Lance walked quietly in the dark and cursed when his toe ran into a table. "Damn," he mumbled and then continued on until he made it to the backdoor. He opened it and walked out on the patio to see Heather sitting on the edge of the diving board. Her feet were only inches away from the surface and her slippers were dangling from her feet.
"Heather?" he said as he walked towards her.
She didn't even have to look to see who it was, his voice gave him away. "Hi Lance, did I wake you."
He laughed softly as he sat on the diving board. "No, but if I wasn't already awake, that loud thump you made sure would have woke me up."
She smiled as she looked down at the water. "Sorry, 'bout that."
"Did you hurt yourself?" he asked.
"Not really, just a little bruise," she said and then turned around so she'd be sitting beside him. "I couldn't sleep."
He lifted a hand and sqeezed her shoulder. "You and me both."
"Just the thought of them out there, all alone. I mean how will they survive with no food or water....better
yet how will they survive each other?"
He smiled softly. "Look, you and I both know that your brother is not a quitter. He always finds a way. And
he will find a way back to us."
"I hope so," she said softly and then looked out at the pool. "You know it's funny. The last time JC and Angie saw each other was out here."
"Really?" he asked. "And I'm guessing it wasn't a
pretty picture."
She chuckled. "Nope. It was the night before he left to join up with ya'll. We were kind of having a go away party with friends and family, you know?"
"Yeah I know," he laughed. "I had one, too."
She laughed. "Well, I invited Angie and that was a bad idea."
"What happened?"
"Well, I don't exactly know the whole story. I was
inside and Angie said she needed to go outside. She can get claustraphobic very easily. Anyway, I looked outside at one point and JC was with her, and they were arguing about something, I don't know what. I was about to go out there and stop it, but JC was furious. He was rambling on about something and Angie kept backing away from him until she fell in the pool."
Lance let out a laugh and when she gave him a look he cleared his throat. "Sorry," he said as he put on a
serioius face. "Not funny."
She couldn't help but smile. "Anyway, I ran out there and started yelling at JC, telling him he was a jerk
and how could he do that to my friend. He was so busy yelling at me, telling me what a brat she was that he didn't notice Heather climbing up the ladder. She grabbed his arm and yanked him in the pool." Heather looked over to see Lance trying hard not to laugh. "It's okay, you can laugh at that."
"Okay, good," he said as he let out a laugh. "Man, I would pay money to see that."
She rolled her eyes. "It was so embarrasing. Our mom and dad made this whole party for JC, but he was too busy dunking Angie and pretty much beating the crap out of her in his pool."
He let out a laugh. "How cruel, the poor girl."
"Oh, don't feel sorry for her, she had a couple of
good dunks, too."
"I bet," he said. "From what JC has told me about her, she seems like a firey little one."
Heather looked at him. "He talks about her?"
"Oh, yeah. All the time. For some reason he compared her to the girls he dates."
"Hmm," she pondered. "That's weird."
"So," he said as he put an arm around her. "You
feeling any better?"
She smiled sadly as she rested her head on his
shoulder. "Surpisingly, yes. Thanks Lance. You and the rest of the guys have been so sweet to me."
"You're like a sister to us, Heather," he said and
gave her a brotherly kiss on her temple. "We're all family."
JC heard a weird sound the next morning before he
opened his eyes. At first he thought it was thunder again, but the sound was constantly ringing in his ears. He opened his eyes and lifted his head as he kept his ears opened. “Oh my god,” he said and then shook Angie. “Angie, wake up.”
“What?” she asked tiredly as JC climbed out of the
sleeping bag. “What’s wrong?”
“You hear that?” he asked as he quickly put on his
jeans.
She listened. “It sounds like a helicopter.”
“Exactly,” he said as he zipped up his jeans and ran out of the tent. He ran up to the edge of the river and hopped up on the boulder like a cat. He stood there, barefoot and shirtless, only in his jeans that he didn’t even bother buttoning.
Angie leaped up next to him. “All right move it,
Chasez,” she said as she loaded a flare gun.
“Woah, where did you get that?”
“It was in my bag,” she said and then fired the flare gun and they both looked up and watched it explode in
the sky. “Do you think they saw it?”
He let out a sigh as he kept his eyes on the sky. “I hope so.”
They were both silent as they listened to the distant putter of the helicopter blades. “It’s getting
louder,” he said as he put a hand on his shoulder.
“You’re right it is,” she said as she grabbed his hand and clutched it.
“There,” JC exclaimed as he pointed over the treetops when the helicopter came into view.
“Hey we're over here!!” Angie exclaimed as she jumped up and down on her good strong foot and waved her
hands.
“They see us,” he said with excitement and then threw his arms around her and she laughed as he twirled her
around. He cupped her face and kissed her loudly on the mouth. “I told you we were gonna get out of here.”
She smiled. “I never doubted you for a minute.”
He smiled down at her and gave her one last kiss
before he hopped off the boulder and helped her down. The helicopter was hovering over them and since the area was too small for them to land, a man in a harness was dropped down. When he got to the ground they ran over to them hand in hand. “Are you guys okay?”
“Yeah, we're fine,” JC yelled over the helicopter “She hurt her ankle yesterday, but other than that we’re fine.”
“Okay, I’ll look at your ankle in the helicopter. Let me take you up first.”
Angie nodded. “Okay,” she said and then turned to JC.
“Will you get my Discman? Don’t want to lose that CD.”
He smiled and kissed her. “I sure will.”
The man strapped her to the harness and JC shaded his eyes and held his breath the whole time. As soon as she was safe in the helicopter he ran to the tent and got their Discman and his notebook and ran back out as the man was dropping down for him.
“I’m glad you guys are okay,” the man yelled as he
strapped JC in. “You’re friends and family are worried.”
“I’m glad, too. Can you get a hold of them soon?”
He grinned as they both lifted up. “Trust me, news
travelS fast. I’m sure they know by now.”