little bit my bad."
"You know, I'm gonna deny this until the day I die but I'm gonna miss the shit out of you guys," Fatin announced, looking between them all with a big smile. "And if you're ever in LA, you got a place to crash."
"Wait, you're not moving back to the Bay?" Leah asked, and Hunter had to assume that was where the duo was from. She knew they were from California somewhere but had no idea what Bay this was or where it was.
"Yeah, no, I got this whole life mapped out. I'm gonna go to LA and cash in this heinous watch, at 1600 Vine where all the influencers live."
"No idea what any of that means, but if you're looking for a roommate I might be interested," Dot said, sitting up a little more seriously as she thought about what she had left for her in Texas.
"Dorothy, are you offering to be my live-in muscle? Yes, obviously yes! People are gonna assume we're lovers because let's face it those cargo shorts still scream gay-"
"It's not our uniform, you know," Toni said from where she was trying to braid Hunter's hair. The girl had demanded she try and Toni couldn't say no to her with that pout. "We've all got our own different swag."
"I know, I'm just saying... people are gonna talk and I'm gonna like it."
"Aw god, get a room you two!" Hunter muttered, a grin on her face to show that she was only joking. Everyone looked at her for a moment as they toyed on whether or not to make a joke about her and Toni, but it all came down to whether or not anyone was brave enough to make the joke knowing that there was a chance of Hunter getting defensive or Toni talking it the wrong way and getting angry.
"Maaaaybe you should take that advice," Leah joked from where she was laying in Fatin's lap, peeking up to see how the girls took it. Toni wasn't fazed at all by the comment and Hunter simply sniggered as Dot and Fatin continued to make smooching faces at each other.
"OKAY! Hey, campers," Shelby said, obviously getting uneasy around the topic. Hunter didn't see it as her being homophobic to them the way she did with the mussels, but rather knew that there was some sort of internalised struggle in her mind. She couldn't hate her for that, all she could do was help Shelby to see that everything her family had tried to install in her was lies. "I bu-what, what do you say that I do what I do best and suggest some fucking games?"
There was a moment of silence as they all started at the clearly drunk Shelby, Hunter looking up from where Toni was braiding her hair to smile at the girl.
"You say your prayers with that mouth, Goodkind?" Hunter joked, echoing Toni's earlier comment to the girl. Shelby smiled ever so gently at that, knowing that Hunter wasn't trying to hurt her but show her that there wasn't any bad blood.
The silence continued after that for a moment before Martha stumbled to her feet, letting out a battle cry as she cheered at the suggestion. Everyone erupted into more laughter, including Hunter who leaned her body backwards into Toni as the girl hugged her from behind as everyone started to rise to their feet.
For the first time in a long time, Hunter couldn't help the overwhelming hope that was spreading across her body. They were going home soon - and while the island had been a nightmare at points, she was forever going to be grateful for the family she had made on the island.
She just couldn't wait for Hudson to meet them too.
_____
The girls all played in the ocean, Hunter noting how the last time they had mucked around in the water properly had been back when they had found the bag of Taki's. A lot had changed since then, and that was obvious from the fact that Hunter was sitting on Fatin's shoulders, wrestling with Leah who was on Toni's.
If this had been their first week on the island, Hunter wouldn't have even let them near her let alone trust them to have her on their shoulders. Life had a strange way of taking something utterly horrible and turning it into something that she was almost proud of surviving.
Hunter laughed as she fell into the water, moving to the side so that Nora could takeover on Fatin's shoulders. She smiled at them all for a moment before noticing where Shelby was sitting alone on the sand with the bottle of vodka, scratching at the wet sand under her hands.
She moved over to the girl, stepping out of the ocean and approaching her slowly, carefully sitting down beside her so that the girl didn't feel as if she was about to do anything drastic. Shelby smiled lightly at her before going back to staring ahead of her, although Hunter knew her eyes weren't focused.
"I don't hate you Shelby," Hunter eventually said, looking ahead of her and mirroring the other blonde girl. Shelby's eyes shifted to the side where Martha and Toni were laughing as they turned around and looked in their direction for a brief moment before turning back.
"Yeah, whatever," Shelby muttered, taking a swig of the vodka as she refused to look at Hunter.
"I don't," Hunter said, a little firmer this time as she turned to face the girl, all of the effects of the edible having pretty much started to wear off for her now. "I pity you, but I don't hate you. I know you regret... what you did in the woods... but I don't hate you for it - I mean, I can't really judge you either since I kinda did the same... but not the point. What I'm trying to say is that you don't need to hide that, you don't need to be ashamed of that."
Shelby turned to look at her, a look of anger on her face for even bringing up the girl kissing Toni, but Hunter continued speaking before she could start on her.
"And while you might not believe it yourself, it doesn't make you any lesser a person. If your family can't accept that part of you, there's always a spare room just down the road."
Hunter got up before Shelby could argue back, not wanting to hear about how it was a sin or how she was going to hell. She'd seen it before in their town, the internal hatred of the church teens who were hiding who they were; heck her brother's best friend had even gone to a few sessions of conversion therapy prayers with Shelby's dad before eventually realising that he didn't need to change.
Hunter just hoped Shelby would come to the same conclusion as he had: that there was never any reason to be ashamed of who you are.
_____
"Not to presume anything about your circumstances, but oftentimes alcohol is used as a numbing agent, a way to anaesthetise oneself from feelings that are too painful or too frightening."
"Or... we were just excited to get off that godforsaken island and felt like getting loose. Sirs, I was and am over the goddamn moon about getting back to a little civilisation."
_____
Hunter didn't say anything as she watched Toni and Shelby talk from afar, knowing how the conversation had gone as soon as Shelby stood up after snarling at Toni and storming away. She didn't need to ask what had been said because it was exactly why she had left after saying what she needed to.
Toni instead huffed slightly before treading across the sand towards Hunter who was sitting on a rock and getting ready to watch the sunrise. It was something that she had missed doing and being on the island had given her nothing if not plenty of chances to just watch it.
"Shelby's been through a lot," Hunter eventually said as they sat together, huddled up next to each other in silence. "I know we have too, before you point that out - but we're in the same storm."
"Isn't the phrase 'in the same boat'?" Toni asked, fiddling with Hunter's fingers as she tucked a piece of blonde hair that she hadn't managed to get into her blonde plaits behind the girl's ear. Hunter smiled gently at Toni, shrugging as she stared into her eyes.
"Yeah, but we're not in the same boat, are we? Me and you, sure we've had it rough but we've always been okay with who we are: Shelby isn't. We've been in the same storm of trying to figure our sexualities out, but we weren't in the same boat that she is. I guess we're just lucky that Martha and Hudson never judged us for it."
Toni almost gasped at how Hunter had so much patience and love for everyone, still amazed that Riley Black would ever have had the nerve to lay a single hand on the girl. Toni swore that after Regan, she would never have an epic love again but here she was, not a single thought for her ex but all her thoughts about the blonde girl who was smiling at her.
"Im certainly lucky to have somehow ended up on this fucking dreadful island, here, with you," Toni said, a little humour in her tone about the island but nothing but sincerity about the girl. Hunter grinned as she looked at Toni for a moment longer before leaning forward and bringing her into a kiss.
Toni closed her eyes for a moment, listening to the gentle waves of the sea as she kissed Hunter back, wondering how she ever got lucky enough to have fallen for a girl who fell for her back the way Hunter did.
Hunter and Toni broke apart with smiles and blushes across their faces as cheers erupted from where the others were sitting at the camp, having looking across just at the moment that the girls had locked lips. Sure, Fatin and Leah weren't hugely surprised at all by this development, nor was Dot but it was still a big move for them to have kissed in front of everyone.
Hunter was glad the plane was coming, but for a brief moment as they all laughed on that beach under the setting sun, she wished that nothing would ever end this moment.