Page 37 of That Summer Feeling

“Then we better go to breakfast.”

Stevie wasn’t in the mess hall. She’d likely gone to herbird-watching corner again. I was too nervous to approach her there, and while I felt her absence, I had an opportunity to get to know some of the other campers better, and I wanted to take it. To make real friends.

Michelle and I sat with the twins. We spent our meal running through the previous day’s events. What we’d enjoyed. What had been funny. It was easy conversation. Nothing too deep at first glance.

Still, I understood what Michelle had meant about breakfast. Sharing a meal with people was one of life’s simplest pleasures. In the right company, breaking bread together, walking through the mundanities in our lives felt revelatory. Our simple chatter held so much space for me.

I’d always thought I needed to earn my place in order to be accepted. Turned out, existing was the only thing required in earning my authentic life. Hour by hour, with the help of friends and crushes alike, I was remembering how to do that. To really exist. Not just survive. To be myself in all my completion.

And I liked who I was becoming.

16

I didn’t find Stevie until I headed toward the main hall for the color games. She waited at one of the outdoor picnic tables with the rest of our team. Seeing her in profile, chatting casually, holding her own in the world, had my stomach in knots. Every step I took felt like a new kind of courage.

“Hello!” I said to everyone. My voice had a way of fluctuating when I was nervous, reaching into the top register and shrieking out syllables. Stevie would no doubt notice, because she noticed everything about me. “Great to see all of you. Blue is looking good on us this morning!”

The rest of the team appreciated my excitement. Stevie did not so much as glance at me. She’d been talking to Tommy, who held his hair in his hands. It was exceptionally windy outside, and he fought the elements to maintain his perfect coif.

“Tommy,” I said. “Any idea what we’re doing today?”

He scowled. “Stop it. You know they haven’t told me anything. I’m a team player, not a cheater.”

He said it with a blood-oath level of sincerity, and it shocked me a little to realize I found that necessary. I’d let a shadow of doubt creep in regarding what Tim and Tommy might know about the competitions, even though their insider knowledge would be a benefit to our team instead of a setback. Somehow I was turning into one of those people who valued the integrity of the game or something.

“I’m hoping for some kind of puzzle,” Julianne said quietly. It was the first time she’d ever entertained anything I brought up. Even Stevie had to gape at Julianne’s acknowledgment of me.

“Are you good at them?” I asked her.

“My husband and I set the record time at the escape room in Plano,” she told me with obvious pride.

“Then I’m hoping for a puzzle too.”

She accepted my comment with a flat line of a grin, which was pretty damn good considering where we’d started.

Stevie stood up from the picnic table. “I’m not really feeling well,” she announced. “I’d like to sit out today’s challenge, if that’s okay.”

There was no reason to doubt her. She’d given everything to yesterday’s competition. We all knew she cared. But she’d seemed completely fine until I approached. She’d been laughing and chatting with her usual ease, surely reminiscing with Tommy about camp memories from years past.

There was no doubt in my mind that this had to do with me.

When I’d gotten back to our cabin from the mixer, she was already asleep in her bed. The last thing I wanted to do was wake her up and force her to talk to me about the conversation we’d had before our slow dance. I was too busy processing the earthshaking revelation that I was downright obsessed with her and hadn’t previously realized why. Now I feared the worst. I’d pushed her away right when I figured out it was the last thing I ever wanted to do.

Shehadto be avoiding me. I stared in her direction, trying to prompt answers with my eyes. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t noticed my own feelings toward her before now. She sucked the air out of my lungs. She made me want to do random things like sing.

“We’ll just have to win it for you, then,” I told her, too loudly. I looked every other member of our team in the eye and said, “We have to. Okay?” The words sounded comical coming from me. But Stevie needed to see that I could be serious.

She continued avoiding my eye as she said “Thanks for understanding” to our team, then headed off toward the cabins.

Tommy cocked his head, as confused as I was. “Hope she’s okay,” he said.

“Everybody else feeling good?” Captain Aja asked. “Speak now or forever hold your peace.”

The rest of us nodded.

The referees walked us over to the opposite side of the lake, farthest from all the buildings. We were in a clearing. All the trees encircled a wide-open field, where no visible sign of achallenge awaited us except one large rock in the center of the grass.

“Today’s challenge is a scavenger hunt,” one of the referees announced. “Each team will be given a list of tasks, and the first team to return to this spot with everything properly completed will win.”