Twenty
Wyatt
F ollowing that initial dunk in the lake.
I hurried to my room to change into a swimsuit along with everyone else from our cabin.
After using the bathroom, I followed behind them until a hand shot out from the side of the building and pulled me into a muscular chest that I was starting to easily recognize from touch alone.
“Well look who I found,” Gavin whispered before pressing me against the wall and kissing me before I realized he was still wet. His tongue found mine and finally we were able to kiss the way I’d wanted to when we’d been in the lake. We pulled apart panting and leaving me wanting more—far more.
“I wanted to kiss you at the lake,” I said, repeating what he’d said earlier.
“Whenever we’re together I want to drag you off into the forest so I can have you all to myself,” Gavin said and kissed me again.
“Promise me you’ll drag me off to the forest at some point.” His eyes met mine and he grinned before kissing me on the tip of my nose.
“It’s a promise. Now come on, let’s go do the obstacle course.” He ran off and I watched as he jumped into the lake splashing some of the campers who were swimming nearby. He’d taken his shirt off which I didn’t mind at all and still had on the same shorts he’d worn on the hike.
Forcing myself not to stare at his chest, I stepped up to the end of the dock. “Hey, wait for me,” I yelled before I jumped into the water right behind him.
The afternoon flew by and when everyone decided they’d had enough time in the water, Jimmy showed up and lit a fire on a big barbecue that was near the tables at the edge of the lake. We all helped carry down the food then sat wrapped in towels, talking about our adventures.
“Did anyone get oaked?” Jimmy asked with a chuckle.
“Timmy,” someone yelled, making everyone laugh. Timmy immediately looked down at his ankle. It was a little red, but I hadn’t seen what the rash looked like, so I wasn’t sure if it was bad or not.
“Looks like you got off lucky,” Jimmy said.
“He still has time to rash out,” John said. “My uncle gets it every summer just being in the general vicinity.”
“Can that happen?” I asked Gavin. Because he hadn’t mentioned it was that contagious and now that I thought about it, John had kept that little bit of information quiet too.
“If you’re allergic to it. Some people are very sensitive, they don’t have to touch it,” Gavin said like it was no big deal. Timmy looked at his leg closer before looking up at Gavin with wide eyes.
“Does it look worse?” he asked.
“Looks the same to me. Give it a day and see how it is. Don’t worry, we have everything to treat it with. I’ll give you something to put on it just in case,” Gavin said, and Timmy looked down again before breathing a heavy sigh.
“I’m never touching any plant in the forest ever again,” he mumbled.
“Don’t forget to do a tick check before you shower,” Gavin said, making everyone groan.
“Tell me again what they look like.” I listened as he described them the same as he had earlier and said they like warm spots.
“If you see anything crawling on you alert a staff member, we’ll help you take care of it.” Once again everyone squirmed around looking at each other for anything that could be crawling. I checked my legs and arms but didn’t see anything and hoped it would stay that way.
“Dinner’s ready,” Jimmy yelled. He carried a tray filled with hamburgers to where the rest of the food was waiting and set them down. “There’s chicken too if you’d rather have that.”
We formed a line and discovered Jimmy, and his crew, had done more than just barbecue burgers, there was anything you could want to put on a burger, a whole buffet of beans, fruit, baskets of chips, potato salad, and green salad.
As soon as I was in line and picked up a tray my stomach growled, and I realized just how hungry I was.
Apparently, it was true about the fresh air making everything taste good.
Or maybe it was the fact we’d hiked three miles then swam all afternoon.
I followed Dani to one of the tables and sat down.
Our trays were heaped and for a while no one spoke because we were all too busy eating.
“This is great, Jimmy,” Lyn said, followed by all of us joining in, which, based on Jimmy’s smile, made him really happy.
Gavin sat down across from me and waggled his eyebrows as he slid his bare foot over the top of mine before taking a big bite of his burger.
“Hungry?” I asked.
“Starving. A group of people took me out for a long hike today,” he said and grinned.
“Sounds like a good day,” I said and ignored Dani rolling her eyes.
“When do we hike all the way to the end and stay the night out there?” Bobbie asked from the other table.
“Not until next week, don’t worry you’ll get plenty of hiking in before then,” Gavin said and chuckled when everyone around us groaned. He wasn’t kidding, I could see it in his eyes. But he’d do it like he had today, and none of us would complain.