After about twenty minutes, I am indubitably coming down with a vengeful case of cabin fever. Symptoms consisting of: irritability, perspiration, hyperventilating, pacing, and being on the verge of tears. Though I can probably blame the sweating on the fact that there's no air conditioning and Dakota's body heat alone seems to be making it much worse.

Any time he sits less than three feet away, I start sweating. No wonder he survived being snowed in on all sides with no heat; he is a heater himself.

"Your skin is literally giving off heat. Go away." I grumble when he tries to sit next to me again, my face feeling red and puffy from the high temperature, my hair pulled up in a bun on my head, fly aways sticking up in every direction, giving into the humidity.

Dakota scoots away wordlessly before releasing a long sigh. "I can't help that I'm hot, Lillian. It's a curse I must bear."

I feel my eyes roll, pushing my glasses up my sweaty nose. "Not that kind of heat, you idiot. You're so narcissistic."

"I'm confident." He shimmies down the wall until he's lying flat on his back, his eyes looking up at the hole in the ceiling. "There's a difference."

"Whatever." I mumble, picking at the end of my yellow T-shirt. "I hope Amelia decides to come back and check on me or something. But maybe even then she would just figure I already left. The store should be closed by now though so there's no way she wouldn't think anything of me not locking up and cashing out the drawer." I think aloud.

"Who's Amelia?" Dakota asks from his spot on the floor as he absentmindedly pats at his stomach.

I watch him for a moment with furrowed brows before reminding him, "My manager."

"Oh yeah." He says, laying his arms limp at his sides as he breathes deeply. "It's so hot." He groans loudly, rolling onto his stomach. I spot a line of sweat on his light pink shirt and my nose scrunches.

"You're all sweaty." I state bluntly, earning a scoff from him, his head popping up to give me a disapproving glare.

"Quit staring at me."

"I'm not staring I'm just observing something that's clearly obvious." I defend, gesturing to him. "You're laying like four feet from me, of course I can see your back. Don't be such a baby."

He sits up with a roll of his green eyes. "You're rude."

"I'm not rude." I spit back at him, pulling my legs to my chest. "It's not my fault you're so sensitive."

"I'm not!" Dakota throws his arms up defensively and I give him a flat expression.

"Yes you are. I just said your back is sweaty and you're acting like I insulted your mother." My tone comes out more condescending than I intended it to.

Dakota raises a brow at me. "Of all examples you chose that one?"

"Whatever." I sigh, looking away from him and at the wall next to me.

"I forgive you." He suddenly says sassily, earning no response from me as I glare at the wall stubbornly with my arms folded firmly. "Are you seriously ignoring me right now?" He chuckles as if finding this extremely amusing.

I still say nothing, feeling very impatient and unable to deal with anything else. Breathing in through my nose and out through my mouth, I attempt to lower my annoyance level, blaming my inability to put up with Dakota on the heat.

"Come on, Lillian." He grumbles. "I'm going to get so bored in here if you stop saying mean things to me." A small smile tugs at my lips but I force them down.

"Lillian." He whines, still I remain silent.

"Lillian." He says my name again and my eyes squeeze shut as I resist the urge to yell at him to stop. "Lillian. Lillian. Lillian." He continues, his voice getting closer. I refuse to look over, feeling more awkward than stubborn at this point.

Throwing a tantrum and making yourself the center of attention is always something to be regretted.

"Lillian." I jump as he whispers about six inches away.

"Dakota." I finally snap, turning to face him and seeing when relief that he's further away than I was expecting. "Stop it. Please."

Dakota gives me a triumphant grin, plopping down next to me once again. "There she is."

I slump against the wall in defeat, staring at my shoes. "I'm not usually like this."

"I understand." He laughs, nudging me. "But I also find that a little hard to believe. At least around me anyway."

I can't help but laugh, looking over at his relaxed figure and shaking my head. "Well maybe if you were a little less to handle then I wouldn't be so hostile." I joke with a small smile.

He smiles back, shrugging. "Yeah, maybe. I guess we'll never find out though." He winks, earning an eye roll from me. "So tell me about yourself." He suddenly says, giving me a curious look.

Looking down at my hands in my lap I reply, "What do you want to know?" I ask.

"Hm." He hums beside me. "What's your family like? Where are you from?" His inquiry brings me relief. I'm glad for an easy question.

"Well..." I begin, "My parents and I moved from Wisconsin when I was four and that's pretty young so pretty much all I really remember is my home here."

"Did you eat lots of cheese?" He jokes with a crooked grin, moving away from the wall to sit across from me, a seemingly genuinely interested expression on his face as he listens to me speak.

"No." I roll my eyes. "In fact, I'm not a huge fan of dairy in general. And contrary to popular belief, just because a lot of cheese is made in Wisconsin that doesn't mean everyone there is bred to eat, breathe, and sleep cheese. My dad hates it too."

Dakota gasps, regarding me as if I'm some sort of alien. "No ice cream?"

I shake my head and shrug. "I mean...I like milkshakes and some frozen yogurt. I also like whipped cream but that's about it. The only kind of cheese I actually like is pepper jack."

He squints at me. "What kind of milk do you drink?"

"Almond milk." I inform him. "It's actually really good."

"Doubtful." He mumbles before continuing, "So you and your parents live here in town or what?"

My face falls a little bit but I manage to force a small smile. "It's actually just me and my dad now. But uh...we live right outside of town maybe fifteen minutes out in that one subdivision across from the Barnes and Noble." I explain, hoping he doesn't ask about my mom.

He pauses and I can't tell if he's caught onto my meaning is deciding whether or not to ask about it or if he genuinely didn't think anything of it. "Seriously?"

I try to hide my relief. "Yeah, why?"

He gives me a small grin. "That's where I live."

"Really?" My eyes widen, my mouth opening slightly. "Are you joking right now?"

His head leans back slightly as he laughs. "Yes - I mean no, I'm serious. Why would I lie about that? My sister's boyfriend lives right next to us too." He tells me.

I flatten my lips as I think on this, intrigued. "Well that's...super weird. What street do you live on?"

"South Terrace."

"No way! I love only like four streets down!" I exclaim with a laugh. "That's wild."

"Indeed." He chuckles, "What a small world. So anything else I should know about you? Like how old you are?"

I give him a suspicious look. "I turned eighteen in April. You?"

"I turn eighteen in a week. On the twentieth to be exact." Dakota tells me, pulling his legs up to rest his forearms on his knees. "Which means I am currently speaking to an older woman." He winks, earning a laugh from me.

"Whatever. So is that why you were here? To get a birthday gift for your sister? What's her name again? Sam?"

"Yeah." He chuckles. "She kept dropping hints on what she wanted but I'm getting her a book instead." He shrugs with a satisfied smirk.

"Dakota!" I gasp. "You're awful. It's her eighteenth birthday, you have to put some effort in."

"I remembered what kind of books she likes?" He tries with a wince. I give him a flat expression in reply. "Okay fine. I'll get her some AirPods or something but only so that I can take pictures of her and make her a meme."

"You're so annoying." I can't help but laugh at his unrelenting humor in every situation.

"Just saying." He shrugs with a smirk. "She's probably going to buy me a tube of toothpaste or something."

"No way." I watch his eyes drop to my wide smile and I suddenly feel self conscious, my cheeks reddening. "She must love you too much to do something like that."

He regards me with a soft smile. "Yeah she does. I know that she'll get me something awesome like she always does."

My brows pull together in confusion. "Then why do you act as if you aren't that close with her?"

Dakota shrugs, breathing in a large breath and releasing it, his chest moving up and down. "I don't know. I guess that sometimes I'm not the most comfortable with those warm and loving kind of emotions." The words come from his lips paired with a chuckle but I spot a glint of nervousness in his green eyes just admitting this aloud.

I pause, looking down at my own hands. "I can relate to that."

"Really?" He immediately responds, surprised.

I shrug, bringing my eyes back up to meet his gaze. "Honestly? Yeah. After my mom - I mean after things changed with my parents, I started to find it harder to express how I was feeling and even harder to trust the people in my life." I find myself confessing my thoughts.

His jaw ticks as he watches me, his eyes moving back and forth between mine. "I'm sorry."

My eyes study him and it somehow astounds me that he hasn't asked about my mom or even acted curious of the matter. My heart warms at this realization but I quickly shake it off, clearing my throat. "No it's fine. I just figured you'd understand, you know?"

"I do. I get it." He smiles. "But I can tell you're feeling just as uncomfortable as me right now so I now know that the two of us discussing our inner most thoughts will always be a bit difficult." He laughs.

I raise an inquiring brow. "Always? Are you saying we'll still be in touch after we get out of here?"

He freezes, his expression revealing his inner battle he seems to be having with himself. "Uh...no?"

"No?" I ask him teasingly.

"I mean...yes?" Dakota's head cocks to the side as he tries to gage my expression.

I pause, pursing my like slightly. "We'll see."