Common Sense • drivers license

6 ~ The Triangle

Suggested by 26kkumar

Finally updated again after three and a half months!😅

Because of all the real-life drama that surrounds this, I will probably only do a plot like this once.

(Yes, that is the video I decided to put in at the top.)

Also, I was debating on whether or not to post this on Joshua's birthday (Dec 22) or Christmas Eve and just went with the day in between😅

Happy birthday to the person on this planet that deserves so much more!
The future is bright for you!!🥳
(I put a little post on YouTube for his birthday yesterday [external link].)

Started: October 3, 2020
Finished: December 22, 2021

The reason this took me so long to finish was because of all the real-life drama; the more videos, stories, rumors, and articles that came out, the less and less I wanted to work on this (as well as just talking incredibly long breaks, but my motivation was mostly affected by the drama).
(Yes, this has been hanging over my head for well over a year😅)

I had originally finished writing the entire thing on Dec 7, but when I went to proofread, there was so much I wanted to change, so that's why the date is a lot closer than I thought it would've been to the upload day (literally one day😂).

🚩🚩BIG DISCLAIMER: This takes place at the beginning of October 2020 (aka BEFORE all hell broke loose in the fandom). I'm using this as a timing reference:

Was this the best story to put out so soon after Joshua's new EP and the new circulation of assumptions with the media?
Maybe not since it's based on real-life and all the drama.

Did I still put it out anyway?
Yes. It was next in line for release; it was a request; and I didn't want it sitting in drafts any longer.

⚠⚠(In regards to the drama, please read the note at the bottom too.)

🍪🍪🍪

*October 2020*
The time has finally come: the cast was reuniting! After many months of being away, everyone was going to see each other again for season two. They were all ecstatic to see their family again. Well... almost everyone.

There was still the whole thing with Joshua and Olivia. They haven't talked much outside of work-related stuff.

Olivia just wanted space from any chaos that could occur; too much pressure from fans and peers. It's not like she could avoid what was happening. She was well aware. It's kinda hard not to notice when it appears everywhere. Paparazzi are crazy. But have her feelings changed with the distance?

Here's a hint: they haven't.

Joshua wanted a distraction. It hurts to fall for someone knowing you can't be with them. He doesn't care about the age difference, but he was afraid of what everyone else would think; two years isn't even that bad. He wonders what would've happened if he just had the guts to tell her before the world shut down.

Did he distract himself with other people? Possibly. Was a certain someone on his mind the entire time? Absolutely.

Everyone was meeting at the airport because by some miracle Tim had somehow managed to get them all on the same flight. "Surprise!"

"AAAAHHH!!" Olivia turns around, and Sofia's standing there, just laughing her head off. "Not funny."

"It- it was funny. Don't try to fight me on that." They hug and start rambling on about how awful it was to be stuck at home.

"We're all back!" Dara says, running up to them.

"I've missed you guys so much; it's unhealthy," Julia says.

As they're talking, a certain someone catches Olivia's eye; the curls are a dead giveaway. He's talking with Frankie, and she quickly looks anywhere else. Unfortunately, this doesn't go unnoticed by the others. "Oh my god, you two still aren't a thing?" Dara rhetorically asks.

"What?" Olivia asks, playing dumb. She started pulling her mask up higher on her face, even though it wasn't even falling; a new fidget habit.

"You and Josh. Don't even try to deny your feelings because it's obvious," Sofia says.

"I thought you guys would get together after filming that I love you scene. I mean, he improvised it. Your reactions were real!" Julia exclaims.

"Well, nothing came of it. We haven't actually talked in a while unless it was for the show," she says sadly. Everyone looks at her with sympathy, but she waves it off. "Let's not focus on that right now. How about the fact that we're getting to be stuck with each other for another four to five months?!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Joshua first sees her, his breathing stops. Is it possible for someone to become more beautiful while not doing anything? He continues to glance between her and his phone, watching as she laughs at something the girls have said. Even with the mask, he could tell she was smiling; he's missed seeing it.

"Dude, you're staring," Frankie says, snapping his fingers in his face. If this room was burning, he wouldn't even notice.

"What?"

"You're staring at Liv. You didn't man up and tell her!?"

"Would you keep your voice down?" he hisses. "And no, I didn't act on anything."

"You're dumber than I thought," Matt says, coming up behind him.

"How long have you-?"

"Yes, he's a stupid chicken," Frankie interjects.

"Thanks, you're making me feel so much better," Joshua says sarcastically.

"You know you've been caught on camera with Sabrina, right?" Larry chimes in.

"When did you get here? And so? It's not like we have anything going on."

"Yeah, but some people think Anyone Else is about her," Matt says.

"What?" Joshua's eyes are bulging out of his head. "Why?"

Joe comes up to them, and before he can get a word in, Frankie starts talking. "Hey, Joe. Long story short, Josh's a big chicken; people are speculating he's dating someone who isn't Liv; and... yeah. Did I mention he's a chicken?"

"Yeah, you did," Joe says, laughing.

"The hand that you're holding in the car looks like hers. And she posted a picture that looks like the house you filmed at," Larry explains.

"That's not enough proof to determine anything. We don't even like each other like that."

"That's not what everyone else thinks," Joe says.

"Well, guess what? They don't know what's happening when the camera turns off. Anyone Else is not about her, and I've never even directly said who it's about. People can make all the assumptions they want; there's no proof of anything."

Both groups continue talking until everyone gets a mass text from Tim telling them to head to gate twenty-seven. They start walking, and, thankfully, it's not too awkward.

*Utah*
"Ok, this is the same apartment complex as last time. Everyone has the same room numbers too, so I'll let you get situated," Tim tells everyone.

They walk into the lobby and towards the elevator. "No, not again. I love you all, truly. But we're not cramming into here again like last time," Frankie announces. Everyone laughs at the memories. When the cast first came here for season one, they had all crammed into the elevator the first couple of times, and it wasn't pleasant.

"Don't forget there are two elevators," Joe points out.

"And that there's a pandemic happening," Dara deadpans.

*Five Minutes of Talking About the Elevators Later*
Everyone's settling in, putting their stuff away, and making themselves at home.

Joshua and Olivia are making their rooms semi-organized when they both get the same text from Tim. Can you come out in the hallway for a moment? it read. They don't think anything of it and go out of their rooms.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Joshua asks when he sees Olivia also left.

"Tim said to see him out here."

"Weird. He sent me the same thing."

"Hey." They both look up as he's coming towards them. "I know it's extremely early, and you guys just got here. But how would you two like to write a song for the show again?"
🍪This was before I found out that they didn't write together again for season two. Just go with it🍪

Both of their eyes bulge out of their heads at this. "For real?!" they say in sync.

"Yeah. Not only that, but you can also write solo. But, if you say yes, we would like the collaborated one as soon as possible. So what do you guys say?" Tim asks with a big smile.

Joshua and Olivia look at each other, and it's like they're having a conversation with their eyes. "Yeah, we'll do it," they say at the same time again.

"Great! Let me just make sure what all you're allowed to know about future episodes, so you can work off of something. Stay here." He goes back into his room, and the pair are standing there speechless.

"Oh my god, I can't believe it!" Olivia says, finally breaking the silence.

"I know. I can't wait to do it all again," he says.

The two hug, and when they pull away, they just stare at each other. They both knew in that moment that their feelings hadn't changed. At all.

Tim comes back out and says, "Ok, a brief description has been emailed to both of you. Use it to figure out where you want the song to go."

They nod and hug Tim then go back to their rooms. "Do you want to work in my room or yours?" Joshua asks.

"I don't care. We can go to mine."

"Kay, cool. Do you want me to wear a mask or...?"

"You don't have to. We're not going to be wearing them while filming, so I think it'll be ok for right now."

He nods and follows Olivia into her room, and it's only a little awkward. No, they didn't think they'd go right back to how they were before filming was shut down, but they also didn't think it'd be this tense.

Joshua sets his jacket and phone on her couch and says, "I'm gonna go get my guitar, keyboard, and loop pedal."

Olivia laughs lightly. "You really packed all that stuff?"

"Yes, how else am I gonna survive?" She smiles as he walks through the connecting door. Yes, they once again had adjoining rooms.

Olivia gets paper and her own keyboard out. As she's setting up their little workstation, Joshua's phone goes off. She glances at the screen and sees a text from Sabrina, asking if he landed in Salt Lake safely.

Sabrina. That name stung a little. There was no valid reason for it to though; it shouldn't matter so much to her who he chooses to have in his life. Olivia knew she liked Joshua but also assumed it'd just be a phase. Well, she was very wrong.

He comes back in with all his stuff, and Olivia looks away from his phone. She wonders if he's gonna respond to it. Her question's answered when he looks at his phone then puts it in his pocket.

"Um, that stuff is about the size of two or three of you," she says, taking note of his guitar, keyboard, and loop pedal.

"Says the one who's 5 foot 5," he teases.

"That is perfectly normal," she defends.

"Perfectly short."

"It's not my fault you're freakishly tall."

His jaw drops, and his hand goes over his heart. "Who knew Olivia Rodrigo could be so incredibly rude," he says, mocking offense.

"Truth hurts," she says with a smirk.

She's lucky she's cute. "You're lucky you're cute." He didn't even realize what he said until after it slipped. It's true.

Joshua would have seen the intense shade of red slowly building on Olivia's face if he had been paying attention. But he didn't because he was setting up his loop pedal and guitar.

*One Hour Later*
"Deja vu much," Olivia laughs. They've been working for almost an hour and have not gotten far.

"No kidding. What did we do last time to cure writer's block?"

"Movies with the cast. Then stayed up until around one am."

"Correction, I stayed up till one in the morning. You fell asleep."

"Well, I'm sorry for being tired." They continue laughing and the tension from before slips away. They were back to how things used to be... kind of... sort of... maybe... not really.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tim wants to see everyone downstairs for some reason. Once they get down there, he says, "Ok, so remember how last season we did the whole bonding thing for a couple of days?" Everyone nods. "Well, we're doing it again!"

"What are we doing?" Joe asks.

"We're going to be spending a week on a campsite!"

"Wait, so we just got to the apartments, unpacked, and now we're repacking to go somewhere else?" Larry asks.

"Uh, yeah," Tim says. What was the point of unpacking then? Olivia wonders.

"Then what was the point of coming here?" Dara asks.

"Y'know, that might've been poor planning on my part," Tim says. Everyone agrees. "Enough about my inability to plan right; we leave tomorrow morning. You don't have to pack up everything; only bring enough to last you for a week."

*Tomorrow Morning*
"Is everyone excited?" Tim asks. The cast all nod, a little tired from it being 8:30 am. "Who all have cars?" Joshua, Frankie, Julia, and Matt raise their hands. "Perfect."

"How far away is it?" Matt asks.

"Only a few hours. Just follow me the entire time."

*A Few Hours Later*
"And we're here," Joshua says when he sees Tim turn off the main road. It was a narrow gravel path that led uphill that was extremely rickety and bumpy on the way up.

The cabins slowly started coming into view. They were dark log cabins that were scattered all around the property. Each one had its own fireplace in the back, which they saw when they drove behind the buildings to the tiny parking lot.

Olivia thought the setup kinda looked like a typical horror movie set. It didn't help that they were in the middle of nowhere, probably without a phone signal.

The four of them park and open the trunks. "I'm gonna go get us checked in, and I'll tell you your cabin numbers when I get back," Tim explains. Everyone else begins pulling out their suitcases and wheeling them away. Tim comes back out a few minutes later with room keys. "Ok, I have the keys, which have the numbers on them, and we're all eating together in the food hall once you all are settled in."

Tim announced who would be staying together for the next week. Because they had an odd number of people, there would be one group of three. Frankie, Joe, and Julia volunteered. The rest were Sofia & Dara, Matt & Larry, and Joshua & Olivia.

This was fine... for the most part. Olivia and Joshua wanted to get their relationship back to what it was, but they definitely weren't at the comfort level of living together for the week. Despite these thoughts, they didn't argue and took the keys from Tim.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Olivia unlocks the door, they were for some reason hit immediately with a wave of freezing air; the cold factor was expected because they're in Utah in October, but it came from the inside of the cabin. "Jesus," Olivia mutters to herself. She starts rubbing her arms and shivers a little at how cold the inside was. Her face was warm from her mask.

"No kidding. What does the thermostat say?" Joshua asks, setting his suitcase off to the side. He sets his mask on top of it. She still had hers on since it was keeping her face warm.

"Um." Olivia walks over to it and says, "68."

"I guess that's fine for now, but we'll turn it up when the sun goes down," he says.

She nods and begins getting stuff out of her suitcase. "Um..."

"What?" Joshua asks.

"There's... There's only one bed." Somehow they both missed the giant bed that took up most of the space.

"Wait," Joshua says, moving over to the small couch, "I think this is a pull-out bed." He takes the large cushion off and reveals handles. "Yup, it is. I'll just stay here."

"I can't let you sleep on that for a week. There's no way it's as comfortable," she says, eyeing the bed.

This only adds to why I like her so much. "It's fine, Livvy."

Despite the cold cabin, Olivia feels heat rush up her neck and to her face at the nickname. She liked how easily he said it. Joshua doesn't notice her reaction, but he does freeze up on the inside at what he said, thinking it made things more awkward. He glances over at her, and she's looking at the ground. Unbeknownst to him, she was trying to hide her flushed face. Thankfully, he didn't notice the redness yet again.

"We're really gonna fight over this?" Olivia says, taking some of her things into the bathroom. Oh yeah, there's also only one bathroom.

"Is it really fighting when we both know I'm gonna win?"

"And who said that?"

"I just did. Keep up," he says jokingly.

"Listen, Joshy, we both know that we're going to at least alternate nights with the couch bed," Olivia tries to reason. She decides on trying out his nickname again to see if any tension would build or slip, and it seems to have lessened a little more.

Now, if she had been paying close attention, she would've seen the hints of pink on Joshua's face. He hasn't heard that name in a long time, and he liked how natural she said it.

"What about covid?" Joshua mentions. "I don't think it's a good idea to be swapping back and forth."

"We're sharing a cabin the size of a postage stamp," she counters. "Besides, you took your mask off the second you stepped through the door. And we're not going to be wearing them when we film, and we didn't when we were in my apartment earlier. Plus, you know hotels are all open, right? Again, we're going to at least be alternating."

"And who said we were alternating?"

"I just did. Twice. Keep up," she says, mimicking him from before.

"And how are you going to convince me to do that? You know I'd rather let you sleep in the bed," he says, crossing his arms.

This only adds to why I like him so much. "Well, if you don't at least let me sleep on the couch half the time then..." She slowly walks over to his open suitcase. "Maybe I'll just keep Franklin for a little while," she says, taking him out of the suitcase.

Joshua gasps dramatically, making it abnormally loud. "Are you blackmailing me with the kidnapping of my son? That is a low blow, Rodrigo."

Olivia laughs brightly at his exaggeration. Joshua can't help the beaming smile on his face at seeing her so happy. The sparkle in her eyes when she's happy; how her smile makes her dimples more prominent; the laugh that can easily light up a room. I've missed this. I've missed her.

Ok, so he's kind of staring at her right now, but it's not in a creepy way; he just can't stop himself from admiring her. He's brought out of his thoughts when Olivia says, "Well?"

"Well what?"

"I get to keep Franklin until the end of our trip if we go 50/50 on the sleeping arrangements, or you can have the couch the whole time while I just... have him indefinitely for a while. Do we have a deal?" she asks, motioning to her extended hand. She laughs more when she notices he's actually having to think about this.

On one side, she's willing to take this couch for half the time, but I wouldn't want her to do that. On the other hand, she's taking Franklin hostage.

The obvious amusement on her face with the bright smile is a sight I would never want to pass up though. She also looks super adorable holding Franklin under her chin.

"Fine, deal." He shakes her hand, and they both try to push down the electrifying feeling of simply touching the other's hand. Both of them could feel their stomachs flipping, and it wasn't just because they were hungry.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Breakfast wasn't as bad as they thought it'd be. Everyone was laughing the entire time, and the conversation was easygoing. Joshua and Olivia ended up sitting next to each other, but they didn't seem to mind, and there wasn't too much awkwardness, thankfully.

After eating was done, Tim said they could stay in their cabins for a little while or walk around the property. The girls decided to look around a bit more. "So what's it like sharing a cabin with Josh so far?" Julia asked.

"It's not as bad as I thought. We're talking a little more now, which is good. He, uh... he accidentally called me Livvy."

"Yay, then things don't have to be so awkward," Sofia says.

"That's a start, right?" Dara adds.

"I hope it is," Olivia nods.

"You guys think Tim is gonna take us on a hike like last season?" Julia asks.

"I doubt it. There's too much snow up here; we wouldn't be able to get any traction with our shoes," Sofia says.

"I feel like my fingers might fall off," Olivia adds. Everyone had gloves, but that didn't mean they wouldn't feel the frigid air.

"We can just head back now," Julia says, turning on her heel.

As they're walking back towards their respective cabins, they hear screaming coming from one of them. "What the hell was that?" Dara says first. They run faster (not really, considering the amount of snow) towards the sound and see Frankie coming out from behind his cabin with snow falling out of his hair.

"This is war, Bassett!!" he yells, gathering snow.

"Try me, Rodriguez!!" Joshua's voice is coming from somewhere, but they can't see him.

"What's going on, Frankie?" Julia asks him.

"Josh, being the child he is, threw a snowball at me, but I ducked out of the way before any more could land."

"Ok, so where is-?" Sofia doesn't finish as a snowball hits her arm.

"Oops! That was meant for Larry!!" Matt's voice screams.

"Ok, I'm joining," she says, looking for where that came from.

"Where are these boys? It's like they're everywhere and nowh-"' Dara gets hit in the back.

"Sorry!" Larry screams. "I meant to hit Josh!!"

"You're dead meat!!" she screams as she scans the area.

"Does anyone know where they are?" Sofia asks.

"No, I-" A snowball hits the back of Julia's hand.

"Let's find them," Olivia says, eyes darting around.

"First off, should we make a pact?" Frankie whispers.

"Yes, we won't aim for each other," Julia says. Everyone nods, and they split up: Olivia & Sofia and Dara, Julia, & Frankie.

"Do you see anyone?" Olivia whispers to Sofia.

"No, not yet."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"They're out in the open; easy targets," Matt whispers, making more snowballs.

"Just don't aim for the face," Joshua says back.

"Gone soft, Bassett?"

"Shut up, or I'm turning on you. Also, no face is a rule of thumb."

Matt puts his hands up a little in surrender but not enough to reveal their hiding place. "Fine, I'll pretend like you're not going easy on the girl you're in love with." Joshua rolls his eyes, but his face also turns a little red, and it's not from the cold.

Matt grabs a snowball and carefully aims for the girls, avoiding their faces. He throws it, and it lands on the back of Sofia's leg.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Sofia screams, wiping snow off her jeans. None of them really have any clothes that are meant for the snow, so they would be considered a little underdressed for this occasion.

Olivia's eyes dart a million miles an hour around the area, looking for the culprit. "Hey, Sof."

"Yeah?"

"I think I found them."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Where is that redhead?" Dara hisses.

"Not sure. I know Joe is with him though," Frankie whispers.

"I thought I saw something, but maybe I-" Julia's hit in the back.

"Wait, if you were hit in the back, then that means it had to have come from this direction," Frankie says, walking the opposite way from where they were just going.

"Wow, look at you using reasoning," Julia comments.

*Meanwhile*
"Ok, I've made more. Where are the girls?" Joshua asks, wiping his sleeves and gloves off.

"I don't know. They went around that cabin but never came back out on the other side," Matt tells him.

Joshua looks at the cabin Matt gestures to and slaps him on the back of his head. "You idiot."

"Ow, what was that for?" he asks, rubbing his head.

"Look, footprints. They've left that spot already." Matt looks back and does indeed see them.

"Well, if we look where they lead to, that means they've gone-"

"Surprise, bitches!!" Joshua and Matt are pelted from behind by tons of snowballs. Their first instinct is to run, but that's kinda hard when you're also protecting your face from being hit.

They eventually get out of the line of sight of the snowballs and hide behind two separate trees. "How did they find us?" Joshua asks, panting from the shock.

"I- I don't know," Matt stammers, peeking around the tree he was hiding behind to see where they could be. "How did they get away from the back of that cabin undetected?"

"Oh, I don't know," Joshua says sarcastically. "Maybe because the lookout wasn't looking out," he scolds through gritted teeth.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Nice job," Sofia says, high-fiving Olivia.

"I'm surprised I was right with my guess," Olivia laughs.

"How'd you know they'd be up here?" she asks, looking over the ledge. They were fairly high up compared to the rest of the campground, and that's saying something considering they were already on a mountain.

"I saw Josh's hood sticking out slightly above this rock. The light pink stands out against the brown trees," she chuckles.

"C'mon, we should take cover somewhere and wait for them to come out." They do so behind two large rocks. They both had their eyes trained in the direction the boys had gone.

*Elsewhere*
"They're coming; they're coming," Larry whispers to Joe.

"Ok, the only thing is we need to avoid faces... and Dara's hair." They nod at each other and prepare to fire. "What if we go for that tree behind them? Just for a little scare," Joe suggests.

"I don't see why not." Larry takes a snowball and aims for the tree directly behind Frankie. He lets go, and it grazes past his hair, leaving a little behind.

"What the hell?!" Frankie shrieks, shaking the bit of snow off his head.

"Let's hope Sof and Liv are having better luck than us," Julia mutters.

"Wait," Dara whispers, "I think I see the redhead."

"Where?" She covers one of her hands with the other in case they can see her and points in their direction. Julia's eyes quickly flick over in that direction, but she doesn't see anything. "I don't see him," she whispers.

Frankie turns around and gathers snow but looks in that direction when he stands back up. "I don't see anything either."

"They must've ducked. Follow me."

The two do so and are suddenly much higher. "We, um... are you sure you saw them? It's a long way down from here," Frankie says, peering over the edge.

"I swear I did," Dara says, looking behind trees and rocks.

Suddenly, they're hit with a wave of snowballs that are seemingly coming from every direction. Or maybe it just felt that way because they were coming so fast. "How is this possible?!" Frankie shrieks, running for cover.

"I don't know! I thought they were only coming from one direction!" Dara yells back.

Julia is the first one behind a tree and tries to see where they're coming from. Most of the ruckus seems to be coming from behind this one large rock, so she quickly makes two snowballs and tries to head that way.

Once she gets behind the source of the chaos, she sees Joe and Larry launching snowballs from a large pile they had made. She aims for the two of them and hits both their shoulders. The two immediately lose concentration and turn around to see what hit them. "How did... what?" Joe asks, impressed that she had gotten behind them. Frankie and Dara also come out of their hiding places.

"Well, now that you've been caught, what happens?" she asks the pair.

"I say," Dara starts, bending down to get some snow, "we give them a taste of their own medicine." Larry and Joe look at each other before slowly walking back towards their pile of already made snowballs.

"Or, hear me out now, we could go find everyone else and see how they're doing," Joe suggests, grabbing a snowball as a just-in-case mechanism.

"Aww, and where's the fun in that?" Frankie asks, getting closer to the two.

"We could pelt them instead; that way we can all have some more fun."

"If we do that and let you two go, I say Josh and Matt. Those two are always the ones causing trouble," Julia suggests. Joe and Larry nod their heads, eager to have them change their minds.

"Let's go find them then."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I'm gonna go get them from behind. You stay here and give me a hand signal if they see me or start moving," Joshua tells Matt. He nods, and Joshua attempts to sneak away from the trees they were hiding behind.

So far, I don't think this camping trip is nearly as bad as I thought it would be. We're all having fun again; acting like children; nothing's awkward (for the most part); and I'm working towards getting my best friend back.

Joshua sneaks up behind the rocks the girls were hiding behind, glances over in Matt's direction, and doesn't see any sign that they know he's coming.

When he gets a clear view of their hiding place, only Olivia is crouching in cover. Where's Sofia? Matt is the worst lookout ever. He looks all around him in an attempt to see where she could be, but there's no one else in sight. Maybe she's just in a different spot.

Joshua decides to have a little bit of fun and slowly sneaks up behind Olivia. He taps on her shoulder and says, "Nice hiding place."

She turns her head and practically has a heart attack at the sight of him. "What the h-?!" He immediately covers her mouth with his hand to keep her from screaming.

They were now both bent down behind the rock and faced in the same direction. "You don't mind if you become a hostage for a second, right?"

Olivia playfully rolls her eyes and mumbles, "You don't mind taking your freezing glove off my face, right?" through his hand.

Joshua removes his hand and pulls her off the ground with him. He keeps an arm around her in the event she tries to escape. Yeah, that was the reason. She didn't seem to mind the contact though. "Now where could-?"

"Looking for me?" Olivia and Joshua look in the direction of the voice, and it's Sofia holding Matt's wrists behind his back.

"You are the worst lookout in history," Joshua tells him.

"Hey, you didn't get caught though," he defends.

"And look who did."

"So... what now?" Olivia asks, glancing up at Joshua.

"We make a trade," Sofia suggests.

"Is that all we are to you two? Used for a bartering system?" Matt asks, faking offense. Olivia laughs at his dramatics.

Joshua raises an eyebrow at their predicament. "How can I trust you in this trade?" he asks in complete seriousness.

"Do we have a deal?" Sofia asks, completely ignoring him.

"Same time."

"Yup." They slowly inch towards each other with their 'hostages.' Once close enough, Matt and Olivia switch places.

Once they're back with their respective partners, Joshua says, "So... what happens now?"

"This!!" They don't know where that voice came from, but snowballs start flying in an instant. Sofia and Olivia run for cover while Joshua and Matt are pelted. Unfortunately, the accuracy of some wasn't the best.

"Holy shit, that's cold!!" They'd both been nailed in the face.

"I think some went down my shirt!" Joshua yells, unzipping his jacket in an attempt to shake some of the snow out.

"Frankie!" Larry yells, swatting his arm.

"Oops," he shrugs.

Joshua and Matt take off their gloves (since they already had so much snow on them) and start wiping their faces. "Anyone wanna help?" Matt says.

"My gloves would only get more snow on your face, so I guess we'll just have to use this!" Sofia finds a small tree branch, and as soon as Matt sees it, his first instinct is to start running, which he does once the snow is clear from his eyes. He starts trying to run through the snow with her chasing him back down towards the cabins.

"We'll see you guys back down at the cabins," Julia laughs.

"Come to ours for a group hang out; it's the biggest," Joe adds. They talk and laugh as they carefully walk down the mountain.

"Here," Olivia says, walking over to where Joshua was standing. She takes off one of her gloves and starts trying to get rid of some of the snow on his face.

"Thanks," he chuckles.

Oddly enough, the snow was kinda sticking to his face a little, which made her giggle. Joshua managed to open one eye slightly and saw a giant smile on her face with the classic sparkle in her eye. The snowflakes in her hair somehow make her look more beautiful, and her cheeks and nose were a light red from the cold, which he found adorable for some strange reason. Ok... it was kinda worth getting hit in the face.

As she's clearing off the snow, her eyes are darting around his face, and this is the first time she's really getting a good look at him in a while. His hair was the same mess of curls as usual, but it looks to have grown out a little more. His eyes were the same hazel brown, but she seems to be getting lost in them deeper than she used to. He also looked kinda cute with a red nose.

The hand she was using to get the snow off comes to a stop because she's so lost in her observations.

Joshua realizes this but doesn't remove her hand from the side of his face. Her hand was warm against him, and it takes everything in him to not lean into her touch; this position also made it impossible to resist his feelings. "Did you, um... did you get it all?" he whispers, realizing his voice has just up and left him. What... is... happening?

The entire English language seems to disappear from Olivia's mind as she tries to form an answer. "No, uh, not yet. Close your eyes." He does as told and can feel her fingers moving over his eyelids and lashes.

When she's done, he opens his eyes again and sees a few flakes have landed on her face. He reaches up and gently brushes them off. Her eyes flick over to his hand for a second before going back to his eyes. "Wh- What are you doing?" she whispers, feeling like all the air was leaving her lungs. Her voice was weak, and she knew why.

"You, um... you had some snow sticking to your face," he says, wiping his thumb across her cheek. Now it's her turn to resist. She couldn't tell if her face was heating up because of the warmth of his hand or if it's how close their faces are, which she is slowly realizing. What... is... happening?

They could feel their heart rates picking up and stomachs flipping with every second that passed by. They were just standing there speechless, holding the other's face with one hand each. They were so close to the point where their foreheads were almost touching. They're both lost in some trance, waiting for the other to make a move. As much as their guts were telling them to, they couldn't break eye contact.

They felt like they were surrounded by a black hole, everything else disappearing in the blink of an eye without explanation.

They both close their eyes and allow themselves to get lost in this incredible and scary feeling. They're fully aware that they're both leaning in; they can feel it but don't bother stopping it. Their lips are becoming so close that they can feel the other's breath.

"Guys!!?" They pull their heads away, and their hands drop off the other's face in a panic, but they stay standing in the same places; weirdly enough, that side of their faces immediately becomes colder. The pair go to the edge to see Larry waving at them from below. "Are you two coming? We're having pizza!" he says excitedly.

"Yeah, we'll be down in a minute!" Joshua yells back. Larry gives them a thumbs up before running back off to the cabins. Olivia and Joshua start walking back down the narrow trail, definitely feeling awkward about what just happened.

When they arrive at the extremely warm cabin, Joshua and Olivia both go into the small kitchen area to grab pizza before joining the others in the living room; everyone is eating and talking nonsense.

"What took you guys so long? You didn't fall, did you?" Sofia asks.

"No, we just, um... We were trying to get some snow off our faces," Joshua says, taking a bite of pizza, so he doesn't have to answer any more possible questions. Olivia nods in agreement with his answer and leaves with the excuse to refill her drink; they haven't been back for even a full few minutes, and it wasn't that empty, but she just wanted to avoid everyone's questioning looks.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The remainder of the day was filled with laughs, inside jokes, and eating. Joshua had of course brought a deck of Uno cards, so they spent many hours playing that. Eventually, the sun went down, so they all returned to their cabins. Well... mostly. The girls decided to go to Sofia and Dara's cabin and spend most of their first night here with each other. They can't do a sleepover because the cabins are only designed for two people. (Technically, they could, but it would've been very cramped.)

"Sof, why did you chase Matt down with a tree branch?" Julia decides to ask.

"Because it was funny, duh." Julia just shrugs; it was a good enough answer.

"Better question, why did you and Josh take so long to get down? I'm assuming you took the same path as the rest of us," Dara says.

"Uh, yeah. We did," she mutters.

"And?" Julia says, motioning for her to continue.

"What else is there?" All three of them give her that look.

"Don't you even try to cover something up. Unless one of you fell on your way down, there's no excuse for why we had to send someone to go find you," Sofia says.

"We, um... kinda shared this like... moment thing... I guess; I don't know," she says, throwing her hands in the air. "Everything's so confusing. I thought I was in control of my feelings. One minute, I'm helping him get the snow off his face, and the next, we're about to... I don't know anymore!" Kiss. We almost kissed. Where do we go from there?

"Well, since you're struggling to understand everything, let's start here: what was happening while we were gone? I'm not talking about your feelings; just describe what happened on the outside," Dara says.

Olivia takes a deep breath, trying to gather her words. She then proceeds to tell them everything that happened.

*One Baffling Story Later*
"And then Larry yelled at us to come back down the mountain."

They're staring at her with wide eyes and dropped jaws. "You two make me feel... so single," Dara says first. They all laugh at her comment before turning a little more serious.

"But what should I do now? It's gonna be so much more awkward at the cabin now. And it's only day one." Olivia flops backward onto the small couch, frustrated with the situation.

"How about you, oh I don't know, have a conversation with him," Sofia suggests.

"Rip off the bandage quickly. Tonight," Julia adds.

"What?! No, no, no, no, no, no, no. I am not talking about it tonight; I don't even want to talk about it at all. What if he just wants to brush it off and put it aside? What if he wants to pretend it never happened? There are too no many negative possibilities," she panics.

"But, but, there is a good one," Dara points out.

"The cons outweigh the pros."

"Back up, so you do want to acknowledge it?" Julia questions.

"I mean... not tonight."

"That wasn't a definite no."

"You should do it while we're here though," Sofia chimes in. "There are almost no distractions, and you won't ever get a chance to once we start filming. Well, you might use the filming excuse, but we're not having that."

"Who's we?" The three of them raised their hands. Olivia groans in frustration and runs her hands over her face. What am I gonna do?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You think I'm the person to go to with stuff like this? You really are desperate."

"You're in a healthy relationship so yes." Joshua was in Matt and Larry's cabin because he couldn't comprehend what happened on the mountain top alone.

"May I remind you that the script said kiss, and you guys literally made out in the season one finale. What's the big deal now?"

"The big deal is that that was for the camera. This is different." Kiss. We almost kissed. Where do we go from there?

"Dude, just tell her you like her," Larry chimes in.

"No, I'm... I'm too afraid of rejection," he whispers.

Matt looks at him like he's crazy. "Dude! You literally stared each other in the eyes and held each other's faces! And she didn't pull away!"

"But what if she hates me? We barely talked all through the summer, and if we did, it was just interview calls. Not to mention the stalking paparazzi."

"If she truly hated you, she probably would've said something about changing cabins. If you tell her you like her, what is there to lose?"

"Uh, the chance to at least fix our friendship. I want to get that back on track first."

"Excuses, excuses, excuses," Larry mumbles.

Joshua groans in frustration and runs his hands over his face. What am I gonna do?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Joshua returns to the cabin much earlier than Olivia. He wishes he had brought his guitar with him, so he had a way to escape what was happening. What if the chances of rebuilding our friendship are gone?

He ultimately decides on going to bed and sleeping on today's events. As he's looking through the closet for pillows and blankets, he can't help but think of what things would be like if they had just talked more outside of the show or if he had just confessed earlier.

After he finds everything for the couch bed, something feels off. Right... she has Franklin. The bear was hidden somewhere in the cabin, and it couldn't be that hard to find him, considering how small the place was. But Joshua decided to let her have her fun with this, so he didn't bother looking.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Olivia comes back to the cabin at around midnight. She opens the door as quietly as possible and sees that the couch bed is much bigger than they thought; it took up half of the already small cabin. Great.

She could tell that Joshua was asleep and crossed her fingers that she didn't accidentally wake him up. She climbed over the corner that blocked her path to the bathroom and took another look at him to make sure he was still asleep. It should be illegal for someone to look like that when all they're doing is sleeping.

*Bonding Trip Day Two*
Olivia wakes up to the sound of shuffling and zippers. The sun blinds her through the thin curtains as she tries to open her eyes. When she adjusts to the brightness, Joshua is walking around the giant couch bed. "Sorry if I woke you up," he says, looking through his suitcase.

Olivia rubs the sleep from her eyes, yawns, and finally takes in her surroundings. She could see the mirror in the bathroom was fogged while Joshua was looking for his clothes.

Oh... Joshua. Bassett. Shirtless. Shit. He only had a towel tied loosely and low around his waist as he dug through his suitcase, trying to find something to wear. His back was to her, so he couldn't see her eyes that flickered up and down his body. She knows good and well that she's staring at his back muscles flexing as he searches through his suitcase but doesn't bother to do anything about it. He could feel her gaze on him but didn't call her out on it.

He tries to hide the smirk on his face as he turns around and goes into the bathroom to change. Luckily (depending on how one sees it), Olivia didn't see the little smug look he had as the bathroom door shut. This is gonna be a long day.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tim had the grand idea of having the cast do a scavenger hunt, and the losing team would be pelted with snowballs. "There will be three teams, each of different colors. Whoever brings all their pegs back first wins." When did he have the time to set this up? they wonder.

"Sofia, Larry, and Frankie are red; Joshua, Olivia, and Matt are blue; and Dara, Julia, and Joe are green," he says, reading from his phone. Great, I get stuck with the couple, Matt thinks.

"Hold up, you chose green as one of the colors when we're on a mountain surrounded by trees and bushes?" Dara questions.

"Yes, but the snow will make it easier." They look at him a little unsure but don't question it anymore. "There's really no time limit, but don't be out after the sun goes down; this is a mountain after all, and it'll be very hard to find you." That's uplifting, Olivia muses. "This really shouldn't take that long though. Anyway, there are three pegs per team that could be anywhere except in your cabins, obviously. Are there any questions?" When no one says anything, Tim shouts, "Ready? Set. Go!" And they're off.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Red... that can't be too hard," Frankie murmurs as they walk through the woods.

"Isn't it kinda weird how you ended up on this team?" Sofia chortles, asking Larry.

He just shrugs. "I don't care what team I'm on as long as I'm not having snowballs come at my face," he chuckles. "Wait, I think I see one!" he says excitedly, pointing to a tree.

They all go over and stand at its base and see part of a red peg sitting between two branches. "How do we get it down?" Frankie wonders.

"What if we throw rocks at it to try and knock it down?" Sofia suggests. The other two nod and join her in finding and tossing small stones.

*Green*
"Green. Out of every color that exists, Tim decided on using green," Dara complains.

"C'mon, it can't be that bad," Julia says.

"Yeah, I mean here's one," Joe says nonchalantly as he pulls a peg out from behind a bush.

"Did you just... where... huh?!"

"You guys just need better eyes," he says, wiggling his glasses.

"Hey, whatever it takes for me to not get my hair drenched in snow," Dara laughs.

*Blue*
This could not be any more awkward, Matt thinks. They're walking up the mountain, and no one has said anything. Literally... none of them have spoken. "If we're gonna work together, there needs to be a little more talking. Or any talking for that matter," Matt says.

"Hey, is that a peg?" Olivia says, not wanting to talk about anything regarding yesterday.

"Maybe. Give me a boost," Joshua says. Matt cups his hands together and helps push one of his legs up.

"If you fall, I want it in writing that it wasn't our fault," Matt says.

"Relax, I'll be fine," he says, slowly climbing the tree.

"You think he's gonna fall?" Olivia wonders.

"Um, he's not the most careful person," Matt chuckles.

"I can still hear you!" Joshua shouts down.

The pair at the bottom laugh and stop talking for a moment until Matt says, "What's with you and Josh? I thought everything was fine yesterday."

It was up until the end of the snowball fight. "Yeah, I, uh... I don't know what happened."

I do, and you're not wanting to tell me. "Would it have anything to do with the snow?" Matt guesses. Olivia looks up at him, a little surprised that Joshua told him.

"You know?" He nods. She wasn't sure how to feel about this information, even though she told three other people.

Before their conversation can continue, they hear "Heads up!" Matt looks up, and Joshua tosses the peg down. He comes down a few branches before just jumping off. "One down, two to go."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"How - did Tim - get this - under here?!" Julia grunts, trying to move the boulder that was sitting on top of their peg. The only reason they saw it was because the smallest bit was sticking out, but they couldn't move it enough to pull it out. All three of them have been pushing, and it was seemingly hopeless after all this time.

"The better question is how did he organize all this?" Dara wonders. They just shrug.

"What if we use these as shovels," Joe suggests, pointing at a bunch of branches, "and dig the peg out from under the rock?" The girls nod at him and grab them.

They start digging, and it doesn't take long before they're able to pull the peg out. "Got it!" Dara exclaims.

"Another step closer to not being pelted with snowballs," Julia says happily.

*Red*
"Lift with your legs!"

"No, I'm gonna use my head!" Frankie says sarcastically.

The red team had spotted another peg, but it wasn't as simple as throwing rocks at it, which they had tried, but their inaccurate aim was starting to make getting this peg a long process.

Larry and Frankie were trying to hold Sofia up, so she could reach this one, and she was just out of reach. "I'm almost there!" she exclaimed.

"You've been saying that for the last five minutes!" Larry shouts back.

"I... almost... got it!!" Sofia finally grabs it, and the timing worked out because they all fell over after that. They're laying on their backs breathless before breaking into fits of laughter.

"God, I've missed moments like these," Larry says, standing first up and helping the others to their feet.

"We only need one more."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You've got to be kidding me."

Joshua and Matt look up at what Olivia's gesturing to and groan. "Another one in a tree? Tim has to be playing favorites here," Joshua says.

"I'll get it this time," Matt says. Joshua puts his hands together to make a step and helps him to the first branch, leaving him alone with Olivia.

It's awkward as they wait for Matt to reach the peg, avoiding each other's gaze. Joshua decides to break the ice. "Hey, I just wanted to say... I don't know what's going on between us right now, but, um... I feel like we have a lot to talk about."

Olivia wasn't expecting this to happen right now. "I, uh, yeah... I think so too." Joshua smiles a little, glad she said something along the lines of yes.

"But we're good right now... right?"

"Yeah, we're good." They hug and immediately feel their bodies heat up just a little more. Their moment is short-lived when they hear someone screaming. Olivia and Joshua look up to see Matt falling, Olivia jumping backward and him landing straight on Joshua. The two groan at the impact, and Joshua coughs with the loss of air.

"Oh my god!" Olivia yells. "Did you at least get the peg?" Matt holds it up, and she takes it from him.

"Ouch," he says, holding his back.

"Are you ok?" she asks, helping him stand up.

"I'll be fine. My foot just slipped."

"Yeah, I noticed," Joshua groans, standing up and holding his chest. "How far did you fall?"

"Only a few branches; it wasn't too far."

"The impact of the fall tells a different story."

"On the bright side, there's only one left for us," Olivia says.

"That's what you're focusing on?" Joshua asks.

"Yes, of course. I don't want to be pelted with snowballs." She flips her hair over her shoulder and continues into the woods.

Matt looks between Joshua and Olivia. "That's your future girlfriend right there." He lightly pats his shoulder and begins following her. I see no problem with that, Joshua thinks as a smile comes to his face.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After maybe another hour or so, all the teams have finished. Despite their best efforts, the blue team lost by a mere few minutes. "Ready?!" Sofia shouts. Everyone had made little snowball mounds to have plenty ready.

"No!" Joshua, Matt, and Olivia shout.

"Fire!" All hell is let loose as the trio are pelted; at least Tim made it clear beforehand that there were no face shots. They cover their faces anyway as the snowballs feel like they have no end.

"Are we done yet?!" Olivia shouts over the chaos.

Matt peeks through his hands and yells, "Nope!"

"I think there was an icicle in that last one!" Joshua screams.

A few minutes later, the torment ends. "Ok, ok, you can open your eyes now," Larry tells them. The trio do so slowly, relieved to find that they were indeed done. No one was hit in the face this time.

"Who wants to eat!?" Tim shouts. They all nod and follow him to the food hall.

*Hours Later*
"Screw you, Dara!!" Frankie screams. They were playing Spicy Uno, and Dara just played a seven and chose Frankie, which meant he had to give her his cards; he only had two left while she had six.

"Rules are rules," she says with her hand out, waiting for him to hand the cards over.

He reluctantly swaps decks with her. "She has a red nine and a yellow one!" he shouts when they've switched.

"Shut your damn mouth!" Dara yells back.

The two continue to bicker while they wait for Frankie to take his turn. "Frankie!" Matt yells.

"What!?" Frankie screams back.

"Take your turn." He looks bitterly at Dara before putting a card down.

"I am so getting you back for that," he grits.

They go around the circle many more times, the banter only growing. "Julia, it's your turn," Joe tells her.

She sits there and stares at her cards. "Sorry, Dara," she says, placing down a zero; that meant everyone had to give up their cards to whoever was after them; Dara had to give her deck, the same one from Frankie, back to him.

"Julia!" she shrieks.

"It was all I had!" she defends.

"Rules are rules," Frankie mimics, holding his hand out.

"Here," she says bitterly. Frankie tried to take the cards, but Dara doesn't let go so easily.

"Guys, you're gonna rip them," Joshua tells them. Once everyone has swapped decks, the game continues.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Plus four, Joshua!" Matt yells. "Red."

"Nope!" Joshua places a draw four as well, meaning it would stack with Matt's and make the next person pick up eight. "Take that, Livvy! And the color's blue."

Olivia gasps, slaps his shoulder, and shouts, "You bitch!" before reluctantly picking up cards. "Someone reverse it, so I can repay him."

"There is no need for violence," Joshua says with a baby voice, rubbing his shoulder.

"And there was also no need for you to stack the draw."

"I wasn't going to take four!"

"I didn't want to take eight!!"

"The married couple is fighting," Sofia adds, taking her turn. The two ignore her and continue to bicker.

"You two need to chill out some," Frankie tells them. The pair turn to him, astonished.

"You of all people are telling us to chill?!!" Olivia and Joshua exclaim at the same time. "Have you met you!?"

"Oh, you wanna play that card!?!"

"I can't play any cards 'cause Josh made me draw eight!" A screaming match starts between them as they yell about who's most likely to break into shouting. Before they know it, almost everyone's joined the chaos.

"Alright!!" Joe shouts. Silence instantly takes over. "Let's just keep going, yeah?!" They nod, surprised he was able to calm everyone down.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Many hours later, everyone ends up tapping out. Dirty plates from pizza are dotted around as well as many empty cups that they should've put their names on.

They didn't end up going back to their own cabins; instead, everyone was scattered around Julia, Frankie, and Joe's place. Blankets and pillows were thrown on the floor once the couch ran out of space, but there was one other chair and two bean bags that had been stashed in the corners of the room.

Frankie and Joe were on the couch with Dara and Julia; Sofia was in the chair; and Matt and Larry took the bean bags. Joshua and Olivia ended up stuck with the piles of blankets to sit on because they were the last ones to the cabin.

Olivia was woken up by some animal outside and was struggling to go back to sleep. It didn't help that her bed of pillows was starting to sink and that her hips felt like they were directly against the hardwood floor.

After tossing and turning for about twenty minutes, she gave up and decided to go back to her cabin. Carefully and quietly, she stood and began putting her blankets and pillows in one of the corners of the room. Unfortunately, someone heard her moving. "Hey."

Olivia nearly dropped her phone and cabin key from the quiet voice. She squints her eyes to see who is sitting up. "Josh? Why are you up?"

"I think I should ask you the same thing."

"I can't sleep. I'm heading back to the cabin."

"Here, wait." He also stood and stretched, realizing he had been sleeping in jeans.

"What are you doing?"

"Going with you." He rolled up his blankets and put them with hers.

"You don't have to."

"I don't want you walking there on your own." He sat down to put his shoes on. And the floor is incredibly uncomfortable.

"It's not like I'm walking miles away. You can literally see everything from the windows."

"Guess what? You're not winning this argument."

Olivia playfully rolled her eyes. They walked around the back of the couch towards the door and slowly turned the knob, trying to not make a noise. Joshua closed the door behind them quietly, not wanting to wake anyone but also needing to ensure it was closed all the way.

Olivia pulled her thin jacket tighter around her the second the door opened. She could see her breath in the moonlight and began speed walking across the gravel to the cabin.

"Wait up!" Joshua called after her.

Instead of stopping, she just looked over her shoulder and answered with, "Hurry up! It's freezing!" He smiled a little and quickened his pace.

They arrive at the door, and Olivia's hands are shaking as she tries inserting the key. "Why the hell did Tim pick this place?" she mumbles.

"Hey, nothing says bonding like freezing to death with your loved ones."

"Right, because when I meet someone new and want to get to know them, I offer a trip to where they have to race to leave before their blood freezes."

She finally manages to get the door open, and the first thing Joshua does is turn up the heat. Unfortunately, they had already grabbed all the spare blankets from the closet, so what was left on the beds is all there was.

Olivia begins rummaging through her suitcase and grabs another shirt to throw on. She begins to pull back the blankets on the couch bed, but Joshua stops her. "What are you doing?" he asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Why are you not getting in the actual bed?"

"Because it's my turn to sleep here. We agreed to alternate nights."

"I don't remember that," Joshua said, feigning innocence.

"Really?" she said, not buying it at all and tilting her head. "Do you remember the fact that you don't have Franklin at the moment?"

Joshua clicks his tongue. "Ok, fine, but I hope you know I'm not ok with this."

"You can pout all you want; a deal's a deal."

Joshua sighs as she climbs into the couch bed. He pulled the covers back on the actual bed and admitted to himself that it was more comfortable than the couch, but he still didn't like this little arrangement.

Olivia pulled all the blankets tightly around her and curled her body into a ball. She could faintly smell Joshua's cologne on the edges of the blanket and subconsciously smiled.

She then glanced over at the not-so-well-hidden place Franklin was in; it would be so simple for Joshua to do a quick search of the small cabin and find the bear, but he doesn't. Olivia knows he doesn't have Franklin because he probably would've rubbed it in her face that he had found it.

Instead, he's playing along with this game because she's enjoying it. He's doing this just because... of her.

*Day Three*
The next morning, everyone woke up feeling like statues. Those on the floor were the most uncomfortable. Larry sat up and began rubbing his back. "Next time, I don't care how tired I am; I am going back to my cabin."

"Agreed," Matt added.

"Yeah, my legs feel like they were shoved into a phone box," Sofia groaned, standing up and stretching. "God oh mighty."

"Hey, where did Josh and Liv go?" Joe asked, looking at the piles of blankets that had been neatly rolled into the corner.

"Their cabin?" Julia assumed.

They all put on their boots and all the other clothing from the previous night. Dara went ahead and opened the door; the sun was lighting up the whole area, reflecting brightly off the patches of snow.

The snow and gravel crunched under the casts' boots as they walked toward the cabin. The thin curtains were pulled across the windows, so they couldn't clearly see through.

"I think they're there," Frankie said, squinting through the cracks. "I mean, where else would they be?"

"Yeah, I see Josh's head," Matt observed from a different window.

"They probably got uncomfortable on the floor and decided to leave, even if it was in the middle of the night," Julia said.

"I don't blame them," Larry said. "After all, they did only have blankets and pillows."

"Oh." They're spooked by a voice behind them. Tim was standing there with an eyebrow raised. "I didn't know you guys were awake."

"Well, it's not like we could necessarily sleep in," Frankie deadpanned.

"Well, I figured we could all go ahead and eat breakfast in the food hall."

"Sure, just a minute," Sofia said. He nodded at them then left.

"So, how are we waking them up?" Joe asked.

"Um, we're on a mountain in the middle of nowhere, so we probably shouldn't do anything that would scare them," Julia reasoned.

"Duh, that's exactly why we should scare them," Frankie insisted, going to the front door.

"Frankie, what are you-?" Before Larry could continue, Frankie began beating on the door.

On the inside, Joshua shot up out of fear while Olivia didn't move a muscle. It wasn't because she didn't hear the noise; it was more that she had been dead asleep, and her reaction was that her eyes snapped open and her heart had dropped from being terrified.

Her mind was slowly processing what had happened, and she quickly understood when Joshua screamed, "Frankie, what the fuck!!?"

"You don't know it was me!" he shouted back.

"Yes, yes I do!!"

"Meet us at the hall for breakfast!" Matt yelled.

"Sorry!" a few people said at once.

The frightened pair heard their footsteps leave, and they waited for their hearts to calm down before speaking. "I'm assuming you're awake," Joshua said.

"No, I definitely slept through whatever just happened," Olivia mumbled from under her mound of blankets. She had covered herself completely because of how cold it was.

He chuckled and stood up, smiling upon seeing her. He could see the outline of her body in the top blanket; she was curled into a ball, her knees pulled up to her chest with her arms around them. "Livvy," he stretched out, "we have to get up now."

"I don't wanna," she said like a baby.

So damn cute. "Are you hungry?"

He saw her shrug as an answer. "I'm comfortable. Leave me in my bubble of warmth."

Joshua chuckles, and Olivia smiles, knowing the exact childish grin he has on his face right now. He sits on the edge of the couch bed; Olivia feels it dip and hears the springs creak underneath. "What if I bring you something back?"

"No, that's fine." Reluctantly, Olivia sticks her head out from under the blankets. She rubbed her eyes to adjust to the light, and her hair was a little frizzy.

"You sure?"

"Yeah," she nods, "I'll be there in a minute." She slowly dragged herself away from the couch bed and to the bathroom to begin getting ready.

Joshua decided to stay on the couch bed until she came back. Fucking adorable. A few minutes later, Olivia came out of the bathroom with no makeup and her hair brushed. She was surprised to see Joshua still sitting here. "I assumed you would've left by now."

"I figured we could... walk together," he said awkwardly.

Olivia smiled at him. He looked like the awkward new kid in town on their first day of school in movies and TV shows. "Of course."

The two made their way to the food hall, and everyone else was already sitting down and eating. They sat together at the end of the table after grabbing food. "So what's the plan for today?" Joe asked Tim.

"I didn't really have a plan," he shrugged. "You guys can do what you want. I know there's a hiking trail around here somewhere that leads to a waterfall, but it's probably covered in snow, so I wouldn't recommend it."

"Who wants to try it?" Joshua immediately asked after. Olivia giggled; he was after all the one who would kill himself just for a joke.

"Are you deaf?" Frankie asked.

"C'mon, it'll be fun. Besides, we all at least have shoes other than tennis shoes, right?" Everyone nodded. "Ok, so why not?"

"Josh, I don't-" Tim started.

"We'll be fine. Most of us are responsible enough to watch the clock. We'll be back before the sun's down. Who's with me?" The rest considered it for a moment. If they didn't have anything else planned, there really wasn't a reason to say no. The WiFi didn't have the greatest signal, so their phones were almost useless. They were sometimes (rarely) lucky and could get a text through.

"Sure. What do we have to lose?" Matt agreed.

"Well, daylight, but I think that's it," Julia added.

"I still don't-" Tim began

"Great!" Joshua interrupted. "How about in 30 minutes or so? That way, we'll have as much time as possible."

"I'm gonna regret this," Tim mumbled. "You must, and I mean it when I say this, must stay together at all times. If there is a split at any point in the trail, you can split into two groups at most. Please, please, please promise me you won't do anything stupid."

"C'mon, Tim, we're all responsible here," Joshua reasoned.

Olivia raised an eyebrow at him. "What's your definition of responsible?"

"Well, if you'll give me a minute..." he said, pulling his phone out. "According to Google, responsibility is 'the state or fact of having a duty to deal with something or of having control over someone,'" he read.

"I said your definition," she emphasized.

He playfully rolled his eyes and said, "Whatever. So we're doing it?"

Everyone looked at each other then nodded. "Yup."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

About 30 minutes later, they were preparing for this hike. After consideration, only Sofia, Joshua, Olivia, and Matt were going. (The others decided on just chilling out in a cabin.)

They were putting many layers on since most of their wardrobe wasn't meant for this type of weather, so multiple shirts would have to do.

The girls (can't forget Joe) were in Sofia and Dara's cabin, just talking. "So, how have you two been?" Julia asks Joe.

Joe smiles. "It's been fairly easy, which kinda worries me," he answers. "I mean, there's plenty of public support, but then there are those... moments."

"Hey, that's always good though," Dara said. "Thinking a relationship can be picture perfect is equally as unhealthy."

"Plus, you're having better luck with a boyfriend than the rest of us," Olivia chuckled.

The five of them continued to talk until it was finally time to go on the hike. "Guys," Sofia said, "I got a text."

"Really?" Julia said, grabbing her own.

"Yeah, I guess I got lucky with a little bit of signal." It was a message from her mom that had apparently been sent a couple of hours ago.

"Damn it," Olivia mumbled, patting her pockets. "I left my phone at the cabin. Hold on." She quickly grabbed her jacket off the couch and swiftly walked across the gravel to get it.

As she was approaching the cabin door, a voice caught her attention. "Yeah, it's been great." It came from the inside; she stepped onto the welcome mat and heard Joshua laughing.

The curtains had been pulled back to let sunlight in, allowing her to see him. His smile was wide as he nodded along to whatever the other person was saying; he was clearly interested. It was that same damn smile that made her insides turn to mush. Well, almost; it didn't quite reach his eyes, but he looked really good nonetheless.

"Yeah. No, it's great up here. It's a little hard sometimes since I can't use my phone but incredibly refreshing at the same time." He's quiet, letting the other person talk. "Kay, I'll talk again later... Well, maybe; signal's super spotty. Bye, Sab."

Olivia felt her heart drop a little. She wasn't sad or upset. She was... angry.

Not at Joshua, not Sabrina... but herself. She didn't like how much this affected her; she didn't want to have this kind of reaction to something so simple, something that didn't involve her at all; she didn't want this situation to have so much power over her. What he does with his life, who he involves in his life... has nothing to do with her.

What the hell is wrong with me? She felt like she should just toss whatever shred of feelings she has left into a bonfire.

She walked away from the cabin and back to the others.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They were ready. The four of them were meeting at the trail entrance. No one brought a backpack, only water bottles. They looked at the time before leaving and determined how long to be out. Tim said to be back by sundown, which would be simple; even though the sun goes down fairly early, they still had a few hours to do it.

"Do we even know what we're hiking to?" Sofia asked.

"It was a waterfall, wasn't it?" Olivia remembered from earlier.

"So with the random moment of WiFi we got," Matt began, "Tim found a map online. He took a screenshot and sent it to me." He pulled out his phone and showed everyone else. They all took pictures of the image, trying to not make them incredibly blurry.

"So it's just a big loop?" Joshua said, looking closely at it. "Perfect. Means it'll be difficult to get lost."

"Well, for most of us," Olivia commented.

Joshua playfully rolled his eyes. "I can handle it."

"Ok, what happens if someone were to get separated from the group and lost though?" Sofia wondered.

"If that were to happen, just stay where you are even if you think you know," Matt advised. "I don't think all four of us would be lost, so whoever can come back to the cabins first should tell Tim to call park rangers." They nodded along, now ready to go.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

About fifteen minutes into the hike, they've already hit a split. "Ok, who wants to go which way?" Sofia asked.

"They look about the same," Matt said, standing on his toes as if that would help.

"What's the map say?" Olivia asked.

Joshua pulled it up and said, "I don't think they're that different in terms of distance. Maybe about a mile for both. Look, the key says there's a sign when they meet back up, so at least when we make it, we'll know. We can just flip a coin or something."

"What if we turn it into a competition?" Sofia proposed.

"What did you have in mind?" Matt asked.

"Boys versus girls: first ones to wherever the trails come back together win."

"You're on," Joshua said, never one for backing down from a challenge or dare. After a coin flip to decide who takes what path and a countdown from three, both pairs were off.

The girls were walking quickly, wanting to win while also enjoying the scenery; their schedules have been so full lately that they haven't had time to relax, so they wanted to take advantage of this little vacation.

"You think they'll win?" Sofia wondered aloud.

"You know how competitive they are."

"Come on, we at least have to try," she said, picking up her pace.

"Yeah, you know they'll rub it in our faces forever if they win."

Meanwhile, Matt and Joshua decided to sprint at the beginning, even with all the snow. After Joshua almost fell, they began to slow down and pant some. "Let's just... oh god, let's just walk the rest of the way," Matt said, winded.

"Agreed."

"God," Matt heaved, "I am so out of shape." They continued on the trail, breathing harder. "So... how has this trip been so far for you?"

"Eh, could be better. I mean... I still think Olivia's nervous to be around me, and I don't know how to fix it."

"Dude, this sounds like an incredibly long slow burn movie that's been spanning for hours. When are you just gonna man up and tell her?"

"I just don't think she sees me like that. I mean, we barely talked over quarantine, so even if she did like me, which I highly doubt, those feelings probably fizzled out by now."

"Did yours?"

"What?" The question caught him off guard for some reason.

"Do you still feel the same even after how little you two talked?"

"Yes, of course," Joshua admitted without hesitation. "Probably even more."

"Then why would it be any different for her?" he reasoned.

"There's a flaw in your logic," he countered. "For that to be true, she would've had to have liked me in the first place."

"Dude, she does! You're just blind!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On the other trail, the conversation wasn't very different. "Girl, you just admitted to ogling him after a shower. We are wayyy past the possibility of getting over this thing now."

"I was not ogling. Just... looking."

"Tomato tomato."

Olivia just rolled her eyes. "Shut up." I definitely was not 'ogling' Josh... wearing just a towel... with his chest and back out on display...

"Liv!" She snapped out of it when Sofia yelled. "Are you even there?!"

"Yes, yes!" she answered. "I'm good; I'm all good."

"Mhm, whatever helps you sleep at night."

"Sof, you're not helping."

"I'm trying to convince you to finally admit to him your feelings!"

"There's no point," she said sadly.

"And why's that?"

Olivia didn't want to tell her because she was embarrassed... embarrassed that such a little incident stirred so much inside her. "Please promise me you won't repeat this."

"Of course. What?"

She bit her lip before continuing. "I think... I think he likes someone else."

Sofia's eyes bulged out of her head. "Are you kidding? Who!?"

Shyness and awkwardness took over her body. "S- Sabrina."

Sofia sighed and her shoulders dropped a little. "Liv, don't tell me you're buying into those rumors, are you?"

"No, it's not that." Only part of it. "I heard them talking earlier. You know that spur of signal that came out of nowhere? When I went back to get my phone, I saw his face while they were on the phone. Sof, he looked like his old self again, not whatever it is the media says."

"Liv, you can't be serious? You think that you can get all your information just because of one little phone call?"

"I know what I saw."

Sofia sighed. And I know you're being ridiculous. "How about we try to beat the boys at this little race to cheer you up, yeah?"

Olivia smiled a little. "Sure, why not?" The two picked up their pace on the trail (still careful of the snow) with a little pep in their step.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Joshua and Matt were moving much slower now, stepping carefully over thin branches to not fall. Matt surprised himself and grunted when he ran straight into Joshua's back. "Dude, why'd you stop?"

"There's a branch in the way," he said, moving his head to the side some, so Matt could see. It felt like the path had narrowed to the width of dental floss.

Matt looked higher and saw a few smaller branches. "Lift your leg to reach those," he instructed, "and squeeze under and through."

Joshua followed his directions and managed to get to the other side. Once they were both through, Matt pointed at a tree and said, "Wait, do you see that?" The area had widened a bit now, so they could stand side by side for the moment.

Joshua went up to it and knocked some of the snow off with his fist. "It's the sign. Nice job spotting that." The snow must've piled up so much on it because nobody has been here in so long. Only a few letters were visible even after he had knocked some of it off; the snow was sticking to the wood.

It was just two planks of wood nailed onto a tree trunk with arrows indicating the paths' names. The signs themselves weren't very big; the colorful paint was faded; and the snow only made them that much more invisible.

"Is this it?" Matt asked, leaning on his knees. It's been a long walk.

Joshua pulled out his phone and zoomed in on the picture. "Yeah, the purple one is where the girls should be coming from." He looked back at where they had come from; the branches and foliage were so overgrown that the trail was completely enveloped. "This looks like that entrance in the Wizards of Waverly Place movie," he pointed out.

Matt considered it for a moment before agreeing. "Yeah, you can't even tell that there's a trail there." He had worked up a sweat on the hike so far and took off his jacket, even though the temperature was definitely at freezing level. "Let's take a break and wait on them."

"Yeah, I don't think it'll take them that long." The two just stood there in the snow, waiting to see when someone else would show up. Of course when it's time for them to stop... it begins snowing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Look at that view!" Olivia pointed. Sofia looked up and followed her finger. In between the trees, the clouds looked like they were touching the mountain since the peak was coming through them with a snow cap; it looked gorgeous.

Sofia pulled out her phone for a picture of it. After she took it, Olivia said, "Come on. We need a better angle for a selfie."

"That's an option," Sofia suggested, pointing at a large boulder a few feet off the ground.

"Ok, but please be careful," Olivia advised. She then noticed the snow coming down. It was a lot thicker than what they had seen before in Salt Lake; then again, they were on a mountain. "Let's meet up with the others before the snow builds up too much though."

They used tree branches as rungs to get on top of the rock and took a few pictures before trying to figure out how to get back down. "Here, we'll just have to go backward."

Sofia tells Olivia to go down first, and she does... but breaks a few of the branches by accident. "Crap," she muttered, reaching the bottom.

"How am I supposed to get down?" Sofia said, looking over the edge.

"Um... you might have to jump."

"Are you crazy!?"

"I don't have any other ideas. Besides, it's only a few feet."

Sofia sighed. "Fine." She sits on the edge and slowly scoots off. Unfortunately, the snow was covering an unstable rock that neither of them had seen, and she ended up rolling her ankle. "Damn it!" she cursed as she fell, using her hands to brace the rest of her body from hitting the ground.

"Are you ok?!" Olivia yelled frantically, bending down.

"I think so."

Olivia pulled Sofia's hand to get her to her feet. "Can you stand on your own?"

She took a few steps, only to awkwardly limp. "Nope, definitely not."

"God, what do we do?"

"Run back to the cabins and get the others. I'll stay here."

"Are you insane? There's no way I'm leaving you here alone."

"Liv, it took the two of us forever to get here; you can't walk me all the way back to the cabins by yourself."

"That's the better option."

"It's way too slow, and I don't think I would be able to walk for that long."

"What if we just keep going forward to the sign and meet the guys?" Olivia tries to sway. "It should be the shorter distance."

"I think we're only at the halfway point," Sofia counters. "Besides, what if you beat them to the sign? Then we'll both just be standing and doing nothing. At least going backward is a guarantee."

"Sof, I don't think this is a good idea. It's going to be a while before I can come back with people. Plus, since we've been walking for over 30 minutes, it's going to take well over an hour to go to the cabins then back here."

"I'll be fine. I can use my phone flashlight if I hear you guys are close. We're wasting time!"

"No, I'll go forward towards the sign; I don't think it's actually too far away."

"Liv, I don't-"

"I think it'll be faster if I just go to the sign."

Sofia has an internal debate with herself and groans. "Fine," she gritted, already hating that she agreed to this.

Olivia quickly stood up and brushed the snow off her jeans as she walked as fast as possible towards the sign.

Once she was out of sight, Sofia took a deep breath and tried to stand. She leaned against the rock for support while grunting from the pain the entire time. I'm already regretting this.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Joshua and Matt were growing worried. They should've been here by now. They've been waiting for a good twenty minutes, and there were no signs of Olivia or Sofia.

"Should we just head back?" Matt wondered.

"I'm considering it. I don't know why they're not here yet."

"Maybe a bear ate them," Matt joked.

"Don't even kid about that kind of stuff." I hope they just chose to turn around.

"Sorry, sorry," he said with his hands up. "Ready to head back?"

"Yeah."

"Which path should we take?"

"I say ours," Joshua suggested. "If they're not here yet, maybe the path was just longer."

Both shrugged and started back. The snow had been falling a lot more; the flakes had piled up so much that their footprints from the first time had completely vanished. There was no evidence that they had even walked through the woods in the first place.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After almost half an hour of marching through the snow, Joshua and Matt had made it back to the cabins. The depth of the snow was slowly building, and they almost got some in their boots a few times.

They go right up to the big cabin that they know everyone else is in and bang on the door as hard as they can. "Hold your horses!" Frankie yelled from the inside.

"Thanks," Joshua mumbled from the cold. He quickly looks around the cabin. "Uh, where are Sof and Liv?" Matt's head shot up when he heard that question.

"Uh, they were with you," Julia emphasized.

"They're not here?!" Matt yelled. His eyes bulged out of his head.

"What do you mean?!" Dara shouted. "You all were supposed to walk together!"

"Long story short," Joshua explained, "there was a split in the path, so we went off in pairs. We assumed that they had turned around at some point because the snow is coming down heavier now."

"Get your coats on, and let's go!" Matt announced.

They all trudged through the snow; it was much more difficult now, but after what felt like forever (realistically over 30 minutes-ish), Dara said, "I think I see them." They ran (sort of) to see if what she was looking at was correct.

Joshua's heart sank as they approached. "Sofia... where's Olivia?" he asked, anxiety rising.

Sofia looked up at her name. She hadn't even heard them coming. "Wait, you two came from the cabins?" she asked, pointing at Joshua and Matt.

"Yes, now where's Liv?" he repeated.

"She went off to catch up with you guys because I did something to my ankle."

"You let her go off alone?!" Joshua screamed, astonished. What the hell was going through your mind?

"It wasn't my idea, ok? I said she should've gone back to the cabins, but she thought the sign was closer, so she went to meet up with you two. And she couldn't have carried me herself!"

"So you just let her go. Alone," he deadpanned.

"Enough!!" Matt yelled. "Quit arguing!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Olivia kept walking, not quite knowing what she was looking for. She's starting to think that the four of them were somehow sharing one strange dream.

As she trudged along, she slowly realized just how much water a bottle could hold. She was careful not to drink too much if this evening somehow became much worse, but it was difficult not to just take a big swig with the walking and thin air.

Eventually, she made it to a spot where the area was slightly wider than her trail. Olivia assumed it was the spot where the sign was supposed to be, but she couldn't find one. Most hiking trails have them on a post in the middle of the paths and can be easily spotted, but she didn't see it.

She looked around the small area for a few minutes, trying to find a stake with a sign on it to indicate where she was or a different path that the boys could have possibly taken. After walking around in circles and not coming across anything, she continued on her trek.

What she didn't know though was that the small sign was there as well as another path... Everything was just completely covered by either snow or branches and trees; plus, she didn't know that the signs were displayed on a tree rather than being stuck in the ground.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, not much progress was being made. "Don't tell me what to do!" Joshua yelled in Matt's face.

"You're going to get yourself killed!"

The others had carried Sofia back to the cabins, and Joshua told them to have Tim call the park rangers. "I'm going after her, final decision," Joshua declared.

"Josh, you don't know the area. What if there are other splits in the path? You won't know which turns to take?"

"Well, it's better than sitting here and doing nothing. We can't just wait for the park rangers to show up; who knows what could happen between now and then."

"I know you care and that you're concerned, but I'm not letting you risk your life when you don't know the park. You could get yourself killed."

It's worth it. She's worth it. "Get out of my way," he said sternly.

"Josh, this isn't a good idea," Matt protested. "You're thinking on impulse. It's just as deadly for you as it is for her," he tried to reason.

"Matt, it's not that far of a walk to the sign."

"You don't even know if she's at the sign. Remember how it was completely covered in snow? What if she misses it and keeps walking? That is a great possibility with this stupid, thicker snow. What about the fact that our trail was covered in branches? She may not see the split and decide it's farther away."

Joshua's jaw clenched, and his fists balled. "You have two seconds to move before I make you." He wasn't kidding; there was a certain fire in his eyes.

"Josh, come on," Matt said, setting his hand on his shoulder to try and turn him around.

"No," Joshua defied, shrugging Matt off. "Forget it." He began marching away through the snow. Matt just grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back. Joshua shoved his chest, and Matt fell to the ground.

"Dude, what the hell?!" He quickly got back to his feet and tackled Joshua from behind. They were wrestling in the snow over Joshua wanting to go into the woods.

"Matt, just let me go!!" Joshua shouted as he was pinned to the ground.

"The park rangers are on their way!"

"I don't care!"

This little debacle lasted a few minutes until Matt swiftly picked up Joshua, throwing him over his shoulder. "What the fuck are you doing?! Put me down! How are you doing this!?!" Joshua was squirming against him as Matt began speed walking back towards the cabins.

*Two Miles Later*
Olivia heard a noise that she knew wasn't good. She turned the corner of the trail and saw a river... and a waterfall. She knew that the hike ended with the view of a waterfall. How the hell did I end up here? It was beautiful, and the snow made the whole scene look like something from a fairytale.

"Fuck," she mumbled. She remembered that this hike was just one big loop, but she didn't want to risk not taking the right way, and she was just overall confused about how she got here in the first place, so she chose to just sit on a large flat rock right up against a wall of stone, dirt, and moss. Where was the sign then?

She patted her pockets, groaning when she remembered that she never actually grabbed her phone from her cabin. Fucking hell. This is just great.

She scolded herself for not bringing gloves on this little adventure. She had on two t-shirts, a coat, jeans, and boots, but none of it would help if the sun went down. All she could do now was hope that the others could find her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Park rangers and nurses arrived quickly. When they did, they had the unfortunate view of Joshua kicking and screaming at Matt still. "What the fuck is wrong with you?!?! Why would you do that?!" he repeatedly yelled, shoving him too.

"You were going to get yourself killed!"

"So is she!"

The rest of the cast had to work to calm him down, but it didn't work. Joshua went up to one of the rangers and asked if they had a phone with a signal. The man pulled one out. "Yes, but-" Before he could finish, Joshua took it from him and walked away to dial a number that he hasn't called in months.

"Hello?" a woman answered.

"Mrs. Rodrigo?"

"Yes, speaking. Who is this?"

"It's Joshua. Look, Olivia went missing on a hike we took today." He was beginning to tear up just by saying all this out loud. "Y- You need to come to Salt Lake as quickly as possible."

"What?! I thought you guys were filming."

"We were, but Tim decided for us to take a little vacation together. I- I'll give you the address of the campsite. P- Please come as f- fast as you c- can." He bit his lip to stop stuttering.

"Y- Yes, of course." She could hear the terror and tears in Joshua's voice. "Josh, please keep me updated."

"I will."

"Thank you." She hung up before he could say anything else.

The rangers took off into the woods along the trail while a few others went to everyone else to ask what had happened.

Please watch over her, Joshua prayed to whoever might be listening. Keep her safe.

*Dusk*
Joshua was sitting on the steps to his and Olivia's cabin. One park ranger was standing nearby; apparently, the others had mentioned how he was desperate to just run in himself to find her, so they had one person stay near him to make sure he didn't do anything stupid.

Sofia came out of hers and Dara's cabin with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders, walking across the snow-covered gravel to him. Luckily, her injury wasn't serious; the nurse gave her a boot to wear, and she was fortunate that it fit.

The rangers had salted the area around the campsite to make it easier to walk through, but it was still coming down. "Here," she said, handing him a mug of hot chocolate and a blanket.

"No thanks," he muttered. She set the mug next to him and draped the blanket over his shoulders anyway.

"Do you want to join us in one of our cabins?"

"I'm fine here." His eyes flickered to every ranger's walkie-talkie, waiting to hear an update come from anywhere.

Sofia sat down next to him and pulled her blanket tighter. "I'm sorry, Josh. I knew I shouldn't have let her go off. I told her to go back towards the cabins, but she convinced me that that was going to take too long and that it'd be easier if she went to the sign."

Joshua looked over at her. She looked like she was about to cry. He leaned over and hugged her. "It's not your fault," he whispered. "I'm sorry for being harsh on you earlier."

"It's fine. I kinda deserve it."

"You didn't though."

The two are silent for a minute. "You know you don't have to stay out here, right?"

"I need to know that she's ok." How long does it take to walk a few miles? This trail isn't that long, and it's even shorter to just the sign. His thoughts then drifted to what if she wasn't on the trail. No, no... stop that.

"The rest of us want that too, but-"

"Sof... I don't want to imagine my life without her," he admitted quietly. "I've almost pushed her too far, and now I'm afraid I won't get the chance to tell her..."

"Tell her what?" she whispered.

He swallowed nervously. "I've been putting off telling her how I truly feel... Now I just hope I haven't lost that chance." I need her. I need her to be ok. I need her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Olivia was beyond freezing. Her whole body felt numb and her eyes were heavy. The snow was beginning to pile up around her, and she tried to keep up with it by wiping it off the rock, but at some point, she just couldn't except from her own body.

She felt like time was slowing down, and not in the good way, the way she feels when she's with a certain someone; seconds felt like hours. It was pitch black, and the sound of crickets echoed in her ears. She could find nothing positive about this situation.

She knew the sun went down around six. Olivia wondered if she could've made it had she just walked back herself by now.

She breathed into her hands; they were like ice cubes attached to her arms. Her body was asleep from the waist down. She fought the urge to close her eyes.

What she really wanted right now was one of Joshua's hoodies. He used to let her wear them all the time, and she would 'forget' to give them back; it's not like he asked. They were incredibly comfortable and always warm.

Olivia wanted... him. She craved the warmth he could provide for her right now. Her mind was racing with all the crap that's happened with her feelings. She just wanted to talk to him and go back to the way things were in March.

She didn't care if he had feelings for someone else (ok, a little [a lot]), but she at least wanted her best friend back; that's all she cared about right now. Well, that and surviving through this frigid night.

Her feet tingled as she moved them to bring some feeling back. Olivia kicked away some of the snow, and a shiver went down her spine.

If she was at the waterfall, that meant she had somehow walked three or four miles from the cabins; if anyone was out looking for her, it was going to take up to an hour plus the factor of the snow. She assumed that since the sun has gone down that they were all at the cabins and called the park rangers now.

That's the safest option. She's not even entirely sure how she got here, so it was the wiser decision if they called people who would be more familiar with the area.

Olivia pulled her coat tighter around herself. Her water bottle was just about empty at this point. She looked up to see a magnificent view of the stars; she remembers climbing onto Joshua's roof with him after his parents and sisters had fallen asleep because he claimed that he had never been caught after doing it multiple times.

She missed those times with him; she wanted to go back to that, back to when they could just do anything around each other and not feel awkward or pressured. She wanted to tell him that whatever happened over quarantine was not his fault either.

These thoughts began to dwindle as her body refused to listen to her mind; her eyes were growing heavy, and she no longer had enough strength to fight it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It's been a couple of hours since Olivia first went missing. Joshua didn't understand how it was taking so long for them to walk along the trail, but Tim explained that they weren't just taking the trail; they had to search the area slowly and places outside of just the trail as well to make sure they didn't miss anything, and the dense snow certainly didn't help. What are the chances of somehow missing a human being? he wondered.

The cast would take turns sitting with him, ensuring he wasn't going to go run off and put himself in danger too.

Joshua saw lights through the trees and assumed it was their flashlights. The walkie-talkie of the ranger that was supposed to stay near him started making a static noise. "There's a car coming up here," he heard. "Did someone call others?"

Car? Liv's parents! He sprang up to go meet with them. "Son, you need to sit back down."

"Sir, I know who they are." Joshua looked at the man's name tag. Nathan Davis. "They're Olivia's parents, Mr. Davis," he explained desperately. He nodded at Joshua, moving to let him pass. "Thank you, sir," he rushed.

Joshua saw Chris Rodrigo swiftly park their rental car. "Josh, where is she?" her mother, Jen Rodrigo, asked before she even had one foot on the ground. "Anything new?"

"I- I don't know. Th- They have no word yet. I wanted to go after her, but everyone else stopped me, and-" He was starting to freak out.

"It's ok. You care about our daughter, and that's all we can ask." Jen could see the dried tears that had stained his cheeks.

"What happened?" Chris asked.

Joshua quickly explained to them what had happened to her. When they made it to their cabin, Joshua said, "Do you guys want to wait inside? There's hot chocolate too."

"Thank you, but we'll stay out here," he answered.

Joshua nodded at them and went back to sit on the step. He leaned his head on the cabin, and his eyes felt heavy, but he tried hard to fight it. There was no way he was going to be able to sleep comfortably until he knew she was safe.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Olivia felt like she had officially lost feeling in all of her body; she was just entirely numb with cold. She could tell she had somehow dozed lightly without realizing it. Snow had piled on her boots, and she tried to move her feet some to push it away, but it didn't work; her body just couldn't respond to her brain. Her mind began racing with different outcomes of her situation.

With her eyes half-open, she could hear voices. They grew closer as did beams of light that were moving quickly. "Over here!" she heard a woman shout.

Olivia could tell through her eyelids that there was a light shining on her face. "Is she breathing?" a second woman asked. She feels fingers on the side of her neck and wrist.

"Uh, there's a pulse. Come on, we need to get her back." She was then pulled into a sitting position, and they put a jacket around her. As they carried her back, Olivia's mind stopped racing, and she was asleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"We found her. We're on our way back now."

Joshua heard that, and all the tiredness temporarily left his body. He began looking around for the person who had said that, his head spinning in all directions. "Wh- Who said that?"

Olivia's mother came up to him with tears in her eyes. "They said they've found her."

He smiled brightly. Fucking hell, finally! He stood and waited anxiously to see her.

After an hour, he spots two women rushing through the woods with Olivia looking lifeless in one of the person's arms. Joshua fought his urge to run to her and see how she was, letting her parents go first.

She's then taken to the clinic. Her parents follow the nurses and rangers closely into that cabin. Joshua sits wide awake now, patiently waiting for his chance to see her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After some time, Chris and Jen came out of the clinic, and a nurse went back in. When Joshua saw them, he stood and approached. "How is she?"

"She was dehydrated and had hypothermia. The nurses say she should wake up in the morning. Luckily, there were no long-term injuries," her father explained.

Joshua sighed with relief. "Thank god."

"Do you want to see her?" Jen asked.

"Yes, if that's ok."

"Of course it is."

"You can go to our cabin to get out of the cold. It's that one," he said, pointing.

"Thank you." Her parents walked across the gravel as he worked up a little courage. He took a deep breath then tentatively walked into the clinic.

The little cabin had two beds in it with a few uncomfortable metal chairs lined along the walls. A nurse was holding a clipboard. "Is she ok?" Joshua asked.

The man smiled and looked up at him. "Yes, there is nothing seriously wrong. I think she'll be awake in the morning. We'll then disconnect her from all this stuff."

Joshua looked down at her; there was an IV in her arm and oxygen tubes in her nose. She was lying on her back, looking slightly peaceful. Her parents must've changed her clothes while he was waiting; he doesn't remember either of them ever entering their cabin, but he had dozed for a minute. "C- Can I add a blanket?"

"Sure, but leave her left arm out." That was the one with the IV. "I'll leave you two alone now." The man left as Joshua nodded at him.

"Thank you."

There were a few seconds of silence before he finally spoke. "Hi." He unfolded the blanket tucked under his arm. "I brought this for you." He approached the bed and carefully placed it over her, slowly moving the left arm with the IV drip back out. "Th- The nurse said I could as long as it doesn't interfere with anything." He sounded like a toddler telling a story.

He moved some of the hair from her face. "You gave me the worst scare of my life," he said gently. His thumb rubbed her cheek, careful of the oxygen tube. Her face was cold. He pulled one of the chairs over to her. He held her right hand with both of his, kissing her knuckles; she was scarily cold, like a corpse.

"Please don't ever do that again," he pleaded, tears coming to his eyes. "I never want to think about you in that kind of situation ever again." He knew good and well that she couldn't hear him, but he didn't feel like he was talking to himself, even if she wasn't able to answer.

"Olivia, you mean so much to me. I don't know how else to express it." He leans on his elbows on the edge of the mattress, still holding her hand.

"I know this is c- cowardly," he admitted, the first tear falling. "B- But I need to get this off my ch- chest." He let out a few cries and cleared his throat to gain back a little composure before speaking again.

"You are one of the best people in my life. I'm sorry that whatever it is we had fizzled out over the lockdown. I- I feel so guilty for not doing something more to stay in touch." He bit his lip and kissed her knuckles again.

"I, uh... I've seen you as more than a friend for a long time now," he confessed. "I was too terrified to act on anything though." He chuckled a little thinking about how stupid this was about to sound.

"Remember when we wrapped for season one and we were all just crying our eyes out on set?" He phrased it as a question even though she was completely out. "I wanted to ask you out then. But I couldn't go through with it. Hell, I stopped at the bathroom on the way to your dressing room and threw up because I was too stressed about what could go wrong."

Joshua couldn't believe what he was saying. He knew this was just him being a chicken again because he was only able to confess this stuff when Olivia was unconscious, but he just didn't have the guts to say it all when she was awake.

"I wanted to try again after all the press stuff for season one was over, but then we found out we were coming back for a second season, s- so there just wasn't a long enough break in between. That's what I had convinced myself of." He thought back to how stunning she had looked in the various outfits for press, even the more casual ones. He complimented her of course but didn't dare to do anything about his crush that was slowly taking over his mind, thoughts, and life.

"I've admired you... from the day you walked into that audition room. You simply lit up the room by doing nothing. I fell so hard for you while we were filming that I couldn't think straight. God, you made, uh, make me a nervous wreck just by standing near me. Matt teased me for months," he chuckled, "but it's not like I could deny it any longer." He interlaced his fingers with hers and kissed the back of her hand. Her hand was only slightly warmer because he had been holding it.

"All this to say... I want the chance to tell you this for real. I want the opportunity to give us a shot. I... I understand if you were to say no, especially with how awkward we've been with each other recently, and I definitely don't deserve it but... please."

Joshua stood a little and leaned forward to kiss her forehead. His heart absolutely shattered when she felt like a giant block of ice. "P- Please... be o- ok," he cried against her. A few of his tears landed on her forehead. "I'm so sorry." He muffled his cries with one of his hands. "I- I need to see y- your eyes o- open ag- again."

*Day Four*
All the cabins had thin curtains that let in plenty of sunlight, even when the occupants weren't ready. Olivia felt the sunshine and instantly closed her eyes back when the white light blinded her.

She slowly moved, bringing feeling back into her body. She quickly learned that her left arm was connected to something; when she saw it was an IV drip, she looked away from it immediately because needles and other stuff like that made her tense.

Her right arm was also bound by something. Her neck was stiff, but she slowly looked over and saw another hand in hers. Following that, she saw Joshua.

She jumped on the inside upon seeing him. He was gently holding her hand on her mattress, his right arm outstretched to reach her bed, and he had a pillow from the other bed under his head. He had apparently made something for him to lie on out of most of the metal chairs; it was the world's most uncomfortable, inconvenient, and unsuitable mattress.

Her slight movements must have woken him because he's suddenly sitting up and looking at her with an adorable, lazy smile. "Hi," he grinned. His hair was a wreck, and there were dried tears on his face.

Olivia smiled back. "Hi." Her voice was hoarse, and she suddenly started having a coughing fit just from that one word.

Joshua helped her sit up a little. "Oh, uh, hold on." He let go of her hand and stood up to go get the glass of water that was on a table at the foot of her bed. There was a straw in it to make it easier for her. "Here."

She gladly took it. "Thank you."

"Of course. How are you feeling?" he asked, sitting back down.

"Like an Alaskan fish."

He laughed a little at that. "Yeah, well, they're used to the cold though."

She laughed before coughing again. "Did you sleep in here? All night?"

Joshua looked at the ground sheepishly. "Uh... kind of."

"Why didn't you at least sleep in the other bed?"

He shrugged, still looking at the ground. "I wanted to be near you," he admitted quietly.

Olivia smiled and blushed. "You're too sweet."

Joshua stood up and stretched, twisting his upper body and neck to ease some of the stiffness from sleeping on a row of chairs. "Your parents are here by the way."

"They are?"

"Yeah, I called them last night."

"How? There's little to no service."

"The park rangers had a phone that I could use," he explained simply. "Are you hungry?"

"Oh, uh, yeah."

"I'll bring pancakes." Once he had his shoes on, he left toward the food hall. Olivia watched him go and wondered what had been going through his mind that let him think that sleeping on these chairs was a good idea.

As he walked out, Joshua ran into Olivia's parents. "Oh, hey. I assumed you guys would've still been asleep."

"Is she?" Chris asked.

"Yeah, she just woke up."

"And where are you going?" Jen asked.

"To get pancakes for us. Would-?"

"Thank you for caring so much about her," her mother interjected.

"Oh, of course. She's, uh, very special to me," he said, scratching the back of his neck. "Would you two like anything?"

"Uh, no. We'll get something in a minute. Thank you though." Both adults hug him before they go inside the clinic.

Olivia lit up upon seeing her parents. She opened her arms for them (well, arm), and they each took turns hugging her. "How are you doing, baby?" her mom asked first.

"Tired," she mumbled, her throat still sore. "How did you guys get here so fast?" she coughed. She drank more of the water Joshua had handed her.

"Josh called us last night in a panic. We jumped on the first flight," her dad explained.

"That boy called us in tears last night," Jen added. "It was killing him inside not knowing what had happened to you."

"It- It was?" Olivia stammered.

"I thought he might just have a heart attack," Chris whispered (not very well).

Jen then brought out her phone. "We had come back in last night to see you, but when we did, this is what we saw." She hit the screen a few times before spinning it around to show Olivia. It was a picture of her and Joshua; she was lying on her back on the clinic bed with her left arm out because of the IV, but Joshua was holding her right.

He was on his stomach with his head on his left hand on a pillow while the right was loosely holding her own. The only light was the nightlight in the corner and the moon coming in through the window.

"Honey," her mother said gently, "you need to talk to him. I know this has been hard for you, but... I know you miss him. Plus, you two obviously have something special if he's willing to do something like this," she said, gesturing to her phone.

Olivia smiled, looking at the picture again. "Ok, we'll talk. And send that to me."

"Do it before you start filming; that way you won't have an excuse not to."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Joshua goes into the food hall, everyone waves to greet him. "How is she?" Sofia asked first.

"She's awake now and talking some." He goes to grab two paper plates with three pancakes for himself and two for Olivia as well as syrup packages and plasticware.

As he's about to leave, Matt said, "You're not staying to eat?"

"No, I said I'd bring her food."

"That boy is so whipped," Frankie murmured.

"I heard you."

"Like it was a secret."

"Yeah, yeah." Joshua waved them off and left to go back to the cabin.

"He is under some spell," Dara said, eating more eggs.

"Please, they both are," Matt commented. "The two of them have wanted to jump each other since our first table read."

"I don't know about the first table read," Julia said, "but definitely after their last scene together. The script literally said Ricky and Nini kiss, not start a family!" About half the table almost spit out their food.

"Let's not forget that Josh improvised half of it," Joe added.

Meanwhile, Joshua was back at the door to the clinic cabin. He knocked on the door and heard, "Come in!"

When he stepped in, he was surprised to see a nurse there. "Oh, sorry if I'm interrupting," he apologized.

"Don't worry about it," Olivia's dad told him. He nodded at the spot behind him, and Joshua took that as a sign to stand there.

He stood behind Chris as the nurse removed all the equipment; they were a woman this time. Olivia's eyes were squeezed shut, and her mom was holding her hand while the IV was removed. Once it was gone, the plastic tubes were next. "Can you breathe ok?" the nurse asked her.

Olivia took deep breaths for a minute. "Yeah, I think so." The room was a little stuffy but tolerable enough.

"Well, then I'd say you're good to go. Do you have any questions?"

"Um, can I eat?"

"Yeah, but just be aware that your throat is still sore."

"I'm guessing pancakes are ok?" Joshua chimed in.

"Yeah, they're fine." Her parents thanked the nurse before she left.

Joshua handed her her plate and utensils then pulled up a chair for himself. "I'm glad you're feeling better," he said.

"Me too," she said, struggling to open the syrup.

"Here," her mother said, using her nails to pick at it.

"Thank you," Olivia said sheepishly.

"Well," her father said, standing up, "if you're ok for right now and you feel that you're in good hands, I think we will go grab some food and let you rest and be back soon."

"Yeah," she said, glancing at Joshua, "I think I'll be fine." The Rodrigo parents both kissed her on the cheek before leaving. "See you in a minute!" she called after them.

Once the door shut, the two began eating and talking a little. "How did you get so far away from the cabins?"

Olivia swallowed the bite she was chewing before speaking. "After Sofia fell, I thought that the sign would be closer than going back to the cabins, then you and Matt could help me carry her back, but clearly, I was wrong."

"I- I'm sorry," he apologized. "When Matt and I first arrived at the sign, I didn't even see it at first until he pointed it out. It was small and completely covered in snow, so that could be why you missed it."

"I also missed the other path."

"I'm just glad you're ok now. So... what all do you remember?" Joshua asked.

"Um... I don't remember how I got here. Well, I heard faint voices, then someone picked me and... yeah, that's about it."

"So you don't remember anything after being brought back?"

She shook her head. "Not really. Why?"

"Oh, uh, it's nothing." Despite knowing she wouldn't have heard him, Joshua still felt a little discouraged. He knew it was a mere technicality that he confessed his feelings (in that he finally said them out loud).

"Wait, tell me." Olivia could tell he was a little disappointed by something. "What is it?"

Joshua had an internal debate with himself on whether or not he should finally own up to his feelings; well, he should, but it was a matter of if he had the guts to do so. He wanted to deep down though. He sighed. "Liv, I-"

A knock on the door interrupted them. Olivia put a finger up for him to wait for a moment. "Come in!" she hollered.

The door opened, and in came Sofia. "Hey, just wanted to check in on you."

"I'm feeling better now."

"Good... because now I can be mad at you for convincing me to let you leave!"

They all laughed before Olivia said, "Well, in my defense, I didn't think this would happen."

"And another thing," she added. "Did you not see the sign?"

"No!" she defended. "I don't know where it was."

"It was most likely smothered with snow," Joshua said.

"Well, at least you're still in one piece. When you two are ready to join us, we're all going to be in the big cabin." Sofia hugged Olivia then left the clinic, letting the two be alone.

"Now, what were you saying?"

"Hmm?" Joshua pretended not to hear her.

"What were you about to say before she came in?"

Shit. He was half hoping she'd forget about it. "Oh, um..." Well, I guess I'm doing this. "Liv, I- I don't know how to say this."

Olivia could see how distressed this was making him. She put her hand over his that was on her mattress and gently ran her thumb over the back. "Just say it. I won't judge."

That's a matter of opinion. He didn't know if her willingness to hold his hand made this better or worse; it certainly gave him butterflies though.

"Alright... here goes. Liv... I have wanted to tell you something for about a year now... but never had the courage to." He became tongue-tied, not sure how to continue. He decided to change the subject slightly until his head was thinking straight again.

"The park rangers were taking what felt like centuries to find you. What scared me the most was that I thought I would never get the chance to tell you... I like you, Liv... a lot."

Olivia's face didn't change; Joshua didn't know how to take that. "I, um... Hmm?"

That's not a good sign. "You have brought something else into my life," he continued anyway, "something that I can't put into words correctly." He held her hand tighter. "Liv, I don't know what happened with us over the summer, but I hated it; I hated not being able to talk to you. It was just downright awful. I-"

"Josh," she interrupted. "I missed you too. I don't know what happened either, but I do want to work on it... whatever it is." She carefully took his hand and kissed his knuckles. Joshua felt his face grow hot, blood rushing in his body. "And, uh... I like you too." She mumbled it some, but he still heard her; he's been waiting to hear that for months.

"Really?" His face lit up like a Christmas tree.

Olivia nodded excitedly. "Yeah, really." There was no wiping the grins off either of their faces. Well, almost. Olivia's smile fell some, remembering earlier.

"What's wrong?" Joshua asked.

"Oh, um... I, uh... I thought you liked someone else," she muttered, almost embarrassed to say it aloud now.

"Who?"

Well, there's no getting out of this now. "Um... please don't be mad."

He tilted his head to the side. "What? Why would I be?"

She took a deep breath, preparing to be mortified. "I... I thought you liked... Sabrina," she said with a weak voice. Olivia was looking at their joined hands now, not wanting to see his reaction and waiting for him to pull away. She didn't even know if he had actually heard her, but she felt too abashed to say it again.

The feeling of humiliation started to fade when he held her hand tighter. She saw him scoot his chair closer out of the corner of her eye. "Livvy?"

She stayed still yet peaked up at him through her lashes, and his face mirrored the pleading emoji. "Livvy, look at me." His other hand stretched out to hold her left. "Livvy... look at me," he repeated. "Please."

She did, only slightly lifting her head but enough to directly look him in the eyes. "How could I like her... when I love... you?"

🍪🍪🍪

Congratulations, you've just finished reading 20k+ words!!🥳

By far the longest thing I've ever written! I was refraining from checking the word count while writing because I wanted to see what I could do and not base it off of a number, and I was just absolutely blown away.
(The timer at the top said two hours left after I hit publish. I don't think it's quite that long though [maybe an hour and a half].)

I originally was going to have them be fighting at the end with Joshua yelling the last line but didn't know how to put them into an altercation situation, so this is what happened instead.

⚠⚠I made sure to avoid talking or accidentally insinuating hatred toward any of them. REMEMBER: NOTHING HAS BEEN CONFIRMED!!⚠⚠

I'm not opposed to doing more plots based on real-life (way, way in the future though because a lot is going on right now) but probably won't do anymore that have the drama related to them.

And to think this all started because of a BLM protest and a Halloween TikTok.

Now for the famous question... part 2??
(If yes, I don't know when it would come out. I already have a handful of stories in line.)

20264 words

Published December 23, 2021