Chapter Text
Lou dodged under the volleyball net as she continued her sprint across the Great Lawn. Her breathing was heavy as she weaved through a group of campers, who were all dressed in their swimming gear from their recent trip to the lake. She nearly tripped on a soaked abandoned towel as she rounded the corner, heading toward Gladys’ cabin.
“Almost,” she whispered to herself, out of breath as she ran. "There!"
Finally, she bounded up the wooden steps. She paused only to carefully twist the knob to the camp director’s cabin. Keeping her eyes over her shoulder as she watched to make sure there was no angry Weasel behind her, she tip-toed into the cabin. With one final wide-eyed sweep of the world outside, Lou quietly backed in and shut the door. She exhaled.
“Phew.”
“Ahh!”
Lou yelped and jumped to turn around at the sound of the scream behind her. Her heart threatened to pound out of her chest but the feeling quickly subsided when she realized the source of the scream was not from the person she was hiding from. She placed her hand on her chest as her breathing returned to normal.
“What the heck are you doin’ here, Ravi?” she asked.
Ravi had looked as terrified as Lou had felt when she jumped to face him after his scream. He snatched a camp brochure off of the countertop of Gladys’ kitchenette and then fanned his face.
“What am I doing here? You are the one that nearly gave me a heart attack!” Ravi fussed. He fluttered his makeshift fan once more before tossing it back to the countertop.
Lou glanced back at the door, making sure their shouting hadn’t alerted the Weasel to her whereabouts. She turned her attention back to Ravi and crossed her arms.
“Look, I don’t have time for this, Ravi. I need you to hit the road. I’ve gotta hide in here,” Lou explained. She uncrossed her arms and walked up to the wardrobe on the other side of the cabin. She raised her eyebrows as she felt the weight of the solid double doors, surprised it was made of quality wood and not the cheap particle board stuff in the rest of the cabins. She stuck her head inside and inspected the small area. "Perfect," she said.
“Whoa, no!” Ravi said as he quickly walked up to the wardrobe. He swatted Lou’s hands away from the doors as she stepped back. “I am afraid this hiding spot is already taken.”
Lou narrowed her eyes at him. “By who?”
“Me, obviously,” Ravi replied, rolling his eyes. “Now, if you’d excuse me. This is the last place Hazel will look for me.” He nudged her out of the way with his shoulder and then reached inside to push over a black duffel bag that was hunched in the corner of the wardrobe. The movement caused a puppet to fall out with a thud on the rug.
Lou picked up the puppet. It had stringy brown hair and a button nose. Her gaze shifted to the pictures of Morgan Ross plastered all over the internal side of the doors to the wardrobe. She raised her eyebrow and scrunched her nose. "Uhm."
“Yeah…I think this is supposed to be my dad,” Ravi answered her unspoken question. He sighed. “And this is why he never visits.” In a few quick motions, he snatched the puppet out of Lou’s hands, tossed it back into the bag, and climbed himself into the wardrobe. “Goodbye.”
Lou blinked. She snapped back to attention at the dull thump of the wardrobe doors being closed. “Hey!” she shouted as she used her strength to yank open the doors. “This is my hiding spot!” She grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him out of the closet. “I’ve got my own pain-in-the-butt weasel chasing me down!”
Ravi furrowed his brow and shook his wrist free of her grip. “Why is Hazel mad at you?”
Lou shook her head. “She’s not the pain-in-the-butt. At least not this time. Lydia is peeved cause I spilled that beans that she has a crush on Jorge and he found out.”
“Lydia has a crush on Jorge?” Ravi asked with his jaw dropped. He shook his head in disbelief. “I would have never predicted that.”
“Well, she does.” Lou blew out a breath through her nostrils as she looked over at the window beside the cabin door. She saw some CITs walking by as they tossed a ball back and forth. Her heart stopped for a moment when she thought she saw a young blonde in a leather jacket shaking her fist in the air. "Dang it!"
“Is that Hazel!” Ravi asked, stepping closer and gripping tightly to Lou’s arm in terror. “Does she still have that bear trap?”
Lou's eyebrows shot up as she stared at Ravi. “Bear trap?” She shook her head as she turned to look out the window again. She muttered, “That chick is crazy…”
“I know. And I did not mean to foil her plan to trick Xander into a date with her, but she won’t listen to reason,” Ravi explained, still holding tight to Lou’s arm. She could feel his heart threatening to leap out of his chest.
Realizing that the young blonde was the counselor from Bobcat cabin and not Lydia, Lou let out a breath. She returned her attention to the opened wardrobe. “Sounds like they both need time to cool off. But if they find us before then…”
“...Neither of them seem opposed to committing a crime,” Ravi said with a nod, understanding Lou’s sentiment.
“And I can’t risk going back out there…” With some effort, Lou shrugged her arm out of Ravi’s death grip and moved toward the weird shrine to Gladys’ obsession. A hanger screeched as she scooted a silky robe with the camp director's initials on it out of the way. "...So," she said before climbing into the wardrobe.
Ravi pouted and his shoulders sagged. “You are just going to leave me out here to be brutally attacked by Hazel?”
Lou frowned at the dusting of glitter already on her favorite hoodie from Gladys’ creepy paper-heart cutouts plastered on the door. “No,” she said nonchalantly as she picked at the glitter. “But if we both want to fit..." She glanced around the tight space. "...We’re gonna have to cuddle.”
She gave up picking at the glitter and looked outside of the wardrobe to where Ravi was standing in front of the opened doors. He stood frozen as he stared at her with wide eyes. Lou felt her blood run cold. She gasped as she peeked her head outside the wardrobe, certain that one of the angry weasels had found them. But when she looked out, no one else was in the camp director’s cabin. She leaned back into the wardrobe, feeling the softness of the robe behind her back, and gave him a confused look.
“Well, hurry up,” she said, waving towards herself. “I’ve got a feelin’ Lydia’s close.” Her eyes widened. “And I don’t think her counselor confiscates weapons at the beginning of the summer.”
“Uhm, yeah.” Ravi’s eyelashes fluttered and he inhaled deeply. “Yeah. Sorry!” He took two steps forward, but didn't climb into the wardrobe. She saw him visibly swallow as his eyes traced the inside of the packed wardrobe.
“Here,” Lou said impatiently, sticking out her hand for him to hold. His hand trembled slightly in hers, but she ignored it as she helped him into the wardrobe.
Together they closed the doors and the sunlight of the cabin faded to the darkness of the wardrobe. Lou felt herself relax now that she was safely in her hiding spot. Even though Lydia was a tough camper, Lou was confident that the girl would think twice before taking a chance at being caught sneaking into Gladys’ cabin. Plus, there were a lot of rumors about the creepy things that Gladys supposedly kept in her lair that would freak even a Weasel camper out.
“So, what do ya think? We stay put for ‘bout an hour or so and then hope the crazies forget us by dinner?” Lou said above a whisper. She figured now that they were officially hidden in the darkness and closeness of the unofficial shrine, she shouldn’t use her normal speaking voice. She didn't want to take any chances of someone walking into the cabin and overhearing her chitchatting.
But her question was met with silence.
Lou stared into the darkness. She shifted slightly and felt the duffel bag behind her left leg. The Morgan puppet was at her ankle. “Uh, hello?” she whispered. A moment passed with no response. She wondered if he had fallen asleep in the stillness of the space and if that was the reason why his hand felt so warm. “Well, I know you’re in here still cause your hand is on my hip.”
“It is!” Ravi yelped as he backed away. His back hit a different bag of what he assumed were more puppets behind him, but the sporadic movement did not add any distance between him and Lou. Some hangers clattered as he shifted to fold his hands behind his back. “Sorry! I did not mean-"
“Shush! Not so loud,” Lou whisper-shouted, resisting the urge to do a shush motion in the dark. “I said an hour, Ravi! And if Gladys comes in here for her canteen or somethin’ I don’t want her to check the closet.”
Ravi nodded his head in agreement, but then felt ridiculous as he remembered that there was no way for Lou to see the motion in the darkness. He opened his mouth to speak, but then the realization that his hand now knows the warmth of Lou's hip in a dark closet made the words stick to the roof of his mouth. All he could manage was clearing his throat and flexing his fingers.
Only a minute ticked by before Lou rolled her eyes impatiently and exhaled. She whispered, “That doesn’t mean we can’t whisper, Ravi.” She furrowed her brow. “You're usually a chatty Cathy. Well, Cathy doesn't talk that much after she broke up with Roger from Badger cabin. But you get what I mean. Why are you acting so weird?”
Ravi felt the thin layer of nervous sweat form on his brow, but he refused to move his hands to wipe it away. “Well excuse me for trading one stressful situation for another,” Ravi whisper-shouted. “Yes, Hazel may be plotting my demise with sharp objects. But I almost prefer that to being trapped in a very, very tiny wardrobe with you!”
His words stung so much that Lou winced. She felt the uncomfortable burning sensation of tears forming in her eyes and a lump formed in her throat. Confusion jumbled all the questions she had in her mind as to why her friend would suddenly hate being around her, so all she could say was, "Oh..." Her voice was strained with hurt.
Upon replaying his own words in his head, Ravi’s eyes widened as panic overtook him. He quickly removed his hands from behind his back, knocking against puppet limbs along the way, and reached out to comfort his friend. “Wait, no!” He shook his head even though he knew she couldn't see. “No, Lou. That did not come out the way that I meant it to. I assure you.”
Lou sniffed back her tears. She could feel that the stray glitter had some how gotten from her hoodie to her cheek. “What’d you mean?”
Ravi allowed his hands to relax into the grip he had around what he dearly hoped were Lou's upper arms. He automatically brushed his thumbs across the fabric of her hoodie, but immediately stopped for fear that he might still be holding onto her waist. “I apologize, Lou. You know how foolish I get when I’m panicking. I only meant to say that being this close to a pretty girl in the dark is not an everyday occurrence for me. I mean..."
His words trailed off. He noticed how she felt warm beneath his hands and that thought brought his attention to his heartbeat. It was racing. And the thought of his heart racing brought his attention to his breathing. The pace of his breaths had quickened. And the thought of his breathing made him think of her breathing and suddenly he was aware of the rise and fall of his chest and the sound of her normal breathing just inches away from him.
"I mean..." He swallowed. "I can feel you breathing and that’s…disorienting.”
Something about the way he said disorienting had Lou feeling the heat of a blush creep up her neck. She blinked and the cloud of hurt that had fogged her brain seconds ago disappeared. His hands felt warmer to her. She briefly considered melting into his touch, but then she remembered how he almost made her cry. She swatted at the darkness, hoping to hit him. “I thought you were actually mad!”
"Did you try to hit me?" Ravi gasped, breaking out of his stupor.
"Yes!" She swatted again and grinned when he whined from being hit. She smirked, “Okay, so this ain’t about stealing your hiding spot. It’s about you being a stupid guy.”
Ravi loosened his hold on her as his face warmed. He scoffed. “Excuse me?”
Lou smacked her lips. “You heard me." She rolled her eyes and scratched her ankle against the puppet at her feet. "We’re supposed to be in here hiding for our lives and you’re in here thinking about me breathin’ in the dark.”
Ravi felt like his face was on fire. “Uhm, no," he stammered. He cleared his throat. "No! You were the one that mentioned ‘cuddles.’”
"What?" She thought for a moment and then realized he had read too much into her throw away statement from when she had first climbed into the wardrobe. She gave him a smug look that she knew he couldn’t see in the darkness of the wardrobe, but it didn't stop her from doing so. She replied in a teasing tone, “You’re the one with your hands still on my hips, Casanova.”
Ravi squeaked so loudly it caused Lou to flinch. Rustling sounds filled the space as Ravi clumsily withdrew his hands. He didn't breath until his hands were safely folded behind his back. Blushing fiercely, he retorted, “I thought-I thought I was holding your arms.”
“Mmm humm,” Lou hummed with her lips folded to stifle a giggle.
“I assure you! I had no uhm amorous intentions!”
Lou snorted with laughter, but put her hand over her mouth as a reminder to keep quiet. She leaned her shoulder against the backside of the wardrobe, knowing full well that the red glitter from the mural Gladys had created was sure to further ruin her hoodie. She quieted her chuckles to whisper, “You know I don’t know what that word means."
Ravi’s brain willed his mouth to stop talking, but he could not keep from embarrassing himself further. “It means that I was not intentionally embracing you solely because of your curvaceous figure. I mean, no. That’s not what I meant to say. I never pay attention to your curves. I am not even attracted to you! Not that you are not attractive. Or that I couldn't be attracted to you. Because you are! Attractive! You are so very, very pretty.” He squeezed his eyes shut. "Please stop talking, man!"
Lou bit her lip to keep from falling into another fit of laughter. Honestly, she had expected Ravi to ramble nonsense, but she had not expected him to say anything like what he had said. She was glad that he could not see the light blush on her cheeks because it was one thing for her to make fun of him, but it was entirely different if he had cause to make fun of her.
“Just kiddin’. You were holding my arms,” Lou whispered gleefully.
Completely embarrassed and with not only his face but now his heart on fire, Ravi huffed, “I’ll take my chances with the bear trap.”
Lou was unable to hold in her laughter as Ravi shoved the doors of the wardrobe open and clambered out.