Page 15 of One Reckless Summer

I read as I fly down the hallway toward the stairs.

Dolly: If I don’t hear from you, or you don’t get here by the time orientation is over, I’m calling the ranger to come look for you. Okay, gotta go, the new director of the camp is coming in to do orientation…please be okay. Just hungover and deflowered…

I shoot her a quick, I’m okay, on my way, cover for me until I get there text, so she’s not losing her mind. Then I hit the staircase, my boots clunking along with my suitcase behind me.

On the bottom step, one of the wheels from my bag snaps. It stays half connected, thank God, but it’s making a weird sound and my bag is rolling unevenly behind me as I move through the doorway toward the front desk.

There’s an elderly couple checking in with Mrs. Kelsey and they turn my way. As does Mrs. Kelsey herself.

And her glare of disapproval could shame the Pope.

“Um, hi, just checking out,” I say, ignoring their judgmental looks. Back straight, eyes open. No walk of shame here, folks. I hold out my key and Mrs. Kelsey takes it gingerly between two pinched fingers as though she’s holding a rat by its tail.

“Rough night?”

“Great night, actually.” I turn to the man beside me and give him my best smile as his eyes lock onto my chest, then quickly dart away when his wife delivers a hard elbow to his ribs.

Come on…

“I hope you enjoyed your stay,” Mrs. Kelsey says pointedly, then adds, “I’ll be in touch if there are any damages to the room.”

I offer an A-okay sign and turn toward the door, dragging my sad, wobbly suitcase behind.

Out in the early morning fresh air and sunshine, I fast walk to my VW Bug, a graduation gift from my parents, pop the trunk tossing my suitcase inside with a thunk, then throw myself behind the wheel and start her up.

With a quick look in the rearview, I see Earl’s bar in the distance. My heart clenches as my mouth waters, remembering the other gift the tall, brotherly stranger left me last night.

There’s no one in sight as I walk from the small dirt parking lot near the camp entry, following the sound of a man’s voice coming from a log cabin type structure about the size of a small grocery store at the end of a winding gravel path.

“Shit, shit, shit.” I hate being late. I’m never late.

It must be the main hall, made of logs with a rough cut stone base, standing out against the backdrop of wood chalets and old-fashioned canvas tents in the distance.

My last reckless summer, which took off like a rocket last night, smells like pine trees and looks like a scene out of Grizzly Adams.

Another show my mother forced me to watch growing up. We were city folks, but she must have had a thing for flannel-wearing men with unruly beards.

I sneak inside, swatting at a single thread from a spider web shining in the morning sun inside the door, heat exploding over my skin as I scan the area for one of the eight-legged monsters lying in wait to attack.

When I ascertain the coast is clear from any arachnids, a flash from last night of how my fake brother’s crazy green eyes watched me as I took my first dick in my mouth has that familiar tension gathering in my core.

I tip toe around a corner, settle my suitcase with its squeaky wheel against a log wall as I push open the back door to a large room filled with a sea of folding chairs occupied by bright green shirt wearing camp staff here for orientation.

I scan the group for Dolly as the deep voice coming from the front of the room vibrates down into my bones, and I freeze, turning in a slow circle, my eyes lighting on the speaker in the front of the room.

“Your job is to focus on the campers. Some of the activities are dangerous, their safety is top priority.” It’s him. Oh my God, my brother is standing at the front of the room, addressing the staff like he’s the…boss.

I slink forward, wishing I’d packed my invisibility cloak.

“To keep everyone focused, there’s a strict no fraternization policy. Anyone caught engaging in…” His eyes fan my way and his gravelly voice catches and stalls when he sees me. For a few heartbeats, it’s just me and him again and all the thrill and emotion from last night starts to drown me. Everyone else disappears in a puff of smoke as his eyes feel like they touch me, making me shiver. “Fraternization,” he finishes in a distracted mumble.

I might have been drunk, but I wasn’t so drunk that I don’t remember what the man who made sure I got back to the B & B safely, who refused to take my cherry, who let me suck his dick while I called him my Big Brother, looks like.

“Summer!” I hear the hiss of my name. Following the sound, I spot Dolly a few rows ahead from where I’m standing, every eye in the small crowd of lime green t-shirts locked on me in my short shorts and rumpled shirt. “Here,” she whispers, pointing to the empty seat beside her, and I turtle into my shoulders as I shuffle her way.

I slink into the cool metal chair as she turns to me. “Where were you?” she whispers.

“I—”

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