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“I dunno.” She twists further away from me, and now her head is practically engulfed in the blanket. “You know what?” she says, bolting to her feet. “I’m tired.” Livvie makes a show of doing a loud, long yawn. “I’m gonna call it a night.” She gives me a brief hug and then waves at Babs before scurrying to the tent and disappearing inside.
I stare after her, listening to the rustling of the sleeping bag and its zipper as she climbs into bed.
I turn to Babs. “What just happened?”
Babs covers her face to stifle her laughter. The smoke shifts again, choking her out.
This time I’m laughing.
She narrows her eyes at me. “Fine. Let’s see how you like it.”
She stomps over to the spot Livvie vacated and sits next to me. “It’s only a matter of time before the smoke comes this direction, buster.”
I snicker again. “Oooh. I’m shaking in my custom baby seal leather boots.”
“Huh?”
“If you know you know. If you don’t? Well, you lead a boring, pathetic life.”
“Excuse me?” Babs leans away from me.
I sigh dramatically and shake my head, pretending to be sad. “It’s a movie quote. Livvie and I quote movies to each other. If you haven’t seen that one, then you’re missing out.”
“Which movie is it?”
“Tsk tsk tsk.” I wag a finger at her. “That would be telling.”
“Then how can I figure out which movie it comes from?”
“Google it.”
She pulls her phone from her pants pocket and touches the screen. “There’s no reception around here.”
“Hmm. That is a shame.” I skewer another marshmallow with a stick and twirl it over the dying flames. “Whatever will we do with our alone time?”
My gaze slides toward her, and a smile twitches on my lips. A hundred different things come to mind, but Livvie’s in the tent, and the walls are thin. My marshmallow bursts into flame and I pull it closer so that it’s between me and Babs. I lean closer to her until our arms are touching, and murmur conspiratorially, “How burnt does it need to be to be ready?”
Even between several layers of clothing, my arms tingle at her touch and proximity.
“Not yet,” she says, eyeing the marshmallow, then flitting her gaze back to my eyes. Then my lips.
A twinge of awareness swirls through me.
We watch the tiny flame cover more and more of the marshmallow. It’s half-black now.
“Now?” I ask.
She shakes her head. A few chunks of her brown hair fall around her face. “Wait a little longer,” she says.
At three-quarters consumed I lean closer to her and nudge her arm. “Now?”
She shakes her head again. “Be patient. It’s not quite ready.”
Finally, the entire marshmallow is black and crispy. The flame nearly dies out on its own. “Now?” I ask again.
Babs nods. “Perfect. There’s nothing left of the old marshmallow. Now it’s the perfect consistency.”
I blow on the smoldering marshmallow as it tries to slip it off the stick, then layer chocolate over and under the marshmallow before smashing it between two graham crackers. Taking a bite, I grin. Melted marshmallow sticks to my chin and the corners of my mouth. Graham cracker crumbs fall down the front of my sweater. “Mmm,” I say through a full mouth. “Thatismuch better.”
