Home For The Night

Kenny gave a rough shove against the fire watch tower door and with a scrapping squeak, the door gave way letting him stumble inside. The teen gave his shoulder a small roll while Nicole moved in behind him and with a grunt, jammed the door back closed, "Phew, okay, I already feel a little better now that we're out of the wind, but this place is still a fucking dump,"

Kenny reached up and pulled off his beanie, stuffing it into his pocket as he looked around the single room, "Uh...yeah, you've got a point there," Kenny couldn't help but agree. The place was mostly empty the rangers had cleared out what they wanted when they left the tower behind. A few old boxes remained, a slightly rusted metal desk, a few chairs, and benches all of which were broken and what looked like what was once a cot, that was now torn through the center, leaving only hanging rags of what once made the bed. The only bright side he could see was an old wood stove positioned in the far corner, "That looks good though," Kenny moved to the stove and pulled the door open, seeing a few half-burned logs left inside, "Not rotted through or anything, we can use it,"

"Well thank fuck for that," Nicole sighed as she took off her pack and dropped it to the floor, "If I had to freeze to **** at the tit of the world, I think I'd actually have to start getting upset. That said the rest of this place is fucked, we're curling up on the ground tonight, huh?"

"Yeah, looks like it," Kenny agreed with a low tone, "I was hoping things would have been in a bit better condition inside here but...at least we'll have plenty of things to use for firewood,"

Nicole tossed an eye at the ever-optimistic teen, "Yipee," Nicole walked over to one of the two cardboard boxes on the ground and pulled one open. The redhead laughed bittersweetly and yanked out a dusty rolled-up red sleeping bag, "Ooh, look at me, I found us a bed!"

Her sarcastic optimism earned a genuine chuckle from Kenny, "Fun, I've always wanted to sleep in an ancient bag at the throat of the world,"

Nicole gave a small giggle as she unrolled the sleeping bag and gave it a few hard shakes, "Windows are at least in one piece, Could be worse I guess,"

Kenny looked over his shoulder with a bewildered look, his eyes slowly scanning around the ruined building, before tossing his hands up in the air and comically exclaiming, "How?!"

"For one there was no dead guy in here and no raccoon to pounce on your cute face when we walked in," Nicole sweetly replied as she tossed the sleeping bag and rested her hands on her hips, "But more importantly, you could be stuck in here without me,"

A breathy laugh escaped Kenny's lips as they curled into a smile, "Hard to argue with you there,"

In the following hours, Kenny broke down what he could inside the tower, building a nice pile of dry wood that would hopefully last them throughout the evening. Meanwhile, Nicole did her best to clear them out a clean spot near the fireplace. She also went to the old destroyed cot and grabbed what fabric she could to shove into the door's cracks, making sure they'd be able to keep in whatever heat they had. She unzipped their sleeping bag and laid it out flat; a little distance from the fireplace just as Kenny started to get the fire going and the winter storm was completely upon them.

"Can you believe people pay to do this kind of shit all the time?" Nicole told Kenny as the teen shut the woodstove door and sat down on the sleeping bag as well, "I mean, this is basically camping right?"

"If we look at it in the broadest of terms?" Kenny smirked, "I don't think the setting exactly fits, I don't think camping in a decrepit fire tower is anyone's pick,"

"Don't be a dick, you know what I meant," Nicole shot back with a playful shove on his shoulder, "And yes, this does count as camping. We're in the woods, we have a fire, and we're sleeping on a sleeping bag, that's like the top three. Trust me, I know these things,"

"I know, apparently you used to be Nicole Moore, science camper, right?" Kenny teased back,

Nicole gave her eyes a very slow roll, "I knew I shouldn't have told you that,"

"Oh don't be like that, honestly it's kinda cool," Kenny reassured the girl as he leaned forward and extended his hands to warm them at the fire, "I never was one for camping or anything when I was younger, I maybe went twice with my parents?"

"Seriously? You, Julie, Mindy, and JJ didn't go camping? I figured you four would have done something geeky like that if you weren't going out anywhere else," Nicole returned with a bit of surprise,

"Oh wow, geez, sorry I wasn't so interesting," Kenny retorted feigning a defensive tone, "No, I told you, I was a homebody, and believe me, Mindy is a bigger one than me. If we had free time it was hanging out inside, reading, playing a game, or watching a movie," He then gave a sly grin, "Not as geeky as science camp, though."

"Oh, shut it!" Nicole gave him a playful shove,

Kenny laughed before finally leaning back on his hands with a sigh, "Okay, I'll admit, despite the weird circumstance, this is a pretty good camping trip,"

Nicole let out a long, warm smile at Kenny, "Oh yeah Clark? Well, I'm always one to please," The redhead ever so slightly leaned towards him with a challenging look that, after a brief hesitation, Kenny began to lean forward into. Yet, Nicole abruptly pulled back. The redhead girl's smile faded away and she blinked rapidly a few quick times before hanging her head, "Ken I...I'm sorry, I've been...god, I feel like such a bitch doing to you again. I'm such an asshole,"

"What?" Kenny asked in a near scoff, "Why would you say something like that?"

"You don't have to play innocent with me, Kenny, it's okay I get it. I've been...leading you on since we got here. I'm hugging you, getting close, flirting the whole time, I even kissed you, but the second you try to return anything I...I blow you off, just like that. I'm sure you're pissed, and I get it, I'm trying not to...I'm trying to ignore it..." Nicole whispered under her breath, her tone dropping with each sentence, "This is is just -- What I do! You know? It's never really conscious, I just --"

"Nikki, stop," Kenny wholeheartedly stated, "Not once have I been mad at you for anything. Earlier you said you needed to slow down and I meant it when I said that was okay. I...I like you, but I know there is a difference between liking someone and being with someone. Not to mention you've been going through a bit of a personal hell," Kenny continued while resting a hand on Nicole's upper back, "So please, hear me, I don't expect anything from you. You aren't required to do anything, even if you for some reason think you're supposed to.

"Ken come on, you can be real with me, it's okay," Nicole almost whimpered back, "I know this hasn't been easy for you, I've been a burden, we both know it,"

"Absolutely not true," Kenny firmly replied without a moment's hesitation, "You're my friend Nicole, that's the truth and that's the only thing you ever have to be for me to be happy. Helping you through this isn't a burden, being there for you isn't something I did just to make you feel better, I did it because I care about you, and when you need that support I'm gonna be there, no hesitation," Nicole looked back over to Kenny, her sadness already being replaced by some level of hopeful glee, "And besides all that, I did get to share my first kiss with you so...yeah, definitely all worth it," Kenny then relaxed and gave a shrug, "I mean, except for the small problem of Devin wanting to kick the shit out of me, I mean that was just awful and I can't believe you'd do that to me," He added on in a teasing fashion,

"Oh you're such an ass, Clark, I swear," Nicole giggled,

"Just trying to make you laugh," He moved his hands back from her and leaned back, "And I'm sorry too, I promise to have a little more self-control in myself. The last thing I want you to do is have regrets."

"A bit too late on that one, Clark." Nicole slowly tossed her eyes before shaking the thoughts from her head, "So, what now? We have a bed, a fire, and plenty of wood. What should we do for the rest of the night?"