Drew

I dropped Chloe off and headed back to my cabin, trying to decide what I would say to Alex. I had already planned to talk with him about Chloe so it was an easy promise to make to her that I would smooth things out.

I could see now that her sunny, bubbly personality masked an insecurity. She didn’t like conflict. It made me wince to think of the times I’d fired directly at her with my words last year. But I would never do that again and, what was more, I could easily protect her from others. She lifted me up in ways I had never imagined. I could do this for her. In fact, we made a good team.

Not that Alex would ever hurt her if she said she only wanted to be friends. He was a good guy. He hadn’t even been that mean to Tiffani and he’d been crazy about her. I got the feeling he didn’t like Chloe the way I did so his feelings wouldn’t be hurt at all. But I needed to tell him how I felt before I had to watch them on a date. Because if I didn’t, Chloe might chicken out and then we’d all be having a super awkward evening. I didn’t think she’d date him the whole summer just to avoid confrontation but all the same, I wouldn’t take the chance.

Once I was back at the cabin, I didn’t have to wait too long before Alex showed up. “Hey man,” I said when he walked in.

“Hey.” He gave me his usual grin. “I thought you’d be singing your heart out to Chloe long into the night.”

Now that one threw me. Had Alex become aware of how I felt about her? He wasn’t usually that perceptive. “What?”

“Yeah, are you practicing your moves on her or something?” He plopped himself down on his bed. “’Cause I gotta tell you that if Chloe and I start dating, that is not cool.”

That sounded a lot more like the Alex I knew. “No, I’m not practicing my moves.” I cleared my throat. “How attached to Chloe are you?”

He arched one eyebrow. “I don’t know. We haven’t even been out. I haven’t even kissed her.”

I wanted to jump out of my skin. There was no way he was putting his lips on her. “Well do me a favor and don’t.” It came out rougher than I intended.

“What? What’s wrong with you?” He sat up on his bed and planted his feet on the floor, looking at me.

I took a deep breath. “When I told you that Chloe had a crush on you, I think I expected you to tell her you didn’t like her. And then she could get over you and I--” I stopped. Because it sounded way worse out loud than it had in my head.

“Oh man,” he smacked the heel of his hand into his forehead. “You like her.”

Ding ding ding. We have a winner. I put a cap back on my sarcastic side because it was not helping. “Yeah, I like her. And the thought of the two of you going out makes me want to hit things.”

Alex nodded at me. “That’s cool, man. I’m glad you told me, you know, before the date.” He took a breath. “I think Chloe is really cool but I don’t get that crazy feeling like I have before. You know the one that tells you this girl is special.”

I knew the feeling exactly. “Like the one I get whenever I am around her.”

“Is it new? Because last year you--”

“Alex.” I stopped him, sitting up too. “It isn’t new. I know this is messed up but I’m only just realizing that I liked her then too. I was angry about the band and Sarah. But I was also going crazy because she was falling all over you.”

Alex’s mouth hung open. “Was she?” He scratched his head. “I didn’t even notice. Maybe I should cancel the whole thing tomorrow night.”

I didn’t want Chloe’s feelings hurt either. “How about we all go as friends?”

“Yeah, that would be good.” Alex flopped back on his bed, putting his hands behind his head like he didn’t have a care in the world. It was all settled.

I lay back down and stared at the ceiling. I knew I wasn’t falling asleep for a long time. All I could think about was Chloe and the feel of her against me, her smell, her smile, that hair. I had to find a way to make her my girlfriend.

* * *

Chloe

I sat playing with my food at breakfast the next morning, nerves eating at my belly. Had Drew talked with Alex? As if I’d conjured them, the two of them strode into the cafeteria heading straight for us.

“Crap,” I muttered.

Millie twisted her head around to look. “Here they come,” she whispered back.

“Morning,” Alex sang out in his usual way.

I tilted my head to look at him. He wasn’t acting any differently. “Morning.”

“So about tonight…” he gave me his usual million watt smile. “Want to just go as friends? Take the pressure off?”

“Sure,” I replied. I looked at Drew who winked at me. That was it. Just like that, Alex and I were back to friends. How did that come so easy to some people?

“Cool,” Alex bounded off to get his breakfast.

“Cool,” Drew wiggled his eyebrows at me.

“Cool,” I replied not knowing what else to say.

“Cool?” Millie asked as Drew walked away, also heading to get his breakfast.

“I know I made you listen to like sixty hours of Alex talk--”

“Sixty?” Millie raised her eyebrows. “It was at least twice that.”

I bit my lip to hide my smile. “But when it came right down to going on a date with him, I wasn’t sure I actually wanted to.”

Millie’s mouth hung open. “Does that have anything to do with the mysteriously handsome Drew McCabe?”

“I…I’m not sure,” I answered honestly. “Sometimes I think so and other times I remember last summer and I…” I didn’t finish, I didn’t have to.

Millie shrugged. “I don’t blame you if you if you don’t want to go out with him but he might have a really good reason for acting the way he did last summer. He seemed sad to me. Like he was really going through something.”

I stared at Millie. She had a point. He’d clearly been going through a lot and Millie was rather perceptive to have picked up on it. I hadn’t. It was one of the reasons I would do well to listen to her. “How do you know that isn’t just his personality? He was mean for an entire summer and nice for like two days.”

She shrugged. “I don’t. But I know his girlfriend dumped him a week into camp and I think his band, that he formed, kicked him out right before the summer when they found out he couldn’t tour. If your life fell apart like that, how would you act?”

I didn’t have time to answer because the guys came back. I looked at Drew, he seemed relaxed, smiling, and happy. Thinking back, I didn’t remember him looking like this once last year. He was always sporting that dark and broody look with the low set brow and a frown. Not that it had hurt his popularity with the girls. But I had to admit I liked this Drew better.

We finished up breakfast and headed down to our posts. I almost asked what had happened with Alex the night before but we’d spent a lot of time talking about me. Instead, I asked about him. “So tell me more about your split with the band. We kind of glossed over it but it must have been tough for you.”

His eyes widened as he looked over at me but, after a second, he answered, “None of those guys went to college. They’re convinced that the band is their future and I think it’s awesome. But they stayed around here and played clubs and stuff, set up a local tour for the summer.”

That made sense. “How come you didn’t join back up in the fall? UConn isn’t that far away.”

He shrugged. “They’d replaced me and that guy could be around full time. I was really angry about it. I’d started that band and I poured my heart into it. Plus, I thought we were friends. That might have been the part that hurt the most.”

I winced inwardly. How would I have acted if all of my friends had abandoned me? Much as I’d like to think that I would have risen above it, I had the suspicion that I would have acted a lot like Drew. “That sucks.”

He gave me that smile again. The one I liked more and more. “I hope it was for the best. I’ve got this audition for a band, which is sick. I can’t wait for you to hear them on Sunday. I’m going to an amazing music school.” He slung his arm around my shoulders. “And I am going to be in the same city as this fantastic girl I met at camp.”

“Stop,” I grinned as I grabbed his hand, the one around my shoulders and instead of tossing it off, I pulled him a little closer. “I’m sorry your friends did that to you. They’re jerks.”

He gave me a little squeeze. “They are.” He let go of my shoulder. “But Alex is cool and I have a couple of new friends, namely you and Millie, who are awesome.”

“Thanks,” I pushed his shoulder. “You’re awesome too.”

“I’m glad we’re friends.” He reached for my hand and I let him take it.

“Me too,” I returned but I wasn’t so sure. I’d had a giant crush on Alex and now we were just friends. I’d hated Drew and now he was holding my hand. I was pretty sure I was messing all of this up.