7 Days of Camp

63

•Emily's POV•

I kept thinking all through dinner about what Rain had said. Blake liked me. He'd made the first love. If I said it back, that wouldn't make things worse.

Would it?

I mean, don't get me wrong, there had been plenty of times that I'd thought about dating him. What it would be like, how it would happen, how he would never actually want to...

In my head, there were all these reasons to ignore my feelings and not like him. But my heart kept telling me to come clean, to admit I liked him back. Stupid heart.

After dinner, we walked to the chapel for session.

I didn't notice that I was walking slower than everyone else until Blake came up beside me. "Hey, Em," he said.

I jumped. I actually jumped.

"Oh, uh, hi."

"Sorry, did I scare you?"

"Maybe just a little," I admitted with a a laugh. "It's okay, though."

"Okay. No offense, but I couldn't help noticing that you seem a little...upset. Is everything okay?"

"Would you believe me if I said yes?"

"Probably not."

I gave a weak laugh. Was it that obvious that something was troubling me?

"You don't have to tell me what's bothering you-if something is. I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

Gosh, why did he have to be so sweet? I'd always known it, in my head. But I always took his sweetness for the buddy kind of friendship. Not romance.

"I guess I'm alright. I've just been thinking. About what you said the other day."

"Oh?"

"Yeah."

"Have you made a decision?" he asked.

"Not really. I'm still...having doubts. I don't know. And I don't want to hurt your feelings by saying I don't like you back-"

"You don't?" he interrupted. "I mean, you don't like me?"

I looked at him, unsure of what to say. "It's not that I don't. We've just been friends for so long, and-"

"Emily, all this time we've been friends, I've been falling in love with you."

I stopped in my tracks, and he did too. "You...what?"

"I'm in love with you, Emily. And I don't know if you feel the same way, or if you only want to be friends, but I have to tell you that. And the truth is, even if you don't like me back, that's okay. Because I'll wait for you."

Tears pricked at the corners of my eyes but I held them back. I wouldn't cry, not in front of him.

"Emily, you're everything to me. You're the reason I got involved with church, you're the reason I stopped living recklessly, you're-" He paused, then finished. "What I'm trying to say is, I've liked you since the moment I saw you. And I haven't liked anyone else since the day we met. It's you. It's just you, and it's always been you."

Now I was really crying. I couldn't help it. This was too much. He was too much. I didn't know what to say, except, "I like you too."

"You do? You mean that?" I could see that he was starting to cry too. His voice had started choking up since the moment we stopped walking with the rest of the group.

"I mean it. I may not know how to handle this, and I may not be ready just yet, but I do know that I like you. It's the only thing I'm sure about right now."

"Emily-"

"You don't have to say anything. Just come here." I opened my arms and he came into them, and held me against him. It was the longest, most passionate hug we'd ever shared and I didn't want him to pull away.

But finally, he did, and he whispered, "We should probably get to session."

I wiped the tears from my cheeks and took a shaky breath. "You're right. Let's go."

So we went. And for the first time since he'd confessed his feelings a couple days ago, everything seemed just right.