“I, uhm . . .” I am not the girl that stumbles over her words. I am the rambler. I am the oversharer. I am lost for words. “I promise to try my hardest to not put you through that.”
“He told me you know how shitty his dad is to him.”
“Yeah.”
“You know more in six weeks than some of our friends have found out in two years.” When he puts it like that, it makes me value even more how much Russ has trusted me with. “He doesn’t know how much everyone loves him. He only ever assumes the worst and jumps to the worst conclusions, sometimes you’ll need to spell the good out to him.”
I don’t say it to Henry, but I know exactly what he means. Russ and I would have started on a much more friendly foot if he hadn’t wrongly assumed I’d feel uncomfortable around him. “You’re a good friend, Henry.”
“Russ deserves good friends.”
We spend the rest of breakfast talking about some photographs Henry took of their B&B and the surrounding landscape for him to attempt to do try some new paintings techniques when he gets home and, by the time everyone is leaving, I feel like Henry will remember me as the girl who likes his friend and not the girl he bumped into that night.
Having seven painfully attractive strangers here has caused mayhem . Everyone is horny and acting a little chaotic. I’m okay though, because a painfully attractive man makes me feel horny and chaotic daily, so I’m used to it.
Maya and I work hard to keep the kids busy and burn off all their excess energy by swapping our morning schedule of arts and crafts for a treasure hunt—much to Jenna and her program spreadsheet’s dismay—but Russ and Clay lose our map with all the treasure locations and the whole thing takes three times as long.
The hunt does the trick and by the time our post-lunch quiet hour arrives, everyone is a lot more chilled than they were a few hours ago, but Maya is losing her voice from shouting all morning. My voice remains undefeated.
I’m hanging out with the other counselors in the shade on the picnic bench outside the Brown Bears cabin, when Xander clears his throat. “I have an announcement to make.” I think he’s waiting for some kind of dramatic reaction, but nobody says anything. “Emilia and I have decided to part over creative differences.”
“Gimme a clue,” Maya says, squinting at him as she shields the sun from her eyes.
“You’re so goddamn dramatic,” Emilia groans. “The talent show. Xander is going to do his own thing because we can’t agree on anything.”
“Is this because she said you couldn’t win American Idol?” Clay asks. “Nobody sounds good singing campfire songs, bro. Don’t take it to heart.”
My jaw drops. “No. Absolutely not. We’re a team.” Every other counselor group has said they’re going to work out an act the day before, because it’s not that serious. Fuck that, I want my group to be the best. That’s why I’ve been trying to get everyone organized for weeks. It’s not my fault I’m not creative enough to come up with an idea myself. “You can’t do it on your own, Xan. That’s super sad and lonely. You need us.”
“I’m not. I have Russ.” He pats Russ on the back and Russ looks up, suddenly alert.
“Sorry, what’s happening?”
“Creative differences. Talent show. Dog tricks. Come on, man, I told you like an hour ago,” Xander says, blocking out Emilia with his hand when she starts laughing at dog tricks.
“I didn’t realize you wanted me to join you! If Xander gets to leave the group, can I just not participate?”
“No!” Xander and I snap at the same time.
“You promised,” I remind him.
He rolls his eyes. “Was worth a try.”
Several high-pitched screams ring out from the kids cabin and Maya and Clay jump to their feet. “I swear to God, if Michael has brought in another frog, I’m going to make him sleep by the lake,” Maya grumbles.
As soon as they’re gone, Russ moves closer to me, leaning against his hand at an angle that blocks out Emilia and Xander from our conversation. “I won’t go with Xander if you don’t want me to. I know how important this is to you.”
I want to kiss him. I always want to kiss him. Sighing overdramatically, I place my hand on the table next to his elbow so I can gently brush my finger against his arm. “It’s fine. I don’t want Xander to be on his own and I don’t want you to be unhappy. It’s not a big deal. Now that Emilia has no opposition, we’ll definitely be dancing.”