Drew

I watched Chloe walk away and shoved my hands back into the pockets of my board shorts. Man, I’d messed that up.

I’d actually wanted to apologize to her. I’d been a jerk last summer and I knew it. The ridiculous part was, I had no idea why. I mean, I kind of knew. I’d been the lead guitarist in a band and when I couldn’t tour for the summer, they’d dropped me. I’d started that band and they’d treated me like nothing. Not that Chloe had anything to do with that. But I’d hated being here, I’d wanted to be on tour and her enthusiasm bugged the crap out of me.

But it wasn’t just annoyance at her bubbliness that got under my skin so much. Every time she started acting all gaga around Alex, I got mad. I still didn’t understand why.

What I did know was that my year at UConn had been one of the longest of my life. And, honestly, I’d found myself thinking about Chloe a lot. How warm her smile was. How cute she was when she was cheering the younger campers on. . I’d started to realize her enthusiasm was like a balm rather than an irritant. I could have used some of that this past winter.

I definitely could have used it last summer, if I hadn’t worked so hard to push her away. Actually, I needed her help now. Which meant apologizing in a big way.

“Did you see Millie?” Alex said next to me. “She grew up. A lot. I mean she was always pretty but now she’s like a ten.”

I look over at the guy. “What?” Alex is one of my best friends but that kid is thick. I am not the most self-aware person, but didn’t he know that Chloe had a big crush on him? I mean he could not go after her best friend. That was more than mean, it was downright cruel. “Millie? What about Chloe?”

Oddly, my stomach twisted when I said that. It felt wrong to tell him to consider Chloe.

“Chloe?” He cocked his head to one side like this had never occurred to him. Really? “She’s a cutie for sure. But I don’t know, I never really thought of her like that.”

A let out a long breath, somehow relieved to hear the words. I should probably spell it out for him. Chloe likes you. My insides churned again at the thought and so instead I said, “Sure, man.”

“What about you?” Alex asked and my stomach tightened again, not sure where this was going.

“What about me?” I could hear my tone getting all defensive.

“I don’t know. I saw you help her out of her car. I was surprised, I guess. I thought you hated her.”

Hated her? Man, is that what people thought? “I don’t hate Chloe. She’s adorable. She’s…” What? I’d been about to say gorgeous. Fun. Sweet even. And honestly, really nice. She was a catch.

Alex shrugged, his eyes looking down the path the girls had disappeared down. “Yeah, it’s so weird. I didn’t even notice Millie last year. I mean, not really.”

I tried not to roll my eyes. I failed but my sunglasses were still on so it didn’t matter. Don’t get me wrong, I was glad he hadn’t asked me to finish my sentence. And I was even happier that he didn’t seem interested in Chloe. But of course he hadn’t noticed Millie. He’d been too busy chasing after Tiffani. And while that chick might have been gorgeous she had not been adorable, or sweet, not even nice. Not the sort of girl, he’d want for a girlfriend. He couldn’t tell Alex this, but he’d been so glad when they’d broken up. Tiffani had been tough to be around. “It’s a whole new summer.”

“Yeah, man. It is. We got an hour until opening camp meeting. Want to go for a swim?” Alex looked toward the ocean, already shaking off our conversation, ready for an activity.

“Sure,” I shrugged, taking another look at Chloe’s car. She’d been in such a hurry, she’d left the top down of her Lincoln Mercury. Its worn leather seats were baking in the sun. It actually was a pretty cool car and completely perfect for her. Warm, sunny, bright and beautiful. Walking back to the driver’s side, I opened the door and pushed the lever, to put the top back up. Then, finding some hooks, I latched it into place. This car deserved to be cared for…loved.

I ran my hand through my hair a couple of times. I don’t know why I had teased her about it other than I’d seen her ogling Alex yet again.

“Good thinking,” Alex moved back over the sidewalk and waited for me to finish securing the top.

As I walked away, I took one last look back at the car. The trunk was huge and I couldn’t help but picture how much band equipment would fit in that monster. Grinning, I headed for the beach. If I could just convince Chloe not to hate my guts, I might get to test it out sometime.

I shook my head to try and keep from getting ahead of myself. First, I needed her to know that I was sorry and pray she would help me.

* * *

Chloe

My bags were finally unpacked so Millie and I headed to the all-camp opening meeting. It was just a short walk down a lightly wooded trail from our cabin. Ocean forest was not like regular woods. Tiny scrub pines dotted the path, with little undergrowth. The trail was full of campers making their way to the meeting as well. But this year, I wouldn’t be with them, I’d be up on the stage with the other counselors. Excitement bubbled inside me at the thought.

I already knew from my congratulations letter that I’d be teaching swim instruction to first and second year campers. I was super excited about this role. Most first-time counselors got positions running the daily craft or monitoring meal times. The extra responsibility would only add to my resume. But then again, most eighteen year olds probably weren’t thinking about their future like I was. I wanted to be a teacher more than anything and Simmons had a great program with amazing internships. This experience could really help me get the best ones.

Millie had been assigned as a general counselor. That meant she likely would be running a craft and she’d also have more evening monitoring duties. I winced on her behalf. You missed a lot of fun if you were stuck with the campers at bedtime.

We entered the field where a lot of the activities for camp happened. I loved this place. At one end was the stage but the entire area overlooked the bay where the camp was located. It was an amazing program because, in addition to the regular camp activities, they had a marine biology program.

“I see two seats in the back row,” Millie pointed, climbing up the stage steps.

I nearly groaned aloud. They weren’t together, we’d be separated. And while Millie slid into one of the empty seats, next to a girl I recognized from last year, that only left a seat next to Drew. Why did it have to be him? At least on his other side was Alex and probably the reason Millie had left me the seat. I appreciated the friendship gesture but I think I would have taken the other seat.

Though, there wasn’t much choice now. I willed myself to walk to the back of the stage and approach the chair where he sat. Just as I was about to plop into the chair, he slid his arm across the back. I stopped. Was that a move to block me? Keep me from sitting next to him? “Is this seat taken?”

“Nope, all yours.” He gave me that smile again, the one that made me blink in surprise with its megawatt power, but he didn’t remove his arm. Fine, I grumped to myself as I slid into the seat. I didn’t care if he was touching me but I immediately felt the warmth of his skin against my shoulder blades and my cheeks heated. I was imagining how we looked to everyone else who might turn around. We looked like a couple sitting like this.

“Hey,” Alex leaned forward to give me a wink around Drew. “Welcome to the counselor section.”

My blush deepened. I needed to get my tan going soon so it wasn’t so completely obvious when my cheeks turned pink. “Thanks,” I chirped. I was glad Alex was talking to me but what did he think about Drew having his arm on the back of my chair? To be fair, he didn’t seem to notice but I was painfully aware of the touch.

The meeting started and I heard Mitch, the director, talking but I didn’t really listen to words. He was standing with his back to us, addressing the crowd so I couldn’t see his face anyway. Not that I needed to listen. I’d heard this speech a thousand times, okay ten, but I was also completely distracted by Drew’s arm. I swear he was touching some of my hair. Not my ponytail of course but a couple of times, I felt the tendrils falling out the bottom shift or pull. When I looked at him, however, he was staring straight ahead, his gaze fixed on the back of Mick’s head, his expression blank.

I was so consumed wondering why he had his arm on my chair that I barely paid attention to Alex either.

I blinked back to reality when my name was called. “We’d like to welcome all of the new counselors that have joined the staff at Camp Winni.” Mick’s voice boomed through the microphone.

Several counselors turned back to say congratulations to me or Millie, but as they did, Drew leaned over to whisper in my ear, “Congratulations.” His breath was soft and tickly and it made me shiver. And everyone was watching with his arm around me and his breath in my ear, his lips so close I could practically feel them moving. My own breath was coming out in short gasps.

I turned to look at him, wondering what he was thinking. “Thanks,” I tried to say but my voice barely worked. His face was so close to mine and I blinked in confusion. It was intimate and personal and rather titillating. What was happening?

Then he turned to face forward again and as I straightened, I noticed several sets of eyes still appraising us. Most had their brows drawn together in confusion but a few gave us a knowing smile.

“We’d also like to congratulate Drew McCabe on being promoted to music director.” Mitch’s voice boomed over the crowd.

My head whipped back to Drew. The guy who had made fun of every camp song I sang was going to be the director of music? Well, he’d only teased me about a couple I guess, but still. This could not be happening. “Seriously? You’re going to lead ‘Camp Winni Win?’” He knew the song I was referring to. Everyone here knew it as we sang it almost every day.

He didn’t make a face at me or roll his eyes. Instead he pulled down his sunglasses and winked as he leaned closer. “Yeah, I’m kind of counting on you to help me with that.”

Wait, what? Drew wanted my help? This couldn’t be happening. Several of the older counselors had called me Alka Seltzer all summer after his comment about me being bubbly. And now he wanted my bubbly personality? “Drew, I don’t…” I didn’t want to be mean but I also didn’t want to be a doormat.

He leaned in again. So close that I swear I felt his lips against my ear. I started tingling again. “Don’t say anything yet. I know it’s a big deal I’m asking you to help me learn the songs. Let me apologize to you for last year first and then you can reject me if you want. But I owe you an explanation.” His hand gathered up the wisps of hair that were trailing down my back. His fingers lightly grazed down their length. I stopped breathing and I actually trembled at the light touch. “Please?” he asked.