Chapter Text
Rare weather events in Maine by definition didn’t happen often. But that day in August, Camp Kikiwaka was covered in snow. Ecstatic campers ran wildly in the fluffy fields of snow behind the cabins. Lou and Ravi were admiring a snowman they had built beside a pine tree. The snowman had large button eyes from Lou’s sewing kit and a carrot nose from the camp kitchen.
Ravi unwrapped his scarf from around his neck and handed it to Lou. Her fingers brushed against his hand and even though he was wearing gloves her touch warmed his heart. He watched her delicately wrap the scarf around the snowman.
“There! All done,” Lou declared as she smiled at their chunky snowman. She took a step back and nodded. “The scarf really works on him.”
Ravi chuckled. Light snowflakes flitted down from the pine tree and danced around Lou. Ravi’s eyes shined with admiration for the young woman in front of him. He stepped closer to the snowman and barely wrapped his arm around the figure, careful not to snap off the twig arms.
“What was that Mr. Snowman?” Ravi asked. He leaned his ear close to the line of pebbles that formed the snowman’s smile. “Uh huh... I see…” He leaned away and quickly turned his head to face the snowman with feigned shock. “You think Lou should go out with me?”
Lou rolled her eyes, but her heartbeat sped up the way it always did when Ravi was around. She crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow at him. She said, “Do you, Mr. Snowman? Cause like I’ve told Ravi before, it’s better if he and I stay friends.” She added with emphasis, “Only friends.”
Ravi removed his arm from the snowman. He leaned closer to its pebble smile again, but this time he cupped his hand around his ear. He nodded as if the snowman had spoken before he stood straight and frowned. “He says you’re being unreasonable.”
Lou uncrossed her arms and clenched her fists at her sides. “Am not! And what’s unreasonable about not wanting to complicate our friendship?”
Ravi held up his hands and gave her an innocent look. He argued, “I didn’t say anything!” He pointed at the snowman. “He’s the one on your case.”
Lou narrowed her eyes at Ravi and then shifted her gaze to the snowman. “Fine. Mr. Snowman, what do you think is unreasonable about not complicating my friendship with Ravi?”
“He says you’re not even giving Ravi a chance.”
“You didn’t even lean in and pretend he was talking to you that time,” Lou said as she unclenched her fists. She took off her hat and gently placed it on top of the snowman’s head.
“I know what he’s thinking,” Ravi replied. He removed his own hat and placed it on Lou’s head before she could argue. “First, he thinks you’ll be cold without a proper hat.”
“Thanks,” she murmured as she adjusted the hat on her head. It was warm and snug. She watched snowflakes gather in his hair. “Here,” she said as she flipped the hood of his jacket over his head. “Mr. Snowman wouldn’t want you to be cold either…”
She could feel the sparks between them, so she turned away to fix the snowman’s crooked nose.
Ravi fixed his gaze on the snowman and said quietly, “Mr. Snowman thinks that maybe… you like Ravi? And so, you should go out with him...”
Lou froze and it wasn’t from the cold weather. She refused to look at him, so she kept her focus on the snowman’s button eyes.
Ravi nervously shuffled on his feet, kicking up small puffs of snow. “So, what do you say?” Ravi asked. “Are you going to listen to our friend here?”
Her silence was amplified by the blanket of snow and stillness that covered the part of the forest they were in. Even though he could hear the faint sounds of campers sledding and running around in a field in the distance, it felt like they were a world away.
“No,” Lou said sternly before turning away.
________________________________________
Lou didn’t stop walking until she reached the Spot. The old truck that was abandoned near the campfire pit was covered in snow. She was surprised there weren’t any couples there. The only sign of life were the footprints left by someone’s rain boots. Lou sighed and fell backward into the snow. The white powder crunched beneath her as she stared up at the grey sky.
It wasn’t long before she heard footsteps in the snow. There was a soft sound as the person fell into the snow beside her.
“We’re making snow angels,” she instructed.
She heard the sound of him waving his arms to make wings. She smiled and did the same. Birds chirped in the treetops above as they waved their arms and legs in the snow.
“Lou,” Ravi spoke up, breaking their silence. “You… you do like me, right?”
She continued moving her arms through the snow to make her angel’s wings. Her face felt warm as she thought about just how much she liked the guy beside her. Without turning to face him, she knew that he was close enough that within a few inches she could reach out and hold his hand in her own.
“I’ve been wrong about matters of the heart in the past,” Ravi continued. He stopped waving his arms and turned to face her. Though the snowy ground blocked part of his view, he could see enough of her face to make his heart ache. “But everyone has assured me that you...well, that you like me… Do you?”
Lou brought her arms to her sides as she ceased making her snow angel. She turned to face him as they both lay in the snow. To her, his eyes looked warmer in the snow. She muttered, “Yes. I like you.”
Ravi propped himself up on his elbow to hear her better. “I’m sorry. What was that?”
Lou scrambled up from the snowy ground and shakily stood. She shouted, “Yes! I like you! Okay!”
“You do!” Ravi cheered. He clumsily stood from the ground. He would’ve fallen back down if Lou hadn’t caught him by the elbows. He held tight to her arms and beamed at her. “This is fantastic! Will you go on a picnic with me?” He glanced around the snow covering the Spot. “Ideally when it’s not snowing. I doubt this weather is recurring in late summer.”
“Are you crazy? No!” Lou huffed as she let go of his arms and swiftly stepped back from him.
The motion threw Ravi off balance and he fell into the snow. Lou almost reached out to help him up, but changed her mind at the last second and walked away.
________________________________________
Within an hour, a huge snowball fight had broken out at camp. It had all started when a counselor from Badger cabin chucked at snowball at Hazel. She declared war and soon no one was safe from the snowy chaos. Woodchuck cabin and Grizzly cabin had decided to team up, but that eventually led to Emma and Xander hiding in the toolshed, Tiffany and Zuri pummeling campers from a tree they had climbed, Jorge screaming while running wildly as Griff blocked them both with an old trash can lid, and Lou pitching snowballs like they were baseballs.
She dodged a snowball being launched at her by a CIT from Bobcat cabin. Quickly, she chucked a ball of snow back at her opponent and watched it hit. With a shout of glee, she raced toward the kayak rack. She was surprised and happy to find Ravi there hiding.
“There you are,” she said between breaths as she crouched behind the kayak rack. “I haven’t seen you since our cabins teamed up. I was worried about you.”
“Sure you were,” Ravi said flatly as he crossed his arms and stuck his nose in the air.
“Oh, don’t be that way,” Lou said as she peeked around the rack, on the lookout for more Bobcats or Weasels.
“How am I supposed to be, Lou?” Ravi said in an exasperated tone that got her attention. She stopped looking around the rack and faced him. He continued, “You repeatedly reject me without any reason. It’d be one thing if you said that you don’t like me, but you say you do like me. It’s very confusing.”
“I’m confused, too!” Lou huffed. She would have angrily shouted at him some more but from the corner of her eye she saw a snowball flying right for them. “Watch out!” she gasped as she pushed them both out of the way.
Her back hit the fluffy snow. She tilted her head back to see their attacker run off. She exhaled, shut her eyes, and relaxed her chin forward. “That was a close one,” she sighed.
“Yeah, but you may have dislocated my shoulder,” Ravi complained.
Lou finally realized that he was practically on top of her and that her hands were still tightly around his arms. She let go of him and stammered out an apology. He propped his elbows in the snow but other than that he didn’t move. His breath was warm on her face and it sent her heart racing.
He searched her face for any sign of annoyance or anger but found none. His stomach filled with butterflies as he saw the look on her face. She was staring at him like he was the sharpest chainsaw in the town store or the greatest book in the library.
“You have really pretty eyes,” he said in a breathless tone as his gaze held hers. In his mesmerized state he leaned forward to kiss her, but her words halted him from doing so.
“This is gonna end badly,” she whispered.
He leaned away from her with concern in his eyes. He asked, “Why?”
“For starters, I’m older than you,” Lou answered honestly. She wondered what kind of toothpaste he used to make his breath so minty. Her eyes flickered to his lips but she quickly shifted her gaze back to his eyes.
Ravi rolled his eyes and said, “By two years, Lou. And it’s not like you haven’t dated older guys before. What’s the difference?”
“True...I guess I hadn’t thought of that.” Not that she was able to think much with his gorgeous eyelashes catching snowflakes as he gazed at her. “Um… well… Dang it! I know there’s another reason… Oh! It’s Emma! Emma’s my best friend and she’s your sister. That would make things weird!”
“Who cares about Emma?” Ravi exclaimed. Lou gave him a look and he sighed. “I mean, yes, we all love Emma. But so? Xander’s my best friend and practically your brother. That didn’t stop them from kicking me out of the toolshed earlier so that they could smooch! Which was totally unfair because I was hiding there first!”
Lou giggled. It made the annoyed expression on Ravi’s face melt away. His shoulder really did hurt from her pushing him out of the snowball’s way, but he didn’t think it was as painful as his desire to kiss her.
“We’re so different, Ravi. I’m a country gal. You’re a city guy. I’ve tamed a wild horse. You ran away from the kids in Bunny cabin cause they were chasing you with safety scissors.”
He smiled at her and said, “And you rescued me from those little monsters.”
His smile was contagious and Lou couldn’t help but smile back at him. “The secret to taming Bunny cabin is gummy bears,” she joked.
His expression turned serious as he asked in a soft tone, “Will you please give me a chance? I know I’ve been persistent through your past rejections of my plea, but if you wish to say no this time, I promise not to ask you out on a date again.”
Lou’s stomach was in knots. She had run out of excuses to say no when she really wanted to say yes. It was difficult to embrace her fears when he was looking at her with those eyes she could get lost in.
“I like you,” he confessed. “I like you more than Xander likes his guitar or Gladys likes that contractor that rebuilt the cabins after the fire. And she really, really likes him. You should’ve seen the muffin basket she ordered for him.”
Even though she had been sinking into the snow for a while now, the cold couldn’t reach her because her heart was aglow. It was useless denying her feelings anymore.
“I like you, too,” she confessed in a tone that was sweet and sure. She leaned forward so that her nose met his and she heard him gasp. She added, “I’ll go out with you.”
His eyes fluttered shut and he tilted his head to kiss her, but he was surprised when she shoved him off of her. He yelped and rolled over in the snow. Her laughter rang out as she scrambled to her feet and grinned at him.
“What was that?” he pouted.
“You’ve got to at least take me on a date before you get a kiss, Casanova,” she lied. Now that she had told him the truth about her feelings, she knew she was definitely going to let him kiss her before the day was over. But her competitive side wanted to rejoin the snowball fight. She held out her hand to help him up from the snowy ground. “Let’s go claim victory for our cabins. With my snowball throwing skills and your battle strategy, this thing’s in the bag.”
He let her hoist him off the ground. He let go of her hand after he regained his balance. He couldn’t help but grin at her as he nodded in agreement. “I would like to win,” he admitted. “To victory!”
She interlocked her gloved fingers with his and the two of them ran off to rejoin the snowball fight.