The night had grown quiet around the cabins.
Most of the noise from the fire had faded into the distance, replaced by the softer sounds of the forest—wind brushing through the trees, the occasional crack of a branch somewhere deeper in the dark.
The porch light cast a warm circle over the wooden steps in front of the cabin.
Kate leaned against the railing, the faint glow of her cigarette briefly lighting her face every time she took a slow drag. Smoke drifted upward and disappeared into the cool night air.
Ray stood a few steps away, the walk back from the fire still lingering in his legs and the warmth of the beer sitting heavy in his head.
For a moment neither of them moved.
The quiet between them felt different from the awkward silence earlier in the cabin. Slower. Thicker.
The kind that made the small space outside the cabin feel strangely private, even though the rest of the camp was only a short distance away.
And then... Ray slipped.
She tried to catch him, but she didn't get there in time.
He fell gently onto the damp dirt beside the porch.
"Hey, you alright?" she asked, looking down at him.
For a second she just stood there, confused.
Ray was lying on his back, staring up at the dark sky above the trees, laughing quietly to himself.
"What's so funny?" she asked, standing over him and looking down like he might be a little crazy.
"Nothing really. Just happy to be alive."
Ray took a cigarette out of the pack in his pocket and lit it, still lying there. Smoke drifted slowly into the cool night air.
"You're weird," she said with a smirk as she offered him a hand.
Ray looked at her for a second before taking it.
She pulled, trying to help him up. For a moment he was almost standing on his own—but then he wobbled again, nearly losing his balance a second time.
Kate caught him at the last second, grabbing his arm to steady him.
"Of course my roommate is a drunk," she muttered to herself.
With a quiet sigh, she shifted his arm over her shoulder and started guiding him toward the cabin, half-dragging, half-walking him the few steps to the door.
"You smell nice," he whispered to her, clearly out of it, his voice slow and distant.
Kate felt a sudden warmth rise to her cheeks, but she didn't say anything.
She just kept moving, guiding him the last few steps as they headed inside the cabin.
As she let go of him for a second to close the door behind her, a loud thud echoed through the cabin.
Kate turned around immediately.
Ray was lying on the floor again, flat on his back, his clothes now completely covered in mud and dirt from the fall outside.
"Jesus… really?" she muttered to herself.
Kate crossed her arms and looked down at him lying on the floor, shaking her head slightly.
What am I supposed to do with you?
"I'd take a beer," he muttered from the floor.
Kate's face immediately hardened, her expression turning completely serious.
"I'm going to hurt you," she said. "I swear."
Ray barely helped, his weight shifting awkwardly as she struggled to get him back on his feet.
"You need to get your clothes off. They're dirty," she said, looking at him the way someone might look at a puppy that had just rolled around in the mud.
"But I don't want to!" he protested, trying to turn around quickly.
The sudden movement threw him off balance, and he nearly dropped straight back onto the floor again.
"ENOUGH!" she shouted, stepping right up to him and grabbing the front of his shirt.
She pulled his shirt off in one quick motion and tossed it beside the door.
For a second she paused, staring at it on the floor. If someone walked in right now, it would probably look like—
Kate shook her head, dismissing the thought before it could go any further.
With a tired sigh, she bent down and tugged his pants off, dropping them near the pile by the door. Ray barely reacted, too out of it to protest properly.
Once she was done, she pushed him gently back onto the bed.
He landed there in nothing but his underwear, already half sprawled across the mattress.
"You need to—"
Before she could finish the sentence, Ray let out a loud snore.
Kate stopped mid-word and stared at him.
He was already completely out, lying crooked across the bed... like he had just shut down.
She rolled her eyes.
"Men are impossible," she muttered.
With a quiet sigh, she walked over to the light switch and turned the cabin light off. The room fell into darkness, lit only faintly by the moonlight coming through the window.
Then she climbed into her own bed, the mattress creaking softly as she settled in.
"Red… head."
Through the rhythm of his snoring, Kate thought she heard him mumble something.
She frowned slightly in the darkness.
That couldn't be right.
Why would he be dreaming about her?
Kate shook her head, dismissing the thought as she pulled the blanket closer and closed her eyes, trying to relax.
After a few quiet minutes, she drifted off to sleep as well.
Ray opened his eyes slowly, his head pounding and his stomach turning.
He felt sick.
For a moment he just lay there, staring at the wooden ceiling while his brain struggled to catch up with reality.
Then he looked down.
He was naked.
"What the fuck happened last night?" he muttered to himself.
He didn't have time to ask himself questions or even think.
Suddenly his stomach clenched hard.
Ray jumped out of bed and rushed toward the small bathroom, barely making it in time before he started puking into the toilet.
The sudden noise woke Kate.
Still half asleep, she shifted in her bed and rubbed her eyes.
"Feeling sick, huh?" she muttered through sleepy lips, more to herself than to him.
The sound of Ray puking in the bathroom was louder than anything she could have tried to say anyway.
It went on for a while.
At one point, Kate considered getting up to check on him.
But after a moment, she decided against it.
If he was going to drink like an idiot, he could deal with the consequences. Let him suffer a little.
After a few more minutes of the war between his mouth and stomach, Ray finally stepped out of the bathroom, pale and exhausted.
The moment Kate saw him come out, she got up quickly, gently pushing past him as she rushed inside and shut the door behind her.
"I can see your shadow under the door," she called out. "It's bad enough the toilet smells like a dead bat. Let me pee in peace!"
He didn't say anything. Instead, he grabbed a bottle of water from the small kitchen area inside the cabin.
Twisting the cap open, he took a long drink before walking back to his bed and sitting down heavily on the edge of it.
For a few moments, the only sound in the cabin was Kate inside the bathroom.
Then came the sound of the toilet flushing and running water.
A moment later, the door opened and she stepped out.
She looked at him, still half asleep, like she was quietly deciding his fate.
"I should destroy and bury you for yesterday, you know?"
Ray's face immediately went pale.
Did he do something stupid?
Or worse—something inappropriate?
"I'm sorry," Ray said quietly. "The night's a blur."
Kate looked at him for a second before sitting down on her own bed.
"You started singing 'Baby, don't hurt me…'" she said, letting out a small laugh.
Ray buried his face in his hands.
"Jesus."
"But I didn't…?" he said, looking at her uncertainly.
Kate just watched him calmly.
"You didn't try to fuck me or anything, if that's what you mean."
She tried to keep her composure, though the simple word made her cheeks warm slightly as it left her mouth.
"Good… that's good," Ray said, sitting there awkwardly.
She decided to tease him a little, a grin spreading across her face.
"Why is it good?" she asked. "You wouldn't want to…"
She didn't finish the sentence, leaving it hanging as she watched his reaction.
"If you think I'm going to go all red and say, 'No, that's not what I—'" Ray started, then groaned.
"I'm way too hungover for this."
He looked at her for a second before slowly falling back onto the bed, staring up at the ceiling.
She seemed a little taken aback by his casual words.
For a moment she just watched him lying there, like she was trying to figure something out.
Did he sense it?
Had he somehow noticed that she wasn't nearly as experienced as she usually pretended to be? Was that why he sounded so relaxed about it—almost cocky?
Kate pushed the thought aside, crossing one leg over the other as she kept looking at him, still trying to read his expression.
"Also… I'm starting to remember a bit now," Ray said slowly.
He turned his head slightly toward her.
"You did smell nice."
Kate immediately buried her face in the pillow, hiding it from him.
She turned away and dropped onto her bed, staring at the ceiling.
For a while neither of them spoke.
They simply lay there in silence, on two opposite beds in the small cabin.
And somehow, despite the distance between them, neither of them moved.