A/N: The image above does not belong to me. It belongs to the person who uploaded it on the internet.

AJ's POV

A/N: The image above does not belong to me. It belongs to the person who uploaded it on the internet.

I couldn't control the pleasant kind of warmth that suddenly enveloped my whole being, making me unmindful of the chilly early morning air in the island. The fact that Art made the effort to bring me a cup of coffee meant the world to me and made me feel warm all over. I knew that it was just a simple gesture and probably didn't mean a thing to him.

My happiness turned to pure joy when Art declared that he was ready to go to the river with me. I felt like I was back in my elementary grades once more, when my classmates and I would go and have picnics and do some camping and lots of fun in the river.

As soon as we finished our coffee we made our way to the river. We had to fight our way through the thick foliage to get to the river.

At one point, Art almost lost his footing over a spot that had loose stones on the ground. I caught him in my arms before his body could hit the ground.

He straightened himself quickly before I could think of anything to prolong the moment.

A/N: The image above does not belong to me. It belongs to the person who uploaded it on the internet.

He walked very fast toward the river when it came into sight. What was he trying to do? Was he trying to get rid of my presence?

And then I saw him go behind a tree by the river's edge.

I quickly followed him and then noticed that he was taking off his shirt. He didn't need to hide from me. I was not going to stand and watch him strip like people do in strip clubs.

After he slowly removed his shirt, I watched as he unzipped his pants and slowly pulled them down to his thighs and down to his knees and legs and finally all the way to his feet, before he shook them off and then set them on top of his shirt.

"What?" he turned to ask me.

"Oh," I gasped. I didn't realize that I had been staring.

I quickly turned away and removed my own clothes and waded into the water. I gasped once more as I felt the icy water after I submerged my whole body but kept my head above the water.

Suddenly Art splashed water on my face before quickly swimming away.

No, he wasn't going to get away with what he just did.

I swam over to him. I was much taller than him and had longer limbs.

In a few swift strokes I reached him and wrestled playfully with him. During the playful struggle, he lost his balance and when I caught him, some demon possessed me to kiss him.

I held him tight so that he could not break loose from my kiss.

I could not blame him for making his clenched fist make painful contact with my jaw after I let go of him.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I'm so very, very sorry," I was beside myself with apologies while nursing my aching jaw, "I do not know what came over me."

"Listen to me, AJ," Art said seriously, "I will overlook the incident if only because you are still so young and your youthfulness could be the reason that you are still unable to be in full control of your emotions, but if you do a repeat of what you just did without asking my permission, I will make your handsome face look unrecognizable, do you understand?"

Even as I nodded my head, my brain was whirling like a cyclone as I tried to absorb everything that he had just finished saying to me.

I had conflicting emotions as I replayed his words in my head. I was resentful that he had emphasized the words 'you are still so young' but I was elated that he described my face as 'handsome'. I was thankful that he had decided to overlook the incident, so that meant that we could continue to be friends, but above everything else, what burned into my brain were his words, 'if you do a repeat of what you just did without asking my permission.' Did that mean that if I asked for permission, he might, he just might allow me to kiss him, if I asked for permission???

We swam for a while longer and then suddenly Art yelled, "Hey, look! AJ! I saw some fish swim by me just now! And look! There are some shrimps as well! We just found ourselves something for lunch!"

"How are we gonna catch them?" I asked excitedly.

Art pointed to some young coconut trees whose young leaves were still low enough for us to reach and pluck off the tree.

"Did you study Home Economics?" Art asked.

"Yes," I replied, trying to connect Home Economics to the coconut trees.

When Art started to pluck off the leaves, I instantly realized what he was planning to do. He was going to weave a basket out of the coconut leaves.

Thankfully, I had also studied Home Economics where my classmates and I had been taught how to weave a basket out of young coconut leaves.

We sat side by side by the river's edge, our fingers working quickly and skillfully and before too long we had woven two baskets the height and width and depth of a medium sized pot.

"Wait," Art said as I tried to wade back into the water carrying my woven basket.

I looked back at him and I noticed that he was looking around on the ground, lifting one stone after another and throwing them away.

I walked back to him.

"What are you looking for?" I asked.

"I'm looking for some flint," he replied, "here's one. We need at least four of them, two for me and two for you."

I knew how those flints looked like. They were black or dark grey stones that could either be smooth and rounded or were like shards of glass.

"While you're looking for those stones, I'm gonna gather dry leaves and twigs," I offered.

"That's a good idea," he said, his head still bent low, looking carefully on the ground and picking up dark looking stones and checking them carefully.

When he finally found the four pieces that he needed and I had gathered the dry leaves and twigs, we set them aside farther away from the river bank.

Then we used one basket to scoop whatever shrimp or fish that came our way, and then used the other basket as a container for our catch.

After we caught a few shrimps and a few fish, we set the basket on the ground and used the other basket to cover it because the fish and shrimp were still jumping around inside the basket.

After Art made a small bed out of the dry grass I started using the sharp edge of one of the stones to scrape off the flint of one side of the stone.

Already I could see the sparks as I continued to scrape the surface of one stone with the other. In a few minutes the bed of dry grass lighted up.

Art threw in some dry twigs to make the flame bigger. Before long we had started a respectable campfire.

We retrieved the woven basket that contained the fish and shrimp and tossed them into the fire.

As we watched our lunch roasting, Art turned to me.

He gave me a smile. I was not sure if it was a smile of admiration or just a friendly smile.

"You're good at roughing it," he said, raising his hand and holding his palm outward to me to do a high five, "you and I, we make a good pair."

"Whoa, hold your horses," he said, quickly moving away from me as I advanced closer to him, "I just meant that we make a good team when it comes to surviving on an island."

"Whatever," I said with a frown.

Art used two long twigs to flip the fish and shrimp over when one side looked cooked enough.

I stared at his handsome face as he concentrated on his task. I suppressed the strong desire to push him and pin him to the ground and kiss him breathless.

Oh, but wait, the words, without asking for permission, came back to my mind.

"Art?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper, my heart racing to a dangerously unhealthy level.