Page 60 of Lady and the Camp
How much could I actually contribute to this team?
So, I did what I did best. In between running relay races and jumping over weird obstacles, I created content. I photographed and filmed little snippets for social media. Not only would it be good content to show off the camp, but we’d show those Trail Blazers we were coming for them.
But after capturing the scene in video and stills, I found myself wanting to just run around and have fun. Filming felt like a distraction. So I did.
Catching my breath, I welcomed our water break.
Lucas opened a cooler and held out a water bottle for me. “Doing okay? You’re working hard out there.”
He seemed proud. I supposed any concerted effort toward camp participation counted after I’d pranced into camp in heels and a kaftan.
“Meg’s nice.” I sipped the water.
“Yeah, Meg’s great. How’s that door hinge working for you? I fixed it today—the bathroom door in your cabin.”
“You fixed it? Wow, thanks.” In my last apartment, it took weeks to get my maintenance requests looked at. “So, this Meg, is she good at canoeing?”
“We’re not doing water sports for the camp games. We set it as a ground rule.”
I looked over at Meg who had a hand on Shawn’s arm as she laughed. Flirting? Friendly? Either way, she wasn’t over here gunning for Lucas’ attention.
I shook my head at myself. Jealous. I was freaking jealous of the mere potential of Meg being into Lucas.
“Come on,” he said and nudged me toward his friends. “I think you’ll like them.”
Lucas being social? What a sight to behold.
I fell into conversation surprisingly easily using my method to ask new people questions about themselves. I watched Lucas interact with his friends. A friendly, smiling, downright talkative guy replaced any hint of grouch. Talkative for Lucas, at least. Leaps and bounds beyond one word answers or simple grunts.
As the meet-up group absorbed into our rag-tag camp team, it was as if Lucas became more comfortable with the rest of us too.
With me. A development I very much enjoyed.
Chapter 19
Lucas
“Let’sgoagainonthree. One, two three!”
Team Blue put our full weight into the pull. I gripped the thick rope and tugged harder to move Team Red into the sand pit between us.
“You call this Tug of War?” Maggie yelled across the divide. “You’re all weak!”
“It’s your lucky day,” Twila shot back, part of Team Blue and decked out in spandex with an old-school sweatband at her brow. “I took my calcium pills. I’mfortified. Aarraggh!” She grunted and yanked harder.
“Not sure that’s very intimidating,” my buddy Shawn, pulled from my outdoors meet-up group, said in front of me.
But the extra effort worked. Team Red crossed into the pit.
Hudson, at the front of Team Red, hit the sand on her knees. This had to be rougher than her usual Pilates class.
“Let’s break.” Maggie clapped twice, like she did with the campers. And still, we followed her directions.
It was Wednesday, our second practice, and we now knew the game day against the Trail Blazers would be in two weeks. Every practice counted. It had taken all I had not to delete the email from Brycen without reading it, but we couldn’t drop out of the competition. Not after we’d agreed and especially not after I’d been caught sneaking on his grounds.
I confirmed receipt and asked for a list of planned team activities, offering a few suggestions, so we had some say in the whole thing.
A response followed, and we had our list.
