‘Bathe them in water, yeah?’ he checks.
‘Yes, of course,’ she says, not picking up on the implication. ‘Come on.’
‘Our work here is done,’ Lockie says as we follow them back up the beach to camp.
‘Looks like she still fancies him,’ I point out.
‘Erm, she just offered to pee on him,’ Lockie reminds me. ‘I’d say she loves him.’
I laugh. Maybe he’s right.
‘Well, if that’samore, I’m glad I can’t seem to find it,’ I reply.
‘You’ll find someone who wants to pee on you, one day,’ he jokes, giving me a playful shove. ‘Come on, let’s grab some food. Pineapple or coconut, decisions, decisions…’
I smile, but jokes aside, I feel like he just ushered me to the friend zone. No, I don’t want him to pee on me, but he didn’t want to kiss me, and this just feels like a playful reminder.
Anyway, I need to forget about it for now. I’m not looking for love, I’m looking for rescue. There’s plenty more fish back home, it’s only here where the dating pool is limited.
I just need to make sure I get there, then I can worry about the rest.
30
A watched pot of water never boils, it’s true, because Tony and I have been watching this one for what feels like forever.
‘Can I borrow you, Cleo?’ Lockie asks, rocking up next to us.
I look at Tony. He just shrugs.
‘Yeah, take her,’ he says. ‘The water’s not going to boil faster with two of us looking at it.’
Lockie jerks his head for me to follow him.
‘What’s up?’ I ask as soon as we’re out of earshot.
‘I’ve been talking to Honey,’ he says quietly. ‘And something isn’t right, but I’ve got a plan to get to the bottom of it.’
‘Okaaaay…’ I say. ‘Do I need to know anything?’
‘Just watch,’ he tells me.
He grabs a piece of weird spiky fruit in one hand and a bottle of water in the other, then marches over to where Honey is sunbathing.
‘What are you doing?’ I ask.
‘I’m going to eat it in front of her,’ he tells me. ‘Or try to, at least.’
‘Have you had too much sun?’ I ask him.
‘Just watch,’ he replies. ‘Hi, Honey!’
‘Hi, sugar,’ she replies playfully. ‘What have you got there?’
‘I found this fruit,’ he says, sitting down next to her. ‘So I’m going to eat it. And apparently, if you eat fruit after, you can drink seawater without dehydrating. I read it on the internet. The internet is never wrong.’
‘Have you had some already?’ she asks.
‘No,’ he says cheerfully. ‘But I thought we could share. So, down the hatch…’
