A thought to lick his palm invades my mind. No reason not to, I guess. He shudders and lets go. I can’t see him move, but I jump when his lips brush the shell of my ear.
“You’re the worst,” he hisses.
“No, trust me, I can get worse.”
Another hand reaches out for us. I blink. My vision finally adjusts to make out the silhouette of Vendredi in the dark.
“Ready?” she says, barely above a whisper. I nod and look at Dean.
He hesitates. “You sure you guys want me here for this?”
“Of course. We’re partners,” I answer. “That includes in crime.”
That’s good enough for Dean. The three of us tiptoe over to Carter’s bunk bed. He’s flat on his back, tucked in tight under hisblankets, hands folded over his stomach. Vendredi leans over and snaps her fingers twice in front of his face. Nothing.
“The fuck’s wrong with this guy?” she whispers. “He looks like a corpse.”
Carter lets out another long snore then, reassuring us that nope, he’s alive. Yippee.
“Come on,” I say. “Like we planned. I’ll take the right side, you two grab the left.”
We scramble to get in position. I wriggle my fingers under the mattress near Carter’s head while Vendredi and Dean get a grip on the opposite two corners. In unison, they pull the mattress, and I push. It slides off the frame an inch. Everyone freezes. Carter’s face is just a few inches from my hand. I hold my breath.
“Hurr-acgh.” He lets out.Phew.
“Let’s go. Slow and steady,” I hush.
I dig my nails into the plush underside of the mattress as we carefully slide Carter and his bed off, pausing every time there’s a break in his snores. I have to carefully clamber across the metal frame once we get the mattress free.
Dean wheezes as we walk backward toward the door. “He’s heavy.”
“We’re almost there,” Vendredi says. “Shit. The door. Who’s going to—”
“What are you guys doing?”
The three of us freeze. Carter lets out another helpful snore. I whip my head back to see Beck sitting up in bed, blearily wiping sleep from her eyes.Fuck fuckfuck.
“Um…” I say, loud enough for her to hear across the room, but not to wake Carter, or Adin and Siddharth in the corner. “Putting Carter outside… Would you get the door?”
Silence. Then, “Sure.”
Beck pads over and lets us out. A gust of cold night air rushes into the cabin.
“Thank you, Becky,” Vendredi says, grinning at her. Beck nods, half asleep, before returning to bed.
We rotate ourselves to get the mattress to fit outside the door. Carter sleeps through it all, even when we hoist him above our heads and carry him down the tricky porch stairs. It’s hard navigating in the dark, but we make do by moonlight and memory. My arms are on fire once we finally get down to the lake. Luckily, it’s past filming hours, so we don’t have to wear our mics or worry about getting caught by any pesky camera operators.
“Let’s push him in,” Vendredi says.
“Yeah!”
“No,” Dean replies.
We boo him but oblige, instead leaving Carter high enough on the rocky shore so he won’t be washed away. Should a stray wave come up and drench his blankets, that’s Mother Nature’s prerogative.
We run back to camp and collapse on the grass before finally bursting into laughter. I roll around, mushing my face into the dewy ground, reveling in the sweet, earthy smell in my nose and the warm, fuzzy feeling wrapping around me. The moon gives off enough of a glow to make out Vendredi’s and Dean’s faces near mine, equally flushed from laughter.
“Can’t believe he didn’t wake up,” Dean says. His hair is splayed in the grass like a halo.
