Aaron & Chiquita

"Do you like it here?"

"Hell yeah I like it here. This place has great weather, beautiful scenery, and a good climate. Plus it's really quiet."

They eat fish and they talk.

"So tell me Chiquita.. I didn't get much yesterday, but I've been trying to figure this all out. How did you get on this island? Were you born here?"

She shakes her head no.

"How did you come here?"

"My uncle died, and a friend and I were left here."

"Wait.. Your uncle died.. Were you living here when he died?"

"No, we moved here."

"Moved here?" David's face reeks of confusion, "I'm sorry I'm just trying to figure all of this out."

"My Uncle raised me when my parents died, they were killed in a train wreck. They were going to Canada for a business meeting, but they never returned."

"So.. How did you end up here?"

"Well my Uncle took me in, and we traveled all over the place. He said something about retiring and living on an island for the rest of his life. As soon as we set foot on this island, he died."

"Died.."

"Yeah, he had heart troubles."

"Reminds me of.."

"Of what?"

He shakes his head, "Nothing. So you had to take care of yourself pretty much?"

"Yeah, me and a friend."

"Okay, so she's the same age as you."

"It's a male, his name is Aaron."

"Oh.. How did he end up?"

"He was an orphan, and Paulie took him in."

"Oh, adopted him?"

".. yeah.."

"Sorry for all these questions. That's a sad and crazy story. It's a big tragedy. You don't belong on this island though. You belong in a city. You have to live in a nice house, and get an education."

"I don't think I would fit very well in your civilization."

"Oh but you would! I have friends who are teachers, and they're very good friends. They would love to help you get an education. Teach you how to read and write; things like that."

David finishes the fish and puts it on a plate, and hands it over to Chiquita.

"This Talapia is pretty damn good!" He says.

"It is."

"I leave in five more days to go back home."

"Where is home?"

"New York, in Manhattan."

"Oh. Sounds very far."

"Oh it is! Very far from here."

They finish eating.

"So.. How would you and your friend feel about leaving this place?"

"This place is our home, but he wants to leave more than I do. I suppose it would be nice to go somewhere else different."

"Yeah. You can't continue to stay here. You haven't had a mother figure in your life, and girls need their Mothers. I'm sure you've been through many things.

"Yeah."

"God.. I can't imagine how you could go through that for the first time and be so alone."

"It was scary."

"That's the perks of living on a deserted island", he shakes his head.

They talk a little bit more, and Chiquita tells him that she has to leave.

"Okay Chiquita, and nice talking to you again!" David waves.

"Bye David", Chiquita smiles and leaves.

Annie and David are sitting on the rock, and staring at the moon and stars.

"Chiquita has this weird story about how the moon and the sun were once lovers who separated, and that's why they shine in different times of the day."

Annie chuckles, "Sounds like a cool theory."

"I thought she was silly."

"It is silly, but it's very creative at the same time."

He looks at the sky again, they are holding hands. Annie takes his hand and kisses it.

"I feel strange again Annie."

"Me too."

They lock eyes and kiss, Aaron puts his hands under her shirt. Annie pulls away.

"No Aaron, we can't do this anymore."

"Why?"

"We come from different worlds you and me.. And plus you have Chiquita.. I don't want to feel like I'm taking you away from her. You guys really belong together."

"Me and Chiquita are just friends who have lived together since we were eight."

"But I think she really likes you. From what you tell me about her she has something for you."

"I don't like her like that", he puts his hand on her face, "I like you."

Annie weeps, and Aaron holds her.

"I don't know what I feel. I mean.. I really like you, and I really liked what we did, it was great sharing my love with you. But I don't believe that we are soul mates."

"Soul mates?"

"A person who has a piece of your soul; someone you're meant to be with forever."

"You're not my soul mate?"

"I don't believe that I am. I want to think I am, but I don't like the awkwardness of all this."

"But Annie.. You definitely weren't talking like this a few days ago. Why so sudden?"

She cries more, "I don't know. I suppose sex confuses things."

"Maybe it does."

"It hurts so bad, because.. I really love you Aaron! You're the first boy I've ever been with. I've fallen in love with you so deeply, but I feel uncomfortable knowing that someone else likes you."

"Yeah."

Annie wipes her tears, "I've got to go." Annie gets up and runs to her camp. Aaron is dumbfounded; just sits there. He can feel all the stress and confusion from his head to his toes. He eventually gets up and heads back to the cabin.

Strangely, Aaron and Chiquita walk back to the cabin at the same time. Chiquita her way, and Aaron his way.

"How were things with the guy?" Aaron asks.

She shrugs, "It was okay. He wants me to go to America with him."

"America?!"

"Yeah, and you too."

"I really want to get off this damn island!" He hurriedly walks inside.

"Aaron what's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Please tell me, I know that something is wrong."

"Leave me alone Chiquita.."

"But Aaron you're not acting right."

"Leave me alone!" He throws a pillow at her. She's very upset and she tosses the pillow on his bed and leaves. She sits on her bed and crosses her arms, watches Aaron sleep.

"We need to talk."

"I don't want to talk to you, you're annoying! Okay? So just leave me alone and let me be."

"No, I'm not going to leave you alone until you tell me what's wrong!"

Aaron rises up from his bed/mat.. "Fine.. You really want to know what's wrong?"

"Yes!"

"I just don't like the fact that you're the only person that I even looked at all these years. Stuck on this island.. With one other person. I've had to deal with your annoying crap for this long, and then I met Annie. I really care for Annie, and you know what she told me? She told me that she had to let me go because she knows that you like me."

"... so what are you saying?"

"I'm saying that I don't like you! I don't want you to like me! I want to have a life for once!"

"Aaron.. I think..", She's trying to hold back tears, "You're taking all of this too far."

"You asked for it!" He barks.

"Well fine.. I don't like you! Once I leave for America, I'm never coming back!"

"Good, one less annoying person I have to deal with."

She's so angry now she can't cry anymore.

"Well in five more days, I'm leaving! I can't wait to leave! Go with your little blonde princess!"

"I think I will."

"I hate you Aaron. I hate everything that comes with you! I hate the way you look, the way you talk, and your attitude! That's why I like David better. He can teach me things that you won't be able to!"

"Sorry to say that I already beat you to it!" He shouts.

"I'm never coming back, and I won't miss you!"

"Good! I won't miss you either."

"Go to Annie and her stuck up family-"

"You know nothing about her family Chiquita!"

"I know that they're stuck up. You think I haven't seen them???"

"You know what? Don't say anything else to me."

"Or what?"

"I'll hurt you, and that's a promise. I wouldn't dare go that way."

"I'm not scared of you", Chiquita takes a big gulp. There is a lot of tension in the air.

Aaron gets out of bed and approaches Chiquita.. "What was that?"

Chiquita slowly gets up, "I'm not scared of you. You don't scare me."

Aaron says nothing.

"You're very sorry. You're a pitiful excuse for a guy. When I spoke to David, he made me feel good about myself. I told him about you and all he does is laugh. You're pathetic."

"Well you know what? When I tell Annie about you, she does more than laugh. She talks about you, and says that you're stupid and I deserve someone better than you. Truth is I already found her. I believe the gods blessed me with my soul mate by bringing her my direction."

Chiquita frowns, "Soul mate?"

Aaron laughs and heads back to his bed. Chiquita sits down in sorrow and confusion. Eventually she cries herself to sleep silently.

David has a great conversation with Chiquita and notices that she looks under the weather.

"Why are you so sad?" He asks.

"I didn't sleep very well."

"Why?"

"I just wasn't feeling good."

David has a feeling that more happened than what she was telling him, but he nods his head and fixes her some soup he cooked over the fire.

"So have you made up your mind yet?"

"About what?"

David laughs, "About the trip to America."

"Yeah, I really want to go."

"Seems like something is holding you back."

"No, there's nothing."

"You sure?"

"Yes."

"You know I'm very good at reading people. You had an argument with your friend right?"

".. yes.. It wasn't very nice."

"That's why you had a bad sleep. You've been thinking about it so much you couldn't sleep."

"Yeah."

"I'm sorry. I've had many arguments with my ex wife."

"Did you ever fight her?"

"Fight her? Of course not. She has thrown dishes and glasses at me before. Once I snapped and pushed her into the wall. It created a hole. If you call that fighting, then I guess. I reacted out of anger because I was tired of taking her shit."

"I understand. Did she cry?"

"Yes she did cry, and she has a permanent purple bruise on her upper back because of that."

"You didn't give it to her, she gave that to herself."

"Exactly! Still I felt like a sorry bastard. Men carry more emotions than women. I mean we act like jerks and assholes making it seem like we don't care, but all of that is just a mask. We really do care. I'll be the first man to tell you that Chiquita.."

"So that's why they're so mean?"

"Yeah. I mean we're dogs by nature, we have hearts like lions, and big heads like bulls."

"Wow.."

"So if a man ever tells you he doesn't give a shit about you, don't believe it. I mean you may have done something that pissed him off, but he feels that since it's in his nature to be hard, that's how he should react. But that shit comes back to bite us later. Truth is, he really does care for you. What did you and your friend argue about?"

"Well, there's a girl who is also here on the island vacationing with her parents."

"Yeah?"

"She's on the other part of the island, maybe a few miles from here. I don't know how long. But she met Aaron, my friend, and they're in love with each other. She wants to take him to America with her, and he told me last night that the reason she couldn't be with him is because she knows that I really like him."

"Do you like him?"

"Yes, more than like him."

"So he doesn't feel the same way because of this girl?"

"Yeah. He really likes her, and he got mad at me. He felt that if I didn't like him, they would be together and she wouldn't feel guilty."

"My God. Well.. He should never blame someone else of something that they can't help. Besides.. You're a beautiful girl. You can get any man that you want."

Chiquita smiles very wide, and David smiles too.

"Chiquita, I think you're a very beautiful woman. But you're also naïve; young."

"Yeah", the wind swipes her long black hair across her face.

"If I take you to America, you can't come back here."

"I don't want to come back here. Too many demons", she whispers.

David leans in and kisses her. They kiss very deeply, and Chiquita relaxes and puts her hands on his shoulders. He kisses her neck. The clouds get dark, and it starts to rain.

"Shit!" David exclaims.

Chiquita immediately gets up.

"Let's go inside", they go inside of his tent and David hands her a towel to dry off, "Here you go."

"Thank you", she dries herself.

"I think it's best to wait Chiquita. You're too valuable.."

She smiles, "Thank you David. Can I keep visiting you though?"

"Of course!"

Aaron is swimming, and notices that Annie is on top of a huge rock. She has a towel and a bikini on underneath.

"Can I join you?" She asks.

"Yeah", Aaron answers reluctantly. She unwraps her towel and gets in the river.

"It's been a while since I've been swimming", She laughs.

"Swimming never hurt anybody", Aaron gets out of the river and walks away.

"Where are you going????" Annie asks.

"Back to my cabin."

"Wait!" Annie gets out of the river and grabs her towel. She runs to him, "Gosh you walk so fast!"

"I have long legs."

"I see. Listen I wanted to talk to you about what happened yesterday. I'm truly sorry."

"It's okay."

"Where's your friend?"

"With her friend."

"What?"

"There's another guy vacationing here, and she's with him."

"As in?"

"Yeah."

"Oh okay. I had a talk with my father, and he said that we should take you and Chiquita to America with us. You can both stay in the pent house that we have. I really like you Aaron."

"I like you too, but Chiquita is not coming with me to America. The tourist is taking her."

"Does she know him?"

"She's getting to know him, like you and me."

She puts her head down, "I'm sorry."

"It's okay. I'm happy to see you Annie", they hug each other.

"I've missed you so much", Annie says. They kiss each other.

Over time, the cabin becomes empty. Chiquita spends nights with David, and Aaron stays with Annie and her family. They barely see each other anymore. Time is coming for both parties to leave. Annie is extremely happy, and so is Aaron. He's just nervous of leaving, but he knows that it'll be better when he does. Annie's parents arranges for the ship to come to take them away. They pack all of their things.

David puts all of his things in two bags, and Chiquita helps him. He tells her about life in New York, and how she would like it. She tells him that she's from New York originally, and he says that's the great thing about it.

Annie's father Mitchell, gives Aaron a tuxedo to wear for the ship, and Annie combs his hair and puts it in a pony tail. They ask if there is anything that he would like to take from the cabin, and he says yes.

David lets Chiquita wear one of his T-shirts and a pair of shorts, and some over sized sandals. She looks ridiculous, but cute at the same time. He asks if there's anything she would like to take from the cabin before they leave, and she says yes. They head to the cabin.

Surprisingly, the two parties meet. Aaron finally sees Chiquita. Chiquita finally sees Aaron.

"Well if this isn't Aaron's friend that he spoke so highly about", Annie's mother approaches Chiquita and starts to kiss her on the cheek. Chiquita fidgets and hides behind David.

"She's just a little shy that's all" He smiles, "And you must be her friend, Eric?"

"Aaron", he corrects.

"Oh yes. Sorry."

Chiquita and everyone else goes inside of the cabin and they get the things that they want. Annie's parents take pictures of the place.

"We'll give these to the sociologists at Harvard so they can see how the wild men live. We'll make Aaron famous!" Mitchell jokes.

"Oh Mitchell! We're giving the boy an opportunity to live a normal life, not make him famous!"

"Oh Laura, can't you ever take a joke?"

Aaron takes what he wants, and Chiquita takes what she wants as well. Then they depart.

"Bye Aaron", Chiquita says.

"Bye Chiquita."

There is sadness in the both of their eyes. Annie's father puts his hand on Aaron's shoulder and escorts him out of the cabin, "Come on son." They leave. David looks at Chiquita, "Well princess, you ready to go?"

"Yeah."

"I know it's hard for you, but its good for you."

"I know, I'm happier about the decision."

"Good."

David's air plane flies down, and Chiquita gets scared.

"No honey, it's okay. This will take us to where we need to go."

"Okay", She calms down. The men in the air plane help them to put all of their stuff on the air plane, and they close the doors.

"We ready?" David asks.

"Than ever! Let's get out of this dump shall we?" He flies away.

Aaron stares at the air plane as it goes away.

"Aaron?"

Aaron turns around, "The ship is here", Annie smiles and kisses him on his cheek, "Come on."

He goes on the ship with everyone else, and goes on the dock with Annie and her family. They are drinking wine. Annie's parents keep gibbering on and off about how Aaron will enjoy life in America. He looks back at the place that he used to call home. As the ship drifts off, the place gets smaller, and smaller, and smaller.

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Aaron is introduced to a lot of people in Boston. He is known as the young man who lived in the wilderness/island for ten years since he was a child. Annie's parents give the pictures to sociologists at Harvard, and they take Aaron's picture and put it in the book. He is invited to lectures, studies, and events all over the world.

Along with Aaron's family, he travels to England, 10 other cities in America, France, Italy, Germany, Sweden, India, Mexico, South Africa, and Japan. He is a celebrity. His pictures are everywhere. Annie's family are known as the family who rescued him, and bought him out of oblivion and civilization. Oprah Winfrey invites him to her show, along with many other talk show hosts. Tyra Banks flirts with him a lot and compliments him on his hair.

Many pop artists write songs about him, and give credit to him in their music. Aaron meets the Queen of England, prime ministers, and big name people all over the world. He enjoys it all, and he loves the attention, yet is nonchalant about it. He doesn't become snotty, and never forgets where he came from. Tyra Banks asked him if he would want to live on the island again, and he answers, "From what I'm seeing now, no." Oprah Winfrey asked him how was he able to survive on that island all of those years, and he answers, "When that's all you know, you just do it." Dozens of women love his appearance, his biracial light skin, his long wavy brown hair, and tall frame. He gets so much money he never has to work a job; he just attends events.

Aaron and Annie get married right after she graduates from Harvard. They move not too far from her parents; into a beautiful eight bedroom house, and they have five children, all of them with colored eyes, and two of them with blonde hair. They love their children, and raise them very well.

Aaron teaches them how to swim, fish, and at one point hunt, but Annie really doesn't want them to learn hunting. It's too violent, she says.

"Daddy, in your past life I think you were Tarzan", one of the children say.

Aaron and Annie look at each other, then laugh. He was Tarzan.

Chiquita moves into David's sky rise pent house in New York. All of this is new to her, and she's scared of elevators and escalators, but David assures her that in time, she'll get used to it. He takes her out to nice dinners, buys her expensive clothes; mainly evening gowns, and he spends money on her to get her hair and nails done. He has women in the mall dress her up, and she loves it. It makes her feel extremely beautiful.

He loves buying things for her, and even buys her jewelry. All of this is new to Chiquita. Being dressed up is even new to her since the only thing she has worn in many years was a bra and loin cloth, sometimes she wore nothing at all. She loves the dresses and the city life New York has to offer. Chiquita sees Aaron in a lot of newspapers, and the memories all come back. Chiquita is shy, she doesn't want David to expose her in that way. She says she doesn't want the attention, she just wants to be normal. David says he will never tell a soul, and they keep that secret to themselves. Aaron and Chiquita are walking down the street one day, window shopping, and a man approaches Chiquita and takes pictures of her.