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It was the kind of night where you could smell the warmth on the breeze, the just-right sort of night heat where you hardly sweat, and the perfect kind of darkness where you could see the stars shine as bright as the lights of the structures across the miniature sea in Ark City.
The waves slowly crept up the shore and carried with them the smell of salt on the warm air.
Catherine was fixated on the makeshift campfire as her marshmallow crackled and melted in the heart of it, turning a crispy, charred black. She whipped it out of the fire and blew on it before shoving it into her mouth and making a sour expression - that'd be the burnt sugar. Just as she was about to roast another, Simon spoke out and broke the silence.
"Hey. Don't..ah- don't hold it inside the flame." He reached over from near beside Cath and paused a hand above hers.
"You just gotta- higher-" He gently guided her grip so the twig was hovering just above the flames, and this time the treat turned an appetising golden brown. Simon backed off and sat forward, elbows to his thighs, to watch her face as she cautiously ripped the marshmallow off the now burnt stick, discarding it onto the open fire which briefly flared as it met the sugar melted to it. The woman's face lit up and she chewed with a smile, savoring the taste.
"So," Catherine swallowed, retrieving another stick from the large pile they'd gathered and stabbing a fresh marshmallow on it "how'd you learn this, huh?"
"Went camping a lot when I was a kid." Simon noticed her idea and moved to start one as well. "It's hottest at the top. The flames just burn it."
"Mmmm. Oh, right." She spoke in between chomps. "Heat rises. Duh."
Simon made a laughing sound and weakly exhaled "Thought you of all people would remember that."
"I've never done this before."
"Not once?"
"Nope." Cath smiled as her marshmallow started to singe. "Well, I toasted one with a lighter one time, if that counts."
"Not really." They both laughed. "I can guess it wasn't good."
"Desperate people do desperate things, Simon"
She slowly rotated the marshmallow, checked it for any burnt patches, and pulled it out from above the fire. Simon had done the same and they tapped the sticky sweets together, almost like clinking wine glasses over an expensive meal, then each pulled away, leaving a trail of melted goo.
Simon figured this was more his style.
They'd both decided they needed a break. It'd been a week exactly since they'd launched - and for them, still a week since they'd arrived here. It was hard for Simon - everyone already knew each other. It was like joining a new college, or starting a new job, except he'll be living here for the rest of the foreseeable future and long after that. First impressions were everything, and he liked to think he'd made some good ones. As Catherine had said before, everybody wanted to meet the ‘time traveler’.
The fire was dying down, coals covered by many tiny fragments of the twigs they'd thrown into them. The two rested in comfortable silence, enjoying each other's company.
"Look- the stars- that's what we could theoretically see from here, y'know." Cath angled her head towards the sky and weakly lifted her arm to point somewhere just within Simon's vision. "A live feed from the ARK's current position in orbit." Her expression focused "Orion, there."
His eyes briefly darted around the sky "I don't see it."
Catherine inched closer and pointed harder "Look for the belt first. Three stars in a row. Right there."
Simon scoffed and turned to her, a sarcastic frown-smile on his face "Where is 'there'?"
She closed the gap between the two of them on the log bench and leaned into him, gesturing more intensely this time.
"How 'bout now?"
"Nope." He chuckled.
"Simoooon" Cath groaned, jokingly "Three stars in a line."
"There are a lot that look like they're in a line!"
"Just left of the full moon!"
"Still, no!"
She exhaled sharply and laid her head on Simon's shoulder, grasping his arm and directing it towards the constellation. "Tilt your head a little..."
They knocked heads as Simon adjusted himself, leaning further into Catherine and dropped his head so it rested on hers "Oh. Now I see it."
She chuckled and playfully elbowed him in the ribs.
He grinned and lightly shoved Cath in return as she let out her unique laugh, and Simon laughed along whilst they both made themselves more comfortable.
"Sooo if you look around it, sorta - you'll see the rest of it."
"Oh yeah," Simon hummed "the body - arms - oh, a bow. Sweet."
"Pretty cool, huh?"
Focused on the starts, he grunted in agreement.
It’d been awhile since the fire had burnt itself out, now only charred stones and embers sparkling on the sand. Neither of them cared too much, though, and it wasn’t worth building another - the remnants were still emitting a pleasant warmth, which was enough when paired with the heat on the sea breeze.
"Hey."
Both of them were drifting in and out of brief sleep, still leaning on each other.
"Hm...?" Catherine stirred at his voice, not entirely waking up, content with Simon’s bony shoulder as a pillow. Yawning, she began to mumble. “What’s up?”
“I keep thinking about...stuff.” Simon paused. He spoke softly, his eyes shut, head still comfortably laid on hers. “About all the things I didn’t want to before. Couldn’t before.”
"After everything- I'm just glad I got to meet you.” He gave her a light nudge. “You’re my best friend."
Cath smiled tiredly. You could hear the expression on her sleepy voice, and she nudged him back.
"You too."