Chapter 547) Frog-Blocked

“Friendship often ends in love,
but love in friendship – never.”

~C. C. Colton

Sulani
Ohan'ali Town Vacation Bungalows

Iris Marie, Briar Rose, Jackson and Jasper were having a fabulous time in Sulani, for the twins’ and Jasper’s high school graduation trip. Jasper, Iris, Bri were 18, Jackson now 20.

The moment they arrived at the two vacation bungalows located right at the beach in the touristy main part of the island, in literal walking distance or at least close proximity to anything interesting to the young people, the beach, a restaurant, a spa near the volcano, even an entertainment area with dance club, bar, open air concert stage and cafe they knew that had made the right choice.

Each bungalow had two full bedrooms, officially one bungalow for the boys, one for the girls but of course that logic was more than fluid as far as Bri and Jackson were concerned. If she slept in her own bed, Jackson was with her, or she was spending the night with him in his room at his and Jasper’s bungalow.

Despite many secret make out sessions and stolen kisses, Jasper and Iris Marie were still only friends. Officially and romantically. Now that the mutual attraction had been revealed to one another, hiding the fact from everyone else had gotten harder and harder, but they were determined to figure out if this was a sort of attraction born from a lifelong close relationship and deeply rooted trust, misunderstood for romantic attraction or if it in fact was real love and desire.

On top of this, both just got out of relationships that had gone sour for various reasons, which birthed the worry if maybe this was a sort of quest for safe comfort, not actual love and attraction. Before both felt certain of what exactly they were looking at, they had vowed to each other to keep it under wraps from everyone else.

It wasn’t the most difficult task and required surprisingly little effort, even while spending the entire week living with Bri and Jackson, as Bri only had eyes for Jackson – and some for the beautiful environment, and Jackson was too backlashed by everything, the beauty of the trip, the luxury of the entire vacation, knowing he couldn’t financially contribute to the trip, but being able to be with Bri openly more than made up for that for him, so neither of them noticed Iris and Jasper spending even more time together than usual, nor did they catch any of the flirtatious glances and covert hand holding under the dinner table.

Day 2

The beats of Ed Sheeran’s “Shivers” pounded through the air, Jasper was singing along to the lyrics as he and Iris Marie moved to the music.

Next to them were Bri and Jackson, laughing hard, while she was trying to get him to move his hips to the rhythm.

“Darlin’, I just don’t bend like that …” he laughed as he grabbed her and just twirled.

The song was coming to an end, so Jasper twirled Iris as well, picked her up and ran, she screamed for joy until he unloaded her over his shoulder making her stumble and fall right into the water.

Gasping, she shot back up, found Jasper laughing hard as he turned and ran.

“Oh yeah, you BETTER run! You are gonna die today!” Iris warned and took off after him.

“Should we be worried?” Jackson smirked.

“Nah, Jasper is pretty quick on his feet and if not, I am sure he can find ways to talk himself out of trouble, it’s what he does. Just like poking Iris till she flips, he has ALWAYS done that, we all are shocked he’s still alive. They’ll be fine.”

Some hundred of yards away Iris had caught up to Jasper, tripped him up, so he tumbled into the sand, just before she jumped atop him, pushing his hands down over his head.

Out of breath, but grinning they stared at each other, when she pulled his hands up to kiss them. An incredibly sweet, innocent and intimate gesture, and one that definitely wasn’t lost on Jasper.

He sat up, they kissed.

Both felt the heat rising and the undeniable sparks between them as they continued to make out for a moment.

“Come with me …” he said, getting up, offering his hand to her, pulling her up, winking at her, as he pulled her along.

Hand in hand they walked along the beach until they reached a waterfall. They could hear it, the water masses pounding down, even feel the water spray surrounding them like a halo, before they even saw it.

“Wow, that is breathtaking.” Iris exclaimed.

“I was thinking the same thing. But there is also a waterfall.” Jasper smiled.

“Staaahp!” Iris giggled, swatting at him, but clearly basking in the compliment.

He pulled her along, they waded in the natural pool at the foot of the waterfall, where they started kissing. Jasper pulled her more and more into the waterfall, till she squealed, turning under the water.

“Amazing … crazy cool … I never felt anything like this. Out of this world …” she cooed.

Jasper pulled her closer again, they made out.
His hands started to wander, found the closure of her bikini top and started fiddling with it to open it, but before he managed to succeed both nearly jumped out of their skins.

“That is not allowed! Get out of that water RIGHT NOW! Damn tourists! Didn’t you see the signs! The waterfall is not to be disturbed during the mating season of the rare speckled treehopper frogs. Find another place to … do what you were about to do!” some man yelled at them.

“Why? If those frogs are so endangered, maybe we could inspire the frogger boys to get on top of the lady frogs and make some baby froggies. Lead by example, pretty sure some of them are getting hot under their collars already. Now how about you run along and let us preserve the local frog population in peace. You are welcome, Sir!” Jasper retorted in his Jasper-ways.

Iris had been embarrassed, but now couldn’t keep herself from laughing.

“I do not find that funny in the least, you insolent brats! If I come back in 5 minutes and you are still here, I will call the police!” the man warned, then stomped off.

“Wow. That was … ummm … another indescribable experience.” Iris grimaced.

“Yeah, nothing like getting cockblocked for a lesson about the local frog population while trying to get it in over here.”

“Get it in?! Unromantic asshole.” Iris slapped him in the back of the head while turning to wade back to shore.

“Ouch! I am all about love with feeling, but maybe a little less hard. Before you red-marker the way I talk, stop a minute and think if asshole would be my preferred term of endearment?! Not exactly romantic either! What should I have said? We tried to make sweet love for the very first time ever under a waterfall lined with peeping Toms in the form of that male Karen dude and a bunch of rare frogs, on which we were subsequently lectured. Pretty sure the situation was mostly comical and not what I would consider romantic. We literally got frog-blocked, Iris. FROG-BLOCKED!” Jasper defended himself.

“I am going back to the bungalows.” she grumbled, turning around to Jasper, who caught up with her.

“Okay, fine. Yours or mine?” he asked.

“I am going to mine. You can go wherever you want, preferably hell.” she hissed.

“Whoa whoa whoa – what?! What’s with the hate speech and why am I being locked out now?! What did I do wrong? I didn’t realize you had such sensitive ears of a sudden.” Jasper complained.

“I don’t, and it’s not about how you phrase things, it’s about the sum of things here and I am not locking you out, you have a bungalow to go to, YOURS and Jackson’s! Clearly, this isn’t meant to be. Either we choke or we get choked out. Clearly the universe is telling us this is a bad idea, which is why we keep failing every time we try to do more than kiss. In other words, CLEARLY, this isn’t happening!” Iris lectured him, then walked off again, he stepped in her way.

“Iris, wait! This means nothing, just that some idiot felt like parenting some kids in a waterfall to feel good about himself for socking it to some Gen Z’ers. You know how the Boomers are, everything is now our fault. This isn’t a sign from the universe, but a sexually frustrated middle-aged man with a thorough dislike of the younger crowd, while he has nothing else going in his life. Bet he doesn’t give two shits about frogs either.” Jasper argued.

“Jasper, we clearly are BOTH uncomfortable with this. We tried twice now, failed in a humiliating way each time, I don’t know why we keep trying. You and I are not meant to be a couple, so better to stop this nonsense now before someone gets hurt and things get REALLY awkward. Or to use your terms, you are so NOT getting it in today. At least not with me.” Iris told him sharply.

“Whoa whoa whoa lady friend, hold up here! Says who? You? I know you like to have your way and I usually let you, but not like this. You can’t make that choice for both of us, you don’t get to decide if we are meant to be more than friends or not. I get a say. And I say, we just haven’t been serious enough about this. What about the dancing leading to the kissing, which lead to the REAL kissing, which lead us HERE, to the waterfall? We were THIS close, and it felt right! At least to me and while I am not claiming to be an expert on proper timing of nookie, but I do have expert level reading skills of Iris Marie Cameron and you were here for it! You wanted it, I definitely did and still kinda do, so let’s do it somewhere without frogs and Incels. THEN we will decide if this is something real, something with a future, not because of shitty timing. Neither of us can claim to look back on lots of experience with this, both of us are 1 measly partner in so far, so of course we don’t know what we’re doing here, but we probably never will until we keep trying. That’s how you get good at things, but actually DOING them.” Jasper’s tone was unusually firm.

“Nice speech, Professor Doctor Love Guru! Get serious about it? Serious about what? Screwing each other? You think if we go and have a real serious fuck behind locked doors and drawn curtains there will be an aura of sheer splendor while angels sing ‘YES, YOU ARE MEANT TO BE, HALLELUJAH’?” Iris’s face repeated the sarcasm from her tone.

“No. A choir of angels doesn’t even make my list of things I am aiming for here, mostly cos I deem us both intelligent enough to just know if it’s right or not. I wouldn’t push so hard if I didn’t have a really good feeling about this, Iris. I don’t know why we can’t get there, but I am not just gonna pack up my toys and run home. This is more important to me. YOU are important to me. We’ll get it right … eventually.” Jasper said.

“It’s humiliating. Just think, Jas, if we guess wrong on this, and we tank as a couple, it’s gonna be a really bad problem and not just for us. Or did you forget that not only our parents are best friends, meaning we will never be able to avoid each other, but moreover we’ll be starting college this fall, and we both will be living at the Cameron Campus house, literally door to door? How is THAT supposed to work if this doesn’t work out?! Four years of silent awkwardness cos we presumably finally managed to see each other naked and – to use your term – ‘get it in’ a few times, only to realize it’s crap? That is way too messy to deal with. I am out. This isn’t happening.” Iris was determined.

She rushed off, leaving behind a flabbergasted Jasper, feeling confused, sad, disappointed, rejected and wondering if Iris was right or wrong, even though it felt more wrong than right to just let whatever this was go without even REALLY trying. So the previous attempts were bad. Maybe all that worked in movies, but clearly not for them. But Jasper didn’t believe it to be some sign from above, nipping what could be something big in the bud. No way. Just how to make a girl like Iris see it too? If she was one thing, it was stubborn. But so was Jasper. He had always been a flirt and received his share of rejections by girls at clubs and parties, and normally didn’t care much if at all, but this one stung badly.

With a deep sigh of frustration Jasper started cursing, when the guy from earlier came back, right as Jasper had just kicked angrily at the water, and as if in slow-motion he felt something cold and almost slimy on his foot, saw it flying up with the spray of the water as it hit the man in the face.

A moment of stunning silence followed the last splashes of the water hitting the ground, and Jasper saw a frog clinging to the guy’s nose …

The man would have probably screamed, but was in utter shock, standing there, staring wide-eyed at the heavily breathing, probably disoriented frog, Jasper’s eyes and mouth were open wide, until he unfroze with a gasp.

“You gotta be shittin’ me!”

Jasper just started running as fast as he could …

Back at the Rental Bungalows ...

Bri had just come out of the shower, wrapped in a towel, as she stepped out into the hallway – Jackson had run out to fill up the jet skis they rented for the next day – when Jasper tumbled in through the bathroom window Bri had opened to let the steam out. Jasper jumped up, looked panicked out the window, slamming it shut, while Bri just stared at him, with her mouth agape.

“I am in trouble! You gotta help me!” he told her urgently, following her into the living room.

In that moment there was a hearty knock on the front door and a voice called through

“Sulani Municipal Police, open the door PLEASE!”

Panicked, Jasper stared at Bri, who exclaimed

“Oh jeeze, you’re not giving me any time to even think, huh? Fine, take off your clothes and put on a towel, HURRY! You better not have murdered someone or I will murder YOU!” she said, shoved him back into the bathroom, slamming the door shut, then inhaled deeply, before opening the bungalow door with the most intentionally neutral facial expression.

With the sweetest, most innocent smile she could muster, with just enough surprise sprinkled in to be believable she purred.

“Oh my goodness, hello Officer. Is there a problem?”

“That’s not her. Not the girl!” some guy behind the not uniformed cop exclaimed, while Bri stared at the badge and ID card the officer was holding in her face.

“Good evening, Miss. I am Detective Warren. Are you here alone? May I come in to speak more privately? It won’t take long and JUST ME, YOU wait outside, Sir!” the detective turned to the other guy with him, before shutting the bungalow door in his face.

“I am not alone, my … umm … boyfriend is here too, well not here per se, you see, he ran out to get gas for the jetskis because we booked scuba diving for early morning tomorrow and … umm, what is this about again?” Bri said distracted by the detective looking around the entire bungalow, when he opened the bathroom door, finding Jasper.

“Oh, what have we here? Who might you be, young man? Come on out here, please, let’s talk. And I would like to see some ID from you as well.” The officer directed pointing at both, so Jasper dug around his pants left in the bathroom to produce his wallet and ID before joining the detective and Bri in the living room.

“That’s him! That’s the frog assailant!” the man shouted through the shut window; Jasper flipped him off while the detective was distracted reading his ID.

“Officer, I assure you my … ahem … boyfriend and I weren’t …. ahem …. assaulting frogs, whatever that even means. We were … umm … you know …. showering together and before that we were …. well …. ya know. Right … umm, Snuffypuff?!” Bri smiled, first at Jasper who was pulling faces at her made-up term of endearment, then innocently at the detective while digging through her purse, then handing her ID to the lawman.

“Oh yeah, totes, my Boo-Bae. She da bomb in the sack, officer. I am too worn out to play with frogs. Got the wrong dude.” Jasper played along, while Bri turned to him as she mouthed the word ‘Boo-Bae???‘ grimacing, so Jasper shrugged.

This was when Jackson returned, giving the nosy waterfall guy a grim look that made him step back some, while Jackson entered the bungalow, shutting the door staring at the odd scene.

“Another one. And who are you now? Please, come on in here and join us.” the detective wondered, while going through the spiel of introducing himself to Jackson.

“Jackson Kershaw, Sir, her boyfriend…” Jackson pointed at Bri, while handing the detective his ID.

“Sodom and Gomorrah! I knew it! Young people nowadays don’t mind ANY rules anymore … Sodom and Gomorrah!” the guy outside exclaimed while peeking in through the window.

“But I thought you said THIS was your boyfriend, Miss … umm … Cameron.” the officer looked somewhere between suspicious and confused, pointing at Jasper, while Jackson arched his eyebrows at Bri.

“Oh boy, yes, how terrible, we have been found out! Oh no! Quick detective, you best go before this escalates. Oh, and I feel very uncomfortable with that middle-aged man out there looking at me in nothing but a towel. I just turned 18 and that is just uber-cringe. I think I may have to go back to therapy, hopefully my uncle knows a good place. Maybe you know him, his name is Blake Cameron, he lives here in Sulani.” Bri pulled out the big guns, name-dropping her relationship to some of the biggest superstars in the entertainment business today, masqueraded under an angelic smile and batting of her eyelashes.

The detective’s eyes widened as his ears perked.

“Blake Cameron is your uncle, Miss?”

“Oh yes, I am Briar Rose Cameron as you can see, I am Uncle Blake’s niece by his younger brother Chase, I am sure you heard of my dad’s band ‘2Dark 2C’. Mr. Kershaw and Mr. Hargrave are here to visit my dear old uncle and his family. We’re having dinner with them later actually, which is what I was getting ready for when you and that creepy man showed up. I would SO hate to have to cancel, because that delulu man out there harassing us. It would break Uncle Blake and Auntie Mila’s hearts, you see, we don’t see them a lot these days … I live in Brindleton Bay, they all the way out here …” Bri bat her lashes at the detective.

“Of course not! Your wonderful uncle and aunt have done much for our islands, donated generously to the preservation efforts of the local wildlife and also did wonders for the tourism, you would not believe how many people choose us for the sole chance of spotting Mr. Cameron or his esteemed children or grandchildren! I agree, this must have been a misunderstanding, the story sounded a bit far fetched anyway, but we make it a point to keep these islands safe for all. I will handle this, and Mr. Kalanhua won’t bother you again. I am sure he will realize this was just a case of mistaken identity. Have a good evening, Miss Cameron and ummm … gentlemen.”

The detective left in a hurry, just dragging the complainant with him.

“And the Oscar for best ever performance goes to: Miss Briar Rose Cameron! I am starting to think you should change your major to mine, at least we’d already know someone in our classes. You need to be an actress, woman! And we’re also name dropping now, the big No No, huh Bri? Hopefully Blake will find that as funny as I do.” Jasper chuckled.

“Really Jasper, REALLY? I literally did what I could to save your ungrateful butt and you stand there whining about me breaking some tiny little Nepo baby rules while I am doing the Improv of my life here? I am sure Uncle Blake will just laugh about it all, but I find you kinda douche-y at the moment.” Bri ranted at Jasper.

“I am not sure how I am findin’ this. What is goin’ on here? I was only gone a little while to put gas in the jet skis and come back to you and Jasper in towels? I hope you’re not the next guy I’m gonna have to fight over Bri, but I will.” Jackson was confused and not too amused.

“Agh, as if! Come on now, Jas is like my brother! To be honest, I don’t really know what happened either. I just got out of the shower when Jasper came in through the window begging me to help, next thing was the police at the door, so we improvised. Jasper?” Bri looked at Jasper, while Jackson wrapped his arms around her possessively.

Jackson and Bri both looked at Jasper.

“Oh, you want the tea now, right? Hey, Jackson, does Bri actually call you Snuffypuff? Just curious.” Jasper grinned, receiving a slap from Bri.

“No, I do not! I just made that up, best I could do on such rush notice. I would never call Jackson such ridiculous things and quit deflecting! But I do want to say I pity your girlfriends if you call them ‘Boo-Bae’.” Briar Rose ranted back, generating a smirk from Jasper.

“What? If you say it fast enough it sounds like booby. And no, for your information, I never have called anyone that, I made it up. Aside from that, there is nothing to tell, cos nothing happened, all blown out of proportion. Iris and I went for a little walk after she caught me and punished me for dumping her in the water, we found a waterfall, went in to enjoy it some, then that dude that came with the cop rolled up and lectured us on rare frogs, somehow Iris got pissed at me about who knows what, which you both know doesn’t take any talent at all, she stomped off, I let out some frustration by kicking water and ended up launching a frog in that guy’s mug. Wasn’t on purpose. Couldn’t do that again if I tried, so … yeah … this. Oh, and Iris is pissed at me, and I am not even sure why. Yeah. Good times.” Jasper told them the censored version of the events.

Bri and Jackson laughed.

Dinner a little while later was nice, Blake, Mila, their son Reed and his wife Cassidy were a good sports about having been used as an excuse, and it was a fun kinda-sorta family reunion, if you ignored the death glares Iris was shooting at Jasper while he was flipping her off any chance he got whenever nobody was paying attention.

Days 3 and 4

The next two days Jackson and Bri had the time of their lives, spending mornings at the beach, playing in the water or working on their tans, while thoroughly enjoying being a couple.

Jasper and Iris would sometimes join them, but usually one would go off do some vacation activity, the other would follow trying to outdo the other. Some of the highlights included trying to make each other’s jet skis tip over by cutting curves at high speeds, creating big waves unbalancing the other. They would fling food at each other in restaurants. Jasper hid stinkbugs in Iris’ Chanel purse, and Iris superglued all of Jasper’s shoes to the floor. And those were only some of their shenanigans.

Day 5

When they went to a nightclub, things reached new heights.

It clearly wasn’t Jackson’s kind of music, but he tried his best to dance with Bri, both laughing hard, while Iris sat at the bar. A guy came over, ignoring her resting bitch face while hitting on her, so Jasper went over to help, but Iris just yelled at him to mind his own business, so with his feelings hurt again, Jasper stomped off.

It took the guy exactly to the moment where he told her a ‘beautiful girl like her should smile not frown … ‘ until she took the drink he just ordered for her without asking, dumped it in his lap, told him unflattering things, then stormed off while reaching new levels of fuming.
Passing the dancefloor, she saw two girls dancing with Jasper, clearly flirting, and he was living his best life, which really didn’t improve her mood. Furiously, she watched the scene for a moment, when Jasper realized it, he smirked devilish, then grabbed one of the girls and pulled her really close, whispering in her ear, making her giggle, playfully swatting at him.

Iris’s eyes narrowed, then she rushed over, slapping Jasper in the face, startling him and the two girls before she yelled

“Thanks for the STD – again – you bastard! You two enjoy my ex, you will definitely NEVER forget him! Also, I am pregnant by you, again, and you owe me back child support for the other three kids we already have and the oldest needs braces!” she hissed, not even worried about the absurd Math of her dramatic rouse being near impossible for two 18-year-old recent high school graduates, as she turned and ran off.

She had just made it to the small wooden bridge, crossing over to the main part of the biggest island of Sulani, when she received the shove and stumbled into the ankle-deep water, where Jasper appeared next to her. Gasping she glared at him …. when he grabbed her and kissed her, both standing in the water, making out.

Breathlessly they continued to make out, the mood became hot and passionate, before she grabbed his hand and they ran off till they found a quiet area behind some shrubs, where they kissed, more and more intensely, the situation heating up faster and faster.

The moment Jasper had his pants off, bright light was shone in their eyes, blinding them, Iris pulled her clothing back into place as fast as she could, Jasper pulled up his boxers but couldn’t find his pants before they heard a familiar voice, even though they couldn’t see the speaker.

“You gotta be kidding me! You two AGAIN! The frog assailants! You have some nerve! What are you doing in my yard?!? I am calling the police! Sodom and Gomorrah!!! Damn kids! Damn tourists!”

Jasper and Iris ran as fast as they could … sans Jasper’s pants.