Cabin Fever

by Edie Bryant

“Ah, so I can tempt you, then? Well, obviously, I’m going to try and do that. Now that I know you’re seducible…”

  “Well, then!” I said, thinking of a way to suddenly change the subject. “What are we going to eat?”

  “Oh, don’t worry about that. I bought a bunch of groceries, so, as long as the power is still on, we’ll be good. I think I even have some canned foods and cereal, so, even if it goes out… hold on, actually, are you hungry? I’ll go grab my bag now.”

  “That would be great, actually!” I said.

  Though I hadn’t wanted to ask, I really was getting a little famished. I hadn’t eaten since before I had come here last night.

  Emily walked back into the room, and then, out of nowhere, I heard a loud and panicked, “oh, shit!”

  “Emily? Is everything okay?” I asked, standing up and starting to walk to her room. But, I didn’t even need to walk all the way there, because she quickly ran back out to me.

  “Oh my god, I can’t find it!” she said, looking terrified. “Fuck, I think I might have left my groceries in my car!”

  My eyes bulged. “You’re kidding.”

  “I wish I was.”

  Well, this fun and playful weekend vacation had just taken a dark turn. Maybe instead of having fun with a cute girl, we’d actually both be starving to death in a very cold cabin.

  Okay, maybe not starving to death. I’m sure we’d be able to get out of here in a day or two, but… definitely very uncomfortably hungry.

  “What are we going to do?!” Emily asked me, worriedly.

  “Let’s… let’s just not panic quite yet. Uh, just, um, give me a second to think.”

  There has to be some kind of help for these kinds of situations, right? I mean, people don’t just starve at home, alone in their snowed-in houses during blizzards, right?

  Or, shit, did they?! I have no idea! It doesn’t snow where I live. This wasn’t a problem I’d ever had to deal with before.

  But, that was the thing, just an hour from here it wouldn’t have been snowing. Maybe there would have been some kind of rainstorm, but no snow. Snow was only up in the mountains.

  It wasn’t like it was in some Midwestern states where, when it snowed, it snowed all over the whole damn state. In that case, they had no resources to really do anything or help anyone who might be stranded. Because, how would they get there? They were all equally stuck.

  But, here, it was different. Here, all the cities around us were not dealing with this amount of snow, and they’d undoubtedly be able to help us.

  I was a little disappointed thinking that we’d have to be rescued due to lack of food, though. Or, if not rescued, uncomfortably hungry for the rest of the weekend. I would much prefer to just spend time with Emily, being comfortable and flirty.

  “Okay, hold on, let me just text my friend and ask her a few questions,” I told Emily.

  “Right, perfect, great idea!” she said, as she sat back down on the couch.

  She said it was a great idea, but I could tell by her body language that she was doing everything in her power to not start panicking once again. And I couldn’t blame her; I was stressed, too.

  “So, hey, a bit of a problem. At the cabin, and we’re completely snowed in. Help?” I texted Jean.

  “Wait, at the cabin? You’re still there? I thought you left last night?” she texted back.

  Oh, right, she wouldn’t even know about all this. I’d never told her I was going to stay for one night and then come back to town. Maybe I should have, though. I mean, obviously Emily had no problem with it, but it was Jean’s cabin. She should be informed of who’s staying in it at any given time.

  “Oh, yeah, your guest suggested I stay one night so I wouldn’t have to drive back in the dark. I was supposed to leave this morning, but we’re snowed in. The whole door is covered.”

  “Shit, is she pissed?” Jean asked.

  I felt like she was completely missing the point. Emily and I were both panicking, thinking we were going to die of starvation, and Jean was focused on customer service.

  But, on the other hand, I understood her concern. Renting out this cabin was really good money for her husband and her, and at very little cost to them. And all it took to ruin that business was one bad review.

  Especially a bad review that suggested the owner of the cabin couldn’t even keep control of booking and had scheduled two guests at the same time. That would really ruin Jean’s credibility. Most people who came to this cabin lived hours away, so, the thought of driving all the way here just to turn back because someone was already enjoying a vacation there would be very off-putting.

  I had a feeling Jean had no reason to worry, though. In fact, I was positive of it. The way Emily was acting toward me… no, I was definitely sure that I was not bothering her in any way. And I wanted to make sure Jean knew that.

  “By me being here? Not at all. Seriously, trust me, we’ve kind of been flirting back and forth. She’s happy I’m here, I know that,” I sent her.

  Normally, I wouldn’t bother texting Jean about me flirting with some girl. Not that I don’t talk to my friends about my love life, I absolutely do, but I don’t give such mundane details. Especially over text message. It might have been something I would have mentioned in person, but probably not even then.

  It was the only way I could think of to assure Jean that there were no hard feelings, though. I knew Jean, and I knew that if I said anything else, she’d be worried that Emily was only being polite, and that she could expect a negative review at any moment.

  “Ohh… I see, got a new crush then, huh?” She added a little winkie face to the text.

  “Hey, hello, you’re missing the point that we’re kind of snowed in!”

  “So? Isn’t that good if you like this girl? You’ll be able to leave in a few days, so there’s nothing to really worry about.”

  I see. She was completely missing the point that we had no food.

  “Really? A few days, huh? How long does it take someone to starve to death?” I texted back snarkily.

  “Oh, why didn’t you say you had no food? All the way down the hall, past the two rooms, we turned the hall closet on the right into a pantry. I always have groceries delivered before a guest comes. Cooking basics are in the fridge, too. You should be fine.”

  Relief washed over me. Ah, bless Jean and her excellent customer service skills.

  “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” I texted back.

  “Not a problem. Enjoy your weekend.” Again, she tacked on a winkie face.

  “Will do,” I sent back.

  And I really was going to, now that I knew there was food and absolutely no reason to panic.

  “What’d she say?” Emily asked nervously.

  I decided to be a little theatrical with this. So, I went back into the hall, and Emily eyed me impatiently the entire time. I grabbed a few bags of chips from the pantry and then ran back into the living room.

  “I come bearing provisions!” I yelled, as I tossed her a bag of chips.

  “Oh my god!” she squealed. “Where did you get these?!”

  “Jean keeps a full pantry, apparently. We have more than enough food for the next few days. I mean, a lot of it is junk, but bon appétit?”

  Emily threw the chips down on the couch and then tossed her arms around my neck.

  “My hero!” she yelled, being as theatrical as me.

  She clearly meant to be over-the-top goofy, but I couldn’t help but feel like she was just using it as an excuse to touch me.

  And, despite the goofiness of it all, I felt something with that touch, too. A chill ran down my spine as she wrapped her arms around me.

  I hadn’t been touched like that in a long time. Even dating Sarah, she had never just held me. Hell, she had barely even kissed me, and, even then it had only been during sex. Our affection had dwindled into pretty much nothing outside of sexual contact.

  And this felt… so nice, so comforting. I had missed this so much.r />
  Without thinking, I wrapped my arms around her, too. She tensed up at first, as if caught off-guard by me doing that, but her body quickly relaxed as she gave into the embrace.

  We lingered like that for a minute before Emily slid away from me slowly. And, it was clear by the look on her face that simple hug had meant something to her, too.

  “So, wow…” she whispered as she looked straight into my eyes.

  I had nothing else to add. That summed up my feelings pretty well, too.

  “Yeah, wow.”

  We kept staring at each other for a moment. Then, slowly, Emily moved in for a kiss. My heart was pounding as I anticipated her lips touching mine. But, I was ready for it. I wanted it, I had missed having real kisses so freaking badly…

  And then, at the last moment, I pulled away.

  Emily’ jaw dropped. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry, I just thought, I—” she stuttered.

  “No, no, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have let it get that far,” I told her shortly.

  I hadn’t thought I’d pull away. I had really thought I was about to give into this, but I guess my instinct to avoid being hurt was a lot stronger than I had thought.

  “I’m sorry, I just thought we were having kind of a moment there…” Emily said, obviously confused.

  “We were. I mean, you’re not wrong, it just… I’m sorry. I just can’t.”

  We both stood there in awkward silence. Emily was obviously waiting for more of an answer than that, but I had none to give her. Or, rather, none I wanted to give her.

  “You know, I’m uh, I’m just going to go…. take a bath I think.”

  “Take a… bath?”

  “Yeah, you know, I usually shower in the mornings, and… I’ll just see you in a bit, okay?”

  “Uh… sure, okay,” she said hesitantly as I walked into the bathroom.

  Smooth, Liz, real fucking smooth…

  6

  Emily

  I WAS LEFT SITTING AROUND, wondering what the hell had just happened.

  One second, we’d been having this incredibly intimate moment and then, out of nowhere, she had put the brakes on everything? And wanted to go take a bath?

  I didn’t understand, had I misread the entire situation? I had thought we had been getting along so well. She had honestly seemed just as happy to be snowed in with me as I had been with her. I had just thought…

  Now, I didn’t know. Had I imagined it all? Maybe I had wanted to think she liked me. I definitely had.

  But, no, I honestly felt like there was something here. There was something between us. This couldn’t just be all in my head.

  I am somebody who is acutely paranoid about being rejected. Like, it’s ridiculous, I’ll do anything I can to avoid it. I don’t go after girls who aren’t going to be interested in me, I just don’t. And I have a very good gauge on that.

  So, I didn’t think I was wrong. I didn’t think this was something that was all in my head.

  But, what had happened then? I mean, maybe she was not the kind of girl who did hook-ups. I could understand that, plenty of people weren’t interested in having sex with someone who they weren’t dating.

  This hadn’t been sex, though, it’d just been a kiss. A kiss should have theoretically been no problem.

  She had just broken up with that girl, though. That had to be it. I know she had said she was over it already, but nobody could get over a break-up that fast.

  Yep, that made total sense. She started having feelings for another girl, and, all of a sudden, when I had gone to kiss her, her ex had come to her mind. And, could I really fault her for that?

  No, of course not, that was perfectly human. And this girl didn’t owe me a damn thing. Not a kiss, not affection, nothing. She was healing from a break-up, and she had to do what was right for her.

  I am not the kind of person to give someone shit for that. I feel very strongly about emotionally healing and doing everything you can to achieve that.

  But, unfortunately, now that she didn’t want to do anything romantic with me, this weekend was going to be incredibly awkward.

  She didn't even have the option to leave now. And she may want to, since I’d seriously just tried to kiss her.

  Oh, god, I felt awful about that! What had I been thinking?! I mean, obviously the positive signs had been there. I couldn’t deny that it had really seemed like she had been interested in me. But, clearly, I shouldn’t have assumed anything. And, ugh, now she was going to feel positively awkward around me. Well, this was definitely a bit of a bummer.

  But, oh well, I’d get through the weekend. It did make me more anxious about being snowed in once again. But, I’d cope. I just needed to make sure I made that it very clear to Liz that I wouldn’t give her any more trouble. That I absolutely was not the kind of girl to go after her after she had made it very clear she was not interested.

  I stared out the window, which was completely white with caked-on snow, as I continued to crack chips between my tongue and the roof of my mouth. I was craving real food, but, in the meantime, this was going to have to do.

  I was a bit of a stress-eater. When things went wrong, I ate. If I was having a particularly bad day at work, I stopped by my favorite restaurant on the way home and ordered all the dishes that I loved.

  And while these chips weren’t exactly extremely satisfying, it did help to munch on something. No doubt, I’ll have downed this entire bag of chips within the hour. But, I was doing my best to eat them slowly. I hadn’t been in the pantry; I didn’t know how many snacks were available. I didn’t want to go digging into more food before Liz even had time to get out of the bath.

  Ugh, the thought of Liz in the bath was doing things to me that I didn’t like at all. Liz, naked with her skin softly reddened from the hot water. It made me think about what it would be like to have her warm, hot, sweaty body on top of me…

  Okay, no, I needed to stop. This wasn’t going to happen! And I didn’t want to keep thinking about the girl. I didn’t want to keep pressuring her into something with me. I just wanted to keep things as comfortable as I could for the both of us.

  Admittedly, the most comfortable thing for me right now would be to have my body wrapped in hers, but whatever. Wasn’t going to happen. Time to think about other things.

  I started eyeing things around the room, trying to shift my focus. You know, it was a really cute cabin. It had those very classic winter-print sofas you saw in winter magazines.

  And it was decorated as if it was someone’s home. The owner had pictures of her friends and family all over the place. Which might be annoying to some people, but I found it comforting and homey.

  I was looking at the pictures above the fireplace and on the table next to me when something caught my eye.

  It was a picture of who I assumed was the owner of the cabin on her wedding day. Her husband’s arm was wrapped around her, and bridesmaids and groomsmen surrounded them.

  It wasn’t a particularly interesting photo. I mean, the husband and wife were attractive, but it was the kind of pose everyone takes at their wedding with their wedding party.

  But, what caught my eye was one of the bridesmaids. She looked younger, but I could swear that standing right next to the bride was Liz.

  And how stunning she looked in that dress! Even with five women standing next to her, she outshone everyone, including the bride. Her olive skin with her dark black hair and glowing skin were breathtaking.

  God, was this really happening right now? I had looked around the room to see if I could find something to distract myself from Liz and what had I found? More Liz?!

  I absolutely hated how I was feeling right now. This really wasn’t me. I wasn’t the kind of girl who got this caught up in people.

  I don’t know. I don’t feel particularly driven by my emotions. I’m more the kind of girl who likes to follow my logic. Even in my romantic relationships, I make my decisions based off of what makes sense.

  But nothing was logical i
n this situation with Liz. It simply made no sense why I was so interested in her given that I had known her for such a short amount of time! I felt like I was being absolutely insane here. I had never felt this way about anyone.

  I’d let it go, though. I had to. In order to make her comfortable, I just had to.

  And I’d do absolutely anything to make sure she was comfortable.

  7

  Liz

  I SAT IN THE BATH, full of both confusion and regret.

  I was actually a little upset that we were snowed in now. It would have been ideal if I could have just, you know, walked away from this whole mess. Instead of excusing myself to a bath, I could have excused myself to leave and been done with this.

  But, no, I was stuck here. I was going to have to stay here for at least another day, probably a few more days, which meant I couldn’t avoid talking about this.

  Already, the water in the bath was starting to cool off. I should have run it even hotter than I initially had. I turned the tap so that more hot water ran through and sighed as the warmth ran over me.

  Okay, so, the only thing to do is to be honest with Emily, right? Tell her that I hadn’t wanted to do anything with her because I hadn’t wanted to end up getting myself hurt again.

  But, fuck, that was going to be so awkward! To tell a complete and total stranger something so personal… ugh.

  But the one good thing was that she didn’t feel like too much of a stranger. Like, I know she definitely is one, but I’m much more comfortable with her than I normally would be with someone I didn’t know.

  Hanging out with her was like hanging out with someone I’d known for years. Hugging her was like hugging someone about whom I cared deeply.

  I’m sure once I came out and said it, I’d actually feel better. It probably sounded more awkward in my head than it would out loud. I thought Emily would actually be really nice about it. She hadn’t struck me as a judgmental person at all.

  Okay, yep, I was just going to go out and tell her. Nip this shit in the bud, then we could hang out and hopefully have a totally normal, friendly weekend together.

  I really had to will myself out of that bath, though. It was fucking freezing in this place, and the warm water felt so nice.