I can still feel his lips on mine as I walk back toward my cabin. They tasted like mint, with his breath cool and icy, yet warm and smooth, like his lips. Those lips; I could have kissed him all night and ran my fingers through his curly, black hair with his hand on my cheek, kissing me back.
It felt so good to be kissing Shane, right there in the moonlight by the lake. It was like everything that had happend between us before that moment had disappeared, like Shane and I were falling inlove all over again. It was beautiful.
I look up at the sky, seeing the stars shining five times brighter than they had been earlier. It was like that kiss had made me see everything clearer. Just a little more brighter and beautiful than I had before.
I climb the steps once I reach our shared (Ella, Peggy, Caitlyn and I) cabin. All three girls are inside, including Tess and Dana, both from Camp Star. Of course, Tess was a Camp Rocker before she was a trader... but somehow (and I mean somehow. I have no idea why or how we forgave her, but hopefully she stays this time), we all forgave her.
As I step inside, I realize all the girls are talking about something. Correction: someones.
"Yes! I knew it." Peggy shouts, smiling brightly. I smirk.
"What are you all talking about?" I ask and everyone looks at me. They smile.
"Guys!" And then there's giggling, lots of it.
"Mitchie," Caitlyn says, sitting on the floor beside Dana and Ella, smiling at me with big brown eyes. "come sit by us. We were just talking about Dana's little cr—" Dana suddenly shoves Caitlyn, stopping her from even finishing her sentence.
"Don't even finish that, Caitlyn." Dana warns her.
"What?" I ask, kneeling down in front of them. Caitlyn looks from me to Dana, then back again. Dana finally groans.
"Fine. Tell her, tell her, tell her!" Ella and Peggy giggle, and Caitlyn's eyes go wide at Dana's reaction. I look at Dana, then at Caitlyn. She clears her throat.
"Apparently," Caitlyn starts, "our friend, Dana here, has got a big, fat, adorable crush—" she pauses, holding her finger up. She drops it. "—on Nate." My eyes widen. Dana has a crush on Nate? Since when? Why did I not know about this?
"Dana," I grin suddenly, "is this true?" She nods sheepishly and Ella shrieks, making Caitlyn wince.
"Is it really my fault? I mean, come on—Nate's really cute." Dana says and smiles, blushing. Everyone starts giggling.
"Ok, Ella," Peggy says, "you go girl." Ella nods, smiling.
"Alright, I've got a crush on... Jason." Caitlyn's mouth falls open and Dana pushes it back up, making Caitlyn turn to her, give her a wierd look and then roll her eyes.
"Oh my gosh, Ella. We need to set you two up!" Tess says, finally talking for the first time since I walked in.
"Oh no, no, no." Ella says. "What if Jason doesn't like me?" she asks and someone groans.
"Ella, I think Jason likes you. We've all seen the way he looks at you. He likes you." Peggy says and Ella blushes like a crazy person. I giggle.
I cannot believe Ella has a crush on Jason. Jason from Connect 3, the guy everyone seems to over-look when it comes to the three of them. Jason and Ella. Ella and Jason. Those two would look so cute together. Dang. Someone needs to set those two up right now!
"Ok, Mitchie," Caitlyn says, "your turn."
"What? Me?" I ask, my eyes widening. Me? No one said I had to go.
"You heard me. Everyone else went, now it's your turn. Come on." I sigh. Really? It all comes down to me? The last person? The only one who hasn't spoken up yet? Oh gosh.
"You're not going to let me get away with this, are you?" I ask, but I already know the answer.
"Fat chance." she smiles an evil smile. Tess rolls her eyes. "Spit it out."
"Alright," I groan, "but no one repeat this... I'm serious." Caitlyn rolls her eyes at me.
"Relax, Mitchie. No one is going to tell anybody about anything we've been saying tonight. I promise." she says. I nod and look around, seeing everyone coming in closer for a better listen, like this is the juicy stuff that you cannot miss out on hearing.
"Shane—" I say and someone shrieks, then someone else giggles.
"Shhh!" Peggy presses her index finger to her lips, shushing everyone. Then she turns to me, smiling. "Go on, Mitchie." I nod at her and clear my throat.
"As I was saying... Shane and I were taking down the camp flag, talking about how unbelievable it was that Camp Rock was actually closing, that there was going to be no more summers out on the lake, no more campfires with everyone... no more Camp Rock.
"Shane also told me how he would miss me. He said that the only reason he came here this summer, was to get to know me better. I told him I know."
At this point, there's a smile tugging at my lips, bringing me back to that moment that was less than ten minutes ago. Just picturing it in my head makes me warm and happy. Thinking about Shane in his grey, long sleeve rolled up to his elbow, his curly black hair in my fingers, his brown eyes loving and caring. I smile and continue on.
"And then... I kiss him." I tell them. "I kiss him and he kisses me back. Our first kiss since we met last summer and..." I sigh, trailing off. A smile is spreading across my face.
"Oh... my... gosh." Caitlyn says in a breathy voice and picks up a Coke can I hadn't seen before. She takes a gulp.
"You lucky dog!" someone says brightly and Caitlyn spits the sode back into the can, coughing and laughing at the same time.
"Are you guys serious?" Tess suddenly asks, leaning toward me. She actually sounds curious... and a little excited.
I think about it. Are we getting serious? We just kissed. Does that mean we're getting serious? I've never had a boyfriend before so I'm not very sure. But I suppose we are. I hope we are. I would love to call Shane my boyfriend, and for him to call me his girlfriend.
"I think so," I tell her and she smiles.
"This is so exciting, Mitchie!" Ella exclaimes. "I'll be able to say that I was friends with Shane and you before you two got married." she says and my eyes get wide.
"Ella, whoa... Shane and I are not getting married," I tell her. She smirks at me. "At least not yet."
Marriage? I hadn't even thought of that yet. I've been so preoccupied with Shane and how we are now that I never even figured to give our "future" a thought. Wait. Does that mean Ella's been thinking about us getting married more than we have? Wait. Has Shane been thinking about our future? Does he even think we have a future, as in, getting married?
I sigh and run my fingers through my hair. "Ella, Shane and I are happy with what we have now. I mean, we just had our first kiss like ten minutes ago. Do you really think we're going to be thinking about our future already?"
"Why wouldn't you?" she asks, lifting her shoulders in confusion. I do not get this girl sometimes. I shake my head.
"Because she's only 17, Ella." Caitlyn says and I smile at her. It's true. I'm only 17. Why would I be thinking about marriage at 17 years old? I have no reason to have that running through my mind. I'm not getting married... at least not yet anyway.
"Look, I'll think about it when the time comes," I tell her, "but now is not the time."
"Oh my gosh!" someone whispers loudly. I turn and see Dana standing by one of the screen covered windows, peeking over the edge.
"What?" I say and stand up, walking over to see what she's "oh my gosh"ing about. I get down like Dana, half standing, half kneeling with my hands on the window sill. I look out and see nothing but darkness. "What are you—?"
"Shhh!" Dana shushes me. "Look," she whispers, pointing out the screen, "there's Nate... and Jason." we both turn and look at Ella, seeing her looking at us with a smile on her face. I motion for her to come over. She does and squeezes between Dana and I.
All three of us girls look out and see the boys, walking along the gravel pathway, talking and tossing something back and forth. "Isn't he so cute?" Dana whispers, all lovey-dovey like. I roll my eyes. I mean, yeah, Nate's cute, but he's more like a brother to me. Actually, probably more like a cousin, since I don't really know him that well yet. So yes, a cousin is more like it. The same with Jason.
"Yeah, he is." Ella whispers and I'm pretty sure she's not talking about Nate.
"Dana's got it bad," someone starts singing behind us, "Dana's got it bad." I giggle, maybe a little too loudly, because the boys turn toward our cabin.
"Shoot!" I whisper and all three of us duck down. Then we start giggling because we don't know what else to do.
About ten minutes later, we're all back in a circle: Caitlyn, Dana, Ella, Peggy, Tess and me looking at each other.
"I can't believe tonight is our last night here at camp." Tess says sadly.
"I know." I say.
"I can't believe we're not going to see each other for a whole year!" Peggy says. I nod, looking down at my hands. On my left wrist, I wear the friendship bracelet Caitlyn made me, along with bangles and my butterfly ring on my index finger.
"Girls," Ella says, choking up already, "let's stay in touch and e-mail each other everyday. We're all going to be B.F.F.W.C.A.E.E.D's!" All of us give Ella a confused look. What? I think. "Best Friends Forever Who Chat And Email Every Day." she smiles and we all roll our eyes because that's our Ella.
"Mitchie," Caitlyn says, "what are you thinking?" I shrug.
"I guess I'm..." I laugh as I trail off.
"What?" Peggy asks.
"I guess I'm just kind of thinking about Shane and I. Not marriage, Ella," I tell her before she can ask any questions, "but about us being something... more... like boyfriend and girlfriend."
"Mitch," Tess starts, "not to bring you down or anything, but you and Shane have only known each other for what, two summers?" I shrug. Has it only been two summers? It feels like more than that.
"Hey," Dana says, "two summers seems like a lot to me. I've known Nate for what, three weeks? I think we know each other pretty well."
"How can you know each other in three weeks?" Caitlyn asks.
"Because," Dana reaches into her jacket pocket, "he gave me this." she pulls out a folded up piece of paper.
"Can I see that?" I ask. Dana nods and hands it over. I unfold it and see that it's a song, only... wait. This song makes no sense. "...I like cheese, only on pizza, please... I like it when the moon looks like a toe nail... never trust a dog to watch my food... I—Dana, what the... Nate wrote this... for you?" she nods, smiling bright. I hand it back to her.
"Hey, Nate said he's not good with words, so he wrote me a song instead. I think it's cute." she looks at the lyrics once before folding the paper back up and sticking it in her pocket.
"Yeah," I think about it, "I guess it is." Nate wrote Dana a song about stuff he likes, dislikes, and just stuff about him. I suddenly snap my fingers. "Dana, you need to write Nate a song about you!" Her eyes light up at my words and she nods.
"You're right. I have to write him a song about me. Oh my gosh. I've only got until tomorrow. I need to get started now." she suddenly gets up and runs for the door. "Thanks, Mitchie!" she shouts as she runs out.
"No problem!" I shout back.
"Alright, so where were we?" Tess asks and we start talking about girl stuff again. I smile as I listen, thinking of how much I'm going to treasure this moment, this time with my friends. This girl talk.