“Hey, Charlie, what’s wrong?”

Jack.

The light of Jack’s own small fire cast flickering shadows across his concerned face as he sat before it, and Charlie simply stood there, arms wrapped around himself, staring into the other man’s eyes.

“Charlie?”

“I told Hurley that I was a junkie.”

“And?”

Charlie’s only reply was to hug himself tighter and look away.

“Come here.” Jack held his tattooed arm out away from his body, and Charlie wasted no time in moving to tuck himself underneath it. Once he was settled, pressed tightly to Jack’s side, head resting against the larger man, Jack wrapped his arm around Charlie’s shoulders to complete the embrace. “What did he say?”

“Nothing.”

“He must have said something to get you this upset.”

“He didn’t say anything at first. Then I prompted him, suggested he might want to reciprocate ... I told him a secret; it’d be nice if he told me one ... and he made some crack about being worth over a hundred and fifty million back home.”

“Charlie...” Jack nuzzled at the soft hair at the top of Charlie’s head before resting his cheek there. “I’m sure Hurley didn’t mean to hurt you. He might not have been joking, you know. He just might not have expressed himself very well.”

“Suppose so.” Charlie unwrapped his arms from around his body and slid them around Jack, snuggling closer. “Not really on the same scale, though, is it? Personal net worth and a heroin addiction.”

“Well, no.”

Silence settled between them for a few moments before Charlie whispered, “I’m just tired of being ... set aside, I guess. Too much trouble, not worth the effort is Charlie.”

“Hey.” Jack pulled back and tipped Charlie’s face up towards his. “I think you’re worth the effort. Though, you are a lot of trouble. You took ten years off my life with that stunt on the bridge this afternoon, you know.”

Charlie coloured a little at that and said, “Sorry. I honestly thought that if it could take his weight, it could take mine. Won’t do it again.”

Jack laughed at that. “Of course not.” He rested his forehead against Charlie’s and breathed, “I love you.”

“Love you, too. And, for the record, you took ten years off my life with that explosion this afternoon.”

Laughing once more, Jack placed a kiss on Charlie’s lips and said, “Sorry. Won’t do it again.”

Charlie made no reply but captured Jack’s lips with is own in a gentle kiss. The night breeze played with his hair, and although they were sheltered from the eyes of the others on the beach by trees and brush, he felt far more exposed than when they indulged their desire in the secluded corners of the caves.

“Hey, Charlie... Oh, whoa. Sorry, dudes.”

Jack and Charlie broke their kiss and turned to find Hurley standing in front of their fire, looking embarrassed.

“Um, yeah, I was, like, ah... hoping to talk to Charlie, but if this is, like, a bad time, I can, you know, come back later.”

“No, Hurley, that’s fine,” said Jack, pulling away from Charlie with a soothing caress down his back. “I’ll take a walk. You two talk.”

Charlie looked as though he wanted to protest, but he remained silent as Jack walked away. His lover gone, he shifted to look expectantly across the fire at Hurley.

“So... I guess that makes two biggest life secrets I know about you now, huh?” There was no reply to that, so Hurley tried again. “Look, I’m sorry about earlier. I didn’t mean for you to think I was joking. I wasn’t. But you gotta let me explain this time.”

“Okay, then. Explain.”

“Thank you.” Hurley walked around the fire and lowered his bulk to the ground next to Charlie. “You see, it all started when I was in this mental institution. I wasn’t, like, crazy or anything. I just had some issues with depression and stuff. There was this guy there, though, Lenny, who would always repeat these numbers, just constantly. When I got out, you know, started putting my life back together, I used those numbers to play the lotto ... and I won.

“After that, all this bad shit started happening to people around me. I was going to send my grandpa on a cruise – the first real vacation he’d ever have had – and he had a heart-attack while the local news people were interviewing me about what I was going to do with the money. There was a freak storm at his funeral, and a bunch of people got struck by lightening. My brother’s wife left him for another woman... I owned a shoe company in Canada that burned down and killed eight people, but I made money because it was over-insured. The list goes on.

“First I thought maybe the money was cursed, then I realised it wasn’t the money at all, it was the numbers. I went back to talk to Lenny, ask him about the numbers, and he pointed me to the guy who heard the numbers sixteen years ago. He lived in Australia, except when I got to his house, I found out he was dead. Killed himself to make the curse stop after he’d used the numbers to win money.

“On the way home the plane crashed. Things were okay for a while, considering we were all stuck here and all. Then shit started happening again, and yesterday I find out that the crazy French chick had written the numbers over and over again on a piece of paper. So I went looking for answers.”

“And did you find any?”

“Not really. She didn’t really know much more than I did about them. But she agreed that they were a curse.”

“So, now what?”

“I don’t know. Just keep on keeping on, I guess. Hope we get rescued. Hope the curse stays on the island when we go.” Hurley stared into the flames for a moment before turning back to Charlie. “Thanks for listening, man, and not, you know, telling me I’m crazy.”

“Well,” Charlie looked down at his hands, “I don’t think everything that’s happened is your fault – sometimes shit just happens – but I don’t think you’re crazy either. And, Hurley, I’m always willing to listen.” He looked back up at his friend and could see the gratitude shining in his eyes.

“Yeah, um... If we’re good now, I’ll go let Jack know its safe to come back and then get some sleep. Long day.”

“Yeah, it was. Go ahead; we’re good now.”

“Okay. See you mañana.” Hurley levered himself up off the ground and gave a small wave as he ambled back to his own fire.

Exhausted, but mind churning, Charlie stretched out in front of the fire, head pillowed on his arms, and waited for Jack to return.

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