Page 12 of Touchdown

Brandon will be so pissed if I ruin his specially planned retreat on the first night, but I can’t stand the thought of Cody bragging to the whole team that he managed to get me into bed on the first night.

Perhaps some of these thoughts show on my face, because Cody hastens to reassure me. “No one has to know. Believe me, I’m not thrilled about this either. It’ll just be tonight, anyway. Tomorrow, you’re sleeping in here from the start, so you won’t get frozen and you won’t have any need to have an emergency bed warmer. Okay?”

“I—okay,” I agree reluctantly.

I don’t regret this decision when a moment later, Cody slips into the joined sleeping bags behind me.

Oh.He’s sowarm.When he wraps his arms tentatively around me, it’s all I can do to keep from groaning aloud at the pleasure of the sensation. I shuffle down so that my head is entirely under the sleeping bag and breathe in the quickly warming air. I was a fool to deny myself this. This is wonderful.

In no time at all, I’m asleep.

By the time I wake up the next day, Cody is already out of our joined sleeping bag, and I’m grateful for that. I’m also grateful for the fact that no one comments on seeing me emerge from within the tent, despite my many assertions that I would do no such thing. There are a few smug looks, but nothing more.

“Right, team. There’s a river that runs past here about five minutes away. We’ll need to refill the water cannisters we brought. We can do that upstream, wash midstream and do our business downstream. Today we’ll focus on learning to make a fire with sticks so that we can have a campfire at night.”

That doesn’t sound too bad. We’ll probably be done with that exercise in an hour or so, and I can spend the rest of the day avoiding Cody. Maybe I’ll go for a long walk. This place is pretty enough. Perhaps some time in nature is just what I need to help me forget about him, at least until tonight.

I’m dead wrong about the fire exercise.

Making a fire with sticks ishard. The ground is soon littered with enough broken sticks to make a bonfire, and we have yet to produce a single spark.

“We can do it, team,” Brandon encourages, wincing as he looks at his hands, which are showing the same signs of rubbing that everyone else’s are. “It’s going to be a cold night tonight, and we’ll want that campfire.”

“You know, some of us do have lighters,” Jason points out.

“No, no, that’s against the rules.”

Brandon seems to be having far too much fun with this.

In the end, we only manage to light a fire just as the sun is starting to set. Brandon has us alternate partners all day, and I’m irked beyond belief that it’s Cody and me who finally manage to get some sparks. We nearly lose them, but quick work on Cody’s part, as well as the already abundant supply of wood and kindling lying around us, ensures that we get a fire going.

Everyone cheers and there are various mutters of relief. Brandon starts passing some hand cream around. Cody grins at me, his face is lighter and so much more beautiful and I find myself grinning back before I remember who I’m smiling at.

Today has been different, though. Cody has been… pleasant. It’s like he’s a completely different person.

Well, no, not really. He’s always been like this with the rest of the team, but he’s always treated me so horribly that I feel like I’m going to get whiplash trying to figure it out.

What’s his angle? How long is he going to play nice for Brandon before he realizes that his dislike for me is too strong to overcome via a stern lecture?

Besides, even if he has magically gotten over his problem with me, that doesn’t mean I have to forgive him for everything he put me through.

I remember last night, and how genuinely concerned Cody seemed for me… But he was probably only worried about getting into trouble if I got sick because of our squabble. That has to be it.

When everyone starts going into their tents for the night, I only hesitate for a moment before joining Cody. He has already separated our sleeping bags and pulled his to the opposite side of the tent. I settle down on my side and try to sleep.

Sleep evades me. Was the floor really this hard last night? I was so focused on being freezing, and then on the beautiful warmth that Cody provided, that I didn’t notice. Now, I can’t seem to get comfortable. I also don’t miss that while this isnowhere near as cold as sleeping outside would be, it’s definitely not as warm as when Cody was in the bag with me.

I can hear Cody tossing and turning as well. My breath is misting the air and I wonder if I’m ever going to be able to sleep like this.

We must have been trying for nearly an hour when Cody speaks. “Do you want to… I mean, it’s really cold. If you’re cold as well, I was thinking it might make the most sense to share our body warmth.”

Ugh, why is that suggestion so tempting? I am certain that at least half of the team is already doing so with their tentmates. But they don’t have strong sexual feelings toward said tentmates complicating the matter.

Still, Iamcold, and trying to do team-building exercises tomorrow with Cody on little sleep is going to be a nightmare.

“Alright.”

Cody shuffles over and I awkwardly help him join our sleeping bags. Once again, he puts his arms around me. I wriggle around a little, trying to get comfortable on the hard floor. Apparently, I’m wriggling around a bit too much.

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