Ella's POV

I followed Derick through the trees, watching as he pointed out the carvings he had made in the trees if I was ever to get lost again. I quietly chuckled at his small jive, but part of me was confused. I hadn't imagined that had I? That Derick was leaning in to kiss me... and I was going to allow it.

The warm sensation in my cheeks lingered, and just the thought of kissing him only heightened the buzzing sensation through my veins. What could have possibly possessed me to think of doing that... of kissing him?

What would it have felt like? I wondered if it would be like how it was depicted in the movies Emilia forced me to watch. Maybe it could be an electric spark, or the feeling of floating. It would most likely feel and be just the same as any guy I've kissed before. I remembered closing my eyes as I could feel myself leaning inwards to him, and just as fast as I closed my eyes, he pulled away.

Maybe he realized it before I could. He had every right to pull away from me. He could have had the same thoughts that I did about this situation. Maybe he came to his senses that we were coworkers at the very least, and still technically my boss. The fact that we almost kissed on this island made me want to kick myself.

I wouldn't put myself through this. Once Derick and I were off of this island, life would go back to normal. I would attend my meetings, make my plans, hire people here and there, and then go home. Rinse and repeat the same vicious cycle as the seasons follow one after the other.

Should I tell Derick about what I thought I saw? I was so drained that what if what I saw wasn't even an island, but haze in the distance? I wasn't sure if I could risk telling him, and us building some sort of raft to escape this island.

What if what I had seen was the real deal though? Derick and I could build some sort of makeshift raft, and float our way to this other island, where someone would have to be. We were somewhere in the Bahamas for Heaven's sake, not the middle of the pacific. There has to be someone. I would discuss the thought of it with Derick some other time.

Derick continued to guide me through the trees. He would look to his side where I was, and I'd briefly meet his eyes before bringing them back to the forest floor. Any moment before our near kiss, I'd have no issue staring, but now all I could see was a man who I was attracted to. That thought alone was petrifying.

I couldn't begin to like him. The implications and the looks from others would drive me into a hole I wouldn't come out of. I didn't put myself out in the open to be probed and prodded. I didn't want to be under the microscope of prying eyes. Derick wasn't just anyone, he was my boss.

"Our new home." Derick said, taking me from my inner monologue. We were at another part of the island. Derick had rebuilt the entire shelter, but much better than the one we had before. By the looks of it, it was much sturdier than before. He must have cut some vines to make sure it was more secure.

I didn't fail to notice his use of 'our'. His words warmed my heart, even if he didn't mean them that way. I was thankful for Derick.

"Wow, this looks amazing!" I complimented him, taking in what he had been working on since our argument this morning.

"My bet is that you won't be able to knock this one down like the last." He joked and I put a stray hair behind my ear and looked away.

"I hope so. I think I have a knot on my head." I confessed, rubbing the top of it. Derick nearly jumped at my words. I couldn't even say a word before his hands were running through my hair.

"You don't have the symptoms of a concussion right? Headache, nausea, sensitivity to light?" He prodded and I had to remove his hands from my head. I slowly brought them back down to waist level.

"No, I'm okay. I promise Derick." I said, absentmindedly rubbing his knuckles. His eyes left mine, and my own followed down to our hands. I released his hands and took a step away. What am I doing!?

"I..." I couldn't even find the words for my own actions. Why had I just done that? The thoughts in my head were confusing me. The look on Derick's face seemed like he didn't mind it one bit. I couldn't do this. He knows we couldn't. 

"It's okay Ella. Don't stress about it. I've got an idea: how about we work on the SOS signal together? Afterwards we can try out some of these wooden spears, and try to catch something."

I was grateful for the change of conversation. I internally sighed with relief. I agreed with his idea, and we began to collect materials so that we could construct this signal together. We collected all sorts of materials, and aligned them in a large enough signal that planes could hopefully see.

I found myself constantly watching Derick working on our signal. I've picked up on the subtle things he does, like moving his hair out of his face, and messing with his facial hair that suits him very well. He'd glance up at me, and I would quickly dart my eyes from him. We continued on for a while, going back and forth collecting more

"Ella, do you think this is good?" He asked. I inspected his work. We wanted to make this as noticeable as possible, in the event another plane flew overhead which would hopefully be sooner than later.

"It's looking fine from where I'm at. Maybe it could use some other rocks to hold it down so the random rain or wind can't blow it away?" I suggested.

He nodded in approval, and we continued to work in unison. If there was one thing I could say about being on this island, it was the lack of distractions. Typically I would be in front of a screen day in and day out. New York never sleeps, and even in my apartment, you could always hear the sirens, and the constant traffic. Here, it was the rustling of leaves, the birds and animals that sing their songs, and the crashing of the waves on the shoreline. The sun would rise, Derick and I would struggle in our ways to navigate this foreign terrain, and the sun would set.

I couldn't deny wanting to be off of this island, but part of me basked in the tranquility of it. Derick and I both worked together on the last letter. I wiped the sweat from my brow as we both admired the work.

"Do we still have our water in the same spot?" I asked, glancing over to our old location.

"We should. I could use some water too." He said. The two of us trekked over to where we used to have camp . I had truly done a number on the setup. This morning felt like an eternity ago. I apologetically looked at Derick, remembering just how the day started off. Walking closer, I inspected the ground for ants, and sighed in relief as they must have moved onto their next unsuspecting prey. I crouched down to inspect our water reservoir. I rolled my eyes in despair at the state of it. Debris and gunk littered our already small supply of water. I checked the other hole, and found it in a better state than the latter.

"Is this safe to drink? It's got bits of floating parts." I asked. Derick crouched down and inspected the water.

"We don't have a lot of other resources than this. It may not be clean at this point, but I'm sure rain will roll in again at some point. We can work on another one closer to our new camp." Derick advised. He wiped his hands off on his pants, and cleared out some of the obvious floating pieces. He took a generous scoop of water, drinking from it.

Like slow motion, I watched the streams of water escape from his hands. The streams ran down the sides of his face, trailing over his chin. Flowing past his Adam's apple, and further down through the opening of his shirt. I gulped as I watched, mesmerized. The water glistened against his skin, the sunlight catching against it.

"Ella, get some water too." Derick instructed. I was still lost in my own thoughts, that his words barely registered in my brain. This man was sweaty, dirty, and should have been anything other than appealing, but to me that wasn't the case at all. It felt like an awakening of some sort.

"Ella?" Derick called again. I refocused and snapped out of my distracting trance.

"Yesh! Yeah..." I laughed awkwardly, Derick's piercing gaze on me. I took some water, also drinking it down. My own mind was betraying me. I need to stop these intrusive thoughts of him. Staring at the water instead, I watched the water dance through it, and the strangest thought came to mind.

"Do you have your condom on you?" I asked. Derick made a strangled sound in his throat. I looked at him, and the slightest blush adorned his cheeks.

"Why would you even ask something like that?!" he questioned me with wide eyes. It then occurred to me just how awkward my question was.

"No! Oh my goodness." My own cheeks most likely looked like his. "I have an idea, and it involves using it."

"Using a condom? What for?" He asked. I felt like I could see the wheels grinding in his head trying to figure out what I could use it for other than its true... purpose. It made me laugh, which baffled him.

"Not for sex. For fire!" I informed while grinning at his expression. With the stumped look on his face, I continued. "I know that it doesn't sound realistic, but I think we can use it to make a fire. Have you ever seen those magnifying glasses that could start fires? What if we could do the same with that?"

Derick pulled his wallet from his pocket, and pulled out the golf foiled packet. "I would have never thought of something like that. I want to try everything we can." He passed the condom to me. This would be used for the greater good, and in a much better way than originally intended.

"Do we still have the coconut husk somewhere?" I asked.

"Yeah, I hadn't thought about grabbing that. It should still be somewhere near." He said, getting up. He grabbed a stick on the ground, and went to the mass of leaves that was our original camp. He sorted through the leaves, and bent down to grab exactly what we'd need.

"Perfect! Okay. Now, we're going to head back. I'm going to get some of the water from the ocean to fill this up."

"Would the salt water pop it?" He asked. I hadn't thought of that, but I was willing to try. Condoms should be durable. I would just hope that fate was on my side with this, and I finally could be resourceful.