Day Twenty-Two
"I uh... I have to pee," Toni announced as Shelby and Hunter continued to walk ahead of her. Hunter sniggered a little at how young her girlfriend sounded, the dark haired girl sending her a playful scowl as Shelby slowed to a halt.
Shelby and Hunter both turned their backs to Toni as she squatted behind them, the two Texans standing awkwardly as they waited on her to finish. It reminded them all of their first day on the island, when Shelby had needed to pee and Hunter and Toni had been the ones who stood awkwardly.
"It's not happening," Toni told them both, Hunter sighing in slight disbelief as Shelby tried not to turn around to talk to the girl. "Performance anxiety."
"I can walk further away?" Shelby asked before looking to her side where Hunter was shrugging in agreement. "We can walk further away."
"Or you know, you could sing?" Toni suggested, Hunter almost face-palming at the suggestion. It was clear Toni was remembering their first trio trek in the forest and was wanting to lift the mood a little - since it had been Shelby who insisted on singing when she had peed.
"Oh dear god, no," Hunter muttered, Shelby and Toni both letting out small laughs at her expression. Shelby looked to Hunter for approval almost, the other blonde sighing once more but while motioning with her hands for Shelby to take the imaginary microphone.
There was a slight moment of silence before Shelby started singing. Hunter and Toni were both confused by her choice of song, but at the same time Hunter kinda felt like it was a good vibe.
They had all seemingly picked up a habit of singing at weird times - something that had started with Jeanette's funeral and their heart-warming rendition of "Raise Your Glass". Hunter just knew that if this was some sort of reality TV show that the people watching them would have been in hysterics at it - but as much as she wished it was, it wasn't. Jeanette's death had been very real and it still caused a shiver to travel down her spine at the thought of it.
"I'm gonna pop some tags, only got $20 in my pocket," Shelby started to sing, nudging Hunter's side a little with a smile and trying to get the other girl to join in. She knew fine well that the Boyd girl knew the song, for she'd heard the cheer team perform to it more than once in their high school career.
"Absolutely not."
"Macklemore, where did that come from?" Toni laughed, knowing that there was no chance Hunter was going to join in.
"First thing that came to my head."
"It's random, I like it," Toni told them before looking at how Shelby and Hunter were both exchanging knowing looks. "What? You two making some secret pact to take me out?"
"Yeah, obviously," Hunter replied sarcastically before rolling her eyes with a laugh. Shelby giggled a little her antics before Hunter continued. "It's just the song. I did a few cheer routines to it back in the day."
"Back in the day?" Shelby asked, her voice cracking as she tried to hold back laughter. "You were doing it a week before we ended up here!"
"Shut up," Toni replied, her voice also breaking with laughter as Hunter tried to cover her now bright red face. "Macklemore and cheerleading? Wow Boyd, didn't know you could get anymore basic."
"Ah ah, I'm hunting, looking for a come up, this is fricking awesome," Shelby continued, causing all three of them to burst into laughter at the teasing. Toni slowly rose back to her feet as the trio began to walk again, Shelby willingly opening up to the other two as they moved. "You know the first time that song came on the radio, I thought they were saying 'pop some caps'."
"No way! I thought the same thing," Toni admitted, Hunter muttering under her breath playfully as the two both smacked her lightly on her forearms, the girl sniggering as they continued walking through the greenery.
There was a lot of character development in just that action alone. If either of them had even considered lightly touching her back when the plane had stranded them on the island, Hunter would have freaked out. Yet here she was, with two of the people she had grown to respect more than she ever thought was possible - even if Shelby's beliefs had caused a lot of drama for them in the middle.
Hunter knew that just being around Toni and Hunter was helping the blonde girl to embrace that side of her that she had always been shunned by her family for, and she was just thankful that Shelby was seemingly no longer trying to act like she hadn't kissed Toni that day in the trees.
"Are you just saying that to make me feel better?"
"Why would I ever do that?"
"I dunno, it seems like a good old situation of the blind leading the blind," Hunter said, causing the other two to pause their slight playful banter and turn to look at her in confusion. "What? You're both just as clueless as each other on Macklemore lyrics it seems."
"Yeah, well I didn't know until I got sent to the principals office for singing a song about armed robbery," Toni admitted as she smirked at Hunter for a moment, glad that despite their huge hunger cravings they were able to find something to be happy about.
The laughter was short lived however, as bushes in front of the three girls started to rumble. Hunter jumped backwards in fright, Toni wrapping her arms around her to steady her girlfriend while Shelby raised the hunting stick she had made from a large branch defensively in front of them.
"Did you hear that?"
"OBVIOUSLY!" Hunter exclaimed, motioning to how she had jumped about twenty feet into the air in fright. Toni shushed her as they moved forward slowly and carefully, worried about what they were going to find.
Toni reached out, pulling a branch forward so that Hunter and Shelby could move by without getting scraped in the face with it. There was a moment as the three all looked at each other in a deeper level of understanding, knowing that this really did signify a big change from their early days together. Shelby getting launched down a hill no longer seemed like a possibility here, and Hunter was sure that they all had changed a lot since that event.
"GO! PLEASE!"
Hunter furrowed her eyebrows as she heard Martha's panicked tone, sharing a concerned look with Toni and Shelby as the three of them picked up the pace slightly.
"Martha, you found it!" Shelby exclaimed as she rounded the corner, Hunter finally seeing what it was that Martha had managed to find. A big white and black goat was standing eating a leaf beside Martha, the girl in question now standing to her feet and trying to shoo it away from them.
As the goat took off into the trees, Hunter couldn't help but feel a sudden overwhelming frustration with the girl in front of her. She knew that Martha felt strongly about not hurting animals, but at this point it was either them or the goat.
"What the hell Marty?" Toni asked, her look harsh and disapproving as she watched the goat disappear. Hunter and Shelby rushed past Martha, hell bent on chasing that goat down since it might be the last meal they'd ever get at this rate.
"I'll go track it down," Shelby told them, moving ahead without a second thought.
Hunter paused for a second before Toni nodded at her, showing that she would be fine with Martha if the blonde wanted to go and help Shelby. She looked between the two best friends and even she knew when it was best to leave them to it, so she turned on her heel with a small glance at them both as she shot off after Shelby.
_____
"Do you think Martha's gonna be okay?" Shelby asked a little while later after Toni had rejoined them on their tracking of the goat. She had told them that Martha wasn't coming with them, and that it was maybe for the best that she didn't.
"I don't know," Toni admitted as she squeezed Hunter's hand, having not let go of it since she rejoined them. Hunter didn't question it and if Shelby had noticed she hadn't bothered to mention it either. Hunter was Toni's comfort blanket - especially after arguing with Martha. "Maybe, maybe not. This place makes you like face your demons or something and it turns out your demons are really fucking ugly."
There was a moment of awkward silence as both Shelby and Hunter agreed at the same time, a wave of guilt rushing over Toni as she realised what she had just said to arguably two of the most damaged out of them all.
"I didn't mean...you both, I just meant like...everybody's," Toni said, her tone a lot softer as she looked between the two girls. The three of them were a lot more alike than all the other girls had realised, and there had been a suddenly new and unbreakable bond formed over the past few days with the trio.
"I know," Shelby said as Hunter nodded in agreement, giving Toni's hand a reassuring squeeze. Shelby's eyes looked down at their hands for a moment before she flickered back up to their faces, noticing how they were looking at each other with nothing but deep love. "I really think I should go back and make sure Martha's okay."
"You sure?" Hunter asked, her voice a lot more concerned than it had been previously. The last thing she wanted was for both Shelby and Martha to get lost, or even worse, find each other and have a fight over the goat.
"Yeah, I'll be alright," Shelby told them before looking at Toni with a smirk. "Besides, I'm sure if you find the goat you'll manage to bore it to sleep with your stories."
Toni gave the blonde a middle finger while Shelby retraced their steps back into the trees, herself and Hunter laughing as she did. Before they knew it, the soft sounds of Shelby's footsteps had gradually phased out of their hearing and they were officially alone.
"Look, I really didn't mean your demons..."
"Toni, shut the fuck up," Hunter said, her voice suddenly quiet as her eyes focused just over the girls shoulder. Toni furrowed her eyebrows, scowling at Hunter as she thought that the girl was annoyed at her. Just before Toni could say anything back, Hunter placed her hands on the girl's shoulders and spun her around so that she could see what Hunter had.
"Is that...?"
"Toni, it's lychees!"
____
After sprinting the distance to the tree, Hunter and Toni were honestly in a state of euphoria as they plucked at the lychees from the tree. Hunter had already cracked one open, diving right in while Toni took a moment to admire the fact they'd managed to actually find a food source.
"Oh my god, this is better than when Hudson beat up Riley," Hunter muttered as she continued to eat through the lychees, Toni looking up in surprise at the words coming from Hunter's mouth since the girl never usually mentioned the fight her brother had with her abusive ex.
Toni smiled at her as Hunter realised what she had said, scrunching up her nose as she paused from where she was devouring a lychee, squinting a little at Toni.
"I just ruined the moment, didn't I?"
"Hunts, you never ruin any moment," Toni told her with a small smile, reaching out and eating her own lychee off the tree. "Besides, even if we end up hurling after this it'll still be worth it!"
Hunter hummed in agreement, knowing that this was the best news they'd received since they thought they were getting rescued by that plane. As they continued to help themselves to a few more lychees, Hunter looked up and made eye contact with Toni as the girl dropped one of the finished ones to the floor.
"I'm glad we're here," Hunter admitted, causing Toni to pause from where she was about to take another lychee. "Like at this tree, with you - like I don't mean I'm glad we got stranded after a plane crash but I just mean that I'm glad if it was with anyone it was with you. Fucking hell, Toni Shalifoe, I love you so much it almost hurts."
Toni grinned widely at Hunter before laughing, the blonde girl rolling her eyes at her girlfriends antics.
"What, I pour my heart out and you think it's funny?"
"No idiot," Toni said fondly, shuffling closer to Hunter slowly as if giving the girl time to decide if she was fine with her coming closer. Even though they were literally inseparable at this point, Hunter still loved how cautious Toni was about respecting her space. "You've got lychee on your face."
As Toni brushed it away with her thumb, Hunter didn't waste any time in lunging forward and pulling her girlfriend's lips against her own. Toni mumbled in surprise at first, but instantly melted into the kiss with a grin on her lips.
Things started to get a little heated almost straight away. All the jumping and fluttering around each other all day had worked its way up to this, and now they were finally alone didn't help manners. The sheer high of finding food and being here with each other was euphoric. It was like a metaphorical gold rush.
Just as Toni's hands slid under Hunter's tee, the blonde squeaked in surprise a little and Toni instantly jumped backwards, worried that she had taken things too far.
"Fucking hell Toni," Hunter mumbled, her hands still resting against Toni's cheeks as she looked at her girlfriend who was staring back with panicked eyes. "Your hands are freezing!"
Toni sniggered a little, relief overcoming her as she realised that she hadn't done anything wrong.
"You think you can handle them?" Toni asked, an edge to her voice as Hunter knew what she was really trying to ask her girlfriend. Hunter smiled brightly at her with a chuckle, nodding as she pulled her top off herself without waiting for Toni.
"I think we'll manage."
_____
Hunter scooted backwards on the ground as Toni moved over her, in a straddling position. Her lips ghosted along Hunter's neck as the girl arched her back to try and avoid some of the branches poking at her bare skin, groaning as Toni nibbled along her neck and began to suck a trail downwards. The texan could already feel the hickey bruising appearing, but knew that she'd hear all about it from Fatin once the girl saw it.
Hunter reached down, undoing the button on her jean shorts as they continued to kiss frantically on the ground. Toni smiled, pushing them down her legs as she did the same to her own basketball shorts. They both paused for a second, admiring each other before connecting their bodies again.
Toni wasn't expecting anymore than this, this was where she assumed they would stay at for a bit before stopping. But Hunter seemingly had other ideas in mind as she thought about all that had happened over the past few weeks. And to Toni, Hunter was more than just her girlfriend, she was someone the basketball player could no longer imagine life without.
She was not hers, no, Toni was more than someone who would ever belong to anyone. She was a raging inferno not to be reckoned with, she belonged to no-one. She was more than just a free spirit, she was a fresh pool of glinting water in a dehydrated dusty Savannah, and she was the moon in the darkest of Hunter's worst nights. It was like Hunter was drowning, and Toni was the only lifeline that was able to keep her from being dragged under to never return again.
Toni was bold, she was brave, she was daring. Hunter was kind, she was passionate, she was intelligent. And to Hunter, Toni was a friend, a fighter, a survivor. She was like the feeling of knowing everything was going to be okay in the end. She was a warrior, and she was everything she ever could have dreamt of.
Toni looked down at Hunter as she noticed the girl had paused and was simply staring at her with a look she wasn't sure she had seen on her face before.
"What? Do you want me to stop?" Toni began, worried that she had done something to upset the girl or pushed her too far, since it wasn't her cold hands this time.
Hunter laughed lightly, a small smile on her face. "No, it's not you." There was a pause before she explained. "Toni, I love you. And I know this might change everything between us but I just need to hear you say it-"
Hunter instantly found herself being cut off, the rough but gentle lips being pressed frantically back into her own.
"I love you too. I'm not leaving you, not now and not ever. I'm all in Hunter, I'm all in."
"Okay, good," Hunter said before grinning back, having gotten the reassurance she needed. As they continued to kiss, Toni lightly ran her hand along Hunter's thigh, before stopping just at the edge of her pelvis.
They broke apart for a second, Toni looking at the girl once more with a wondering look. "You sure?"
"I've never been more sure of anything in my life," Hunter agreed, smiling into the kiss that Toni answered her with.
Sure, the rest of the girls might have been starving for the lychees, but Hunter and Toni were starving for each other. Maybe they should have gone straight back once finding the tree, but there was nothing about that moment that either would change.
Because Hunter loved Toni and Toni loved Hunter and that's all there was in that moment under the lychee tree: nothing but pure, innocent love.
_____
"Look, I know you're fed up of our questions but we've just got a few more things to try and work out from you all before we lift the quarantine order," Agent Young told Hunter as he spoke to the girl who was sitting against the vending machine in the corridor.
Gretchen had told him that he needed to do whatever it took to make the girl feel comfortable to open up to them, since she seemed a little less keen than all the others did. Sure, they knew a lot of the answers to the questions they were asking but to keep Gretchen's experimental data looking sharp, they needed the words to come from Hunter's mouth.
"So I'll ask again, and you don't need to answer straight away, but what happened to give you that scar on your face? It seems pretty nasty."
Hunter shrugged as she continued to tuck into a fag of Fuego Taki's. She'd never been a huge fan of them, but it almost felt wrong to pick anything else from the vending machine these days. They had been the favourite of most of the girls - including Martha and Toni.
She ran a hand over the scar on her jawline, almost closing her eyes and remembering the exact same way Toni had done the same before it had been marked with the hideous, jagged scar. Yet again something that island had tainted for her.
"Fatin told us that you're incredibly self-conscious of it."
"Then why keep bringing it up?" Hunter snapped before sighing as she noticed the taken aback look on Agent Young's face. Even though she didn't trust anyone in this facility for shit, she did feel slightly bad still for snapping at the one person who seemed slightly human. "Yeah, I guess I am a little self-conscious. It's just a permanent reminder that things can't go back to how they were the day we found the lychees,"
"The lychees?"
"Yeah. Maybe one of the only good days on that fucking island. If you don't mind Agent Young, I want to go back to sleep now."