Chapter Eighty Six: Just Kiss Already
~~~
"When Mr. Kon comes back, he's gonna want the rest of the control chips," Darius said.
Brooklynn nodded in agreement, "We gotta destroy them."
Yasmina agreed, "Yeah, and get rid of any blueprints or files so he can't make more."
Eva bit into her muffin, moaning at the taste. She missed baked goods so, so much.
"Where do you think the files are?" Sammy questioned.
"My best guess is Kash's computer," Darius replied. "Okay, Brooklynn, Eva and I will go to Kash's office and delete those files. Sammy, Yaz, and Ben, you go to the workshop and destroy those chips."
"Actually," Ben said, taking a bite out of his muffin. "I think I've moved on beyond pure destruction. I wanna be on Team Delete The Blueprints."
"Really?"
"What happened to explosions are my thing?"
"Hey, don't put me in a box. A man can evolve."
"A man?" Eva snickered. "You're fourteen."
"Fifteen!" He corrected. "If we really were on Nublar for six months, I'm fifteen now."
Eva shrugged. "Well, if you want to delete the blueprints so badly, I'll join Yaz and Sammy on total destruction!" Her voice grew deep and dramatic. "With my girls, sounds like it could be a lot of fun."
Yaz grinned. "What do you guys say to a friendly competition?"
"Like a race?" Darius and Brooklynn stood to their feet. "I say you're on."
"Ooh, I love that sound of that!" Sammy cheered. She rubbed her hands together as she spoke, "I can't wait to blow the chips and workshop to smithereens!"
"Or, maybe we don't start a massive chemical fire inside the biome," Yasmina suggested.
Sammy giggled. "Good call! I don't know what I would do without you! Camp fire on the cliffs outside?"
"We'll meet you, or should I say, beat you, there," Brooklynn said, already heading for the cave entrance.
"Losers roast the marshmallows!" Ben threw a pack of marshmallows on the coffee table.
"Excellent. We ready?"
"Set," Eva said.
"Go!" They all screamed, running for the door.
~~~
Ever since Brooklynn fessed up about her and Darius a couple hours prior, all Eva could think about was how cute they were together. After six months, Darilynn was finally sailing. Now she just needed to get Yasmina and Sammy together, and she could leave the island happy. Even after everything that had happened, she knew her best friends working out would leave her in a better place than she was now.
Yasmina, Sammy and Eva crept throught the warehouse in search of the control chips.
"Hey Yaz?" Sammy whispered. "No one is on the island but us, right?"
"Right."
"And we said these repair BRADs aren't lethal, right?"
"Right," Eva chimed in.
"So, why are we hiding?" Sammy stood and walked into the open.
Yasmina and Eva shared a look, and said in sync, "You make a good point."
They stopped sneaking and stood up, walking towards Kash's old work desk.
Sammy picked up an earbud. "Kash's. Oh, this is definitely going in the fire."
Yaz snickered, pushing the earbud away from her. She opened a chest, revealing a three by eight block of dino chips. "This goes against everything Mae believes. Can't believe Kon made her work on these control chips." Yaz shot Eva a look when she mentioned Kon, but Eva was too busy looking around for more control chips.
Sammy pushed into Eva's side, fists curling at her sides. "He's... actually, I can't think of a word bad enough to describe him! I hope she's okay..."
"Ready to start a bonfire?" Eva asked, hoping to draw the attention away from her ex boyfriend.
"Yes!"
"Hell yeah!"
Sammy tossed the earbud into the case before Yaz closed it. "Man, this was way easier than I thought. Plus side, we're gonna win by a mile. On the other hand, we're gonna have to wait forever for those marshmallows."
"Well, I can think of something to keep us busy while we wait."
Eva and Sammy turned to Yaz curiously. Yaz picked up a crowbar, and then looked between the two girls and the BRAD.
"Wait, we said they're not lethal," Sammy said.
"But they fix the ones that are."
"Hm... You make a good point."
"Oh, I am so ready for this!" Eva rubbed her hands together, following after the brunette.
Yasmina got four hits in before the BRAD fell over, collapsing like a tired puppy.
"I think we broke them."
Eva pouted, the hand that was holding the mallet swinging by her side. "Awe, I didn't even get to hit him!"
~~~
"Sometimes it's hard to believe how beautiful this forest really is," Yaz said, breaking the silence.
"I'm sorry, say what now?"
Yaz sheepishly rubbed her neck. "I just mean, this place would be kind of amazing if there weren't killer dinosaurs everywhere."
"Maybe someday we'll get to go to a real forest together."
Eva's heart swelled, excitedly watching her two best friends interact. Just when were they going to confess their feelings for each other?
"You'd really go camping with me?" Yaz asked, shocked. "After all this?"
Sammy giggled, nudging Yaz's shoulder with her own. "Just try and stop me!"
~~~
"I'm so happy we won!" Sammy smiled, picking up chips and tossing them into the fire. "Of course, I couldn't have done it without the best partner in the world. Oh! And Eva. Can't forget our favorite wild card!"
Eva snickered, leaning back against the log behind her, her feet absorbing the warmth from the fire in front of her.
"I think, maybe, it was just a super easy race," Yaz said, chuckling.
"Stop that!" Sammy grabbed on her best friend's arm, "You know you're always a winner."
Eva coughed into her elbow, and mumbled, "Just kiss already."
Yaz shot Eva a look, only being interrupted by Darius and Brooklynn's infectious laughter coming from the trees.
"Hmm, looks like the losers finally decided to show," Yaz said.
"Okay, that chip burn was definitely the easier job!"
"Mission accomplished, though?"
"Well, we were almost robot food, but, we deleted the blueprints."
"And then, uh, shut down all the BRADs, and changed the password to the system," Brooklynn listed. "The Kons are officially locked out!"
Brooklynn, Ben and Darius all high fived, before Brooklynn scooted closer to Darius's side, their thighs touching, and Brooklynn leaning into Darius's side.
Eva smiled as she watched the two melt together.
Darius slowly inched his arm around Brooklynn's lower back. "Honestly, I don't know if we really lost at all."
Yaz, Sammy and Eva smirked at Darius, who chuckled nervously.
"Well, let's get to roastin', boys!" Brooklynn produced two twigs with marshmallows fresh on them, waiting to be roasted over the fire.
"Definitely could have been worse," Ben commented.
"It was kind of fun." Darius blew out the flames that engulfed his marshmallows. "Besides the surprise BRAD attack, of course."
"The night's not over. How about we play another game? How about... two truths and a lie?" Brooklynn suggested.
"Ooh, I'll go first!" Ben said, excitedly. "Okay, um... I can hold my breath underwater for an entire minute, I once ate thirty two chicken wings in one sitting, and I had a pet goat when I was a kid."
"Thirty two wings?!" Yaz yelled.
"What the fuck," Eva cackled in laughter.
"The fact that two of those sentences are true—" Sammy burst into laughter, holding her stomach as she laughed.
"There's no way you ate thirty two wings in one sitting."
"What, so he magically can hold his breath for a minute?"
"Look at him, Brooklynn, he's a bean pole!"
"So what's it gonna be? What's my lie?"
~~~
Eva, Ben and Darius had gathered on the couch, discussing ways to hide the dinosaurs. They weren't getting very far.
"Hm... We could make disguises for all the dinosaurs?" Ben proposed.
Eva slowly blinked, turning her vision to her friend. "Disguises? Hey... that reminds me of preschool when my friend's brother dressed up as a dragon and chased me around... I was scared of dragons for a good nine years."
"You didn't know dragons weren't real until you were twelve?" Ben asked in disbelief.
"If dinosaurs, why not dragons?"
"Okay, I know I said no idea is a bad idea, but..." Darius trailed off. He was upside down on the couch, with his feet hooked over the top and his head hanging off the bottom.
Yasmina and Sammy emerged from the kitchen juggling three mugs each, laughing. Yasmina froze when she noticed the boys, "Uh oh. Ben and Darius have their serious thinking faces on."
"And Eva looks like she might pass out?" Sammy added.
Brooklynn shuffled over and kicked her feet up onto the coffee table. "I can't believe I finally got these babies clean!"
"Your shoes look exactly like they did before," Ben said as he took one of the mugs Yasmina was holding onto.
Brooklynn gasped, taking the comment personally.
"I can tell they're cleaner," Sammy tells the pink haired girl, who smiles and takes a seat beside Darius.
Eva grinned, watching as the two subconsciously sat closer, their bodies just barely touching. Things may be hell between her and Kenji at the moment, but that didn't stop the excitement she felt for two of her closest friends finally getting together.
"So, what were you thinking about?" Yaz asked as she took a seat on the open chair. Sammy sat down, balancing on the arm next to her.
She reached over Yaz, handing Eva a mug of cocoa. Eva noticed it piled high with marshmallows and a dusting of cinnamon— exactly how she likes it.
"We might have destroyed Mr. Kon's way to make dino control trips, but he's always one step ahead of us," Darius explained. "We need a way to protect them from whatever he's got up his sleeve."
"But apparently, disguises are off the table," Ben bit.
"Can't imagine why."
Eva rolled her eyes. "What are you going to do, Ben? Give Rebel a unicorn horn? Make some pegasus wings for the Eaties? What's the idea here, bro?"
"This is so nice," Sammy commented with a smile. She took a sip of her cocoa. "All of us warm and cozy, sharing a cup of cocoa together."
Not all of us, Eva thought. Her mood instantly worsened. Any enthusiasm she shared for Darius and Brooklynn was instantly soured by the thought of her boyfriend taking sides against her and her friends. Her permanent smile etched into a frown as she took a sip of her drink, cinnamon chocolate warming her throat. Were they even still together? She couldn't even think about him without growing angry, without being saddened by how quickly he turned on them. So was he really her ex, after just barely being together for real? How quickly that relationship fell... How could she think they could ever survive Rutherford together, if they couldn't even survive Mr. Kon's secret island?
"Too bad we can't do this for the dinos," Sammy continued. "It'd be a lot easier to keep 'em safe if they were all snuggled in one place."
"Yeah... Sammy, you're a genius!"
"I am? I mean, of course I am!"
~~~
"Okay, what's the one place on Isla Nublar where all the dinosaurs got along?" Darius asked as they approached the bottom of the waterfall.
"The watering hole!"
"Exactly."
"That's a great idea, Darius!"
"Is there enough water, though?" Yaz asked.
"That would be the problem..."
"What if we fill a bunch of buckets with water?" Sammy suggested.
"Babe, where are we getting that many buckets, and who is gonna put in the labor?" Eva asked.
Sammy frowned.
"Maybe we can distract the dinos with food instead?" Brooklynn proposed.
"Look!" Darius led the campers to the other side of the waterfall, showing off a drain.
"If we can plug it up, this whole area will fill up with water."
"Hello, watering hole!"
"Let's not celebrate yet," Darius said, interrupting their excitement. "We still gotta make sure it actually works."
"And we have no idea when Mr. Kon is coming back, so we have to act fast," Eva added.
"Right. So, what do we need? Uh... Water and dinosaurs, yeah?"
"Well, I got that second one covered," Ben volunteered. "Firecracker is my girl, and I can grab Pierce, too."
"I'll come," Yaz said, nudging Ben. "We can swing by the Arctic and get Angel and Rebel while we're at it."
"Great. Then Brooklynn, Sammy, Eva and I will plug the drain."
"Of course!" Sammy slid off the drain and threw her arms around their shoulders. "I'm just honoured to help you wonderful people."
Yaz gasped dramatically, the back of her hand against her forehead. "Sammy! I'll miss you!"
"Oh! Not if I miss you first!" Sammy replicating her movements.
Eva smiled slightly, beginning to walk away with Darius and Brooklynn, but keeping a watchful eye on the two best friends, that are totally secretly in love with one another.