“My pack,” Dawn tells him, shining her flashlight across the ground. She’s sure she left it right here. “I still have to set up my tarp for the night.”

Warden appears out of the gloom, stretching lazily, his hoodie riding up to reveal his flat stomach, toned abs. “Oh, you won’t need your tarp,” he says.

Dawn looks at him like he’s crazy, and Warden shrugs. “It’s going to drop below freezing tonight,” he says. “You don’t want to catch hypothermia, do you?”

“Of course not,” Dawn says. She starts to tell Warden that she has to sleep under her tarp, it’s the rules, but she stops herself just in time.

“I have to sleep somewhere,” she says.

“You can share my tent.” This isn’t Warden. It’s Lucas. He comes out of the dark on the other side of Dawn and shrugs and tries to look nonchalant. “I have a big tent. There’s plenty of room.”

Before Dawn can answer, Warden shakes his head. “That’s cool of you, man, but I already moved her stuff into my tent. I’ve got lots of room, too.”

He looks at her. “I’m not trying to hit on you,” he says. “It’s just you’ve got to stay warm and dry at this altitude. Especially with the storm coming in.”

Lucas looks like he wants to argue. Say something. But what is there to say?

(Anyway, Warden cuts him off at the knees.)

“Thanks, man,” he tells Lucas. “Looks like we’ve got the situation taken care of.”

(Sorry, Lucas.)

It’s not the best feeling in the world, being caught between the two guys like Dawn is.

Feeling like no matter what she does, she’s going to hurt someone’s feelings.

And suspecting that it’s going to be Lucas she hurts.

“You know what, it’s fine,” she says. “I’ll just sleep in Christian’s tent. It’s not totally fucked up from Alex and Evan, right?”

But Lucas is already turning to leave.

“Christian’s tent is ruined,” he says. “Go ahead, crash with Warden.” He pauses. “Or don’t. It doesn’t matter to me.”

Dawn hurries to follow him. “Lucas.”

“What?” He spins. “You think I don’t know what’s going on here, Dawn? You and Warden?”

Dawn glances back to where Warden’s watching them, fifteen or maybe twenty feet away. “It’s not like that,” she hisses.

Lucas laughs but there’s no funny in it. “Oh yeah?” he says. “Then why did you kiss him, Dawn?”

Dawn opens her mouth, but she doesn’t say anything.

“I thought we had something cool,” Lucas says. “I thought we, you know, liked each other.”

“We do,” Dawn says. “I do. I just—”

“You just like Warden more.” Lucas shakes his head, bitterly. Then he starts to walk away from her again. “It’s fine, Dawn. No worries. Have a good night.”