Bound To The Bush (Alaskan Bush People Fan Fiction)

Chapter Three

~COPYRIGHT 2016~

After the shock of the situation wore off, Bird headed back to the park. The fire was still roaring and the party was going hard.

"Where in the hell have you been?" an angry voice asked from across the field.

She turned to face the voice and saw Bam stalking towards her. That furrow in his eyebrow was present and the vein in his neck was bulging. He was obviously very angry. Addie was trailing behind him, trying to stop him.

"Girl, I asked you a question," he practically growled. "Where have you been?"

"I was hanging out with a friend."

"A friend? What kind of a friend? A MALE friend?" he shot questions at her.

"Bam, will you calm down?" Lorelei's voice could be heard from behind them.

She approached the brother and sister and stood next to Bird, her hand on her hip.

"You need to quiet down. The whole freaking place is staring at you. You're killing the vibe," she told him. "She wasn't hanging out with a guy. There was a girl that she befriended and they went to hang out. Relax."

"Seriously babe, you need to relax," Addie spoke up, patting his shoulder. "If Lorelei hadn't come over here, I would've reamed your ass out."

"Language, girl," he hissed at her.

She raised her eyebrow at him. "Who do you think you're talking to like that, Joshua?"

"And...this is my cue to leave," Lorelei said, dragging Bird behind her.

"Thanks for getting me out of that," Bird said.

"Yeah, no problem. When Addie and Bam are fighting, you don't want to be around."

Bird gave her a small smile, but didn't laugh like she usually would. It was written all over her face that something was on her mind. Lorelei would let the younger girl come to her when she was ready to talk. But she couldn't help but wonder what had happened in that hour she was gone with the mystery girl.

A couple of hours passed by and the family decided to retire to the boat for the night. The couples took their respective places in their bunks and Bird took her place on the bench of the table in the wheelhouse. The lights were shut off before she knew it. But long into the night she stayed awake and only in the early hours of the morning did her eyes finally flutter closed.

"Up and at 'em!" a loud voice awoke Bird what she considered way too early the next morning.

She opened up one eye to see that everybody was hanging around the wheelhouse. With a groan she sat up from her spot on the bench. Outside it was clear that the sun was just rising above the horizon. Looks like the men wanted to get an early start back to the homestead.

She let everybody work around her and they were heading back to Brown Town fifteen minutes later. For the duration of the ride, she stayed on the bench, looking out the window at the water. The only time she moved her head was when Lorelei plopped down next to her and asked, "Are you going to tell me what's wrong or am I going to have to guess?"

Bird let out a humorless laugh. "Trust me, you wouldn't guess what I'm thinking about."

"Well something is obviously bothering you. What is it? You can tell me."

Bird looked around the wheelhouse at all the people and cleared her throat as a wave of discomfort hit her.

"Can...can we talk about this somewhere else?"

"Of course girly. Come on, let's go out on the back deck," Lorelei said, guiding Birdy up out of her seat and out of the wheelhouse.

They headed to the back deck where luckily no one was milling about. Lorelei gave Bird time to process her thoughts and listened when she finally opened her mouth.

"Have you...have you ever kissed a girl?" Bird suddenly asked.

Lorelei didn't hesitate in answering. "Actually, yes I have."

Bird's head whipped in Lorelei's direction, a look of shock on her face. "You have?"

"Yeah, everybody goes through a stage of discovery. Believe it or not, Belle and I kissed once after we were both graduated. We laughed about it for days after because we both knew it wasn't for us. We liked men. But for others it's different. That is their thing," she explained. "Why do you ask?"

She was silent for a moment again. "Because I kissed a girl...well she sort of kissed me...but...I think it's my thing..." She trailed off and when Lorelei didn't say anything, her face burned in embarrassment. Her hands flew to her face. "Oh my god, this is so embarrassing! You probably think I'm disgusting! What is my family going to think?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down," Lorelei tried to calm her down. "I don't think you're disgusting at all! Everybody has a right to love whoever they want, no matter what gender they are. And I support you. I think it's great that you finally discovered yourself. Was it that girl from earlier? The pretty brunette with the dark eyes?"

Her cheeks burned bright red and she couldn't help but smile. "Maybe..."

Lorelei smiled. She was so happy to see Bird happy. She'd never seen her glow like this.

"I'm happy for you," she said, hugging her. "So...about this girl..."

"Marigold. Her name is Marigold...or Mari as she likes to be called," she answered Lorelei's obvious loaded question.

"Do you know where she's from?" she questioned.

"No, I don't know exactly where. I know she had a "camp", as she called it, in Maine so I'm guessing she lives in New England," she said.

Lorelei's eyes widened. "Oh...wow. That's pretty far away."

Bird's smile disappeared and Lorelei instantly regretted pointing that fact out.

"You're right. But she wanted to keep in contact. She gave me her address so we can send letters to one another and she gave me her phone number so I can call her," she told Lorelei.

"Well there you go, Bird. She clearly liked you and she's obviously interested in keeping in contact! Maybe she can come back to Alaska and visit some time."

"Yeah, maybe," she cracked a half smile. "But for now let's keep this between us, okay?"

"You got it, darlin'."

Lorelei wrapped her arm around her shoulder to show some support for her sister-in-law. Together the girls stood on the back deck looking out at the ocean. Things had changed in that one night and a new world was opened for the younger woman. And Lorelei couldn't wait to see where that new world brought Bird.

~COPYRIGHT 2016~