CHAPTER TWELVE
Excitement about the party charges the cabin’s atmosphere. We plan to eat dinner down by the lake. Everything we do now will be in preparation for this evening. Most of the girls dig through their clothes, searching for the best outfit. If we’re going to be down by the lake, I don’t want to look too nice. Parker also told me I should wear white, so I’m guessing there will be black lights there. I only have one or two options to go with to meet the color criteria.
Lily, like always, bounces around as she inspects everyone. “What are you going to wear? You have to look hot for your date.”
Date? What date? “Um, I don’t have a date for this. We have to have a date?”
She stops, hands going to her hips as her eyebrows pinch together in confusion. “Every girl needs a date to a dance. Who would you dance with otherwise?”
I shrug at her. I’ve never been to a dance before. “I figured I’d just dance with you girls. I don’t like formal dances. I know a few, like the salsa and the waltz, but I’m more of a free stylist. I just get out on the floor and let the music direct my body.” I’ve actually taken lots of dance classes, and my least favorite are the ones where I have to be paired up with someone else.
“I’m with Cassie. I just want to do my own thing.” Lara comes to my rescue. I fist bump her so she knows we’ll stick together tonight. “I don’t really dance, though.”
“I’ve got you. We’ll work through the music together. You just have to forget about the people around you and have fun. It’s about enjoying it yourself. That is, unless you enjoy making others look bad. Then you’re on your own.” I didn’t mean to lecture, but I’ve been around too many people like Mindy that want to make people look bad to make themselves look good. I also wasn’t really directing that at Lara since our discussion pulled others in the cabin in.
“Totally! I just want to have fun,” Lara agrees with me.
“Well, there’s a last dance, which is a slow one. You better mark your territory early in the evening so no one tries to poach your man,” Lily adds.
“Which man are you marking, Lily?” Lara’s eyes widen at Lily. “Will you be peeing on them?”
“Very funny! No, I actually need to check with Cassie, or maybe Fallon.” Lily’s eyes dart between us. “I think I’m going to see if Parker will dance with me.”
I try not to groan as she says it. Hopefully, Fallon can field that one.
Fallon, having heard her name, walks over. “I don’t mess with my brother’s dating life, and he doesn’t mess with mine. Well, unless he’s friends with someone I want, and then we may have a talk. He isn’t allowed to date my friends, though. Well, unless Cassie wants to date him. I don’t think she needs my help with him.”
She totally threw me under the bus with that speech. But I’m not planning to date anyone here, and I’m not getting mixed up with someone else’s dating dilemmas. “Lily, you can ask him yourself, but he heard me ask both Noah and Jay for you. I’m not sure he wants to be the next check box on your list. You may want to try someone else, but it’s up to you.”
Lily huffs out a breath and nods. “You know, I’m not the only one that will be going after your guys tonight.”
“They aren’t mine. We’re just good friends and on the same team. I think it would be awkward to try to date one of them. They’re free to do what they want.” If one or more of them is with someone else, it will make some of our activities uncomfortable.
“Yeah, okay, whatever you say.” Lily waves her hand at me as she walks into the bathroom.
I finish getting ready without talking to anyone else. I’m going simple with a light-grey cami layered beneath a white one and paired with black shorts. I don’t think my entire outfit needs to glow.
Once everyone’s ready, we head down to the lake. Watching the people as we walk, the boys aren’t in any of the groups. We almost reach the rendezvous point when Parker and Lucca join us.
“Hey, after you eat, you guys need to come with me,” Parker whispers to us.
Lara, as suspicious about people as I am, if not more, demands, “Why? What do you have planned? Do you have alcohol? I don’t drink.”
I’m glad Jay isn’t around. We didn’t talk about his mom’s accident, but I’m not sure about his feelings on alcohol.
Lucca’s coy smile adds to the twinkle in his eyes. “No, no alcohol. It’s a surprise.”
Lily grabs Lucca’s arm and tries to get him to tell her right then. I guess secrets aren’t Lily’s thing. I shake my head at her. Lucca glances around for help, but I just wink at him. He’s on his own with her.
The dance won’t start until it’s a little darker out. Someone strung thousands of tiny lights all around the place. There’s another buffet table similar to the last party, crowded with people trying to eat before we move on to better things.
As the sun sets, the boys find Lara and me.
“Where’s Fallon and Lily?” Parker asks.
I point to where Fallon and Micah stand. “I see Fallon. I’ll go get her.” I glance over at Lara. “Do you see Lily? She could be anywhere, marking her territory.”
Lara spits out her drink. “That could get messy,” she says, referencing our earlier conversation. “I’ll go find her.”
I jog the short distance to Fallon and reach her just in time to see Micah stalk off. Did Micah leave because they fought? Slowing down, I opt not to mention it. Hopefully, she’ll talk to me if she wants me to know. “Hey! Parker asked me to come find you. He is ready to show us his surprise.”
Fallon frowns as she stares off at the trees. She slumps a little. “You go ahead. I’m not in the mood to dance.”
“Nope. No way.” I slash my arms through the air in refusal. “We’re here to have a good time. I’ll drag you along if I have to. We’ll deal with Micah later.”
“I’d like to see you drag me out of here, runt.” She smiles slightly, now, but she’s covering. She’s correct about the dragging part. If I had to guess, I would say Fallon’s about four to five inches taller than me with the legs of a model. I’m just short.
“I’m sure I could manage after I found a way to knock you out.” I joke, hoping to lighten the mood. “You have no idea what crazy things we would do to you then, though.”
“Fine! Let’s go.” She glides through the people, and I jog to catch up.
We walk up just as Lara reaches the group with Lily.
“Come on, we have to hurry,” Jay warns us. He doesn’t have much patience at times.
We reach the clearing where we normally have our team meetings. The picnic table is covered in bottles, tubes, and a bucket. I reach over to touch it, and Noah slaps my hand gently. “You have to say the magic word before you can play.”
I’m having a good time tonight, so I’ll play along with him. “Noah, Noah, Noah. What am I going to do with you? Do you want to give me a hint as to what the magic word is?”
He laughs. “It rhymes with flees.”
“That’s the best you could come up with?” I roll my eyes at his lack of imagination. “Is it please?”
“I didn’t think through what the word could actually be. I figured you’d slap my hand back or something.” He pouts. “Way to throw me off my game.”
“That’s my goal for camp, make sure that Noah has no idea what’s coming next.” I flick his nose lightly to get him to stop pouting. He really is cute when he pouts.
“What happened to teamwork?” He crosses his arms and raises one blond eyebrow. “We’re trying to throw the others off.”
“How will we ever learn if we can’t recognize deflections within our own team?” We better get back on track. It looks like Parker’s already explaining to the others what the plan is. “What’s this stuff you’re trying to hide from me?”
“This is black light and glow in the dark paint.” Noah points to the buckets and spray cans. “The other campers just came in light colors so their clothes will glow. I know several others came prepared with glow in the dark necklaces and bracelets, but Parker wanted to do something different for his last year.”
I’ve never seen a black light, so I was already excited. Now, we’re going to be covered in paint. “Are there different colors? Will it ruin our clothes? How do we use it?” I rattle off the questions too fast to give Noah a chance to respond.
Parker hears me and includes us in his explanation. “It will all wash off in water, so nothing will stain. We can wipe it on, throw it on, or paint it on. It’s up to you how you want it to look.”
Everyone grabs containers to see what they want to use. Lucca takes one of the buckets, and Parker takes another and opens them up to reveal light blue and purple paint inside. They take out paintbrushes and flick paint on everyone.
Noah runs off to the side, and I follow him.
“What’s that?” I ask as Noah tucks something into his shirt.
He shrugs back at me. “It’s nothing.”
“It’s something, or you wouldn’t have touched it. If you don’t want me to know, just say so.” I try not to sound sulky, but I do anyway.
He reaches behind his neck to unclasp a necklace. “I almost forgot how to take this thing off. I can’t remember the last time I didn’t have it on.” He hands the necklace to me.
I’m afraid to touch it. What could be so special that he never takes it off?
“Does it mean something special?” I examine the necklace closer. One end has a red bead on it, and the other has a black and white bead where the black and white are swirled together. Two, thin leather strings make up the necklace: one black and one white. The strings are tied in knots, and in random intervals, there are little silver beads on the white band.
Careful, I return it to him. Instead of putting it back on, he holds it up and runs his fingers along it. “I started this, well, my mom started this, right after the accident. The red bead stands for the accident. The black band represents my life before the accident, and the white band is for what I would have again one day. Each knot was a month in time to show how long my recovery took.”
His fingers run over the little silver beads. “The beads are for each milestone I hit, like there’s one for when I could move my fingers the first time and one for when I could tie my own shoes. The last bead, the black and white one, stands for the last goal I made for myself to show that I was truly recovered. I had to run a mile in less than five minutes. I wear this to remember that there’s no journey too long or so hard that it can’t be made.”
Warmth fills my chest at the touching tribute to what he went through. “I’m honored you let me see it. Were you hiding it from the paint?”
“Yes. I know Parker said that it washes off, but I don’t want to risk it.” He hooks the necklace back on and tucks it into his shirt. “It was an honor showing it to you. I don’t tell many people about my accident because they tend to think I’m not capable, even though I’m fully recovered.”
Once he has the necklace safely tucked away, I grab his hand and drag him back over to the group. We have to hurry now because everyone else is half covered already.
Parker and Lucca dump about a can of paint each on me and in the early dusk, I now glow slightly. Lily and Lara whip yellow and pink paint down my arms while Fallon paints green in my hair. When they’re done, I’m pretty well covered except for my face.
Jay walks over with a couple bottles and some small paintbrushes, and I guess he’s going to do some sort of war paint on my face. He holds up one of the brushes. “Would you like me to draw something on your face? It can be whatever you want. I’m told I’m decent at this sort of thing.”
“Put a monkey on her cheek and then maybe a banana on the other,” Parker encourages.
I sigh. Looks like I might get stuck with this monkey nickname.
“If that’s what she wants. It’s her face.” Jay gives me an out if I want one.
Parker went through all the trouble to make this night special, and he included me, so why not. “I’m good with the monkey.”
I trust Jay to make sure I don’t look like I have something eating my nose.
A few minutes later, he finishes. I can’t see it, but I can tell he approves because his electric eyes sparkle brightly.
“That’s not fair,” Lily whines. “You didn’t draw something on my face.”
Is she going to go back to Jay as her target for the evening? Will she complain about this once we’re back in the cabin? Her flirting was adorable at first, but now, she’s getting irritating. They said no, so she should accept that.
“Maybe next time, Lily. I don’t have time to paint on everyone,” Jay quickly deflects.
Lily perks up, excited she may have his attention sometime in the future.
The walk back is quick because we’re excited to see how we look in the black light. As we get closer, Fallon and Lara begin to glow, and it doesn’t take long before the rest of us join them. The music in the distance goes from a dull beat to us being able to recognize the song. The other campers stare at us, envy painting some of their faces. Others come over and tell us how great it looks.
Parker hands the leftover paint to someone. “Matt’s in my cabin. I told him if I had any left he could pass it around.”
It makes me feel better we won’t stand out as much.
“Parker, this paint is great,” Lucca say to him. “I need to get some of this stuff to wear around the house and scare the staff in the middle of the night.”
“I’ll tell you where to buy it, and I’ll be happy to come over and help anytime,” Parker jokes.
Lucca looks pleasantly surprised at the offer. “Maybe I should fly all of you over.”
Is he serious? Fly us all to a different country? But he looks excited at the idea. As if it only just occurred to him.
We dance for about an hour before people start to take a break.
Lucca, Parker, Jay, and Noah walk over to the food table, load up, and then stand at the tree line to people watch. From the dance floor, I watch as several girls stop to talk to them, but the guys don’t seem to pay them any attention. I remember comments from earlier about the guys being focused solely on their team and can’t help the relief that rushes through me that I’m a part of that.
They go out of their way to make sure to show they’re there for me. That I’m not alone here. Even without the paint, I could pick out my guys from the crowd. They each have an inner strength that makes them stand out from everyone around them.
It makes me feel bad that I’m holding back from them. Even with the story I told them earlier. I could have gone into more detail, told them something more revealing, but hiding has become a way of life for me. It’s difficult to open up, no matter how at ease I am with them.
I’m having such a good time I don’t want to stop, though. Lily, Lara, and Fallon stay and dance with me. So far, the DJ played techno, country, and pop songs. When the music changes, another pop song comes on. Since it’s a popular song right now, a few people join us, but there still aren’t many.
“I know I said I wouldn’t show off but want to see something fun?” I ask Lara. “I’ll probably get yelled at for this.”
“I’m ready as long as you don’t get hurt,” Lara responds, and it’s hard to tell if she’s excited or nervous.
Taking a deep breath, I make sure my path is clear and then backflip, the sand soft beneath my palms. I land in a crouch and surge upward, launching myself into the air. Twisting, my feet land solidly on the nearby table. When I straighten with my arms over my head, Lara stands with her mouth open in shock while Lily bounces on her toes and Fallon claps. Behind them, the other dances stare with expressions ranging from awe to open disdain.
Yeah, I should have listened to my own warning about showing off.
Noah comes running up, arms waving as he shouts. “Holy shit! Did you see that? She did some flip, spin, twist thing. Monkey really is a good nickname for her.”
“I can’t believe you made it on top of the table.” Awe fills Jay’s voice as he follows close behind. “I’d have a hard time doing that without any practice. It makes it even harder when you consider we’re in sand.”
Jay speaks with such respect, and I realize that, unlike everyone else, he understands what I accomplished was much harder than it looked. Jay does all sorts of acrobatics when he’s shown us his martial arts.
Jay sounds contemplative. “I’m guessing you’ve had dance, tumbling, and gymnastics training.”
“That was amazing,” Noah adds.
Ignoring the hands Jay and Noah hold out to help me down, I hop off the table, landing at their feet. I beam at them. “Thanks, guys!”
After all the dancing, sweat makes some of my paint run. I don’t care, though.
About to say something else, the DJ speaks up. “Last dance!”
I’m not ready for this night to end, but we probably have an early day tomorrow. I haven’t talked to the boys about it.
Micah walks up to Fallon. “I’m sorry about earlier. I’ve been so caught up in my team beating yours I forgot we’re friends first. I picked this song just for you. Will you dance with me?”
Fallon, who seems to be hard as nails most of the time, blinks back tears. “Yes, I would love to.”
Parker smiles at them as they walk off, then turns to me, putting his hand out. “May I have this dance?”
I don’t know if dancing with Parker is a good idea or not, but I put my hand in his and walk toward the dance floor.