That little trickster.
I shine my flashlight in front of Sampson so he can see where he’s walking in the dark. Our group is a few feet in front of us, all of them whispering to each other, my cabin mingling with his. We reach my cabin and all the girls say their goodbyes to the boys. I take Daisy from Sampson, almost unable to hold her fifty-pound body.
“Do you need me to carry her in?” he asks.
I shake my head and readjust her weight on my hip. “No, I can make it into the cabin. Thanks for helping. Though, I’m pretty sure she could walk.”
I tickle her side and she giggles a little bit, but tightens her grip on me.
Sampson smiles at me and I return it. If I didn’t have a camper in my arms right now, I’m not sure what would happen. In a movie, this would be the part in the plot where the characters finally get together with a sweet kiss. Soft music would start playing in the background and the camera would pan up from the kissing characters to the night sky, and a shooting star would probably pass across the frame with ‘the end’ written in white against the darkness. This is where it would end, a happy ending to a drama filled plot.
But this isn’t a movie. This isn’t the ending.
Sampson clears his throat. “I’ll see you bright and early tomorrow. Don’t forget to make your camper awards.”
“Yeah, you too,” I say. “Have a good night.”
Sampson smiles and turns around, flicking his wrist in a wave and then shoving his hands into his shorts pockets.
Daisy turns to watch him go too and then looks back to me. “He likes you.”
I smile and shake my head. “You’re too young to worry about romance and relationships.”
Daisy rolls her eyes and I slide her off of me. “I watch Cinderella, I’m not too young for romance.”
“Well, excuse me, missy,” I say. “Here I thought you were a little girl.”
Daisy trots off to the cabin door and before she opens it, she motions for me to bend down to her level.
“You and Mr. Sampson need to just kiss already.”
With that, she quickly goes inside and the door slams behind her. A little girl is pretty much telling me to grow some balls and make the next move. To be young and naive again, and not worry about what may or may not happen after a big decision like that...
Before I go back inside, I look up at the stars. There’s nothing written in them, and I at least find comforting in a small way. This isn’t my ending. It can’t end here.
“All packed up?” I ask the girls as I round the corner into the bunk area.
I get a few sad sounding acknowledgements. The younger girls come running toward me and hug me tightly.
“Do we have to go?” they ask in unison.
“Yep,” I say. “Summer’s coming to an end, it’s time to get back to the real world. I’m sure you miss your friends back home.”
They both shake their heads. “We’ll miss you more.”
I smile and pry their hands off of my waist. “You can write me letters, you have my address.”
“Can’t we stay here with you?” Daisy asks, plopping down on her bare bed, the sheets and pillow already packed away.
“I have to go home too, silly. I have to see my parents and go to school.”
The girls pout and I go back into the spare room, grabbing their going away goodie bags I made up from the last time I went into town. When I come back in, my arms full with the bags, and I pass them out to all the girls. They open them practically before they’re even out of my hands.
I packed them some candy, a little kit to makes smores at home, and a friendship bracelet I made during some of the nights when I couldn’t sleep.
“This is awesome!” Ronnie squeals. “I haven’t had candy in so long!”
Kelsey takes her bracelet from the bag and then hands the candy off to the younger girls. She ties the small knotted string and then rolls it onto her wrist and looks up to me with a smile.
Sitting on the edge of her bunk, I wrap my arm around her shoulder and lean my head against hers.
“Are you going to come back next year?” I ask quietly.
She breathes in and lets the air out in a quick burst along with her words. “I don’t think so. I think I’m ending camp on a good note, and I don’t want to ruin that.”
“Like I did?” I ask, moving away from her and arching an eyebrow.
She shakes her head and bumps my shoulder. “You didn’t ruin camp, you just… okay, you might have ruined the way you see camp.”
“Yeah, pretty much.”
“Look on the bright side though,” she says.
“Don’t you say it…”
She grins and proceeds to say it anyway. “At least you finally came out of your shell and met a cute counselor that liked you back.”
“We’re friends,” I say, putting an emphasis on the friend part.
“No, you’re friends with me, Kenny, and Dora. You like Sam and you know it.”
“And if I do?”
Kelsey sighs and stands up to put on her backpack. “My dear, dear Penelope, stop being afraid of letting your guard down.”
“I’m not,” I protest.
She shakes her head. “You are. I’ve known you for years at camp, where you’re supposed to come out of your comfort zone and you’re always more resistant than you mean to be.”
I let out a sigh and stand up, avoiding bumping my head on the bunk above us. “Let’s start moving everyone’s bags over to the welcome center. They have to be ready for when the parents get here.”
“I’ll help the younger girls,” Kelsey says as she grabs two of her bags.
“I’ll stay here while you and Winnie take trips over with the girls,” I say.
Kelsey gathers three of the younger girls and has them follow her out of the cabin with their stuff. Winnie follows behind, looking like a donkey being weighed down by duffels, sleeping bags, and backpacks.
“Remind me not to volunteer for dismissal day next year,” Winnie says, already out of breath.
I laugh and shake my head. “You go this trip and then I’ll go next.”
I run over to hold the door open for her and the girls just in time to hear one of the gators come to a stop. Kenny and Sampson hop off when they put it in park.
“Need some help?” Kenny asks, already taking bags off of Winnie.
“Thank god,” she says. “There’s no way I would make it. I overestimated what I thought I could carry.”
“Ya don’t say,” Kenny replies as he walks the bags up and tosses them in the back of the cart.
“Is your cabin already done taking their bags?” I ask them.
“Yup,” Kenny says. “That’s what’s so great about boys, they don’t pack a bunch of stuff they won’t need. We walked them over to the mess hall to prep for lunch and thought we’d help everyone else.”
“Thanks for coming,” I say. “There’s a few more bags in the cabin, should only need two more trips after this haul.”
“We’re on it,” Kenny smiles as him and Sampson load up the last of the bags the girls had and the guy’s head off for the welcome center.
“Alright, might as well grab another bag or two,” I say. “I’ll send you ladies off and then send the rest when the Sampson and Kenny come back.”
The girls all complain and go back in the cabin to grab more of their stuff. Thank God Viv isn’t here, I imagine she’d pull out her metaphorical whip and be pushing us to get things done in an instant.
Winnie and the girls head in the direction of the welcome center, and I go back in the cabin to start doing some clean up and to make sure nothing’s left behind. First I make sure all the remaining bags have names on them and then place them just outside the door for Kenny and Sampson to pick up. Then I go to the cleaning closet to make sure I have enough supplies for tomorrow's cabin cleaning on my own.
“Hey,” comes a male voice from behind me.
I jump and slam my hand against my chest wh
en I realize it’s only Sampson and he’s staring at me with a shy smile. “You scared the crap out of me, Sampson,” I say as I close the closet door.
“Sorry,” he says, leaning on the wall. “I just wanted to make sure this was the last load you needed me to take over.”
“Yeah, should be.” I glance around him to the open door but Kenny’s not there. “What happened to your help?”
“I sent him to help at the mess hall. Can we sit and talk?”
“I can’t, the girls will be back soon and…”
“They’re all at the mess hall too. Winnie’s watching them.”
I sigh and brush past him, not wanting to have whatever conversation he’s wanting take place inside the cabin. He follows me out to the picnic table and we both sit down on the top of it, our feet resting on the seat. He leans down, his elbows on his knees.
“What’s up, Sampson?” I ask, leaning back on the table, my arms supporting me. I feel a splinter of wood stab my finger, but I ignore it. I’m trying to be cool, calm, and collected.
“I just feel…” he doesn’t complete his sentence, and I’m not sure if I even want him to. Instead, he switches his train of thought and changes what he would say. “Are you excited to start school?”
“I guess. Nervous. Please tell me college isn’t as intimidating as they make it out to be.”
He smiles at me. “It’s not, just stay away from Dr. Whyte. He’s a crazy guy from Europe who thinks Americans are lazy slobs and will tell you you’re worthless and incompetent because his five year old knows six different languages and most students barely communicate in full sentences.”
I stare at him, my mouth agape. “You’re not helping at all, he sounds awful.”
“Well as long as you’re not taking any poli-sci courses, you’re fine.”
“I’ll be sure to steer clear of that,” I say. We sit in silence, and I know that’s not what he wants to talk about. “Sampson, what did you really want to talk to me about?”
“Is it that obvious?” he asks, and I nod. “I don’t want this to be one of the last times I see you.”
“It won’t be,” I say, and his eyes light up. “You’ll see me for the rest of the week. I’m sure we’ll be on cleanup duty together sometime this week.”
“You know that’s not what I meant...”
I breathe in. “Sampson… I like you… a lot…”
“But?” he says.
“We’ve been over this, I’m not going to be a rebound. I deserve to be courted. I deserve someone who wants to get to know me, all of me, someone whom I can call any time of day to talk to.”
“You know I’m that,” he pleads. “I’m here for you. Literally, I was there answering my phone when you were in trouble earlier this summer.”
I shake my head. “I know, but I need you to take some time to yourself. You just got out of that mess of a relationship. You need to learn to love yourself again before you can love someone else.”
“There’s no changing your mind about this, is there?”
I look him in the eyes. “Not yet, but one day, yes. If you’ll still have me. All I ask is that once I leave here, you don’t come looking for me. I want us to be like that Serendipity movie, if we meet again, it’s meant to be.”
He nods and then looks down at his feet. “You know, I didn’t think it was possible for someone to have the power to break your heart when they didn’t even know they had it.”
My heartbeat speeds up and butterflies thrash around in my stomach. Breaking Sampson’s heart was the last thing I wanted to do.
I ignore the ache in my own heart and bump my shoulder against his. “Don’t you think you’re sounding a little over dramatic?”
“Maybe just a little,” he says.
I reach for his hand and hold it in mine. It feels strange holding his hand, it feels strange to make such a bold move, but it also feels nice because I can notice him relax a little next to me. His hand is double the size of mine. His nails are trimmed so much that there’s no white tip to them, and his finger tips are rough in places, possibly from years of playing a stringed instrument.
He laces our fingers together and I lean my head on his shoulder. How is it possible that this feels so right?
“I could stay here forever, like this,” I say, closing my eyes and listening to the nature around us.
“Then stay,” he whispers.
“If only,” I reply, opening my eyes and lifting my head from his shoulder, but still holding onto his hand. “I have to get back to real life. I can’t hide away at camp forever.”
“Sure, you can, my parents are doing it, I’m sort of doing it.”
I stare at him and roll my eyes. “That’s different, you guys live here. I have to go back to my home and try not to worry about the future of my parents’ marriage.”
“If you need me, you can call, you know that,” he says, squeezing my hand.
“I know,” I say. “But you’re not always going to be around. I can’t attach myself to you.”
“Why not? What are you so afraid of?”
I shrug my shoulders. “Not being the girl you think I am. It happens all the time, right? Girls get clingy quickly and guys don’t like that.”
“I love clingy,” Sampson says. “You have no idea. Clingy is the best.”
“You say that,” I chuckle. “But I doubt you truly do.”
“Hello, look at my last relationship, she wasn’t clingy at all and that turned out horribly. Clingy would be a fantastic change.”
“Do you want there to be an us?” I ask him. “Do you want things to not end?”
“Yes!” he blurts out. “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you for days now. I want you. Clinginess and all.”
“How about we compromise,” I suggest.
“And what are the details to this compromise?”
“I’m not planning on dating anyone, I have too much to deal with right now with school starting. Guys are the last thing I need to worry about, but I don’t want you to start seeing other girls because I do like you, a lot.
“Let’s just say we leave camp and we don’t talk to each other, you handle your stuff and I’ll handle mine. You can give yourself some time to move on from Viv without moving on with someone else, including me, and then, let’s say we run into each other on campus, then we know it’s meant to be.”
“What happens if we don’t run into each other?” he asks softly.
“If we don’t run into each other our first semester… then we should both move on.”
“You don’t want that,” he says, probably hearing the sadness in my voice.
“I don’t, but maybe that’s how it should be.”
“So,” he says. “Where are the top five places you’re sure to be on campus?”
I laugh and pull my hand out of his. “That’s cheating, it has to be by chance that you find me.”
“At least tell me two of the places.”
“Fine,” I say rolling my eyes. “My dorm and the library.”
“You suck,” he says. “Those are a given.”
“You asked for two,” I say.
As I’m about to get up and leave, Sampson grabs me by the wrist and gently tugs me back to him. I’m standing between his legs and he’s looking at my lips intently. I bite my bottom lip, feeling self-conscious. He pushes a fallen strand of my hair behind my ear and before I know it, his breath is mingling with mine.
His lips press gently against mine, and I accidently let out a soft sigh, praying he didn’t just hear what he does to me. I’ve never had a kiss as sweet and amazing as this. It takes all my effort to not wrap my fingers in his hair or pull him closer to me by the lanyard around his neck.
When our lips part, he leans his forehead against mine, and I keep my eyes closed.
“Sorry,” he whispers. “The thought of possibly never getting to kiss you again got to me.”
“Don’t apologize,” I say. “We should head to the mess hall thoug
h, we need to see our campers off.”
He nods and pulls me into a hug. When we break apart, he loads up the gator with the remaining bags and we drive the final items over to the welcome center in silence, but I can still feel the butterflies floating in my stomach from that kiss.
It’s going to be a long semester if I don’t get to see him again. That was probably the stupidest compromise I have ever made.
Saying goodbye is always the hardest part about camp. This time is a little different for me though, especially since I’m not leaving yet, I’m watching each of my campers leave, and that’s a little overwhelming.
The second we finished awarding campers their awards and singing a closing song, the parents started snatching their children and leaving. Clearly, they don’t want to stick around too long. The refreshment table is clear of cookies and fruit punch and after just a few minutes, the only things left are a few used cups and tons of crumbs.
I go over to the table and start throwing the empty cups into a bag for recycling. Most of the campers are already gone, at least mine are. A few of them hugged me goodbye, but other than that I think they were all too excited to get back to their virtual worlds in their phones. Most of them had their phones turned on before the closing ceremony was even finished.
Arms wrap around my waist and I drop the bag as someone rests their chin on my shoulder.
“You didn’t think I’d leave without saying goodbye, did you?”
“I was hoping our friendship ran deeper than that,” I say as I turn to hug Kelsey.
“Of course it is,” she says with a smile and squeezes me tightly once more before pulling me away. “Promise to invite me to some cool parties at college?”
“When you’re eighteen,” I say, laughing. “Keep in touch, seriously. I hate when we don’t talk once camp is over.”
“Me too, I just suck as a social human, I get so caught up in everything.”
“In boys, you get caught up in boys and their drama,” I correct, and she playfully punches me on the shoulder.
Her parents shout her name and her dad points at his watch.
The Last July: A New Adult Romance Page 20