The Summer of Sparks

Toothpaste S'mores are the best

Dylan and I spent the remainder of the day learning oil painting techniques. At dinner Alex congratulated me on my choice of a pretend boyfriend and Chad mock fought with the guy sitting beside me to give up his seat. It looked like Operation Jelly was working.

After dinner all the campers sat around a campfire on logs to roast marshmellows. It was perfect, just like it had been last year.

Dylan sat beside me and made me s'mores. Alex sat on my other side telling me about her adventures with the electrical guitar that day. Alex was way too sweet to be a metal musician in my opinion but that's what she wanted to be.

"S'more?" I offered her a nutella dripping one which Dylan had just assembled. She shook her head.

"Aw come on Raccoon," Dylan lightly teased. "I made them myself. Me, Dylan Stuart, made s'mores for two girls. Consider yourselves very special."

"Maybe your s'mores suck, bro," Chad approached us and sat down in front of the log we were sitting on. He handed Alex a s'more. "Peanut butter s'more."

"Yum," I commented after taking a bite of Alex's.

"Well, my mint chocolate s'more kicks his s'more's butt, right?" Dylan held a s'more up for me and I took a bite, holding eye contact with him. Licking my lip I nodded.

"But you love Peanut butter!" Chad protested indignantly.

"I grew out of it," I explained taking another bite out of the s'more Dylan held up for me, which to be honest tasted too much like toothpaste.

"Hold on," Dylan instructed and wiped some chocolate off my chin. At that moment the bonfire exploded into a beautiful miniature firework of sparks. Everybody turned to look at it and I stole a look at Chad. His face was illuminated by the fire, his hair glowed fiercely golden and there was chocolate all over his hands. His lower lip stuck out dejectedly. I wanted a peanut butter s'more more than anything.

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Chad winded up walking me to my cabin. Dylan was supposed to but he went to talk to his friends for a bit and Chad offered so sweetly it would have been weird to say no. So there were were, ambling back in the moonlight.

"Hey remember that night we met at the lake?" He suddenly said. "Tonight's just like that night... moonlight wise I mean."

Ofcourse I remembered but I scrunched up my face and pretended to think. "Oh right! I think I remember."

Chad stayed silent for a while then he spoke up again, a little sulkily. "So um are you Dylan a thing?"

I pretended to be shocked. "What, no! Why would you think that?"

"You guys were being pretty chummy back there," Chad pointed out.

"No, we weren't. We're just friends. We just met like two days ago for God's sake. And besides he's so moody, I don't think he even likes me. I think he tolerates me," I rambled nervously.

"No, the way he looks at you-," Chad blurted and he looked like he wanted to take the words back.

"Really? You think he's into me?" I acted like I was excited but didn't want him to know.

"Well, who wouldn't be," Chad smiled sweetly, his blue eyes shy. Then clearing his throat and looking away he asked, "If he did like like you, what would you do?"

We had reached my cabin now. "Um. I don't know, I've just met him but I like what I've seen so far." Except the smoking. And the rudeness. And the art. And maybe everything.

"You and my cousin," he mused. "Never would have guessed.

"We're just friends," I said but let him catch a glimpse of my shy smile before turning my head away and running up the steps. "Night Chad!"

"Hey, Clara, wanna hang tomorrow?" He called out.

"I'd love to," I slipped inside. "But Dylan and I are doing achery." Which we were. He had bet he could beat me and I had had had to prove him wrong.

"Well night then," he mumbled, his hands in his pockets, golden hair ruffled, shoulders slumped. And as I closed the door I heard a faint, "bye Jelly."

"Bye peanut," I whispered from behind the closed door.

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Fifteen minutes later when I had changed into my PJs someone knocked on my door and that pretty much made my blood freeze 'cause living in a cabin alone in the woods is scary business. I grabbed a lamp and asked in a calm voice, "Who is it?"

"Dylan." He laughed when I opened the door. "You were planning to hit a potential bear with that?"

"Well bears don't knock do they?" I said embarrassed and set it down.

He sobered up and came inside. "I was looking for you everywhere!"

"Sorry, Chad dropped me back."

Dylan looked at me with interest. "How'd it go?"

"I think it's working," I said. Tracing patterns on my matteress I add quietly, "I feel like my mom."

"A bad thing I pressume from the masterpiece you painted of her," he sat down beside me, the bottoms of his black running pants coated with dust.

"She's horrible," I said thinking of Cassandra. Casey for short. She thought it made her sound younger. She also thought the smaller the clothes, the younger she'd look.

"We're doing nothing wrong!" Dylan bumped shoulders with me. "We're just hanging out, and any side effects aren't our responsibility."

"Well when you put it like that..." I grinned at him. He looked like he might smile back but then he didn't.

"Besides, you're mom's horrible, you're horrible, some things are just out of your control you know?"

I gritted my teeth. "I'm pretty sure you're horrible by choice."

"If I was horrible I wouldn't have gotten you this," Dylan swiped out a s'more wrapped in a tissue paper from his pocket. "Mint!"

"Toothpaste!" but I took it anyway 'cause nutella (<3)

"Peanut butter is gross."

"It's amazing."

"A simple thank you would have been fine."

"Thanks."

"Well don't thank me, Alex sent it. And it is peanut butter."

"You're an idiot. But yay Alex!'

He got up, "See ya."

"Good night."

"Sleep tight."

"And don't let the cousellors catch you." And with the click of the door he was gone.