Retrace the Lines

Quinn

We turn the corner and I instantly curse at myself for being so thick. Right in front of me is the recreation room for the counsellors, where we can go to play games and watch movies. This is literally the most obvious answer... how did I not figure it out? Josh gives me his usual smirk from beside me as we walk in.

"Don't say a word." I warn him.

He puts his hands up, feigning innocence. "Hey, I wasn't going to say anything." I roll my eyes and we slowly traverse around the room, attempting to find the next clue. We walk into the closed off movie area and there are about six other people gathered around the TV, frantically whispering at each other, clearly trying to discern the meaning of the next clue. We shove slightly to the front to find the television alight with the next riddle.

Joshua quickly takes a few pictures of the screen before I can even react, and he strides out of the crowd, gesturing for me to follow. We are soon outside and plop ourselves down on the nearest park bench.

"They were like wild animals in there." Josh laughs, running his fingers through his thick, blonde waves.

"I know, I think they've all heard about Uncle Rob's reputation for prizes. I heard that last year he gave away a voucher for a free jet ski or something. Word travels." I add.

Josh's eyebrows shoot up in surprise. "A jet ski? Where does he get the money for this kind of stuff?" He asks.

I grin back in response. "He has his connections." As we sit there smiling in the moonlight, neither one of us seems very interested in the competition anymore – despite the possibility of a jet ski in our near future.

Josh cracks his knuckles, and I can't help but let my eyes drift down at his large, rough hands. My eyes flitter away and I decide to bring us back to the main focus of the night.

"I suppose we should look at that riddle now, shouldn't we?" I say, kicking my shoes against the rocks below me.

Josh nods and gets out his phone, ready to read the riddle. I close my eyes and lean back against the bench, waiting for him to begin. After I few seconds of silence I open my eyes.

I'm about to ask him what gives, when I notice that he quickly looks away from me, slightly blushing. Heat flushes up my neck, and I struggle to remain composed as I realise that he was probably checking me out. In an attempt to regain control over the situation, I clear my throat and smile, taking the phone from him. I then proceed to read out the third riddle in our little journey.

"Where the water meets the tree, your final prize will be."

Josh looks incredulous. "First of all, that is the lamest riddle yet. Second of all, it's vague as. The only source of water here is the lake, and it would take hours to cross the whole thing." He exclaims. I frown in response. He has a point.

"It must have some kind of inner meaning, I suppose. Something to do with the treehouse, maybe? Should we head there?" I ask. He nods, and we stand up, walking towards the lake.

"Do you have any idea where the treehouse actually is? I haven't been there before." Josh says from beside me. I try to picture the location of the treehouse and realise that I'm quickly stumped. It's something that has been discussed so many times by the other counsellors, that it's easy to forget that I haven't actually been there myself.

"I haven't either," I remark with furrowed eyebrows, "but I'm sure it'll be fine. We'll just walk toward the general direction." He shoots me a side smirk as I say this.

"And what direction is that?"

I look around me for a second, trying to gain my bearings. We've reached the entrance to the forest which covers most of the outskirts of the lake. Through the darkness I can occasionally hear another team run by. At this pace it doesn't seem like we are anywhere close to winning, but I don't particularly mind. The little voice in my mind warns me that I would much rather spend time with Josh than win, and I hastily push it aside. I decide to take a stab in the dark about the direction.