Chapter Text
The next morning came far too fast for Vivian’s liking. Her body screamed at her to sleep, yet her mind fought back, forcing her muscles to move.
Lauren’s snores continued to reverberate throughout the cabin, making Vivian wonder how she had been getting any sleep at all. Upon looking at how Abby covered her ears with a pillow as she slept, Vivian chuckled slightly, amused at how she wasn't the only one who didn't appreciate Lauren's snoring.
The floorboards creaked as she got ready, putting on her outside clothes, brushing her teeth and hair, and walking out the door. Unlike yesterday, there wasn’t a girl outside of her cabin—only the sight of nature and the sound of the birds chirping.
__________
The campers shuffled into the arts and crafts cabin, pushing and squeezing by each other. Almost all of the campers had already entered before Emma spotted her target.
The redhead followed closely behind Lauren and the rest of her clique.
“Jessie,” Emma called out.
The girl in question turned around, stepping off to the side to get a better look at who was calling for her. As she spotted Emma, her expression changed from confusion to annoyance and back to confusion in less than three seconds. Jessie replied, “Emma?”
Emma motioned for Jessie to follow her before slowly walking to the other side of the cabin. Jessie looked towards the door and back to Emma before deciding to follow.
__________
Conversations continued to roar through the air. The arts and crafts cabin seemed more packed today. Perhaps it was because Lauren was going on about some drama that Vivian was only half-listening to, or maybe it was because she couldn’t seem to spot Emma anymore.
This morning, when she had gotten to the kitchen as part of her punishment, Emma barely said anything to her. Despite the fact that it was only the two of them, she had Vivian do the dishes and didn’t respond to any attempts at starting a conversation, just nodding or humming to the questions Vivian asked. Although out of the corner of her eye, Vivian could catch a few of the glances that Emma took towards her when she thought Vivian wasn’t looking.
“-vian?”
Huh? Was someone talking to her?
“Vivian!” A voice half-shouted.
Vivian quickly flicked her head up from the spot on the wooden table she was burning into with her gaze.
Gwen spoke again, softer this time, looking concerned, “I’ve been calling you for like, a couple minutes now.”
“Sorry, I was busy with my arts and crafts. Y’know, the thing we are supposed to be doing right now.”
Gwen’s eyebrow raised at that statement as she pointed to what was in front of Vivian, “Ah, yes, tis simply a masterpiece. For that is why your paper is completely blank.”
“Whatever,” she pouted.
“What’s up with you?”
“Nothing. Just tired since I was on cooking duty.”
The counselor’s face contorted, a clear look of confusion, concern, and the slightest bit of anger that her sister was attempting to lie to her. She blinked, “I’ve literally seen you awake at 4 in the morning when we have to leave for school at 7:45, Or when it's the weekend and you go hang out with your friends after pulling an all-nighter.”
“Just haven’t been sleeping well with all of Laurens' snoring,” Vivian replied, trying to get her sister to stop asking.
Not wanting to take the hint, Gwen pushed on, “Is this something about Emma?” Vivian flinched ever-so-slightly. In her mind, she could only hope that her little sister didn’t catch it. As she continued, Vivian tried her hardest to look uninterested. “Or is it just a coincidence that both of you are acting weird at the same time?”
Vivian shrugged, “A coincidence. Speaking of which, where is she?”
“Outside.” Gwen batted her eyelashes, “Come on, Diiii, you can tell me what’s up. I am your sister after all.”
Vivian opened her mouth to retort, but not so far away, she could see that the door opened and the familiar figure she had been looking for emerged.
Emma looked around the cabin before landing on the same table that Gwen and Vivian sat, taking a few moments before walking over. A redhead trailing behind with her shoulders slumped, eyebrows furrowed, and gaze low. Lauren’s group hunched over the table and their hands cupped around their mouths, attempting to be subtle, as Emma walked by them.
Emma gave a quiet clap, her voice feigning excitement, “Congrats, Viv, you’re gonna help me set up today’s activity.”
Vivian slowly pushed herself up and away from the table, heading towards Emma, but careful not to get too close, as these were the first real words Emma had spoken to her since the day prior. “Lead the way, boss.”
As they walked out of the arts and crafts cabin, they could hear Lauren and her group snickering behind them.
Outside of the cabin, two large, black bags sat next to the door. One of themwasg noticeably larger, stuffed to the brim, with the zipper barely holding itself together. The other’s fabric was looser, less bulky than the first.
Of course Emma took the second, smaller bag.
Vivian sighed, “What am I, your lackey?”
“Yes, yes you are. As you have probably noticed by now, I am not as strong as the normal person” Emma replies, showcasing her noodle arms to the girl. “And as you can see you have far more arm muscle than me,” Emma states, squeezing Vivian's upper arm to prove her point.
Out of pure reflex, Vivian’s arm flexed, her muscles pushing against Emma’s own hand. The hand remained on the arm, squeezing slightly harder as Emma’s gaze burned into the muscle.
Seeing that the counselor was clearly staring, Vivian dropped the bag on to the ground, pulled her sleeve up her biceps, making them very noticeable while flexing in Emma’s hand, which didn’t even wrap around it halfway.
In response, Emma retreated quickly, bringing her hand to her chest. She turned away and slightly crouched into herself and Vivian could have sworn she was whispering something to herself, almost like she was trying to calm herself down.
Moments later, Emma turned back around, her face dusted with a bright pink and her mouth brought together in a line. To Vivian, it was the one of the cutest sights she could ever imagine. She chuckled, “You are such a loser.”
Emma retorted, “Shush lackey, now move!” Vivian simply sighed and looked at her with a tired expression that just screamed ‘seriously?’ Only then, did Emma realize that she hadn’t given any true instructions, “We’re gonna head to your cabin so you can get some stuff before we head out. Keep in mind that we’re gonna be out until night time.”
The walk to Vivian’s cabin was quiet, too quiet. The previous jokes had far died out and now they were left walking in the forest alone together.
Emma’s expression seemed to be more thoughtful, her eyes not staring at anything and remaining unfocused.
Vivian continued to shift slightly. Her eyes continued to dart towards the shorter girl, thoughts of what she could be thinking racing in her mind.
At this point, Vivian wasn’t paying attention to what was around them, only mimicking Emma’s movements.
The girl in question’s body came to a halt as she looked towards Vivian. Seeing that she was currently being stared at, she turned away to look to the floor and cleared her throat, “Go get your stuff.”
The camper did as she was told, dropping her own bag, opening her cabin and getting dressed more appropriately for the forest’s cool air. Even now, it was much colder than usual.
Looking outside of her cabin window, she saw the counselor sitting against a tree with the two bags, curled into a ball with a red nose, and hands in front of her mouth before rubbing them together.
Of course she didn’t get ready.
Vivian looked into her suitcase, grabbing another jacket that had fluff lining the inside with the tag being embroidered with her own last name, and throwing it over her shoulder.
As she walked out the door, Emma’s attention turned towards her and she slowly got up. Passing her, Vivian threw the jacket over the other girl’s face and speed walked away with the smaller black bag.
The jacket, catching her off guard and prohibiting her view, made her stumble back down to the ground. “Rude,” Emma called out.
When she removed the jacket from her head, taking time to inspect it and the embroidered tag before slipping it on over her head. She looked down at the bags to see that Vivian took the smaller one this time, “Well what’s the point of having a strong lackey if said lackey isn’t gonna do their job,” Emma pouted, attempting to pick up the big bag, almost stumbling to the ground yet again.
Eventually, she picks it up and continues to stumble her way towards Vivian, trailing behind by a considerable distance. Thankfully, Vivian slows down and allows herself to fall back next to Emma, stealing some glances in the process, “Who’s to say you’re not my lackey?”
“Okay, but like.. in all the Hollywood movies, the main dude is tiny and scrawny and they have a huge, muscular lackey who does all the hard work for them."
“Yeah, well this isn’t Hollywood.” Vivian replies, noticing how comfortable Emma looks in her hoodie, which was much too big for her, making her cheeks get dusted with pink, “You picked me because I’m your huge muscular lackey?”
“Well duh, it was either you or Lauren. And between us? She’s been kinda getting on my nerves lately.” Emma confessed, taking on a more serious expression.
Vivian nods, the conversation dying out. An awkward silence enveloped them as they continued to walk down the trail.
Although, Emma must have thought Vivian was blind if she thought she was being subtle about her staring. Vivian turned her head towards Emma who suddenly thought that the gravel looked fascinating.
This same behavior continued even as they would set some of the props around the forest.
Emma looked at Vivian, having a more serious but nervous look on her face, “We should probably talk about what happened last night.” The sentence catching Vivian off guard, she looks towards Emma, studying her face to see what reaction was appropriate.
“Well, you’re acting stranger than usual. You’re more jumpy.”
“I’m not being ju-” As if on cue, Emma tripped over nothing, nearly plummeting head-first into the ground if not for Vivian dropping her bag and catching Emma by the back of the sweater.
“See? Jumpy.”
Emma regained her balance, brushing off the non-existent dirt on her torso, “Twas but a stumble.”
Silence fell over the two once again and Emma picked up her bag, beginning to walk away.
Many moments had passed, most of the objects had been placed in their respective areas until Emma spoke once again, “You kissed me and left. I haven’t done any type of emotional crap before and I’m not sure how to respond to something like that.” She took a breath, “Maybe I have been avoiding you and maybe I have been jumpy today but I’m just… not sure how to deal with new feelings.”
Vivian didn’t say anything in response, just continuing to walk with the bag as she looked at Emma’s eyes.
Emma continued to look forward, avoiding Vivian’s gaze, “Can we just forget about the kiss? So we can just get rid of the awkwardness and go back to normal? Because to be honest, I quite enjoy our nice conversations.”
Vivian sighed, “If that’s what you want, then that’s what you can do, Emma.”
Emma nodded, her eyes drifting to the ground. She wavered from the path, dropping her bag and dramatically falling down to sit against a tree trunk.
Vivian stared for a good moment, “I think we’re more alike than you think, Emma.” Vivian paused before continuing, “We’re both incompetent at certain social cues. But that doesn’t mean we can’t communicate properly and clearly. It just means we’re probably more honest than most people.”
“Are you saying you mean everything you say?”
“Of course not. We’re not entirely dim witted.” Vivian slid down the trunk and sat next to me, shoulder to shoulder. “Your style can be… captivating. Very charming. You don’t like to play games and you wear your truth on your sleeve, you expose vulnerability and emotions—it could be susceptible to weakness, but it’s not. And that’s how we differ.”
“So you’re saying that we’re both idiots, just in different ways?”
She placed her hands on her face and kept them there. “No.”
Emma leaned forward, peeking beneath her hands. “Then what are you saying?”
“That’s why I kissed you, Emma. For the reasons I said—that’s why, and there’s no way in hell that I’m repeating myself.”
“I’m confused. I thought we were gonna forget about that?”
“I said that you could.”
“But you’re not?”
“It appears that way.”
“You make this hard.”
“Maybe but don’t act like I’m the only one making this hard. You’re the one who was avoiding me for most of today.”
Emma nodded and sighed at the same time. She looked up at the sky and thought for a moment, “I have a suggestion, but I’m not sure if it would make things worse or not.”
“That’s practically impossible.”
“Maybe we shouldn’t forget about it, and just revisit what happened.” She clarified, “The kiss.”
Emma finally looked at Vivian, as if gauging and studying her reaction. She was right to do so because Vivian’s whole body froze.
Seeing this, Emma covered her face with her hands, mumbling, “Or not. Up to you, y’know.”
Vivian fully leaned back on the trunk, her head facing up and her eyes closed, “It appears that yes, it is entirely possible to make things easier. It took you one sentence to express how you feel. However, I can’t follow through with your suggestion to kiss you if you’re barricading your face.”
“I didn’t specify a time for my suggestion.”
“A one-time deal, Emma. Now or never.”
“But it’s my suggestion!” She squished her face into her knees, her voice much higher than normal, “How can you make it so that the terms and deal are yours?”
Vivian tapped Emma’s neck, “Compromise. That’s how.”
Emma turned her head so her cheek rested against her knee and met Vivian’s eyes. “I’ve got a better idea than my suggestion.”
Vivian paused. “I don’t see what’s better than kissing you.”
Emma’s cheeks return to their previously pink color as she puts her face back in her hands, attempting (poorly might I add) to hide her growing smile.
“Courting.”
“Courting is your way of compromising? That is quite literally removing the original suggestion.” Vivian replies as she reaches out to touch her cheek, wanting Emma’s attention on her as she thought about the offer.
Emma snuggles into Vivian’s way too big hoodie, pulling at the sleeves, trying to hide her goofy smile, “Well, you’re doing pretty good already.”
An invisible string pulled at the edge of Vivian’s lips. Perhaps Vivian’s pride was getting the best of her and that smirk was proof but she wouldn’t let Emma know, “That doesn’t count.”
“Preventing me from being cold doesn’t count?”
“Affirmative.”
“I’m winning then.”
“Winning? This isn’t a competition.”
“According to you, I’m wooing you faster than you’re wooing me. Faster. Better. Apparently, courting is my game,” Emma bragged.
“I kissed you,” Vivian hissed, leaning closer so no one else could hear despite the fact that there wasn’t anyone around, “You say I make things hard. Emma, no. You have to breathe and it’s hard.”
“Hard not to kiss me again?” Emma received a slap on her thigh for that comment, but that didn’t make her giddiness falter. She slowly stood up and offered her hand. Vivian purposely stood up by herself and crossed her arms. “I offered you the chance to be in the lead. But no, by your definition, you weren’t already courting me.”
“Fine, I’ll entertain your idea. But I promise you, I’ll win.”
Emma snickered, “Y’know it isn’t good to make promises you can’t keep, Viv.”
“I’m confident I can make good on it.”
“Okay.” Emma offered a hand out.
As Vivian shook hands with the other girl, she simply replied, “Okay then.”
They continued to set up the rest of the scavenger hunt together without any incidents. Though, unlike before, Vivian noticed that Emma was practically whistling with how joyful she looked.