Chapter Text
My POV
It was the last day of camp. I couldn’t believe how fast those two weeks went. So many memories were formed, and so many friendships.
Tonight we would have the closing fire. I wasn’t ready to leave camp yet.
“Hey (y/n), let’s make the most of today. Stop moping around!” Yelled Courtney from the floor. I was lying in my bunk, the top one, staring at the ceiling. I turned towards her.
“What are we going to do?” I sighed.
“I know Joshua’s going over to the field to play football with the other guys. We could go watch them. Or we could go horseback riding, or-“
At the mention of Joshua’s name I sprang up. Him and I were friendly with one another, getting closer as the days went on. I had an obvious crush on him. Well, to everyone except him it seemed.
“I’m up!” I climbed down from my bed. Courtney laughed.
“I knew that would work. Olivia and Mari are swimming in the lake, so it’s just us.”
“Let me get ready. I have to impress him,” I fixed my hair in the mirror''.I swear he’s the most oblivious guy out there. But I still love him.”
“Just like how I’m in love with Shayne it seems.” Courtney had her own drama to deal with. Shayne was the nicest guy here. And his natural personality was flirtatious. It was hard to tell whether he was being nice or actually had a crush.
“Why can’t it be more obvious? We’ve been talking since the start of camp.”
I turned to look at her. “It’ll work itself out. How does my hair look?” I had braided my long hair into two neat Dutch braids that reached my chest. I’d been growing it out for two years now.
“Looks perfect. Could you do mine real quick?” I quickly braided Courtney’s hair, then we were off to the field at the top of camp. It was a bit of a walk, as we had to go up a steep staircase to reach the upper part of camp.
When we got there, the boys were sorting themselves into teams. I spotted Joshua right away. He wasn’t conventionally attractive, more of a nerd-ish type. He had beautiful dark hair, and black glasses. His eyes were dark brown and sparkled in the light.
I sighed and smiled slightly, watching him. Courtney had her eyes in Shayne, who (thankfully) had his shirt off. He was the most fit out of everyone there.
“He looks good today, doesn’t he?” Asked Courtney, who had gone all doe-eyed at him.
“You two would look so cute together,” I replied.
“But we’re only 18. Are we too young to be in love?” Asked Courtney, turning to me.
“I think love’s possible at any age. I mean, my parents met when they were 17 and got married at 23.”
“Cool. I wish he would look at me and notice me.”
“Ditto for Joshua.”
We continued to watch the game, focusing on our crushes. When the game ended, I saw them whispering to one another, then glance over at us, then back to whispering. And then they started to walk over.
“They’re walking over here,” I whispered harshly to Courtney. I was nervous.
“Be chill! Pretend like we’re talking about something funny!”
We proceeded to fake laugh and I came up with a fake story to discuss.
We pretended to be surprised when they said hello.
“Hey, what’s up guys?” Courtney said causally.
“Not much. Just wanted to say hi, since y’all are over here,” replied Shayne happily.
“You guys played well out there,” I said shyly.
“Thanks!” Beamed Joshua.
“What are your plans for the rest of the day?” Courtney asked.
“Nothing really. Was thinking about going to the pottery room. What are you two doing after lunch?” Said Shayne.
Courtney and I glanced at each other.
“We were going to go paddle boarding. Or to the pool. We haven’t decided,” I replied. The butterflies in my stomach had momentarily settled.
“Cool. Maybe we’ll see you there,” said Joshua, winking, before walking away with Shayne.
As soon as they were out of earshot, Courtney and I squealed.
“Oh my god he winked at you!” Shouted Courtney.
“I know! I felt like I was going to hurl.”
“Same. I was blushing so hard with shirtless Shayne right in front of me. I wanted to feel his abs so bad.”
“I could stare into Joshua's eyes all day.”
We were grinning like madmen as we left the field, headed down towards the dining hall.
Inside, we sat at our cabin table. Our cabin consisted of us, Mari, Olivia, Erica, Sarah, Jacklyn, and Kimmy. We had a good group going.
“How was your guys’ morning?” Asked Sarah, our counselor. Jacklyn was the other counselor.
“Good. (y/n) and I watched the guys play football,” said Courtney.
“Horseback riding,” answered Erica.
“Swimming in the lake,” said Olivia and Mari.
“Pottery,” said Kimmy.
Lunch was good: it was build your own sandwich day. I had salami, Mayo, and American cheese on mine. Plus a handful of potato chips on the side.
I was thankful that I chose the right side of the table. I had a direct view of the table next to ours, which happened to be Joshua’s. Shayne was in a different cabin all the way at the end of the row. There were 15 cabins total, not including the counselor in training cabin, nicknamed ‘The Palace’.
For desert we had the most amazing cherry cobbler I had ever tasted. Sadly we were only allowed one serving of dessert. I wished i could go up for seconds. Then it was time for announcements, where we did the usual chant. In that chant we yelled ‘announcements’ 3 times, then something else that I honestly had no clue what it was saying, then ‘take it away Martha!’ Martha was the director of the camp, along side her husband Bobby. The only announcements were that the closing fire was at nine tonight, and we had the rest of the day free until dinner at 5, then until 9 we could do whatever.
We were then dismissed, and Courtney and I heard to our cabin (11) on the hill.
“What swimsuit should I wear for paddle boarding?” I asked her, laying out my options on Kimmy’s bunk (she had the bottom bunk below me).
“Hm. This one,” she pointed at the bikini with a royal blue top and tropical flower bottoms. I loved the back in this one: it was criss-crossed in the back and had a push up effect on my chest.
“Which one for me?” Asked Courtney, who was also having trouble deciding.
“This,” I pointed at a sporty bikini for her. A pastel tie dye halter style top with matching high rise booty shorts.
We changed in front of each other, facing the walls. It would be faster than going to the restroom. And after two weeks, it was no big deal.
Turning around, we looked each other up and down and give each other the thumbs up.
“Let’s go seduce some boys!” Said Courtney, in a victory cry sort of way. I laughed and pumped my fist in the air like her.
“To victory!” I slipped on my flip flops and sunglasses, put on sunscreen, and went towards the lake.
A short time later, we were pulling out our boards and getting our paddles. It was the two of us, plus some other girls from cabins 2 and 9. I didn’t know them well. But I soon learned their names were Rachel, Tina, and Patricia. Our instructor’s name was Clarissa.
Just before we paddled out, who should come running down the hill but Joshua and Shayne, both shirtless.
I bit my lip to avoid my jaw dropping.
HOLY SHIT JOSHUA IS HOT. HE HAS ABS! I screamed internally. To my surprise he had a pretty nice six pack going. Not as great as Shayne, but not half bad. I looked over to Courtney, who was in the same state as me.
“Sorry for being late. Had some things to take care of,” apologized Joshua “hey (y/n), hey Courtney. Told you we’d see you here.”
“Hi. Yeah good to see you two again,” I breathed.
Th walked away to grab their boards, and Courtney and I took this opportunity to whisper to one another.
“Dude, I had no idea Josh had muscles,” I whispered.
“Yeah. I swear I’m going to come from just staring at Shayne.”
“No need to be vulgar, but honestly same.”
We quickly pulled away when they returned.
And soon enough we were on the water, paddling towards the middle of the lake. It was a bit hard to balance, but for the most part I managed. Until we started to do yoga.
I think I succeeded, as I felt his eyes on me for a good portion of the time we were out there. At the end, we all jumped into the water for fun. The cool water felt great against my warm skin. My braids were still in tact, thankfully, so my hair wasn’t a total mess. Shayne reminded me of a wet dog when he got back into his board and shook his hair off. If I had to decide what kind of dog he was, I’d say a golden retriever. Joshua was more of a chocolate lab.
(Time skip to cabin)
“That was so fun,” said Courtney when we got back to the cabin. We decided to change out of our swimsuits and head to the jewelry porch.
“Yeah. I swear I felt Josh’s eyes on me during down dog.”
“How could he ignore dat ass?” Said Courtney, causing me to laugh.
“Dude, my ass is fucking flat.”
“I don’t think so. You’re super pretty, and you have a great butt. Any guy would be dying to have you.”
“Thanks. Shayne was definitely look at you too.” I replied, bending down to adjust my towel as I shimmied out of my wet bottoms and into my underwear and shorts.
“Finally. Ooo! I got an idea!”
“What?”
“I’m going to try and sit next to Shayne at the campfire tonight. You should sit next to Josh.”
I blushed. “Maybe...”
“You should do it. And exchange phone numbers so you can keep in touch.”
“Maybe.”
Courtney laughed. “You’re stubborn, you know?”
“Trust me, I know.”
We eventually got to the jewelry porch, where we were joined by Mari and Olivia.
I decided to make a bracelet for Joshua. One that represented friendship (purple and yellow beads), the other representing love (red and pink beads). If things went well, then he got the love one.
I finished my bracelets just as the bell rang, signaling that it was time for dinner. The time had passed faster than I thought. I shoved the bracelets in my pocket and went down to the dining hall with Courtney.
(After dinner)
Dinner was great. Cheese filled ravioli with a choice of red sauce or Alfredo sauce. I chose Alfredo. And garlic bread. Dessert was tiramisu.
I got up to leave when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around and was surprised to see Joshua there.
“Do you have any plans for this evening?” He asked, looking slightly nervous.
“No. Why?”
“Do you....would you...uh want to go canoeing with me? It’s fine if you don’t, I won’t take offense.”
I smiled. The butterflies in my stomach returned. “I would love to go canoeing. What time?”
“How about in 10 minutes?”
“I’ll meet you at the docks.”
“Awesome!” He smiled and walked away. I couldn’t get rid of the smile on my face. Was this a date?
I ran to my cabin and slammed the door open, startling everyone.
“GUYS. JOSH JUST ASKED ME TO GO CANOEING WITH HIM. IN TEN MINUTES!” I yelled excitedly.
“OH MY GOD YES. WE HAVE NO TIME TO LOSE!” Yelled Courtney back.
“You can borrow my perfume!” Said Sarah from her bunk.
“And my makeup!” Added Olivia.
Courtney quickly helped me freshen up. I hadn’t had time to rinse off the lake water from my hair, so we used some nice smelling hair product to mask it. Kimmy gave me a mint to chew on to freshen my breath.
A moment later, I was headed down to the dock to meet Joshua. I had gotten there before him, 2 minutes early to be exact. He showed up a moment later.
“Hopefully you weren’t waiting long?” He asked.
“I just got here, don’t worry.”
The sun was just beginning to set, casting the sky into a light blue. Soon we were on the water, paddling out. I still wasn’t sure why he asked me to go. It was an odd thing, coming from him. But I was glad.
“This should be good,” he mumbled to himself, thinking I didn’t hear him.
“So why’d you ask me to go canoeing?” I asked boldly, looking him in the eyes.
He was silent for a few minutes before answering. I watched the sun sink further down, the sky now shades of purple and pink.
“Because I don’t want anyone to interrupt us.” He said, taking a deep breath.
Where was this going? I wondered.
“Interrupt what?”
“This,” he took another deep breath before reaching out to hold my hands and looked me in the eyes “(y/n), are the most amazing, intelligent, funny, trustworthy, kindest, and most beautiful girl I have ever seen. You are something special, unlike anyone else, with nothing but kindness in your heart,” he paused to collect himself. I felt tears going down my face.
“You have the greatest smile that lights up your whole face. Your laugh is perfect, even though I know you don’t like it. Your eyes sparkle like the stars in the sky. You are perfect to me,” he paused again. “I’m in love with you, (y/n). And I know it sounds crazy because we’re young and we’ve only known each other for two weeks, but I really feel a connection with you.”
I clasped put hands over my mouth. I hated the way I looked when I cried. And now was not a great time to cry.
“I-I’m sorry for crying. I’m-I’m just really happy right now. No guy has ever told me those things, complimenting me like that,” I took a deep breath and collected myself, facing him again.
“Do you...like me back?” He asked hopefully. Instead of answering, I leaned in to kiss him. He kissed back, and I swear fireworks went off. His lips were rough yet soft. I pulled away for a moment and whispered huskily, “does that answer your question?”
“Yes, but I want to hear you say it.”
I smiled and yelled “I’M IN LOVE WITH YOU JOSHUA OVENSHIRE.”
He laughed loudly. “I meant just to me, but that works too!” He leaned in, pulling me into another kiss before we came back to shore.
(Closing fire)
As soon as we got to the campfire, there was a round of applause to greet us. It was my entire cabin and the guys from josh’s cabin that were cheering as we walked up, holding hands.
“It’s about damn time,” laughed Damien.
“I thought we’d have to to take matters into our own hands,” added Noah.
“Aww they’re holding hands,” gushed Olivia.
Joshua and I looked at each other, shrugged, and kissed in front of them. They all cheered again and I died of embarrassment on the inside.
I looked for Courtney, who I noticed was next to Shayne, her head resting on his shoulder. I was happy for her. We had both achieved our summer goals.
The end.