Every Summer Has A Story

Ch. 19 - Never Be a Dirty Little Secret

Eve laced up her favorite pair of lavender Converse with a contented sigh, relishing the feeling of having clean feet for the first time in a week. 

She wiggled her toes inside her cotton socks,

"No dirt," she whispered joyously.

She adjusted the straps on her white lace crop top, yanked down her denim shorts for the fourth time since wiggling into them, and turned to face herself in the mirror. She'd taken time to straighten her wavy locks into submission and done her first full face of makeup in over two weeks. With a confident smile Eve tossed her radio onto the dresser, hooked her carabiner of keys onto her belt loop, and skipped out of her room. She was surprised to see the lodge vacant and decided to head out into the Boy's Village to search for other humans. Turning on her heel, Eve pushed out the back door onto the deck and sucked in a few lung-fulls of pure Lake Michigan air. The sun had begun its descent into an impressive display of brilliant pink and purple hues splashing across the surface of the choppy blue water. She marveled for a moment at the magnitude of nature before continuing on her way into the Whistling Pines.

Once her feet hit the dirt Eve broke into a bit of a sprint. She was quite certain that her Mango Body Butter would be attracting every mosquito on camp grounds to come and suck her legs dry if she moved too slowly, so she reached the Boy's Village in record time. Eve slowed her pace and preened her ears for the sound of voices above the orchestra of early evening crickets and tree frogs.

"There's nothing to talk about!" an angry voice rang out from near the boy's bath house.

Eve's heart started slightly as she realized it was Maverick doing the hollering and she found herself sneaking closer.

"Of course I love you," he conceded into the phone, looking utterly destroyed, "but I really think it's time to be done."

Eve watched him as he waited for Lennon's reply. It didn't take a genius to figure out it was his ex-girlfriend on the other line.

"It's never a good time, Lenny," he said quietly, raking an aggravated hand through his hair.

Eve worried her lip, knowing damn well she was intruding on a private moment but lacking the will-power to walk away.

"Yeah, you would have to make some changes," Maverick said in apparent agreement with whatever Lennon had suggested, "and I'm just not sure you'd stick to it."

Eve could hear the faint garble of a female voice through Maverick's phone, and whatever she said made him stand up straight.

"What about her?"

"Oh shit," Eve thought, flushing crimson.

"No, that's not true."

"Double shit."

"No, Lennon. That's not necessary."

Maverick stiffened, a wave of fear passing over his pinched features before morphing into anger.

"Stand down, Lennon," he thundered, "there's nothing romantic going on with Eve. She and I are really good friends, actually. We're close, we spend a lot of time together and I'll give you that, I admit it freely, but it's just a friendship. Period."

Eve stilled and her chest started to ache in a painfully familiar way.

"Nothing going on?" Her mind echoed, "seriously?"

Maverick shook his head emphatically at Lennon's retort.

"I don't know where you're getting your information from, but it didn't happen like that. Other staff were there, too. We had campers here all week, Lennon, when could I have gone on a date with Eve? Be logical and leave it alone."