Camp Wakiki

The sun beat down on Lila’s back as she walked down one side of the H shaped dock. Having dropped her girls off early she was the first one to arrive down at the lake and she was more than a little happy to have the moment of piece. She loved the camp; she loved it as a camper and she loved it last year as a counselor but there was something different going on this year. She just couldn’t put her finger on what.

Sighing, Lila dropped down onto the edge of the dock and unhooked the volleyball net that was bunched there. Pulling the pole from the dock, she locked it into place and tied the top half of the net to it and stood up, fully prepared to head over to the other side and do the same thing. Unfortunately her co-counselor was already there, doing the same thing she had just done. She watched as Harry bent down and set up the other half of the net, admiring the view of his sculpted upper body. He didn’t look like much when he had his clothes on but now that he was shirtless Lila couldn’t help but gape at his well-defined muscles.

“Admiring the view?” Harry called as he stood up and inspected the net.

Lila smirked and shook her head. “No I was wondering if you were purposely setting the net up to fall mid-game,” she called back as she walked down the dock, away from him and all his shirtless glory. “Cause that top knot isn’t going to hold for very long.”

She could hear Harry grumbling behind her but she couldn’t quite make out what he was saying. Rolling her eyes, she hopped up onto the picnic table on the sand and crossed her arms. It was still the first week of camp but Lila was already missing home and especially missing Jordan. She was also getting a little tired of doing water sports and co-counseling the activities with Harry.

“Don’t act so happy to see me,” Harry teased as he approached from the dock.

Lila tried not to groan as he hopped onto the picnic table beside her. She settled for rolling her eyes and subtly moving over to put some space between them. He was nice to look at but any more than that made her feel dirty somehow and she couldn’t pinpoint why.

Out of the corner of her eye she noticed two counselors coming down the path to the lake. Hopping off the picnic table, she moved to the fence to greet them as they brought their kids down. The two counselors were unfortunately two people she didn’t talk to all that much so she didn’t have any excuse to stay away from Harry but she pushed it a little bit, asking where they were headed and whether or not either of them had seen Darcy. They hadn’t, and they were quickly on their way.

Moving back into the little waterfront area that was set for water sports – there was another, bigger part of the lake for swimming – she watched as Harry told the kids about the activity they’d be doing today and then watched as he led them out into the water. It was the one thing she disliked the most about him; he was good with the kids. Really good. She’d place a high bet that if you asked at least half the campers who their favorite counselor was Harry would be it. And she hated that.

Sighing, Lila peeled off her blue staff t-shirt and shrugged out of her flip-flops. Grabbing her whistle, she wrapped the lanyard around her wrist and then fixed her bathing suit before heading out to the docks. While Harry preferred to get in the water and play with the kids Lila preferred to walk the docks and keep a head count and make sure nobody drowned. But for the past couple of days she could slowly feel her attention drifted to Harry while he moved in the water. For a tall guy he was graceful and every movement he made was fluid and beautiful.

Shaking her head, Lila forced herself to focus on the campers. She mostly remained silent, only chiming in when Harry needed backup to tell a certain team that they didn’t score the point they thought they had. Lila really hated this part of the summer. The early weeks when campers were still getting to know one another and counselors were still trying to find their working chemistry with their partners. She just wanted to get to the fun part of water sports, the reason why she chose this particular activity. But they couldn’t do that until next week at the earliest and that was only if she and Harry could interact a little better.

Halfway through the activity the kids started fussing and complaining about the volleyball. Being at a loss, Harry quickly suggested a free swim for the rest of the time and Lila reluctantly agreed. It meant that they’d both be on the docks, playing lifeguard while the kids did whatever kids do but Lila could handle that. She’d just stay on one side while he went to the other. But then Harry climbed out of the lake and joined her on the dock.

As soon as he was next to her he shook out his curls, flicking all the water he could in her direction. Lila opened her mouth to protest but the words disappeared as soon as he stood up straight and she caught a glimpse of him. Even glistening with lake water and his curls an unruly mess the man was attractive. Maybe one of the most beautiful guys she’d ever seen. But as soon as Jordan popped into her mind she turned away from him and crossed her arms over her chest.

“You should go to the other side of the dock,” she said slowly, trying not to give away that his attractiveness made her uncomfortable. “So we can cover both sides.”

“Sure,” Harry nodded, smirking a little as he did.

He brushed by her slowly; making sure every inch of his exposed chest came in contact with her as he moved. Lila shivered but she refused to frown and show him that it bothered her. Instead, she focused on the kids splashing around in the water and silently prayed that the bell would ring so she could go get her campers and head to lunch. She really needed to talk to Darcy.