To Be Honest

five

I remembered summer camp one and a half years ago. It was the time when I had just started to fall in love with Scott.

We'd been in the same class since basically forever, together with Beth and Aidan and when we were 16 during that melancholic summer, our class decided to make us sign up at a camp near our town to spend a memorable time together which we would never forget.

Me and Beth had been more than excited to go there and I remember my fluttering heart when I found out my crush Scott Winslet would participate as well. He was the nice guy that would hold the door open for you, the one whose smile from across the room could light up your day, the one most of the girls in our class had the hots for.

Obviously, the self-concious me from that time had never thought to have a chance with that cute boy I barely knew, but after a few shy smiles we exchanged during camp activities and silent hi's here and there, he did the most unexpected thing on the last day of our two-weeks adventure. We did a final campfire with music and marshmallows to terminate the trip when Scott asked me for a romantic dance. I was sitting on the ground with Beth and we had just put our grilled marshmallows into our mouths when he suddenly came over, scratching his head nervously, and reached out to me to ask me to dance.

I was so embarrassed, excited and happy at the same time so that all I could do was to nod like a maniac, the burning hot marshmallow still in my mouth, not allowing me to speak nor smile in a decent way or without looking like a puffed hamster.

The warmth of the campfire was nothing compared to the temperature of my cheeks when he carefully grabbed my waist to pull me closer to his tall body. I could recall Beth's cheeky giggle when she saw me blushing up to my ears and other gushing noises coming from our class mates who stared at us in awe. I remember feeling a bit awkward being in the spotlight of the crowd for the first time but when I looked at Scott and saw that he was just as embarrassed as me but held onto my hand tightly nevertheless, I didn't care about anything else.

His eyes flickered like the stars above us and his smile made me feel so-

"Ellie?"

Aidan's sudden call made me gasp in surprise.

"I-I'm sorry. My thoughts drifted away for a second," I responded. I completely forgot Aidan had been here too for a moment.

"Not to be rude or anything but that was definetely more than just a second. Do you wanna talk about it...maybe? I can be a good listener sometimes" he asked me with a deep and careful voice.

I guess it was the fact that it was in the middle of the night and that Aidan had not been a complete asshole for a couple of hours already that I didn't think about being careful of what to say to him anymore.

"Well...do you still remember summer camp last year? You were there too, right?"

"Oh lord, how could I ever forget that? Going fishing, doing sports and playing cards with the camp leaders for two long weeks. What a wonderful summer!" he said sarcastically and I had to smile a bit. Imagining Aidan doing these things made me feel kind of sorry for him, it felt like he was just not made for something like that. It was definetely out of his comfort zone and I bet he found the camp activities pretty annoying.

"I already guessed you didn't enjoy it that much. But it was the best summer I ever had actually! I had so much fun with Beth and back then, Scott and me were so in love and it was all thanks to the camp!" I said happily when I thought about the times I didn't have anything to worry about. Well, unlike now.

"Ah yeah, the campfire... I remember," Aidan whispered into the cold air that surrounded us. He looked up into the sky and watched how visible each of his breath was in the dark. We had just got into the beginning of the forest when I felt his mood changing.