FTR: first time reader
RR: re-reader
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🚨A/N: This is a sequel to Camp Where The Hell Are We - and cannot be read as a stand alone!🚨
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Disclaimer: This book and its contents are my property. Out of respect for me, my hard work and Copyright Infringement laws - don't steal ideas/concepts in any way, shape or form. This book is not to be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without my permission — which you do not have — with the exception that it is in a brief quotation in which its source (Wattpad) and author (@partiallyprecarious) are cited.
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🛑WARNING 🛑: this book is still being edited and revised!You may come across grammatical/typographical errors!
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❤️❤️ Thank you for reading ❤️❤️
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[The date below is the date when the chapter/the story is taking place!]
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Saturday, November 23rd 2017
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"How hard can it be?"
"My gorgeous girlfriend is bent over, so...hard."
Marley straightened at the speed of light, hearing the thump and curse of Bree Hoffman behind her. But with flushed cheeks and narrowed hazel eyes locked on her boyfriend, she hardly paid any mind.
"Aiden! Focus on the damn streamers! I swear to god!"
Aiden's back was leaned against the granite countertop of the boy's cabin.
He was dressed in dark jeans and a grey t-shirt stretched over his muscular chest, that refused to affect her any differently than the first day she ever laid eyes on him. His dark brown hair was a tousled mess on his head as usual, ray bans perched among the fray. The afternoon suns rays were making his stunning blue eyes reflect beautifully on his tan skin. He was growing a stubble that made him look all that much more irresistible.
But as attractive as he looked right now - and all the damn time - she wasn't going to allow her boyfriend to weasel his way out of this.
Crossing her arms over her chest, she heard the snicker of Jason Letterman from his left. The two of them had been enlisted by their girlfriends to help decorate - but so far it unsurprisingly wasn't going too well.
The main floor of the guys' cabin was being prepared for Leo Kahns' birthday today. The Saturday night party would probably turn into something as wild as Aiden's best friend is, but Marley was determined to get the lights, streamers, banner, and balloons ready even if they'd be thrown down by drunk teenagers later in the night.
Aiden knows she wants to do this. But the ladder was still folded and the streamers were still, not streaming.
"I think my efforts are better given to distracting Leo," he winked at her teasingly while Jason dropped the streamers.
"Yes. My efforts as well-"
"You're not going anywhere, Jay,"
Bree cut in casually, still thrown off from Marley turning away from her while they were folding a table.
Her curly, black hair was thrown into a messy bun on top of her head, blue eyes glaring relentlessly at her blonde haired boyfriend, who shrunk considerably, "It's just a thought," he defended weakly.
Aiden's eyes widened at his comrade in arms' defeat, shoving Jason with his elbow, "It's not just a thought. It's a brilliant idea. If Leo comes in here, this whole plan is ruined and these decorations will be all for nothing."
Marley raised an eyebrow, "You just want to play football with the guys," she deadpanned, watching him blink innocently.
"Why, of course not, baby. I would do anything anywhere with you, never pass up on the opportunity but I have an obligation here."
Oh freaking please.
"Well now," Marley strode up to Aiden with converse clad feet, taking one of the blue rolls of paper streamers off of the countertop and shoving it into his chest, "you have a new obligation. To me. I already asked nicely and you agreed. I'm done being nice now."
She craned her head up to lock eyes with his. Aiden's warm hand slid around her waist and to the small of her back, pressing their fronts together. His blue eyes flashed with mischief.
"If I'm recalling that agreement to help correctly, it was when I was kissing down your neck and you were-"
"Aiden Matthews!" She shrieked, yanking herself away to smack his arm, while he laughed at her state.
"I'm just saying," he held his hands up in surrender with his chest still rumbling with laughter, "I wasn't in the right mindset. One tracked, one might say."
"Ugh! You jerk!" Marley rubbed the heels of her hands over her eyes tiredly. This was becoming something more and more common of an occurrence.
Aiden enjoyed making comments like this because of her unfailing humiliation and flustered reaction.
They've been officially dating for almost three weeks now, and he's treated her nothing short of like a queen, but you can't fully take the troublemaking bad boy out of Aiden Matthews.
Or the one who is absolutely determined to get her alone every second of every day. Marley goes willingly back to his room or hers more often than she turns down his temping request - which does lead to a lot of smirking friends who watch them bail in the mess hall or at the beach or really, anywhere - because a heated make out session with Aiden Matthews is always too good to protest.
But in doing so, in constantly validating that he drives her crazy - she gives him perfect ammo and he loves using it.
Marley loves him so incredibly much, he's so attentive and sweet, but sometimes he really knows how to infuriate her. Epitome of her boyfriend, ladies and gentleman.
She dropped her hands and blinked his handsome face into focus. Jason was leaned beside him, shaking his head with amusement. "Bree I love you, you know I do but I'm not doing this. We're not even good at it!"
Marley locked eyes with Aiden's, the two of them engaging in a power struggle with their stare down. "Spitfire I am a lot of things for you but I'm not an interior decorator. How about I threaten to knock the teeth out of a few twiggy nerds if they don't help?" He volunteered the most backwards suggestion in the whole world with a cheeky, persuasive grin.
"Absolutely not, Aiden. That's just rude!"
His face fell, "I'm not getting out of this, am I?"
She tapped her right foot on the ground impatiently, tucking strands of her coffee brown hair behind her left ear from under Aiden's hat, "You committed, Leo is your best friend, and it's a nice thing to do."
Aiden groaned like a child, "Leo's the dick of the century, spitfire. He isn't going to care about dumb streamers or balloons or lights when he's going to be off his ass with a girl on his arm."
Marley frowned, a stinging behind her eyes. She shouldn't take his words this heart, because Aiden still didn't understand.
She doesn't celebrate her birthday at home. Since her mother and brother Jacobi walked out on her seven years ago, and her father became worse with the drinking and the rowdiness than the usual - Marley had no reason to celebrate another year of being left behind. Her father never bought her gifts and Gabby never brought it up for the sake of not being shut out.
Marley now felt as though birthday's deserved to be celebrated, even if it wasn't hers.
She sucked her lower lip between her teeth, dropping the roll of streamers on the table, "You're right, Aiden. This was stupid. Go have fun."
Throwing her past at everything wasn't the right thing to do. This is the future, and not everything needs to be for the reasons of her family.
"Wait, woah, hold on," Aiden grabbed her wrist before she could turn around, pulling her back in and cupping her cheeks while she rested her hands on his muscled chest. His blue eyes locked on her own for a brief moment before they were trailing down her face, taking in every feature with softened eyes, "I'll help. I'm sorry, I was being an ass. Jason, let's put up these damn," He pecked Marley's lips quickly, "Streamers."
"Oh fuck n-"
"Please Jason?" Marley pulled away from Aiden, her cheeks still flushed.
He raised an eyebrow, squinting in confusion, "Why is this-"
"Say no to my girl, Letterman. Go on."
Marley turned to whack Aiden's arm for what felt like the millionth time already, "No subtle threats!"
Jason leaned off the counter and grabbed the green roll, "Aiden's right. We were both being assholes. Let's get this done."
The green, front double doors of the cabin swung open just as Aiden and Jason got to work, discussing where to hang them. Marley knew they'd need direction, but turned to face the doors first.
Tristan Lowell was walking in with a cardboard box, clad in a floral skirt and a hot pink tank tucked in. She stumbled on the heels of her tan wedges, her aviators hanging down her nose, looking incredibly put together apart from a few noticeable differences.
Ones that Bree definitely did notice, "Hey if you're going to hook up with Brendan at least tell us you're going to be late."
Tristan blew her straightened dark hair away from her face, hazel eyes narrowed over her aviators while Marley covered up her smiling mouth with her right hand.
"I wasn't hooking up with Brendan, Bree."
"Tell your lips that."
Marley's giggle bubbled to the surface so Tristan's focus became her with a raised perfect eyebrow, "Are we going to pretend like you and your boyfriend don't sneak off every chance you get?"
Her humour faded to flushed cheeks and embarrassment almost immediately as she broke their eye contact.
"Less talking more decorating," she stammered weakly, rightfully earning laughs from her friends.
"Hey, spitfire? Need you."
Marley turned around, thankful that she had a distraction from being dragged for her and Aiden's frequent escapades. Unless she wanted to find out if death by mortification is a real thing, she'd have to start pushing Aiden away more often.
Marley snorted when she laid eyes on her boyfriend standing on the ladder, struggling to hold onto the long string of tangled green paper in his muscled arms. Jason was holding the ladder, looking up and trying to direct the situation with furrowed brows.
"Twist that side around. No, left! Right-"
"What the fuck is this, Twister?"
Marley rubbed a hand over her face before striding over, "Let me get this started for you guys and then I'll get back to the table stuff. Step down, Aiden."
His focus stopped being the streamers and more on her, lowering his chin to his chest to be able to look at her, "You? This ladder? No. Jason can figure out this tangled one and I'll grab a new roll."
Aiden's overprotectiveness never ceases to amuse her as much as it annoys her. But there is a reason behind it, a reason that comes from love and concern and a past she has yet to understand. But still, not being allowed to climb a 9ft ladder?
"Aiden this is silly. I will be fine climbing a ladder," she spoke as she made his descent with the poor green roll of streamers a wrinkled mess in his hold, "Besides, I fall and it's not even far enough from the ground to cause a life threatening injury."
"It's far enough to stress me the fuck out. We got this."
"I got this. You're shit at this."
Jason dodged quickly when Aiden grabbed a new roll of the paper at the speed of light, whipping it in his direction.
The fresh roll flew across the room and over the living room furniture, the paper unrolling in mid-air.
Hearing his booming laughter and Jason's cursing about the mess he made, Marley sighed and headed for the girls. Resigned to whatever was going on between them at this point.
Besides, Aiden seems to really like hanging with Jason now, which is something that makes her happy.
The only people Marley's seen Aiden be close to since being at camp are her and Leo.
But lately, someone Marley made friends with and someone Aiden has protected in the past because of said friendship - is now someone he talks to like he talks with Leo. He and Jason have some kind of bromance situation going on now, so it was an unexpected plus she hadn't anticipated.
Bree was watching the probably rambunctious scene behind Marley's shoulder with a shake of her head, "Why do we bother anymore?"
"Because it's funny," Tristan smirked, unwrapping the packages of Solo cups, "They're so whipped."
Sarah Cabot, Bree's roommate, and Kelly Miller, one of Marley's roommates - were the next two to arrive back from the mess hall, carrying another table.
Behind them, Gabby Collins and Ethan Layton were also standing on either end of a table, following shortly after. Marley felt her smile broaden to The Joker degree at her best friends' small blush and Ethan's lingering gaze.
When Mr. Richardson's female replacement, Mrs. Weiss - a walking blonde bombshell and 'teacher fantasy' for the horny guys of the class - began her first day the Monday after the carnival, she instantly allowed the class free reign on lab partners. Gabby and Marley being together was the obvious pairing - much to Aiden's disappointment - but surprisingly enough, a tall and lanky brunette with a crowd of freckles on his nose strode right up to Gabby and said:
"This may be forward but I'd love the opportunity to work with the smartest girl in the class."
Appealing to Gabby's intelligence is the best way to win her over, but she has a shy personality. Marley stood to the side, prepared to swoop for her socially handicapped best friend when she tucked her blonde hair behind both of her tinged red ears and nodded shyly. Such a surprising action that Marley and Aiden shared shocked glances, but Aiden's was more elated than anything.
They could be partners now, which was a good thing. Aiden's incredibly smart, but he's also distracted by her and distracting to her. Their lab partnership is a work in progress at the moment, because as good as their collective mark is, they could be more efficient and better at time management.
Ethan is quietly observant, intelligent, and has a naturally calming and positive presence. Though he has relieved Jason from his rank of 'scrawniest love interest in the group' - which was declared by Leo, obviously - Marley knows it's so much more than looks. If Aiden was a beanpole she'd love him with the same fierceness, and Gabby has that mentality as well.
Besides, Ethan has similarities to Ian Somerhalder, so that's automatic points he didn't even have to earn.
Marley approached her best friend and Ethan as they set the table down. Ethan's brown eyes tore away from Gabby to her, lighting up happily, "Oh, hey Marley."
"Hey, Ethan. Gabby. How are you two doing?" She watched her best friend's green eyes shoot to lock on her hazel ones, conveying with the evilest glare possible to not tease either of them, passively or not.
Ethan chuckled as he glanced between them, "Uh. We're great, actually. We just came back from the art thing at the beach, the water colour workshop."
Marley whipped her head to face Gabby at the speed of light, eyebrows raised. Her best friend shrunk with flaming cheeks, her lips pressed together against what she knew was a smile. She was so happy for her best friend that she bounced on her toes.
"That's sounds like fun! Maybe something Aiden and I will do."
That would be a cute date, but it's not to say they haven't had a couple already.
Their first was incredible - Aiden had Dalton's house cleared for the night and cooked them dinner, while she sat at the bar watching him move gracefully about the kitchen with the sleeves of his grey dress shirt rolled up over his tan, muscular forearms. When she asked him, incredulously, why she never knew he could cook, he just said 'it never came up'. Which was true, they always eat in the mess hall anyway.
They ate at the table in the gazebo, and Marley was so entirely spelled every second. They spoke about school and football and played twenty questions while he played with her hands or twirled strands of her curled brown hair.
They washed dishes together after, playing with the soap bubbles and laughing more than Marley has ever laughed before. He even had a dozen roses laid out on the counter for her before they arrived, Marley clad in a plum petal skirt dress with a V slit down the back that she bought at the mall for the occasion.
"So damn beautiful," he took his time to look her over when he laid eyes on her for the first time, "Always are."
And the most magical part? Aiden didn't kiss her once, until they made it back to her cabin, when he kissed her forehead and said goodnight.
Aiden had been the perfect epitome of gentleman. He'd gone above and beyond to make their first date everything and more of a fairytale. It was about knowing her, about talking and being together and connecting in a different way.
The gazebo had become more than a passionate kiss and physical connection. It became true, genuine love for their souls and their minds. Truly the most amazing night she's ever experienced.
They spend the majority of their days together as they always have since meeting for the first time, but take frequent walks alone and hang out at the beach - though that proves problematic with Aiden's wandering eyes and grabby hands - and have even graduated from Words with Friends to playing the Scrabble they found under Marley's bed a couple times. They've developed a system, a way of life where they just, spend it all together.
Marley will never be bored or uninterested in being with Aiden. There is never and will never be a time where he doesn't excite her and make her happy with the littlest things he does.
"If you're hanging with the crew for the long haul," Tristan approached with a plastic blue tablecloth just as Ethan managed to lock the table he and Gabby brought in place, "just a heads up. Aiden and Marley are the most cringe worthy couple on the planet. Their lovey dovey shit doesn't end."
Marley narrowed her eyes, crossing her arms defensively, "We're not that bad, our PDA is at an absolute minimum."
"The way the guy looks at you is PDA," Sarah cut in dryly as she removed bags of various chips on the table beside them, from a cardboard box.
Marley shrunk and blushed crimson, not wanting Ethan to get the wrong impression of her or of Aiden after such a short amount of time, "I promise we're not intolerable or unbearable," she promised him, while he shook his head with a smile, brown strands of his hair falling in front of his eyes.
"I'm sure I'll be fine. Besides, nothing beats catching Jordan and Trish half naked on that very countertop," he gestured to the boys' island in their kitchen, and Marley's eyes widened in horror.
"Oh. My. God. I need to...disinfect, this," Gabby tugged at the ends of her shoulder length blonde hair - she'd gotten it trimmed at the mall last week - and made a mad dash for the cabinet of cleaning supplies like the germaphobe inside of her demanded.
Marley felt pale and sick at the imagery, and the fact that people have eaten and sat at that table ever since. Especially since she and Trish have gotten over their enemy status and moved onto mutual respect - now, she expected more humanity and display of morals from her.
Mostly because Trish saved Marley from having to go to the principals office on Monday morning after the carnival, Aiden's hand clasped around hers for support. She had full plans to tell all about Mr. Richardson's inappropriateness when they were in the classroom alone. But upon making it to the clearing in front of the mess hall, there was a squad car with its lights flashing and their teacher was in handcuffs, being deposited into the back seat.
Standing off to the side were two male officers and a female one, next to Trish, who was wearing heavy makeup, blonde hair tangled and a police jacket over bare legs. Marley had been so stunned to silence like the rest of her crowded peers, putting together everything much quicker than they did from privy knowledge. Walking by to a police SUV that pulled in a few minutes later, Trish locked eyes with Marley and said only this.
"Wanna catch a rat? Set a trap."
It shook her and everyone else to the core, to say the least. Three days after she disappeared from camp, she returned casually as if nothing happened at all. Marley even made an effort to approach her in the girls cabin, but she always turned on her heel and walked away. She had to respect Trish's desire for distance, especially since she owed her the favour of removing Mr. Richardson from the picture.
Leo would definitely kiss at her alter if he was ever made aware of the whole situation, because Mrs. Weiss has been unintentionally given a VIP seat to the full Leo Kahn Experience on a daily basis. She takes it all in stride though, and in a very respectable manner, clearly having experienced this in the past.
Marley jumped when she heard a crash from her left.
"You moron," Aiden growled as he climbed down the ladder, and Marley's eyes widened at seeing the Tupperware of tacks from the tack board spilled three feet in each direction, even around the couch.
"Aiden!"
He head shot up, and so did his hands at the same time, blue eyes widening, "I didn't do it. All Jason."
The blonde growled, kneeling in the exact spot where he was standing and starting to carefully collect them in a pile, "Why don't you actually make yourself useful instead of just standing there? Neither of us is ever getting out of here if we don't pick these up."
"You dropped them, you pick them up. I'm doing streamers, good fucking luck."
Marley sighed and began to walk over, "Aiden-"
"What if Marley is strolling in here, and because you didn't help and I miss a few, steps on one and it gets stuck in her foot?"
Marley almost burst into laughter at the fact that Aiden's eyes narrowed in serious calculation, "You're right," he said finally, "but fuck you for saying that," and without looking away from the mess, he said, "Don't take another step, Marley."
"I love how you literally didn't care if anyone else stepped in these until Marley stepping in them suddenly became a possibility," Tristan leaned against one of the plastic tables as she watched the scene with an amused expression.
Marley sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, resigned to his next words.
Aiden only shrugged, not denying it, and certainly not guilty about it. "Will you grab my phone for me, Marley? This'll be easier with a flashlight. I left it by your purse."
She turned on her heel instead of approaching any closer, seeing Jason had already slid his phone out of his back pocket and was shining it beneath one of the end tables.
Marley strode up the stairs on the other side of the room, heading towards Aiden's and Leo's bedroom. It never failed to make her smile laying eyes on the stark contrast between Leo's disaster area of a side and Aiden's immaculate one. Even his bed was neatly made, red quilt folded and pillow fluffed. It's his nature, even down to how he eats and exercises and plays football. But that also made him the excellent player that he is.
She had left her brown over the shoulder purse on his bed, and he'd left his black iPhone face down beside it, discarded uncaringly. Aiden isn't overly interested in being on his cellphone unless it's for a legitimate reason like posting on Instagram or responding to close friends', hers, or Ian's messages or calls, and playing Words with Friends, which is something Marley admired about him because she feels the same way about not living life behind a screen.
She snatched it up and made a turn for the door, clicking on the screen and smiling when she could see the background of her with Lovebear at the arcade, smiling with her cheek pressed against its grey fur. His home screen is the photo they took together the night of the carnival, where she was on her tip toes fixing his har.
Her wallpaper was a photo of Aiden close up, his cheeks blown up like a pufferfish. So cute, even though he hates when she refers to him as such.
Marley isn't the kind of eavesdrop or snoop or investigate. She trusts Aiden wholeheartedly and even though she has her thumb as a preset on his Touch ID, she never uses it unless he asks her for a favour or wants her to text Ian back while he's wet from the lake or otherwise occupied with something. She isn't the kind to eavesdrop or snoop or investigate.
But just now, unintentionally, she did.
Marley wouldn't have thought twice about the dozens of notifications on his lock screen if the bright red of an emoji heart hadn't caught her eye in her peripheral. Halting in her tracks with a racing heart, she scolded herself and turned off his screen, never wanting to stoop that low.
But there was an itch to check, one in retrospect, she should have vocalized to Aiden instead of going behind his back. He wouldn't give her free reign on his phone if he was hiding something, so she shouldn't worry. Heart emoji's can be in all kinds of text messages. But the more steps she took towards the stairs, the more she heard the echoing of her boyfriend's voice through to the ceiling, the more her hand and her heart and her mind burned.
At the very last second, Marley scrambled backwards against the wall and pressed her thumb against the button to show the notifications screen. Her heart was pounding in her ears, and she felt the clamminess of her hands, eyes focusing on the message and regretting this petty, awful invasion of privacy right up until the moment she read it.
209 - 932 - 1873: Of course. Anytime and anyplace works for me baby ❤️😍
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