Sun Kissed (Camp Boyfriend) (7 page)

“Don’t worry.” Alex linked an arm through mine on the dark path toward the mess hall. “Seth will be totally into you tonight, even though this dress makes me the sexiest
chica
at Juniper Point.”

I smiled at her goofy attempt to cheer me up. She might not know exactly why I wasn’t happy, but as my closest friend at camp, she could tell when I was feeling down.

“Do your worst, Hot Stuff,” I teased. “You’ll out-diva the Divas tonight.”

“They totally put me in the wrong cabin, didn’t they?” She tapped her chin and pretended to be deep in thought. “Maybe I’d better put on the Camp Juniper Sorting Hat again. See if I was meant to be a Divas’ Den girl after all.”

We giggled all the way to the mess hall, and as Rob and the guys from Warriors’ Warden arrived at the same time as us, we stopped short.

“Hottie alert,” Alex announced while the boys pushed and jostled for position in line.

“Hmph.” Piper flipped up her hand. “Whatever happened to ‘ladies first’?”

Susannah and Rob flirted while we watched the guys pass by. Cameron and Eli, a couple of Warriors, nudged each other and checked out Alex while she posed and preened, soaking up the attention. As for me … I felt like Invisible Girl this week. A covert agent whose mission impossible was to keep my romance with Seth a secret.

Speaking of which … where was Seth?

“Did you see that?” Alex poked a skinny finger between my ribs, her voice high and excited.

“What?”

“Devon.” She pointed to a tall, dark-haired boy from the Warriors’ cabin. “He totally checked you out. How could you have missed that?”

I wasn’t interested in Devon, the camp flirt. Although I noticed he turned around once we all walked into the mess hall, his eyes darting away after meeting mine. Thank goodness Alex hadn’t seen the second look. I couldn’t deal with more guy drama. First I needed to figure out what was going on with Seth.

Inside, the mess hall had been transformed into a “Secret Garden,” this year’s theme. Huge paper sunflowers hung from the rafters while pots of real flowers were stationed around the perimeter, on loan from the chef’s kitchen garden.

The arts and crafts sessions had worked on decorating trellises with crepe paper vines and morning glories, the network of fake hedges and archways creating mini labyrinths that other campers were exploring.

A fast song thumped hard enough to rattle the window panes. Although the dance floor was half-filled with younger campers, the kids my age still hung out around the edges, checking out the hedge maze and filling drinks from a refreshment station near the kitchen.

“He’s here,” Trinity said from a few feet behind me.

My gaze flew to the door as the Wander Inn boys arrived.

Had she known I’d be waiting for Seth to arrive? I looked her way, but she was busy staring at the guys. Maybe she liked one of them too.

Julian led the way, his knight’s helmet visor tipped up, a
Lord of the Rings
emblem decorating it. I wished I was more like Julian. Then I could do what I pleased and wouldn’t care about what people thought… especially when it came to Seth. My boy-who-might-be-a-boyfriend followed behind Julian slowly, his amber gaze sweeping the dance floor.

Was he looking for me? My heartbeat sped up.

Our eyes locked. Held. My pulse went wild … right before Seth looked away. He walked toward the opposite corner from where I stood.

Un-freaking-real.

“They’ll probably come over later,” Trinity murmured, although I wasn’t sure if she was talking to me or someone else. I didn’t have to ask to know that we all hoped a boy would come over and ask for a dance. We’d spent enough time whispering about it past bedtime. I might not be the only one feeling disappointed right now.

“Don’t forget the kiss,” Alex reminded me, the words making me feel even more down. “We are not leaving this dance until you’ve kissed Seth.”

God. Give a girl a freaking break. Back when I’d felt rational—aka, was nowhere near Seth—I would have agreed with her. But now? When I could settle for a few stolen kisses instead of rocking the boat and maybe losing him… I hated to push the issue. Going public. Though a part of me really, really wanted everyone to know we were a couple.

“Right,” I grumbled.

The first slow song came on and the lights dimmed. I tried not to scratch my rash as I waited. Hoped.

Eli—the jokester from Warriors’ Warden—came over to ask Alex to dance. His cheeks were bright red and he looked so embarrassed that I hoped she’d say yes just to put him out of his misery. When she nodded, his face nearly matched her purple dress.

Brittany, the prettiest Diva, danced with Julian of all people. Who would have thought someone so stuck-up would say yes to the kid in a medieval knight suit? Then again, she was always crushing on the heroes from whatever book she happened to be reading. Maybe she was into Tolkien now. I could tell she’d pissed off Hannah. She scowled at them hard enough to make me believe her face just might freeze in that position. Oh wait. It already had.

“Would you like to dance?” The male voice behind me made my breath catch.

Finally
. Butterflies flitted around my belly as I took a deep breath and told myself not to leap into his arms, humiliating him completely.

Slowly, I turned around. Devon Masterson stared back at me.

“Oh.” Heat rushed to my face. He couldn’t know that I’d hoped it was Seth, but I felt embarrassed just the same. “Um ….”

My mother had taught me that it took a lot of courage for a boy to ask a girl to dance, so never turn down an invitation lightly. Still… Devon? A longtime member of Warriors’ Warden who could probably dance with any girl here? I shot a glance behind me to make sure Kayla or Corinne—two more Divas—weren’t standing nearby. Maybe he meant to ask one of them?

“I don’t bite.” Devon grinned. “Much.” He winked and held out a hand.

Still I waited. Debated. Where was Seth during all this and why didn’t he care that another guy wanted to dance with me? My eyes flitted across the room and found Seth pouring a drink, oblivious.

The ache in my chest helped make up my mind. Apparently, Seth didn’t care one way or another since he was more worried about keeping things a secret than he was about being my boyfriend.

“Sure.” I took his hand and smiled, hoping my braces didn’t blind him more than the spinning disco ball overhead.

Devon tugged me closer as we wound through the other couples. We passed Julian and Brittany and stopped next to Alex and Eli.

While Eli’s back was turned, Alex made a dramatic show of shrugging her shoulders—a gesture I loosely interpreted as, “Who knows why Warriors’ Warden boys would ask us to dance?”

Which made me think … what if they only wanted to prank us? A new kind of nervousness mingled with the usual dance jitters. I’d die if Devon had only asked me to dance as some kind of joke. Self-consciously, I adjusted my glasses.

“You look nice tonight, Lauren.” Devon wrapped his arms around my waist like one of those monkeys you win at a fair, the kind with the Velcro hands. He’d definitely done this before. Probably with lots of girls.

“I’m rocking the leftover poison oak look tonight.” Just thinking about it made me want to scratch. I was so out of my league with Devon. I was a small fish who wanted no part of his big pond. “So what’s up with asking me to dance? We’ve barely talked before.”

He ran a finger down the side of my cheek. “Then I need to make up for lost time.”

I caught his hand and pushed it away with a frown. “You are such a flirt.”

“And that’s bad because?” he asked, a little too smoothly.

Ugh. How many times had he tried these lame lines on other girls? And why couldn’t this be Seth and not Devon?

With Seth, I was special. Or at least, I had thought so before the whole DL order on our relationship. But at least I was pretty sure that Seth hadn’t kissed anyone else besides me.

“Flirting with one girl’s okay. But hitting on every girl and her mother is messed up.” Devon even crushed on the older counselors—even thirty-two-year-old Susannah, a woman seventeen years older. Once he’d asked her to sit with him at a bonfire and she’d handed him a S’more instead. Susannah rocked.

“You say messed up. I say fun.” He flipped his bangs out of his eyes and a couple of younger girls by the window whispered and pointed, their eyes aglow. But I wasn’t feeling it. My heart belonged to a boy with amber eyes and a love for biology. “Let’s have fun.”

His grip tightened on my waist. Not enough so that a counselor would say something, but enough that I felt it.

Ick.

“No.” I shuffled back a step, but his sandal stepped on my flip flop, checking my momentum. My arms flailed and he steadied me.

“Whoa.” His dark eyes landed on mine and held. “Careful.”

Confused and a little breathless, I clutched his forearms, glad I hadn’t taken a spill into the paper marigolds nearby.

A shadow loomed over me suddenly, the light from the disco ball cut off by a set of square shoulders.

“Everything okay, Lauren?”

Seth. He’d finally remembered I existed. And absurdly, I was pissed.

“Hi,” I huffed, as Devon shifted me away from Seth.

I peered over Devon’s shoulder and noticed Seth’s frown.

“Everything’s fine,” I snapped, though nothing was fine when Seth wouldn’t claim me as his girlfriend.

“Dude.” Devon stared Seth down. “Find your own dance partner already.”

Or, just tell him we’re together!
I tried this out as E.S.P., shouting the message to Seth inside my brain.

But either he didn’t hear or he didn’t care because he turned on his heel and walked off the dance floor.

Way
off the dance floor.

As the music came to an end and Devon released me, I realized Seth was heading for the big double doors. Was he leaving? My anger turned into panic.

“Thanks.” Devon took my hand, distracting me. “Can I get you a drink or anything?”

Before I could answer, the music shifted to another slow song as the music instructor’s voice came over the sound system.

“This next dance is ladies’ choice,” she announced from behind the makeshift deejay booth made of a picnic table and what looked like an old screen door. “Girls, pick your partner.”

Alex hurried past me, nudging me as she headed for the opposite side of the room.

“Don’t forget your dare,” she whispered in my ear. “Kiss Seth.”

Devon must not have noticed.

“Easy choice, right?” he asked, still holding my hand.

But just because something was easy didn’t make it right.

“Sorry.” I slid my fingers free, glad he’d made me see how special Seth really was. Worth fighting for.

Devon might be cute and, sometimes, charming. But he didn’t have a clue that I loved meteor showers or kissed me when I looked my worst. He didn’t know the scientific name for every plant and animal at Camp Juniper Point or give me credit for winning Capture the Flag, when I hadn’t really done all that much. Mostly, he just wasn’t Seth.

“Hey,” Devon called, his fingers brushing my arm as I turned out of reach. “Wait up.”

But I hurried away. Toward the one guy I wanted to be with. The guy I’d kissed on a dare and the one who had my heart on a string.

“Seth!” I dodged some junior campers wrapping each other in crepe paper like mummies.

The slow song started and he was almost to the main doors.

“Seth!” I called louder, bumping into Nick Desanti, Kayla’s rejected friend. “Sorry,” I mumbled, feeling guilty since he’d looked sad all week.

I didn’t want that to be me or Seth. We were happier together, right?

Picking up speed, I caught his arm as he reached for the oversized wrought iron door handle.

“Hey.” I nearly tripped into him but caught myself just in time. Was there a world record for clumsy? If so, I’d earned it. And oh God, I’d forgotten how nervous I should be until Seth looked at me with distant eyes. Not smiling. I swallowed hard. I had to know how things stood between us one way or another. If we were taking things public.

I cleared my throat and felt my face heat. “Would you like to dance?”

Looking over my shoulder, I saw him scan the mess hall. “Would you mind if we sat this one out?” He glanced toward the wall where all our friends stood staring at us. Alex whispered something in Vijay’s ear that made him grin.

At least Seth hadn’t said
no
. That was good. On the other hand, he didn’t want to dance with me. Ouch.

“Okay.” I followed him as he veered away from the dance floor and headed toward the garden labyrinth.

“Have you done this yet?” he asked over his shoulder.

I shook my head, eager to go inside, to have some private time with Seth.

“Careful of the
Daucas carota
.” He pointed toward a curtain of delicate white flowers made from tiny bits of fuzzy pipe cleaner and twisted green wire.

“Queen Anne’s Lace?” Some of my nervousness eased at our old game.

He smiled at me while a couple of senior campers stepped out of the maze holding hands.

“Wow. You’re getting good at this.”

“I had a good teacher.” I smiled up at him. “Whoever made this has mad skills with a pipe cleaner.”

Seth laid a hand on the small of my back as we stepped into the green world at the heart of the dance’s Secret Garden. Cardboard blades of grass as tall as our heads divided one narrow corridor from another while dim light filtered through sheets of thin crepe paper. Some sections were full of leaves and dried flowers that the younger kids had glued to the cardboard for craft projects to identify the local flora. Other spots were painted with gorgeous butterflies and birds thanks to the talents of some of the older, more creative kids. I inhaled the delicate floral smell, feeling like this was a real garden. If only we didn’t have a real secret.

I was about to ask Seth the name of a yellow bird when he stopped. Turned.

And kissed me.

His mouth settled on mine, warm and minty. My eyelids fell shut and relief and happiness mingled as I relaxed into him. He still liked me.