It was 2am, the rain had ceased but Kaitlynn and Michael were now drenched and freezing. They couldn’t fall asleep with their constant teeth chattering. They were huddled together underneath a tree, trying to stay warm. Being so close to him, Kaitlynn was tempted to reach her hand up his shirt and feel his abs, but she stopped herself. That would have just made things awkward.

Or a whole lot sexier.

“Cold?” Michael asked Kaitlynn. Kaitlynn looked at him like he was stupid, but then stopped when she realized he was only trying to start a conversation.

“Yeah... I wish the sun would hurry up and shine!” Kaitlynn screamed. Michael checked his watch.

“It’s 2:15 in the morning, we’ve got awhile to wait...”

“I wish we had a fire,”

“Me too, but we’d need something dry to start it, and we’d need a heat source...” Michael started. Kaitlynn scoped the ground. She picked up and few sticks that were under the tree. She held them up.

“These ones are sort of dry!” She told him. Michael looked at them and then nodded.

“That’s nice, but now we need a heat source...”

“The flashlight!” Kaitlynn exclaimed. Michael snapped his fingers.

“That’s it!” Michael quickly got up and grabbed the flashlight. Kaitlynn pulled out an old Kleenex from her pocket.

“Just try lighting this first,” Kaitlynn told him. Michael turned the flashlight on and held it up right next to the Kleenex and placed it on top of the dry sticks. He placed a circle of rocks around it and grabbed a few more sticks then got comfortable again. They both stared at their attempt at a fire.

“This is exciting,” Michael said sarcastically. Kaitlynn chuckled.

“Sure is, it’s almost as fun as watching paint dry!”

“And then peel...” Michael mumbled under his breath. Kaitlynn laughed again and rested her head on his shoulder. Michael checked his watch awhile later. It was 6:30. Still nothing. Michael sighed.

“I don’t think this is working...” Michael said. At that moment a small tower of smoke rose from the flashlight and the Kleenex. In a flash, there was a small orange flame. Michael moved the flashlight away from the Kleenex and grabbed some tiny sticks and put them on top of the flame. Kaitlynn perked up.

“This is the most exciting part of the whole day!” She exclaimed. The sticks had started burning and Michael was up grabbing dry sticks and bark from trees and placing them on the fire. They both cheered!

“Can you hunt?” Michael asked her.

“No! Even if I could I’m a little crippled in case you haven’t noticed!” Kaitlynn exclaimed as she pointed towards her arm.

“Oh yeah, how is that anyway?”

“Same as yesterday, I don’t think it’s going to get better until I get to a hospital...”

“Yeah, I wonder when they’ll be coming anyway,” Michael commented.

“Soon I hope,” Kaitlynn said as she layed down on her side next to the fire. Michael sat down next to her. His shirt clung to his chest from being drenched. Kaitlynn tried not to stare. She knew she couldn’t be with him. He was nearly 30, she was only 17. She felt an emptiness inside of her when she came to reality when she knew it just wouldn’t happen.