After a few seconds of silence, I say, “How long do you think they’re going to leave us here? Like do you think they’re coming back tonight?”

“No.” He shakes his head and bites away at his corn. “We are here for the night.”

“They can do that?”

“I mean, if we really wanted to, we could try to hike back to camp, but I’m not really into the whole hiking-at-night thing.”

“Me either.” I sigh. “Does this mean we have to talk about our problems?”

“No,” he says. “You can do whatever the hell you want.”

I don’t like this side of him. And sure, I’ve only known him for a few days now, but I’ve gotten to know him well enough to see that when he’s free-spirited and having fun, he’s really great to be around. I feed off his energy, and he actually makes me feel better about everything. Not so uptight.

But this side of him. This indifferent side? It’s not fun. It’s not pleasant. And it’s very cold.

And I don’t think I can last another however many more days we have here together, so I decide to do something about it.

“About last night⁠—”

“We don’t need to talk about it.”

“I think I need to,” I say softly, which of course pulls his attention. I’m learning that even though he might be irritated with the entire situation, he’s still a good guy at heart. He’s a guy who will sit and listen if he hears that someone needs that kind of attention.

“Okay.” He turns toward me. “Do you want to start?”

“Yeah.” I set my corn on the cob down on my foil. “I have a whole bunch of feelings from last night.”

“Start with the first one you felt.”

This is what I’m talking about. He’s a good guy. Instead of getting defensive and wanting to be the one who is right all the time—something Matt would do—he intently listens, asks me to speak my feelings. It’s so…healthy.

“I was confused at first, because…well, I’ve never really had anyone stand up for me like you did. It was different, and I didn’t know how to react really.”

“That’s understandable.”

“And then when I did figure out how to react, that reaction turned into embarrassment. I was embarrassed that they were talking about us. I was embarrassed that you were handing out dildos, and then, when we were in the cabin, I was embarrassed that you thought I was making excuses for them.”

He slowly nods. “Okay. What else?”

Taking a deep breath, I make eye contact with him and say, “And I didn’t like it when you asked if I made excuses for my ex.”