Natalie was always the first one up. Or maybe the last one to sleep. Hard to tell anymore, time blurred in the cold. Snow blanketed the woods outside the cabin, and her boots crunched softly over the iced-over ground as she stepped out, cigarette dangling from chapped lips.

She lit it with fingers that barely felt the flame.

She didn't hear her girlfriend at first, just noticed the breath beside her, misty and quiet.

Natalie: “You know it’s freezing, right?” Natalie said, barely glancing over as she brings the cigarette to her lips and taking a long drag.