Stephanie gazed across the campfire at her hero. Her thoughts roamed back to days long ago, when as a child she had gone scouting with Sportacus after her friends had abandoned her. Robbie Rotten had pretended to be a lazy scout leader and had fooled the kids into shunning Stephanie and her non lazy ideas. She remembered the nasty wind storm that had put an end to their time together. Even as a child Stephanie had enjoyed her one on one time with Sportacus. She was broken from her reverie at the sound of Sportacus's voice.
"Stephanie, are you alright? You seem a little...out of it tonight. You are not your usual bubbly self."
"Oh, I'm sorry Sportacus. I was just thinking of the last time we went camping, we had so much fun back then." she said.
Stephanie had just celebrated her 22nd birthday, and had just opened her own dance studio in Lazytown last month after graduating from college. The last several years of her life had been so busy, and she had hardly seen her friends for any length of time. She now had everything that she had ever dreamed of. Except for one thing.
"Well aren't we having fun now?" Sportacus asked. "You know, I was a little surprised when you invited me to come with you. I didn't think this kind of thing interested you anymore. You are always rushing about here and there, so busy with your studio. I didn't think you had time for an old superhero any longer." he teased.
She sighed. "You're right, I am a little out of it tonight. I have had a lot on my mind lately."
Sportacus got up from his seat and moved around the fire to sit next to Stephanie on her blanket.
"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked her gently. "After all, what good is having an above average superhero around if he can't help you with your problems?"
Stephanie shivered at the close proximity of him, and he mistook it as a sign that she was cold, putting his arm around her and rubbing her arm briskly. It bothered him when Stephanie seemed unhappy, and the last few times he had seen her she was abrupt with him and he thought she wanted to escape. So when she invited him to go camping with her he was taken aback. Still he accepted, not wanting to hurt her feelings. Besides, maybe she had brought him out here for a reason. He had tried not to think about it too much. Of course he had feelings for her! He had known her for 14 years. But those feelings had morphed from protectiveness and friendship into something else. He thought to himself, "there's no way she could feel the same way about me!" Sportacus knew in his heart that Stephanie was sent here to Lazytown to fulfill his destiny, but he did not want to influence her in any way. If she wanted him, she was going to have to make the first move.