Page 10 of It Starts With Summer

“Not your dad.”He’d missed the sexual innuendo.

I lowered my voice and leaned in, making sure there were no campers around.“If you want me to make it up to you, I’m pretty good at sucking cock.”

Ravi frowned.“Your punishment will not be something you enjoy.”

I sighed.“Fine.Ooh, you could prank me?”

“If you speak in an excited voice, it doesn’t sound like a punishment at all.Go.Clean up the glitter.Sit and watch them and make sure everyone behaves while they unpack.”

Chuckling at his bossy lecture, I turned back towards the cabin.Inside, the campers quickly leaped away from the window, making it obvious they'd been watching the whole debacle.

“You have it bad, man.”A kid named Owen was looking at me with pity in his eyes.

“What?”

“Major crush on Ravi, huh?Should we be shipping you two?”Owen asked.

“That is not true.Ravi is annoying, kind of uptight, and a geek.”I coughed, realizing my words could be used against us by the group of twelve-year-olds listening.“I mean, he’s a great super awesome camp counselor who you should all respect and never call a geek.”

“You should be a little more subtle about crushing on him,” Collin said.“Girls don’t like when you stare.I found that out the hard way.”

“I feel the same way.”Holden nodded, looking around at the other boys.“And it’s gotta be the same for guys too, right?We’ve got to be smooth when it comes to romance.”

“I totally agree,” Owen chimed in, looking at the group of boys who were struggling to come up with a new topic of conversation.“If you ever need advice on how to woo someone, we’re here for you.”

“He's completely clueless.I could charm any girl at my school.”For a 5’-2” skinny redhead, Holden had confidence.He pointed at me."Unlike this guy who can barely keep his tongue in his mouth around Ravi's abs."

“My tongue was in my mouth!"What the hell was this conversation?“I’m very popular and stuff.And I'm not taking advice from middle schoolers on how to woo.”

“Riiight,” Dex said.“All the popular kids walk around announcing that they’re popular.”

“And stuff,” Holden snickered.

“Okay, guys, focus on organizing your gear, not on my pathetic love life,” I said.“Which isn’t pathetic, but I will not share those details with you, because I'm an adult.And Ravi is straight, so like all of you, he’ll probably be trying to meet a cute girl at the girls’ camp.”

“Not me,” Owen said.“I’m gay.”He said it so casually that I was a little taken aback, and the kids all nodded, taking it in stride.He was so relaxed about coming out, I was even a bit jealous.I’d first told a friend I was gay in this very cabin, when I was only a year older than Owen.And it had been such an anxious, nerve-wracking moment for me.

I looked at the guys for signs that Owen’s admission may bother them, but no one said anything.Better safe than sorry.

“Just to be clear, the camp has a zero-tolerance policy for bullying based on race, religion, sexuality, or anything else.”

“Settle down, man,” a kid named Tyler shouted from a back bunk.“We’re not homophobes.And I’m bi, anyway.”

What the fuck?Did middle schoolers just announce stuff now?Suddenly, I felt much older than my 21 years.My experience with coming out at camp had been so different.

“So where does glitter bombing your co-counselor fall under in that policy?”Holden sidled up to me, mischief in his eyes.“Is that bullying?”

Fuck, twelve-year-olds were annoying.I sat on the chair next to the door, and after a second, a very loud fart sound came from under my butt.

Ravi had pranked me, after all.It went off again, and the campers forgot all about the no-bullying policy as they laughed their asses off at me.

five

Ravi

Parkerwokemebyjabbing me in the shoulder with a pointy finger.I rolled over and found his face only inches away, and it took me a moment to understand that he was standing next to my bed, and the height of the top bunk put his face at eye level.Very good for kissing.

I shook away that thought.This close, I could see flecks of gold in his green eyes.Was everything about Parker pretty to look at?I studied the even slope of his nose, the symmetrical curve of his jaw, the way his shoulder-length hair curled around his face when it was down.

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