“That’s one answer.” Caelan responded with a small chuckle and returned his gaze to the tabletop while his teeth pulled at the inside of his lip. He absently grated his fingernails against the wood as he mulled over Dusty's words. It was common sense - avoid getting into a fight, plain and simple. Caelan had managed to keep himself out of trouble thus far, last night excluded.<br/><br/>The blond was stuck in his head while he thought it all through. He wondered what would have happened if Dusty hadn’t been able to contain himself the night before. Caelan was beginning to get a feel for Dusty, if it could be considered that much, but he could hardly say he knew him.<br/><br/>Caelan focused his eyes as Dusty moved around the shelter, keeping himself busy. He hardly caught what the man was saying, but heard<i>cobbler.</i>The blond would have laughed had he not realized that would have been the wrong response. Truthfully, the cobbler was a distant memory. Their afternoon together had been pleasant. Caelan may have even said it was one of the best days he had in several years. He hadn't expected an unplanned overnight cabin stay with Dusty, but after the way the man had embraced him in the water? Caelan would have done anything to be close to him again. Now, after Caelan's stupidity, the shack felt like a prison.<br/><br/>“I haven’t, no." Caelan rubbed his hand over his forehead and down his face. "Should eat it soon." His appetite all but disappeared after their exchange. It hadn’t quite returned even this morning. Caelan had been mindful after the altercation the night before. He cleaned the shack and went to bed. The last thing he thought Dusty would want to see after coming back into the shack was Caelan with a plate full of cobbler.<br/><br/>“I saw a bag of coffee in the cabinet. I’ll make some to go with.” The stovetop was small in size, enough for a person or two to make a meal. Dusty had claimed most of it with his simmering broth, not that Caelan minded. He only needed a small amount of room for a short amount of time to boil a pot of water. They probably could have done with drinking a cup of Dusty's brew with their breakfast.<br/><br/>Caelan rose from the table and felt his muscles ache. He needed more sleep. Aside from jogging and driving his bike around, Caelan didn’t get much physical exercise. In the span of a single day, Caelan had fought with a large-mouth bass and<i>almost</i>fought with a bear of a man. He was feeling it. His head and back throbbed from the impact of Dusty hitting him like a freight train. He hoped a little warm caffeine would help.<br/><br/>He knelt in front of the cabinet beside the stove. There was a small selection of pots and a few bags of coffee grounds and rice. Caelan contemplated taking the rice back with them, but he refrained. Who was to know if there would be another sorry person or two who ended up in this shack to wait out a storm? He grabbed the bag of grounds and a small pot and closed the doors.<br/><br/>Silently, Caelan carried the pot onto the porch and stared out into the rain after the door sealed shut behind him. The sound of the rain was soothing, if he didn’t concentrate too hard on where they were. He spotted the containers from where he stood, planted in the yard to collect rainwater. They overflowed from the intensity of rainfall, forming small waterfalls as the water cascaded from the container and created rippling streams that went off in various directions to join up with the river or disappear into the foliage.<br/><br/>He ventured barefoot into the storm, carrying the pot with both hands once he filled it up and returned to the house. Caelan toted the pot into the shack and set it down on the stove.<br/><br/>"Thank you for putting containers out." Caelan ran his hand through his soaked hair and wiped his hand off on his, also soaked, jeans. Water dripped from his skin and hair with a plop onto the hot metal. The droplets landed with an audible hiss before evaporating away. The windows would fog up soon, from both the humidity and the burning stove, and seal them off from the outside world.