I stand, growling, going after her and grabbing her arm, tugging her back around. "Don't do something stupid."
"Are you calling me stupid now?"
"No, but walking out into this world without any preparation, yeah, it's pretty fucking stupid, Skylar."
Her eyes blaze and she pulls back her arm. I let her go. "I'm not looking to fight. I'm not saying you owe me anything. I'm just saying it'd be nice to have a friend."
"A friend?" she asks, blinking, looking me over. "Well, you don't seem very friendly."
"Like you can talk," I scoff, turning back to the fire. "I made you breakfast."
She follows me to my fire pit. "What is this?"
"Rhino," I say.
She groans. "This is like a nightmare situation. You realize that, right?" she asks me.
“Why are you so pissed?”
“We’re stuck in the Stone Age. Aren’t you angry?”
I shrug. “I’m used to it.”
She blinks back tears, refusing to let them fall. Her hands are in fists, and I see her anger is her way to protect herself, to shield herself from getting hurt. I’m guessing she’s had a hard life if she’s intent on putting up walls so fast, and my heart goes out to her.
I understand not feeling secure. And I make a vow here and now to make sure Skylar always feels safe with me. She doesn’t need to know about my promise, hell, it’d probably set her off. But it’s a promise I’m making all the same.
“Just sit down and eat some food, okay? You can get mad after you’ve eaten.”
Exhaling, she gives in and sits down. "So, rhino for breakfast, huh? It’s funny, actually. I work out at this gym, this CrossFit place – did they have CrossFit when you were still in the real world?"
I nod. "Yeah, they had fucking CrossFit, Skylar."
"Sorry. I didn't know. So anyways, at this CrossFit gym there were these guys who were all obsessed with new diets and bulking up and they were all really into the caveman diet. I just find it all a little hilarious."
"Really? You find it hilarious? Because you're not laughing."
"I'm a hard read," she says, deadpan. She rolls her eyes and reaches for a piece of meat on a skewer, takes a bite. Her face scrunches up in disgust. It's a fair assessment. The meat is tough and bland. I don't exactly have a spice rack.
"So you never tried the caveman diet?" I ask. "Is that what you're getting at?"
"No, I never did," she said. "I thought it was stupid to live on meat and vegetables."
"But now?" I say, taking my own skewer and taking a bite of the meat. Sure, it's tasteless, but it's protein.
"It's just ironic, you know?"
"Yeah, the irony is that the caveman diet is a lot harder when you have no fast food options to fall back on," I tell her.
She eats, but her mood doesn't change from sour. "I could really use a latte," she says.
"Is that what you were drinking on your backpacking trip?" I ask. "I kind of thought you were a tougher girl than that."
She rolls her eyes. "You know nothing about me, Stone."
"So tell me something," I say. "Like I said, I'm looking for a friend."
She frowns, then bites her bottom lip. "Actually," she says, "you're right. I wasn't planning on morning lattes while I was backpacking. I didn't have money for that anyways. It's a little bit more of a luxurious life than I have to get a coffee to go every day. So, I made a plan."
"A plan?" I ask, my interest piqued.
She opens her backpack and pulls out a portable espresso pot and a pouch full of espresso powder. "You just fill this with hot water, you put the espresso grinds in the top and then you let it steep for a few minutes," she explains. "You plunge it and then voila."
"Espresso." My eyes widen. "Are you fucking kidding me?"
"What? You don't want coffee?"
I shake my head, salivating. "No, I love coffee. It's the one thing..." I shake my head. "Well, not the one thing, but one of the things I really miss."
"Yeah? Well, what else do you miss?"
I shake my head, looking her up and down. Fuck, she looks fine. "I don't think you want to know."
"Try me," she says. "Remember, I work out with a bunch of assholes, I can handle whatever you're going to say."
"You worked out with them, past tense," I clarify. "You're not going back there Skylar. That world, that life – it's over."
She frowns, snatching the baggie of ground espresso beans from my hand. "Fine. If you want to be so rude about it, give me back my coffee."
I let her take it. "I wasn't trying to start anything."
"You're just pointing out that life as I know it is over. Great. Awesome. Just rub it in, why don't ya?"
"I'm not trying to rub it in, I'm trying to make sure you understand the situation. You're stuck here. You're stuck here with me."
At that, she groans, falling back on the cot, covering her face.
"I know it’s a lot," I say. "But soon you’ll realize it’s not so bad. At least we have this cave."
She sits up. This girl, she's hot and cold, fire and ice. "I'm not saying it's you that's so bad," she says, "honest. You're nice and I'm not being very nice back, but..."
"But what?"
"But I'm scared, Stone. I'm scared of being out here and getting eaten alive."
"You won't get eaten alive as long as you’ve got me. I promise. I have your back."
"In that case, I'll make you some coffee. That seems like a fair enough trade. A cup of Joe in exchange for my life." She smiles, offering me an olive branch.
"I’ll get the water going," I tell her, walking toward my hut. In the hut I grab the small portable pot I had in my backpack when I wound up here. I use it to boil water, to cook soup. While I'm in the hut, I remember the Snickers bar that was in my backpack when I traveled through time. I saved it.
Now I pick it up, carrying it back to the cave. I fill the pot with water, setting it on my makeshift grill. While the water boils and Skylar fills the pot with the espresso grounds, I show her my stash. Stash might be a bit of an exaggeration, considering it's one chocolate bar.
"What's that for?" she asks.
"I've been saving it," I tell her. "All these years whenever I think I've reached my lowest point, I keep saving it thinking there's going to be a worse day."
She laughs. "I'm your worst day? You're finally going to break out the candy because you met me. Am I really that bad?"
I shake my head. "You're not bad, Skylar." I look her over. "Not by a long fucking shot."
"Then why break out the sugar for little old me?" she asks.
"Because maybe I was saving this chocolate bar for the wrong thing. I was looking for a rainy day and instead, I got a sky that's blue."
"I'm your blue sky?"
I nod. "I think maybe you are. Hell, you brought me coffee. That's the nicest thing anyone's done for me in five years."