Page 13 of Flowers To Give

Trying not to search the opulent jet with its mahogany wood accents and white leather upholstery with plush carpeting, Jeremy replies with, “Different than what I expected.”

“Always fly private,” Clark suggests.

Jeremy could roll his eyes, replying sarcastically, “I’ll keep that in mind.”

An overhead ding rings out, a light illuminating an icon of a seatbelt buckling over a lap. Clark drinks more wine before fastening his seatbelt, saying, “Ah, we must be landing soon.”

Following suit, Jeremy’s gaze wanders back out the window as he says, “It’s a big island.”

“It feels smaller once you’re on it. Trust me,” Clark promises.

“Hm,” Jeremy hums softly in thought, curious as to how much free time he’ll actually get to explore.

“By the way, did you get the script and call sheet for tomorrow?” Clark asks, “It should be in your email.”

Jeremy shakes his head, “I haven’t checked. What’s a ‘call sheet?’”

“It has all the information you’ll need about the day. Like locations, pages of the script we’re filming, actors needed, crew call times, blah blah blah.”

“Okay. What’s a call time?”

“Your start time. Dude, why didn’t you look stuff up? This is the basics.”

“I don’t know what I don’t know,” Jeremy points out.

“Alright, well now you know you don’t know shit so go on Wiki tonight and just get some lingo down,” Clark advises sharply.

Jeremy nods. He feels a little like he’s floating down a river without a paddle, drifting with the current. The week prior had flown by with his regular ranch duties along with packing and prepping for the job - all that start work the production made him do! And with this extravagant plane ride to such an exotic destination, Jeremy is beginning to understand how in over his head he is.

Nodding along works, Clark deflating in his seat a bit and sipping at his wine again. Jeremy attempts to do some damage control by asking, “So the script, what’s your character?”

Clark perks up at that, “Ferdinand Pryer. The captain of a ship that beaches on a deserted island. He explores the mysterious land and finds a woman that’s been raised there by animals in the wild! They fall in love while he introduces her to the wiles of civil society and she shows him the wonders of nature. Then they have to choose between the world they know or a world together.”

“So,” Jeremy thinks aloud, “Reverse Tarzan?”

Clark frowns and looks up in thought, nodding in agreement, “Yeah. Reverse fuckin’ Tarzan.”

“And you’re on horseback most of the time?”

Shrugging, Clark says, “Pretty much. I mean, not all the time obviously. But there’s a lot of mountain climbing with the horse, there’s a chase at one point when some of the ship crew stage a mutiny, oh! And there’s a very important romantic scene where Ferdinand and girl Tarzan ride horses down the beach. The script says that the water splashes up a lot, so they’ll probablywant us actually running in the ocean. That won’t be a problem, will it?”

Jeremy blinks, taking in all the information, and nods, “No problem.”

Clark cracks a wide grin and claps Jeremy on the shoulder, “That’s what I like to hear.”

The pilot starts talking about their descent over the intercom as they race toward a thin landing strip that protrudes out of the land and into the ocean. Jeremy gulps and the plane leans to the side once more to line up with the landing strip, out of view now. The moon and stars are reflected in the black ocean below, making the sky seem endless.

The plane descends and Jeremy’s stomach lifts with the inertia. He grabs onto the seat cushion beside his leg and looks straight ahead at nothing. He sets a straight face but it’s still obvious that he’s panicking.

A fingertip rests alongside Jeremy’s pinky finger.

He glances over and Clark is side eyeing him too, now sitting so close that their skin is touching. Jeremy finds his heart racing for an entirely different reason now as the plane roars through the skies. They’re hurtling straight toward some beautiful place but the destination and purpose are forgotten. Jeremy has a much bigger issue: his crush on Clark is reignited, burning bright in his chest from a simple touch and glance.

Waves crash in the distance and a phone rings. Jeremy blearily wakes up in a plush and unfamiliar bed. He reaches blindly for a nightstand where the ringing is coming from and grabs for the phone, “Hello?”

“Aloha kakahiaka, Mr. Munday. This is your courtesy wake up call,” the concierge greets. He rubs his eyes and stands up, walking over to the window as she continues, “The current timeis seven AM. The weather is eighty degrees, clear skies. Would you like breakfast brought to your room?”

Pulling the curtain back, a sunny day over the ocean out front of Jeremy’s room blinds him.