Camp Direction

Chapter 16

Penny.

Zayn grabbed his duffle and walked down the trail of Cabin Hill, the one that led straight to the lake. He dropped his baggage on the sand, next to the chairs that were really meant for poolside. Bending over, he unlaced his white Adidas, which had dirtied up quite a bit from his stay. Kicking them off, he peeled off his socks and rolled up the pant legs of his jeans before walking over to the dock, his eyes set on the back of Penny’s head.

“Penelope Gwynneth,” he said, the name leaving his tongue smoothly. It had been a few weeks since the young couple had spilled all their secrets, from what Penny thought was her weird middle name to Zayn’s bad luck with girls before fame.

“Zayn Jawaad,” the girl replied, as he sat next to her on the edge of the dock, his feet hitting the water.

“How goes it?” he asked.

Penny shrugged, heaving out a sigh and staring at the water beneath her dangling feet. Zayn reached over and wrapped a caring arm around her shoulder, her head falling onto his shoulder by instinct. He rubbed up and down on her forearm as they stared ahead of the lake, watching birds fly by.

“Quebec, was it?” he asked suddenly.

Penny sat up and asked, “What?”

“You live in Quebec?” he asked, to which she nodded. “Good, just making sure.”

Penny raised her eyebrow, but didn’t ask questions. After another silence, Zayn said, “I know this is quite delayed, but,” he said, pulling out his phone from his back pocket, “Mind adding your number in here? I’m hoping this isn’t a summer fling.”

Penny smiled, reaching into her pocket and pulling out her own phone, which was a white iPhone. She handed it to Zayn, who put in his phone as she added hers into his. After Zayn had finished, he looked up to see Penny pulling faces.

“Taking selfies, aren’t we?” he asked jokingly, as she puffed out her cheeks and crossed her eyes.

She raised the phone higher so that it could have Zayn in the picture as well. As she smiled, he sneaked a kiss to her cheek just as she pressed the button to capture the picture.

Once she lowered the cell phone and looked down at it, she noticed what he had done and looked at him in the eyes, her brown eyes staring into his hazel ones. He leaned in, nudging her nose with his to give room for his lips. As his plump lips moved against hers, he blindly reached for the phone and held it up in front of them.

And snapped a final picture.

☀

Celine sat in the empty mess hall, fiddling with an empty box of Jammie Dodgers. She had pulled open both sides, and could look through it, almost like a telescope. Holding it up again, she looked around the empty mess hall, from the table that once belonged to her campers to the fire, and finally to the entrance door, where Liam now stood.