I wake up to a crackling fire and Doug sitting behind it. “How long have you been up?” I ask over to him. “Mmm, not sure. Been a little though” He replies.

“You sure you got enough sleep there” I say, he looks at me with questioning eyes. “Yeah, I wouldn’t be out here if I hadn’t, why do you ask?” His voice becomes out slightly wavery.

“You didn’t go to sleep for a bit there” I chuckle at him. He hangs his head “Oh, you heard that… I’m sorry”.

I shrug my shoulders “I’m not one to judge, anyway you’re a living thing and human at that. It’s bound to happen”. He replies back “Yeah, but it must be hard to be in your position”.

I close my eyes and listen to the crackling fire, it’s still dark but you can start to see some light peeking in the horizon through the trees. “Mmm, maybe. But I try not to think of it too much. If the desperate time comes, there’s other ways to handle it” I say. I take a peek at him

“Uh… I guess” Doug looks uncomfortable, maybe he hasn’t put too much thought into it either. “Hahaha” I laugh softly, he softly glares at me. “Don’t mind me” I wave his eyes off. I settle back down for a nap to wait for the sunlight to rise higher.

I can sense more light breaking through the trees, probably ended up sleeping for another one or two hours at most. I keep my eyes closed and just listen to the sounds all around me, so called finding my zen place. The only thing I really hear is the wind singing through the trees and the fire crackling in front of me, it’s gotten a lot colder outside but it feels out with layers and the fire going.

I hear a zipper starting to move downwards, someone’s coming out of the couple’s tent. Not that there’s any special meaning to it, but I pretend to keep sleeping. “Good morning dear” I hear Helen say. “Good morning” Doug replies back to her.

“Has he been out here all night? He must be cold” Helen asks. “Yeah? But it’s not all that bad next to the fire” Doug says.

(Ha. Where else would I have slept? Not with you, and definitely not with Alexia. You would have killed me on the spot) I hear rummaging of clothes together and random human noises, I presume they’ll huddling together with a blanket. “Maybe for you, but I’m still cold” Helen says while messing with said blanket.

“So how far do you think we’re going to make it today” Helen asks Doug. He replies “I’d say with the speed so far, we should get maybe halfway to two-thirds of the way to the river”.

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“We’ll need to be there sooner or find a stream along the way to get some water” I speak up. “So you were awake” Doug states.

“You should have said something, what if something inappropriate was said or done?” Helen shoots out. I shrug at her “Wouldn’t have been my problem, not illegal for me to want to lay back and relax” I simple state. Doug laughs “He’s got a point there”, Helen pouts and hits him.

I open my eyes to them cuddled under the blanket staring at the fire, the sun continues to rise and shine through the trees. “Probably best for everyone to be up now aye” I remark at the sun. “Yeah, probably” Doug states.

Helen begins to undo the blanket around them, “It’s alright, I got it” I stand up. I want over to Alexia’s tent and begin to tap on it. “Hey, it’s time to get up” I cue at her through the fabric. Nothing, I tap a little harder “Anybody in there” nothing again. (Of course it’s going to end up like this) I begin to unzip the tent.

“What are you doing” Helen looks behind to see me. I roll my eyes, “What does it look like?” I continue to unzip it.

“I can do that” Helen stabs back. “Relax, it’s not like I’m going to do anything to her, especially not when you’re two yards away” I say sarcastically.

“What if she’s not descent?” Ugh, this woman. “Ha. I highly doubt anyone’s going to be uncovered in this temperature” I play along.

“Just let it be” Doug says to Helen. I continue into the tent.

Sure enough she’s snuggled into her sleeping bag. I sit cross-legged aligned with her neck. “Guten Morgen, ma belle. It’s time to get up” no response. I rest my head on my right hand with my elbow on my leg. With my other hand, I poke her cheek with my finger. She waves me away, so I poke her again (This is quite fun and peaceful). Something unexpectedly moves in my heart, a twinge of emotion flares inside of me. She goes to wave me away harder but I catch her hand. I lean forward towards the hand that’s in both of my hands now, but stop myself (no no no, no further than this). I begin to drum my fingers on the back of her hand.

“What is it” Alexia says groggily, I wait till she is fully aware of what’s going on. She opens her eyes and stares at me for a second, then shrinks back, taking her hand with her. I go back to my arm rest position, “What are you doing in here?” she questions me.

“Ah, don’t be so cold, it’s already too cold outside for that. I came to wake you up, and when I saw your peaceful pretty face, I just couldn’t help myself” I teasingly smile.

She just sits there unsure what to say or do next, I snicker “Sorry, I’ll let you get up”. I stand up and go outside the tent, zipping it back up and walking back to the fire.

“You sure took your time” Helen’s accusing eyes looking at me. “Ah, come one” I say pitifully “We were just having a moment”. She was about to reply back to when she was interrupted by Doug’s laughing.

Alexia surfaces from the tent with a change of black pants on, who knows what else since she has on her coat. “Finally awake are we?” Doug asks Alexia, she just silently walks over to an empty log beside the fire and sits. She keeps her head down and searches through her bag for food and drink, (I might have taken it a little too far this time).