“We’re just talking football,” I answered.
“Football, huh?” Bobby glanced between us, unconvinced. “In this tribe, that’s as good as treason.”
Aisha flashed me a nervous glance. Maybe she wasn’t as secure in her alliance as she thought she was.
“Relax, Aisha has no interest in joining the bottom feeders. You’re safe.”
“Exactly. I mean, why would she?” Bobby faced Aisha and issued a clear warning. “There’s safety in numbers. You don’t want to be on the wrong side of the split.”
Aisha nodded obediently. At that moment I was glad to be in my group of four. Maybe I was on the losing side, but at least I wasn’t whoring myself out to the power players.
“So I gotta ask, Kyle, what’s going on with you and Marsha? Is it serious?”
Marsha had garnered an unhealthy amount of attention from the fab five and none of it was good. But I’d spent two days with the woman, and I couldn’t help but like her. Yeah, she was odd, but that’s what made life interesting.
“The two of you were getting pretty cozy last night. Has she let you cop a feel of those granny knockers?” Bobby chuckled to himself.
“Don’t be an ass,” Aisha scoffed. She seemed rattled by Bobby’s distrust in her.
I made a mental note to mention it to Dale. If I could convince Aisha to switch sides, she might be our way out of the mess we’d found ourselves in.
A loud splash caught our collective attention. I looked over just as Kenzie was pulling herself off the shallow ocean floor and resurfacing. She was sputtering and coughing, her drenched hair plastered to her face.
“Are you okay?” I rushed to her. Was she seriously drowning in three feet of water? Damn, this girl was a walking disaster.
“Yeah, I tripped on a rock.”
“Jesus,” Bobby laughed. “Walk much?”
I helped her back to her feet and her eyes caught mine. She looked worried.
“I’m thinking you’ve had a bit too much sun today,” Bobby smirked.
In fact, Kenzie had fried in the scorching sun, just as I’d predicted she would. Her skin was bright red and beyond painful looking.
“You think?” Kenzie replied, contempt for Bobby clear on her face. Pulling strands of hair out of her eyes, she continued to periodically spit up water.
“I think I burned a little too. It’s so hot here.” Aisha smiled. “If you need help with the sunscreen, just ask.”
Kenzie skimmed her eyes over the beauty queen, almost as if she thought Aisha was being facetious.
“Okay, thanks,” Kenzie said, as she self-consciously ran her hands over the burned skin. “So, what did I miss?”
“Kyle here was just about to tell us a bit more about his elderly girlfriend.”
Kenzie twisted her head towards me in surprise. The fact that I was talking to the enemy made her assume I’d betrayed our four-way alliance. I shook my head.
“Fire! Fire!”
We all turned to the shore and saw Marsha jumping up and down, a roaring fire behind her.
I turned to Bobby. “Looks like my girl just saved us all.”
TV Confessional
“Honestly, with that sunburn, Kenzie looks like an Oompa Loompa… but don’t tell her I said that.”
—Kyle
