They finally arrived at the cabin where Don had told them they would spend the night. Charlie's shoulders were feeling sore from the heavy packing he'd dragged along and was glad he could finally relieve himself of this burden.
He looked at Larry again with hopes to find out what the expression Charlie thought he saw on Larry's face meant when he and Amita finally had caught up. But Larry seemed to be in a profound conversation with Megan and didn't pay any attention to Charlie's piercing looks.
The cabin felt cold and dark but it had an empty fireplace begging to be lit so Don quickly instructed Charlie to get some logs to burn in the fireplace.
Charlie loved building fires, and Don knew this. He found the flickering of the flames and the warmth it produced almost hypnotizing and to keep a fire lit at just the right intensity and heat Charlie knew the exact numbers, variables and angles to take in account to accomplish just that. Eager to show how good a fire builder was and explain his equation to the tiniest detail he went to collect the logs. But not before telling Amita to get out of her wet clothes and put on something dry before catching a cold….
"Hey Charlie! All of us are soaked and just as equally susceptible to catching a cold you know!" Larry suddenly blurted out to Charlie looking almost seriously hurt and passed over.
"Then now you know what to do in order to prevent that, don't you Larry?" Charlie replied with a semi-patronizing tone and winked at his friend.
Don, Megan and Amita burst out in laughter as Charlie went out to get the wood for the fire.
Megan went into one of the only two, or so it seemed, bedrooms the cabin had. She was going to change first; Larry would have to stick it out a little while longer Megan had told him making him pout like a little girl.
Amita decided to unite with him and wait for Charlie to return with the logs. Don lit the oil lamps while observing Amita and Larry from a distance
"Good going girl, you've set the scene perfectly!"" Don thought excitingly trying to keep from smiling.
Charlie returned with wooden logs all the way up to his chin, hidden under some large piece of plastic to keep them dry from the ever still pouring rain.
"Wow is it really bad out there!" He cried out with his curls soaked and stuck to his face, bright pink cheeks and nose and wet to the bone.
"Come on Charlie, give me the logs then you can go change in the room to the right as Megan is in the other one"
Charlie obeyed immediately as he wanted nothing more than to get out of these wet clothes and change into something warm and dry.
"No shower I'm presuming?" he tried before entering the second bedroom.
"No such thing here little brother. No electricity and no running water. But I can heat some water for you to wash up with…. As soon as you get that fire going" Don teased.
"Fabulous…." Charlie moped.
"You just wait little brother…." Don answered inarticulately
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By the time Charlie had returned with dry clothes running a towel though his still soaking curls Amita sat near the empty fireplace shivering firmly still in her drenched hiking clothes blowing in her hands trying to warm up.
"You're shivering!" Charlie rushed up to her and took her hands and started rubbing them.
"How inconsiderate of me, changing first! I should have let you go first!" Charlie had a frown on his face feeling very guilty seeing her so cold.
He took her by one hand, grabbed her backpack and ushered her to the bedroom where he had changed earlier as Larry was missing so Charlie assumed he must have been in the other bedroom also changing.
"Go change quickly. I'll get the fire started so you can warm up."
She nodded and with a last violent shiver she closed the door to finally get out of her wet clothes.
Charlie turned around to see where Don was. He was the only one still in his wet clothes talking to Megan about something in whispers. He walked up to them thinking how lovely Megan looked in casual clothes and remembered that he had never seen her in other than her work outfits before.
When he got to Don and Megan their conversation came to a sudden stop.
"What's going on?" Charlie asked
"Nothing much" Both replied in unison.
"Where you discussing a case? No work on this hike Don, you promised me"
"We were talking about how bad the weather is Charlie" Don replied
"Just talking about what to make for dinner" Megan replied at the same time Don had.
"So which of the two is it?" Charlie asked confused. This was awkward.
"Both" they replied again in unison.
Charlie lifted one eyebrow and shook his head while turning around to start building that fire he promised Amita. Well… not just for her… but then again, she was shivering and probably the one most affected by the cold rain.
As Charlie started to build the fire Larry had changed in to his dry clothes and it was now Don's turn to do so. Going into the bedroom to the left of where Amita was still changing in.
Charlie got a nice fire started as Larry seated himself next to him and gazed into the rising flames.
"Before I agreed to coming to this hike, I should have checked the weather channel to see what the conditions where going to be. Larry said with a slight fatigue in his voice.
"I don't particularly care much for water falling in drops from vapor condensed in the atmosphere"
"It's just a little rain Larry. It's not like it was pouring acid" Charlie snickered.
"True, but I still don't care much for it though" Larry replied again.
"You regret coming along on the hike? I thought you really seemed to enjoy yourself with Megan"
"Well Charles, you know to converse with Megan is something I dearly enjoy as her believes are similar to mine and where we disagree we do seem to have some wonderful debates. However, that is nothing to do with me not agreeing with the meteorological conditions we have those conversations and debates in.
I do not regret coming along at all. I just hope the weather gods are more favorable to us tomorrow. That's all"
"Weather gods Larry?" Charlie snickered while saying the words.
"Yes Charles, weather gods. A perfectly common saying when wanting the weather to be in your favor. "
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Amita was still shivering a little when she came back into the room. The fire looked enticingly pleasing and she was cold to the bones wanting nothing more than the flames to warm her freezing body.
She walked up to the warm fire and chose a place closest to the flickering flames, right next to Larry. Which was way to far away from Charlie, or so Megan believed.
"Hey Larry, would you mind telling me a bit more about celestial bodies and gravitational pulls?"
Megan's question towards Larry raised Amita and Charlie to look at her instantly as it came out of nowwhere, but before either of them had the chance to comment Larry had jumped up and started talking instantly about his favorite subject; black holes, leaving Charlie no choice then to get up and sit next to Amita.
Don just coming out of the bedroom failed to hide a smile which didn't really matter. None of them were focused on him any way.
"Good going Megan!" Don thought thankfully and walked up to the table where they had their food still packed in bags. He was going to make sure he took all the time in the world to unpack everything.
When Charlie sat down next to her he could smell a sweet mixture of honey and vanilla intoxicating his brain instantly knowing it was Amita that smelled so sweet. He had to focus, be as normal as could be expected of him, try not to fidget, or stammer, or show any hint of emotion towards her. But when she looked at him with a smile on her face his nerves almost consumed him completely causing him to inhale in flits and starts.
"Are you ok Charlie" Her sweet voice asked
"Y-yeah. It's nothing really"
They both stated silently into the flames, Larry still talking passionately about his favorite subject when Charlie felt he finally got himself reasonably together enough to look at her again.
"You've got some color back on your cheeks" He said instantly regretting it.
"Yeah, I was really cold earlier. But you built quite the fire there" She said.
Charlie forgot his reservations at once as she mentioned the fire and starting to explain all the variables and numbers he used to build his fire. He knew he could with her, she understood his variables and his numbers.
Don finally came to join them with a black put what seemed to contain soup. He hung the put in the fireplace and stirred a little.
Megan excused herself to Larry and moved Don away from the pot taking the spoon and stirring the tick substance.
"You carried soup along with you?" She asked.
"My dad made me, said that it was the easiest thing to warm up in a cabin with no electricity and running water" It's a thick chicken soup."
The smell of the cooking chicken soup made Charlie's stomach let out a loud growl as he put two hands on his tummy smiling sheepishly.
Amita giggled. Causing him to inhale in flits and starts again and more blood to rush to his already colored cheeks.
"Are you ok buddy?" Don asked him knowing exactly why his brother reacted the way he did. Don loved provoking his little brother at times like these as Charlie was a horrible liar.
"I am starving! That hike sure had an impact on my reserves" Charlie said, not lying, but not telling the whole truth about his recent reaction.
"Well, soup is almost done. Larry, would you mind getting the bread? It's on the table"
Larry got up, finally able to let out the smile as he so desperately tried to hide as he turned away from the others. He knew his young friend for quite some time now, and he knew exactly what the reason was for Charles' faltering breaths.
Soup was ready and all five eat like they hadn't been fed for weeks. Alan sure could make soup they all agreed. Charlie managed to get himself together and was having some light conversation with Amita giving Don just the opportunity he needed to signal Megan and Larry. The nodded almost invisibly confirming that both of them knew what to do. Don was guessing that what he had planned next would consume Charlie and Amita's attention so much they wouldn't notice what Larry and Megan were up to.
"Guys, I brought a board game. Civilization, I thought it would be nice to play. What you do you say?"
Charlie's attention for Amita was torn away instantly when he heard what board game Don was talking about. Amita just smiled… this was going to be a long night.
"I'm in!" Charlie's leaped up from where he was sitting grabbing the box from Don while waling to the table away from the fireplace.
"Ohhoohoo, Charlie you are soooo not going to win this one" Amita taunted Charlie while joining him at the table.
Larry and Megan said they would pass as Megan claimed to still be very interested in Larry's theories. Don said he might join them to watch later, as the dishes still needed doing and someone needed to keep the fire going.
Charlie and Amita sat down at the table and started playing. Don smirked quickly at Larry and Megan. This was exactly what he was hoping for. Alan had told Don a few weeks ago that Charlie was introduced to the board game by one of his students, of course bragging how he would not be able to lose when applying math to it. Amita had played it with him, claiming that she would win just using logic instead of math. It turned out neither of them had won yet, the game ended in a tie every time they played. This had turned in to a contest to which both of them were persistently hoping to win a game and claim victory. Don found that would be the perfect distraction for both of them to divert their attention from what else was happening in the cabin. And he was right…..