Lost In Love | ✔️

2

~Clementine's POV~

"Ryder?" I looked around as I kicked to stay afloat, the aftermath of the plane crash a mess around me. I could see debri from the plane floating, but the entirety of the plane itself was already well submerged beneath the surface, probably sinking to the bottom of the ocean. Ryder and I's separate suitcases were floating around, though I only spotted one of my three bags that I had brought. I had no idea what had happened to the other two, but they were probably sinking as well, with most other things.

My heart hammered with fear and adrenaline as I looked around, looking for Ryder or the pilot. It had only been the three of us on that plane, and I didn't know what to do. "Ryder?!" I called again, trying to wade a little further away from some of the debri out of fear of it somehow getting caught on me and dragging me under. I wasn't even sure how the hell I'd survived that crash.

A few seconds passed before Ryder popped up above the surface, the water rippling from the movements as he did. I gasped and immediately began to swim closer to him, practically having to doggy paddle; not because I couldn't swim well but because I was too shaken up to actually swim properly. My arms were shaking from how scared I was, my fingertips trembling as I grabbed onto his forearm gently. Scanning my gaze over his face as he kicked his legs to stay afloat, I noticed he looked just as freaked out as I probably did. "Are you okay?" I asked immediately, throwing aside my feelings. I may not have liked him, but I sure as hell didn't want him hurt.

He nodded his head and pushed his wet hair from his face, glancing around as well. "Shit." He breathed, seemingly stunned. "Where's Marlin?" He asked me, referring to the pilot that had been flying the plane. I gently shook my head as I stared up at him, the weight of my own words almost making it impossible to speak. "I don't..." I chewed on my lip and glanced around once more. "I-I don't think he made it out." I responded. I'd never been this close to death before, mine or someone else's. It was something that I didn't know how to explain, this feeling. Marlin had been alive not even fifteen minutes ago, and maybe twenty feet away from me on that plane. Now, he was gone. Dead.

With a heavy breath, Ryder silently nodded his head, a furrow in his brow as he backed away from me. "We need to swim." He told me, gathering up the floating bags like it was nothing. "The island is just that way." He added, pointing ahead of us.

At first I just watched him swimming closer towards the island, taking in the way that he would push the bags slightly ahead of him as he went, and then I grabbed my one bag and began to follow right after him. It wasn't like staying in the middle of the ocean was an option. We needed to get to land.

We must've swam for at least twenty minutes before we finally made it to the shallow waters around the island, my feet sinking into the sand as I struggled out of the water with Ryder, carrying my soaking wet bag. My hair dripped water into my face, a groan leaving my lips as I flopped directly into the sand once he and I had finally made it up onto the land. I had never swam that much, at that constant of a pace, in my life. My legs were killing me, but then again, I didn't work out so it wasn't as if that was very much of a surprise.

"You okay, Clementine?" Ryder asked, not seeming even a little bit undone by the intense swimming that we had just done to get here. He just stood above me, watching me as I rolled over onto my back, not caring about the sand that was likely getting stuck within my wet strands of hair. "You mean after our plane crashed into the ocean and we almost died?" I asked breathlessly, chest heaving as I spoke. "Y-Yeah. I'm just fine." I muttered, struggling to sit up as my bag rested beside me. All of his bags, however, rested by his feet, sitting in the sand.

He crouched down beside me, his likely expensive suit dripping wet as he stared at me with slight concern. "We should get to my house. The quicker we get there, the quicker we can dry our clothes and try to get connection with someone to help us." He said, those brown eyes lingering on a cut that I had on my jawline, which I could feel burning with pain.

I groaned as I gently cupped my hand over the wound, not directly touching it but rather feeling the slightly swollen skin around it. "Y-Yeah. Yeah, you're right." I agreed with a heavy sigh, reluctantly standing up from where I laid in the sand, my clothes sticking uncomfortably to my skin now. I glanced up at him, noticing the way his dark brown hair dripped water down his handsome face. "Lead the way, then." I said, almost feeling ashamed that I had actually taken time to notice how handsome he truly was. I mean, he and I had just gotten in a plane crash. Someone had died, and yet I couldn't help but notice he was attractive. I must've been a shitty person if that was one of the first things on my mind after all of that had just happened.

Grabbing my bag from where it laid in the sand, I began to follow him as he walked ahead of me, leading me into a thick land of trees that were as green as any trees I had seen in my life. They looked very lush, and lively. This was a pretty island, that much was for sure. Even the waters were a crystal clear blue.

It took about fifteen minutes of walking before we finally reached the destination that Ryder had been heading towards. Honestly, I wasn't sure how exactly he had remembered where to go.

"Wow." I said as we stood before his large house, gaping up at it. "This house is...just...beautiful." I gasped, stunned at how pretty it looked. The dark exterior of the modern styled house paired well with the lush greenery that surrounded it, the dark brown wood stairs that led up to the glass front door laced with green trees, grass, bushes, and a little statue of two black colored owls that I quite liked. To me, there was always something about owls that I had found majestic. Wondrous.

The walls were made of a gray-ish black brick, the roofs a dark black. There was something about the dark exterior that made it seem even more luxurious than anything else. Ryder didn't respond to me, but I did see him take a glance towards me from the corner of his eye as he unlocked the front door, watching me.

He led me inside of the house, which seemed to be themed just as dark on the interior as it was on the exterior, though I honestly didn't mind. In fact, I liked it. Too much bright light or bright colors had never quite been my thing, even if I always wore brighter colors. My eyes just couldn't handle that sort of thing, for some reason. "This house must have cost you a fortune." I said softly as I walked down the entry hallway, my sandals leaving wet spots on the dark floors as I went. I almost felt a little bad about that, but I managed to remind myself that it wasn't even really my fault that I was dripping all over his floors. That plane crash hadn't been in my control.

As I entered the house a little more, I felt Ryder following close behind me and glanced over my shoulder, wondering what he was up to. He swiped his long fingers against the screen of his phone, probably trying to see if he could contact someone. "Fuck." He swore in frustration, and then just tossed the phone onto the floor like it was nothing but garbage. I assumed that meant that it was broken. "My phone seems to be broken, but I don't know if we can get signal out here. I haven't ever been stuck on my own private island before." He said, noticing my gaze on him.

Surprised, I blinked up at him as my lips parted. "Wait." I said, shaking my head slightly. "Are you saying we're stranded here?"