Read Online Before He Was Gone: Starstruck Book 2 by Becky Wicks - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Becky Wicks
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just behind the tree line.
The production team gathered us up before we left and told us that the necessities box would be located by the well – the only place we’re allowed to drink water from on the island. In the box are bottles of insect repellent, sunscreen, condoms, flint, feminine hygiene products and contact lens solution. This stuff is never shown or talked about in the edits but I’m guessing a bunch of bitten up, scratching and sunburnt people wouldn’t make for very good TV.
‘Is anyone experienced in lighting fires?’ the hippy chick, Journey asks as the breeze picks up her crazy-long hair.
I wait for someone - anyone - to step forward. No one does. ‘Did you get the tinder?’ I say eventually and Punk’s eyebrows raise as I kneel on the sand in my jeans. I know he sees me as some kind of leader already, ever since he handed me the spear on the raft. He seems like a nice kid, too. He’ll be good to keep on my side.
‘Tinder? I have the app on my iPhone!’ Stephanie laughs, twizzling her guitar necklace.
Journey looks confused. ‘Wait - there’s an app for lighting a fire now?’
‘No! It’s a dating app! You swipe people…’
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about, I’m sorry. Here – I got all this.’ Journey points to an assortment of coconut husks she’s laid by the sticks and seaweed. Behind her at the makeshift cooking station I can see Alyssa laughing as she pours rice from one of the sacks into a giant pot and Mia pours the well water in after her. I notice how Alyssa laughs with her whole body, not just her mouth. The cameras love her. I avert my eyes as she catches me looking. Damn.
Stephanie’s brow furrows to my side. ‘I never learned how to build a fire,’ she tells us quietly, watching as I reach for the sticks. They all look on as I construct an A-fame with three of the bigger branches and layer smaller ones around it in the sand. The camera guy scurries over for a close-up the instant I reach for the tinder.
‘You have to make a birds nest shape with it, see?’ I say, molding the wiry coconut fur into a round shape and denting the middle with my thumbs.
‘Why?’ Stephanie asks, watching my hands move.
‘The middle bit holds the magnesium from the flint,’ comes a voice. ‘You have to scrape it in, that’s what starts the fire.’ Alyssa. She’s beside me now, dropping to the sand in her rolled-up pants. She still hasn’t taken her shirt off, but she’s tied it up around her waist in a knot and her midriff is glistening. I notice the milky white of her stomach, the indent of her bellybutton above her pants as she starts to arrange more sticks around the frame I’ve made.
‘Help me,’ she orders Stephanie, who sets to work instantly. 'We're lucky they gave us this. Would've taken days with just sticks and rocks for friction.' I sit back and Alyssa shrugs when she sees my raised eyebrows.
‘I camped out with Jack and Noah a lot,’ she says, ‘in the national parks, in Colorado. You’re not allowed to make fires in all of them but we had enough practice in their yard with all kinds of things. We almost set fire to their tree house once,’ she grins. ‘Not a good day. Here, may I?’
She gestures for me to give her the birds nest and then takes the flint and steel knife from Mike, who’s handing them out to her now with a look of amusement on his grouchy face. I realize what she’s just said. ‘Colorado?’ I say. ‘I thought you were from New York?’
‘What? No, I’ve lived in Boulder my whole life!’ she tells me. ‘Why did you think I lived in New York?’
‘I thought I saw you…’ I start. I shut my mouth. I’m not about to say I saw her there on the cover of In Touch , but I guess I just assumed she’d be based there or L.A, or anywhere but Boulder. I guess I assumed a lot about Alyssa.
Jaxx sits down, watches her intently as she starts scraping bits of the flint from the block, straight into the birds
The production team gathered us up before we left and told us that the necessities box would be located by the well – the only place we’re allowed to drink water from on the island. In the box are bottles of insect repellent, sunscreen, condoms, flint, feminine hygiene products and contact lens solution. This stuff is never shown or talked about in the edits but I’m guessing a bunch of bitten up, scratching and sunburnt people wouldn’t make for very good TV.
‘Is anyone experienced in lighting fires?’ the hippy chick, Journey asks as the breeze picks up her crazy-long hair.
I wait for someone - anyone - to step forward. No one does. ‘Did you get the tinder?’ I say eventually and Punk’s eyebrows raise as I kneel on the sand in my jeans. I know he sees me as some kind of leader already, ever since he handed me the spear on the raft. He seems like a nice kid, too. He’ll be good to keep on my side.
‘Tinder? I have the app on my iPhone!’ Stephanie laughs, twizzling her guitar necklace.
Journey looks confused. ‘Wait - there’s an app for lighting a fire now?’
‘No! It’s a dating app! You swipe people…’
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about, I’m sorry. Here – I got all this.’ Journey points to an assortment of coconut husks she’s laid by the sticks and seaweed. Behind her at the makeshift cooking station I can see Alyssa laughing as she pours rice from one of the sacks into a giant pot and Mia pours the well water in after her. I notice how Alyssa laughs with her whole body, not just her mouth. The cameras love her. I avert my eyes as she catches me looking. Damn.
Stephanie’s brow furrows to my side. ‘I never learned how to build a fire,’ she tells us quietly, watching as I reach for the sticks. They all look on as I construct an A-fame with three of the bigger branches and layer smaller ones around it in the sand. The camera guy scurries over for a close-up the instant I reach for the tinder.
‘You have to make a birds nest shape with it, see?’ I say, molding the wiry coconut fur into a round shape and denting the middle with my thumbs.
‘Why?’ Stephanie asks, watching my hands move.
‘The middle bit holds the magnesium from the flint,’ comes a voice. ‘You have to scrape it in, that’s what starts the fire.’ Alyssa. She’s beside me now, dropping to the sand in her rolled-up pants. She still hasn’t taken her shirt off, but she’s tied it up around her waist in a knot and her midriff is glistening. I notice the milky white of her stomach, the indent of her bellybutton above her pants as she starts to arrange more sticks around the frame I’ve made.
‘Help me,’ she orders Stephanie, who sets to work instantly. 'We're lucky they gave us this. Would've taken days with just sticks and rocks for friction.' I sit back and Alyssa shrugs when she sees my raised eyebrows.
‘I camped out with Jack and Noah a lot,’ she says, ‘in the national parks, in Colorado. You’re not allowed to make fires in all of them but we had enough practice in their yard with all kinds of things. We almost set fire to their tree house once,’ she grins. ‘Not a good day. Here, may I?’
She gestures for me to give her the birds nest and then takes the flint and steel knife from Mike, who’s handing them out to her now with a look of amusement on his grouchy face. I realize what she’s just said. ‘Colorado?’ I say. ‘I thought you were from New York?’
‘What? No, I’ve lived in Boulder my whole life!’ she tells me. ‘Why did you think I lived in New York?’
‘I thought I saw you…’ I start. I shut my mouth. I’m not about to say I saw her there on the cover of In Touch , but I guess I just assumed she’d be based there or L.A, or anywhere but Boulder. I guess I assumed a lot about Alyssa.
Jaxx sits down, watches her intently as she starts scraping bits of the flint from the block, straight into the birds
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