It's late. I know we should be sleeping, but we're not. Instead we're snuggled up in the tent we had brought. The night's air had taken a chill to it, but it was strangely stuffy in the tent. We had the flap unzipped, with the protective screen zipped up to keep the bugs out. 

I feel like I'm at a girl's slumber party. Not that I'd ever been to one, but I had heard about them and read about them. We were swapping stories and laughing, really taking the time to get to know one another. I must admit, there was a lot of laughter and even some giggles.

"Okay," Dave tells me. "What's your favorite childhood memory?"

I think a second, and then I grin. "When I was in baseball and we won the state championship." 

Dave looks impressed. "Wow."

"Yeah," I say, "I was the pitcher, and I threw the last strike. It was such a rush. We got a trophy and everything."

"Okay," Dave says again. "What's your favorite place to visit?"

"Alaska," I reply easily.

"Why?"

"Well," I say, "first of all I have family up there. Secondly, it's nice and cold—you can do some great ice fishing. Have you ever done it?"

"No," he replies, but then teases me. "I thought you didn't—what did you say?—you were only 'proficient' in the sport of fishing', or something pretentious like that?"

I give a hearty laugh. "Yeah, something like that. Anyway. I've also seen the Northern Lights there."

David props himself up on his elbow. "Woah, you have?"

"Yup."

"Is it as pretty as all the pictures?"

"Prettier."

"Woah."

I chuckle. "It's bright, too. I wasn't expecting it to be so bright."

"Okay," Dave says, laying back down on his side, "serious question."

"Shoot."

"Do you believe in any sort of higher power?"

I flip over on my back, interlacing my fingers behind my head. I watch a single fly flying in circles, over and over again, like it can't figure out that it's inside of something. As I speak, I continue to watch the fly.

"I don't."

"Then what's the point of life?" Dave asks softly.

"Does there have to be one?"

When Dave doesn't reply, I turn my head to him. I raise my eyebrows. "Well?"

"I—I d'no."

I look back at the fly. "I think we're born, we live, and then we die. But I don't mean that in an angst-riddled way. I'm not a nihilist."

"You basically just described one."

I shake my head. "No, a nihilist doesn't believe in anything. I mean, I was raised Christian for Pete's sake. In fact, the only reason we stopped goin' to church in the first place was after I came out to my parents. They did it as a solidarity thing." I shrug. "Honestly I wouldn't have cared either way."

"Wait—so then what do you believe in?"

"I believe in humanity. I believe in kindness. I believe in being just and fair to your fellow humans, because we're all stuck on this crazy rock that's spinning outta control. But we're only here for a cosmic instant—a blink of an eye. Why devote what little time we have to hate? Why exert all that energy into something ugly and damaging? Holding onto all that anger, that rage-filled misplaced sense of justice...holding onto that you're correct and they're wrong, the mentality that it's you against the world..."

I shake my head. "Doesn't make a lick of sense to me. Doesn't make a damn lick of sense. It doesn't just hurt those you spew hate it, but being that angry and bitter all the time, well, it hurts you too. It hurts your soul, being that damn angry all the time."

To my surprise, Dave rolls on top of me and kisses me deeply. I can barely breath, and not just because of what he's doing. He's kissing me so passionately, so desperately, I have to pull away for a moment to catch my breath. When I do, he has this dreamy look to his eyes. Utter and complete admiration. He strokes my cheek under heavily lidded eyes.

"You're beautiful, Tristan Smith. Inside and out. I'm so happy we met."

We go back to kissing, and we end up doing things that make me forget all about the fly in the tent.

~

It's the following morning, and we're hiking. It was supposed to be hot this morning, but instead the chill from last night decided to cling to the air. Everything was dewy, and how the light was filtering through the trees gave everything a dream-like quality. The skeeters weren't even that bad, and I was, surprisingly, enjoying myself.

"What're you going to school for?" I ask Dave as we tromp along. We picked up our question and answer conversation from the previous night as we walked.

"Medical degree."

I'm impressed. "Isn't that super hard and intense?"

He nods with a grin. "It keeps me on my toes. I can't wait until I get to make rounds in actual hospitals. It's going to be so incredible."

"So, do you want to be a nurse, or a doctor, or...?"

"Doctor," he says proudly. "I want to be an ER doctor."

I'm further impressed.

"Um, this might sound morbid, but the more gruesome the better. I think it's fascinating, like putting together pieces of a puzzle. Plus if you do it correctly, the person lives!"

I laugh. "Well, thank God there are people in the world like you who find it interesting and aren't phased by it."

For a little while, we walk side by side silently. I don't know what Dave's doing, but I'm enjoying the birds singing spectacularly.

"Oh! I got one!" Dave says suddenly. "What's the worst thing you've ever done in your life?"

I give him a sidelong look.

He smiles. "Well?"

I pause, and then, "Why would you ask someone that?"

He shrugs, still smiling. "Because it's interesting?"

I remain silent.

"Here, if it'll help you, I'll break the ice." He takes a deep breath. "I once broke into my school at night to steal the answers of a test I wasn't prepared for. I got spotted because I didn't know that there was a security guard at night, so I ran away. The next day, my best friend was wearing something nearly identical to what I had worn the night before. I knew the guard had seen me."

Looking embarrassed, Dave scratched his neck for a second. "So I went to the principles office and said he was bragging about how he broke into school the night before. I was just so freaked out that it would come back to me, I had to put the blame off me. So he got called into the office, the security guard said it was him, and he got suspended."

Evidently that was the end of his story. So I told mine.

"I found a dead body once but didn't report it."