Page 162 of Paradox
"I didn't say that." Stopping two feet onto the ice, I look back in time to see Jin's eyes light up. "You didn't find everything I packed, did you?"
I watch Jin duck behind the truck then reemerge. "There's no tent."
"Don't need one." I start walking and jerk my head for him to follow. "Grab the thermos, rods, and tackle, and get your ass out here."
"What are we—wait!" I can hear Jin clambering to grab everything as quickly as possible so he can catch up to me, and my smile gets bigger the closer I hear his footsteps in the crunchy snow. "Are we gonna sleep in the back of the truck?"
"If that's okay with you."
"S–sure. Of course. Have you done that before?"
I stop at a spot about twenty yards from where we were last time and put down the axe and shovel. After unfolding each of the chairs, I pick the shovel back up. With a nod I tell him, "Yeah, I have," then start digging away at the snow. "Do you not like the idea?"
"No. That's not it."
After several more scoops of snow, I pick up the axe. "Then why do you sound so apprehensive?"
"I'm not. Not really. I'm excited."
"So what's the problem?" I nod towards all the stuff he's still carrying. "You can put those down."
"There isn't a problem." He puts the thermos and tacklebox on one of the chairs and leans the poles against it. "But won't it be a little uncomfortable out here?"
I kneel down and raise the axe above my shoulder. "It shouldn't be," I tell him then bring it down into the ice. "The buck hides in there are for underneath the blow-up mattress."
"Blow-up mattress?"
"Yeah. There's a pump for it."
"And where exactly were those spare buck hides I've never seen before today?"
"In boxes in the rafters of the shed."
"Are you serious?"
I stop and have to raise my arm to shade my eyes from how bright it is when I look up at him. "It's not my fault you didn't snoop well enough."
"Are you serious?" he repeats.
"Yeah. There's a battery and heated blanket in the back, too."
"Are you fucking serious!?"
"What?" I chuckle as I'm pushed backwards into the snow. I try to get up but Jin pushes me harder, sits on me, and holds my shoulders down.
"You mean the entire time I was freezing my ass off in that damn shack, you had a heated blanket I could have been using?"
"It's been in the truck the whole time."
"Rrrgh.My god.Hmph.You're the fucking worst."
I push Jin off of me so we're both lying in the snow, our eyes squinting in the sun. "If I'd handed it over back then, I would have been giving in. And I wasn't ready to face everything yet."
"Oh, come on."
"You should probably be thanking me for it. Surely it would have felt like cheating if you didn't have to suffer as much as you did."
He sits up and pounds his fist into my stomach. "Don't you dare start with that gaslighting bullshit."
