“Rick and Monica, under a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g…” The smugness oozed out of Catherine. She’d purr if she were a feline.

“Could we… not?” Rick rolled his eyes as he held the piece of cloth that contained the lifeless animal. The thing was the size of his head, feathers and all, and none of them knew the species other than that it was a bird. Tomas had pointed out it definitely wasn’t a carnivore because of its beak shape, but that was as far as their guess could go.

“You’re the one who looked at the deadliest creature in the forest and claimed she was nervous. Seems she was looking for a way to confess her feelings.”

“She does have a point.” Tomas pointed out. “If Monica is bringing food, doesn’t that mean we’re not on the menu?”

“Maybe she’s fattening him up.”

Rolling his eyes, Rick just took a long swig from the bottle of water. His mind was abuzz. Had Monica picked up on his hunger? With those ears of hers, he was sure she could hear his stomach grumble a kilometer away, but there was another question burning through him. Why? Why had she given him the bird? Was she concerned about his wellbeing? That was… new.

“I think this is as far as we follow the little river.” Tomas's hand pointed at the stream. It had turned sharply away from their path. “Should we make camp and refill?”

“Yeah, we should do that.” Rick nodded, glancing down at the shirt he was holding. “I’d kill to have a pot to boil some water right about now.”

“Mr. Gabriel taught us how to start a fire,” Tomas offered. “But what would be the pot for?”

“Hot water makes it easier to pull the feathers out of the bird.” He waved around the bloodied piece of cloth, catching the surprised look from the two. “What? It’s meat, we’re low on food.”

“No, nothing, just…” Kat glanced at him for a moment. “Never took you for the kind that knew how to handle dead birds.”

“I’ve got some family who owns a farm, I visit from time to time.” He approached the stream to clean up the carcass.

“Oho! So you don’t live in a cave under the school?”

“The proper name is the teacher’s lounge.” He let out a slight chuckle. “But if you must know, no, I only ever sleep at the university during the exam crunches.”

“Are the rumors true? About the parties in the teacher cafeteria after hours?”

With a laugh, he nodded. “The closest we’d get to a party would be reading out loud a highlight of the dumbest exam answers of the semester. Whoever won would receive a wheel of cheese.”

“That sounds a lot less wild than I expected it to be.” She paused, frowning. “Wait, has my name ever popped up in those contests?”

“We didn’t mention the student’s names.” Rick quickly lied, keeping his eyes on the bird he was having a very hard time dealing with. “Could you two start the fire? The sooner we burn this thing, the sooner we can eat the charcoal it’ll turn into.”

“Give us a minute, Tommy needs some help rubbing his wood.”

The young man almost choked on his tongue, doing his best to focus on his task and follow the steps he’d been taught only a little over a day prior. His cheeks remained a deep crimson as he aimed his face straight down. The stick he was using snapped by the fourth attempt.

“I’ll get some more twigs and branches.”

“No.” Rick’s head jerked up from the chicken-bird-thing, glaring at Kat. “Take Tomas with you.”

“But he’s doing the fire.”

“And the fire can wait. Monica’s not here.”

“That’d leave you alone though.” Kat frowned.

“Then you better not wander off too far.”

There was a shared glare, but the young woman relented when Tomas stood up, adjusting his glasses. She caught the nervousness in his gaze and sighed, her shoulders drooping a little. “Let’s get some sticky sticks.”

Tomas hurried to catch up. His pace was a light jog that made her eyes linger on the peak of abs she could almost see whenever his shirt rose ever so slightly. She smirked as he noticed the look and blushed. Her smile broadened at that.

“I’m sure you’re going to be of great help,” she commented with a slight chuckle, reaching out and grasping his hand as they walked. His palm was calloused, big, and strong, yet his grip was hesitant and soft. “Carrying all the big sticks.”

“Erm… sure.”

His eyes met hers. The wink she sent him caused him to glance away. “And thus my master plan unfolds.”

“Master plan?”

“Shh.” She glanced over her shoulder over to the river, no longer able to spot their teacher. “I just wanted to continue where we left things off back in the cave. But asking you to come with me straight out would’ve been a bit too blatant.”

“Oh… oh!” He went rigid. “But, the sticks, Rick, the-”

Kat leaned in, placing her hand against his firm chest. The mere touch left him stuttering. “Come on, he got some action with the sexy cat, not sure why we can’t have some ourselves.”

The sound of a growling stomach interrupted the moment. She blinked as she looked down at Tomas's shirt; she’d felt that through her fingers at the same time she’d heard it. The young man blushed all the harder as she burst into giggling.

“Alright, fair enough.” She moved in to peck his cheek. “I do expect a little fun tonight, and you’re going to help me.”

“Help… you?”

“Monica has the hots for Rick.”

“… really?”

“I don’t think she could’ve been any more obvious. We just need to get her in the right mood and I’m sure we’ll have all the privacy we could want.”

“But, I mean, I-” His brows furrowed, looking at her through his thick glasses. “Are you sure? With… me?”

Now that was a can of snakes Catherine would not open. Her finger reached out to poke at his chest, making him take a step back. She put out a salacious grin. “It looks like you don’t want to have some fun.”

“It’s just, all of this is so… sudden.”

A little sigh escaped her. She took a step back, placing a hand on her hip and looking at him from head to toe. “And?”

“I mean, I-” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Do you want to, dunno, talk? We barely know each other.”

Ah, so that’s what it was. She nodded once. “I don’t really think we should talk in terms of ‘relationship’ when we might have no food tomorrow.” Grabbing his shirt, she pulled him in. She removed his glasses with one hand and met his eyes, shooting him the best smoldering look she could summon. “Listen, maggot, this commanding officer has recruited you as moral support. Your mission is to kiss me, got it?”

That did the trick. Tomas leaned in and did just that. His large, hard arms wrapped around her against his broad chest. Kat almost giggled, but leaned harder into it instead.