Heather and Kurt as they return to the cabin

Both cousins waved goodbye at their friends' siblings, descending the steps of their deck, parallel with the one of theirs across the lake. Though she maintained a nonplussed demeanor, Heather was very worried. Both of them and Chloe had been at the party for more than hour and a half before Kurt realized that the rest of their crew hadn't arrived, and she had demanded to return to see what was going on. Kurt, feeling that arguing with her was a bad idea, had volunteered as her entourage. They had attempted to find Chloe in the midst of the cabin, but she was no where to be seen either. She had internally panicked, but she must've expressed something because Kurt had quickly reassured her of Chloe's probable safety among Taylor, Hannah, and the rest -- but most certainly the former two. Heather, despite Kurt's earlier stunt involving an absent Chloe, had reluctantly agreed to his logic and left sans her.

Heather practically stampeded across the grass, and Kurt had a hard time staying with her stride. "Heather, c'mon, slow down!" he cried.

"What, God's gift to women can't keep up?" Heather said brusquely. "Believe me, this is the last way I wanted to spend tonight, worrying about my friends and being alone with you."

Her words stung, in a manner that Kurt hadn't allowed himself to feel in years. Many years of covering it up in an overinflated sense of machismo and self-worth. Just few days ago, he wouldn't regarded that remark with a sneer and a string of misogynistic epithets -- now, he stopped and remained silent.

Something must've tipped Heather off to his pause, because she was soon facing him. After a moment, her expression quickly softened with a downcast look. "Oh Kurt, I'm sorry." She strode toward him and laced a hand on his cheek. "I didn't mean that."

"I know, squirt, I know," Kurt sighed. "Hey, you got every right."

"Oh cuz." Heather hugged him. "Look, I'm really glad that my old friend is coming back. Bad habits, you know, we all have them."

"Oh yeah, don't I know it!" He laughed, genuine and hearty. Inwardly, Heather smiled and snuggled into Kurt's chest. The last time they were this close was... well, when they were fourteen, before Andrea ruined him. Hell, she even remembered how Kurt consoled her when she was... developing. The kids at school, though especially the boys, horrifically teased her about her early-emerging breasts, and with every cup size they grew the bullying seemed to escalate exponentially. Even her other cousins poked fun, and although some may have been well-meaning, the psychological toll on young Heather's self-image had been taken. She eventually fashioned a sense of witty disregard for anyone who needled her sexually, which took the shape of her own beguilement that she loved to spring on guys today (the old adage "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" really did work, and she enjoyed the hell out of it in the process), but that was just a mask, something to protect herself against the cost of being desired.

But not Kurt. They still played like they always had, the same games since they were kids, and carried on like puberty had never touched them. He was a refuge against the world... and when his personality changed so drastically, almost as if the tide of everything horrid about male privilege washed away her cousin and replaced him with an MRA dream, she felt she had **** but to become her mask. That was her only escape in her mind. It had worked in guarding her self-esteem, but she knew a part of her had washed away with Kurt too.

And Andrea pulled her finger from the dyke, Heather thought darkly, embracing her cousin tighter. Anyone that could catch a glimpse of her eyes at the moment may have wondered why they seemed to have no color, and if that was smoldering brimstone reflected within their depths. Then they probably would've backed away as she went on a rampage all the way to Andrea's current place of residence, and shakily ignored the screams that one would only hear on the ninth circle of Hell emerging from the house. Nobody messes with my family like that and gets away with it intact. Ever.

"What's on your mind, squirt?" Kurt said sweetly.

"Oh nothing!" Heather replied, looking up at her cousin with smiling eyes. Then her brain clicked back to the matter at hand. "We need to keep heading back though."

"Definitely!"

Heather let him go, but still wrapped herself on around his arm. If there was one positive about Kurt's douchebag years, he at least threw himself into his physique, and she happily admired his firm arms. She grinned, and contemplated aloud. "Hey... so, really, do you like Chloe, or what?"

"What? Oh, uh," Kurt stuttered. "Look, I really can't trust any actions I've done over the past several years now. Yeah, Chloe's hot--." He bit his tongue.

"Kurt, you can say it, you're still a guy," Heather giggled. "Look, I think Zack is hot. I... I like him. There, I said it."

"You and Zack, squirt," Kurt smiled. "He'd be perfect."

"If it weren't for his pining for Victoria all the damn time," Heather added, irritated. "God damnit, I haven't felt like this for anyone before, Kurt. At first I thought he was just another guy I could have fun with, but... well..."

They had rounded much of the lake by now, and took almost no notice of the meadow that hadn't encircled their cabin when they arrived. The tall wildflowers also considerately obscured the scattered bits of clothing that, when put together, would constitute a forest ranger uniform. So keen were the flowers about preventing any disruption to their conversation, they even erased the evidence of the uniform's owner and any other relevant party's existence by blanketing the area where that clothing had been discarded. Kurt stepped into the warmed indent in the grass without even noticing it.

"Come on, Heather, tell me," Kurt said. "What happened with you and Zack?"

"Well... we made out pretty badly behind that waterfall down the trail over there." She gurgled a nervous laugh, but Kurt saw something more than just pure sexual attraction in her eyes as they stared fondly at the memory. "It's like... we connected. He knew exactly what to do. God, that's never happened before! I have to walk guys through that, but Zack, he... oh lord Kurt, my face feels hot, am I blushing?!"

"A little there, squirt," he said. "Don't think I'd ever see that face on you!"

"And what face is that?!" Indignant playfulness filled her voice as she smirked.

"You're head over heels, Heather!"

"Bastard!" she laughed and pushed him away. "God... am I? I've never felt this way before about a guy. And it's not just that, I feel like I know what he's thinking too, and I think he knows me too... We talk so easily. That's definitely new for me."

"Hey, look, Zack and I are on better terms now," Kurt began. "And I don't think he's getting much of anywhere with Victoria. Between you and me? She's got a lot of growing up to do, way too sheltered."

"You're damn right about that," Heather agreed.

"Maybe I can nudge him in the right direction, if you know what I mean?"

Heather laughed and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Aww, you'd make your cousin happy?"

He placed a firm grip on her waist, holding her close. "Oh definitely."

"Hmm," she hummed. An odd scent filtered into her reality, something musky like an unwashed bedsheet after a long, hard night. It seeped into her brain, coordinating with her pleasure center and her touch receptors, making Kurt's touch feel like something more than a familial bond.