The Choices We Make~ Until Dawn WTM

Chapter 3: Jealousy

Mike had slumped far down into his seat to avoid his quickly reddening face from being seen. He had almost let out a suffering groan, but he resisted, knowing that it would only bring him more attention.

His crush on Sam and Ryan wasn't outright exposed, but he feels like it might as well be after seeing how he reacted to the news of their arrival.

The screen transitions from Dr. Hill's office to Chris as he starts talking. As he speaks, the words "Nine hours until dawn" are shown on the right side of the screen.

Chris is glancing to his left as he says, "Man I feel like this mountain gets bigger every time I climb it." Standing by him is Josh who replies, "Oh yeah? Feels the same to me." "Oh come on, you grew up here. It probably feels like it's shrinking." "I guess that's true."

Changing the subject, Chris holds his phone up to the sky and asks, "When are you gonna install some cell towers up here? I'm getting withdrawals already." Josh lets his arms splay out as he replies, "You got a spare million lying around and I'll fix you right up." Pointing at his friend Chris says, "Funny you should say that..." he pats his pockets, "Ah, I think I left it in my other jacket."

Josh laughs as he turns to lead Chris the rest of the way up to the lodge.

It's not a far walk for the young men, only a couple dozen feet. When they reach their destination a tall set of wooden steps can be seen leading up to the front door of the lodge. However, Josh stops suddenly when he sees someone he didn't personally invite.

The view quickly switches to show Sam and Ashley sitting on the bottom step of the stairs as Ryan sits behind Sam resting her forearms around the blonde's shoulders and neck. The girls quietly converse while Matt is standing at the base of the stairs with his back turned.

Glancing back at Chris, Josh asks, "Who's the redhead sitting behind Sam on the stairs?" Finally giving up and putting his phone away, Chris looks up with a smile and says, "That's Ryan. Ryan Blackwell." He leans closer to whisper, "Apparently she's Sam's girlfriend."

All Josh can say as Chris leans away is, "Ryan Blackwell, huh?"

Ryan narrows her eyes at the screen. She doesn't like the way Josh recited her name.

Finishing their walk up to the group, Josh puts on a smile and says, "Hey guys... Get up here okay?" Ashley is hugging her knees as she answers for all of the girls, "Yeah... well more or less. But it's so good to see you!"

Matt spares the smallest glance at the two friends' approach, but he doesn't answer Josh's question.

Starting to walk up the stairs to the door Josh asks Chris, "'Sup with him?" All Chris can do is shrug.

As Chris and Josh walked up the stairs to check the front door, Ryan looked down at Sam and asked her, "Are your hands alright? The wind makes it freezing out here." Sam smiled and turned her head slightly to the right to kiss Ryan's jacket-covered arm. "I'm all good, Ry. I have some of those hand warmers you got us in my pockets."

Ryan's eyes widened slightly at this. "Wait, seriously?" "Uh, yeah." Instantly, Ryan removed her arms from their hooked position around Sam's shoulders and neck. Not bothering with the pretense of words, the redhead moved so that she was now hugging Sam around her middle and stuck her hands in her girlfriend's pockets. She let out a sigh of contentment at the warmness, which had Sam chuckling.

Sam quietly laughed as she watched Ryan on screen. Tilting her head up to look at the redhead she whispers, "You're the one who reminded me to pack the hand warmers." Ryan playfully shushed her girlfriend as she pressed a finger to her lips.