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Her cheeks flush and I watch as she swallows hard, chuckling at the obvious reaction my words have on her. I like that they do because it means that somewhere, behind all the anger and frustration between us, there’s a part of her that might actually still like me.
And I’m very quickly starting to realize that I want that to be true.
“So, verdict,” I eventually ask as I twist a serving of the pasta on my fork and shove it into my mouth. “Holy fuck,” I blurt out before she has a chance to answer. “This shit tastes fucking weird.”
Delaney bursts out laughing, as she also takes a bite, chewing slowly, her eyes widening a little at the taste. “Yeah, okay, that is weird.”
“Fuck it,” I say, standing. “We need something to help this go down.” I grab the vodka from the shelf and two glasses, pouring us both generous shots before I lift my glass in her direction.
“Wait, hold on,” she says, walking quickly to the door. She shoves her feet into some boots before disappearing outside, only to return with a huge icicle she’s clearly broken off the porch railing. “It needs ice, right?” she asks, breaking off a piece as she holds it over my glass.
Laughing, I nod and wait for her to drop it in. She does the same to her glass and we both clink before downing our shots.
“Jesus,” I say, blowing out a breath. “This is even worse than straight bourbon.”
Delaney nods, coughing a little as she puts her glass down and takes another forkful of pasta. “It is, but you should try vodka and Tang, fuck, that is really gross.”
“What?”
She laughs, shaking her head as she says, “One time on a ski trip back in high school, Zoey snuck a bottle of vodka in her bag, only none of us had any mixers to go with it. One of the guys mentioned he had some Tang, so we tried that and seriously, it was worse than the hangover the next morning.”
“Considering the VapoRub pasta,” I say, gesturing to my plate. “I think I could totally go for some vodka and Tang right now.”
Laughing, Delaney says, “Maybe you should get a still going and make us some booze, Alex. Did they teach you that in Scouts?”
I narrow my brow at her, secretly loving the smile on her face. “Laney, are you mocking me and my stellar survival skills again?”
“Oh no, Alex, I would never,” she says, shaking her head. “I mean this VapoRub pasta is outstanding!”
“Cheeky shit,” I mutter with a laugh.
I watchfrom the mattress by the fire as Delaney carves another line into the back of the door, marking our seventh night in this cabin as far as we can remember. There still hasn’t been any sign of a rescue, nor has it stopped snowing, but we have at least fallen into a weird kind of routine together.
We’ve stopped fighting too, which has been the best part, although we haven’t gone any further than that kiss which got interrupted the other morning. And even though I wake up every morning with a fucking hard-on like you wouldn’t believe, I haven’t pushed things either.
“You think we should try sleeping in the bed for a change?” she asks as she drops the knife on the table and walks back toward me.
I glance over at the old wooden frame. “No, too far away from the fire,” I say, turning back to her. “I think we’re warmer here.”
“Okay,” she replies with a nod, before settling herself beside me.
I lift my arm, making room for her on the mattress as she tucks her head in against the crook of my neck. This has become part of our routine now too, the two of us lying by the fire together and talking well into the night as we take turns stacking it with logs. It’s probably a big part of why I wake up each morning horny as hell, although to be fair, even when I didn’t sleep with Delaney, I’d wake up thinking about her and end up with the same result.
But it’s also a big part of why we’re getting along too, because we are actually taking the time to get to know each other. And while I can’t deny I miss having sex with her, because fuck, I really do, I also like just hanging out like this. Spending time with her and discovering all the other little things about her that I missed the first time because we were too busy pissing each other off.
“What were you studying when you went to Vermont?” I ask as she settles herself against me, her arm draped across my stomach and our legs tangled together beneath the blankets.
“Exercise physiology,” she says. “Not sure why, but I liked skiing, and this seemed like something that might be useful for that. Why, what did you study?”
“Sports management,” I reply with a laugh. “Same reasons.”
Delaney chuckles, propping her head up on her elbow as she looks down at me. “Maybe it’s a good thing we never graduated?”
“Speak for yourself,” I say, squeezing her side. “My buddy’s about to make the US Olympic Team so my degree could totally be useful.”
“Think you’ll ever go back and finish it? You only had like one semester, right?”
I nod, turning to look up at the ceiling. “Yeah, one semester and who knows. I don’t really wanna go back to Colorado and do it. Not now.”
