"Hey Sook," I hear from behind me. I turn around to se Alcide Herveaux standing there holding a single daisy that he has obviously picked himself.
"Hi Alcide," I can't help but smile as he holds the daisy out towards me.
"A pretty flower for a pretty girl," He says, his smile getting wider as I accept the flower and I flush.
"Thank you," I practically whisper. I'm really not used to getting this kind of attention of off anyone. Let alone anyone as good looking as Alcide.
"You going to the concert they putting on tonight?"
The summer camp I am dragged to every year by Amelia is throwing a welcoming concert tonight. Even though most of us have been here for two weeks now but there was a large group of people who had to come later on, so now that they have arrived the camp is throwing the welcoming party. Every year it is the same kind of thing, and the older we get the more lame it seems. I can remember our first year here and Amelia and I thought it was the coolest thing ever. We felt so grown up going to a concert where you can dance around and get drinks and snacks without being followed by adult supervisors the whole time. Oh they are still dotted around, but they don't feel the need to intervene all the time. Not the younger ones anyways. As we get older they seem to be on the lookout more for bad behaviour or inappropriate behaviour.
"Yeah Amelia is dragging me there with her and Tray," I roll me eyes and he laughs. I don't know why Amelia wants me there with them, as soon as we get there they will start making out as usual and I will be left sitting next to them like the awkward third wheel as always. I know she just doesn't want me to feel out but I think I would rather miss out on going out than sitting next to them listening to all the moans and wet noises from kissing.
"Well how about we go together? Then you won't have to sit and listen to them getting it on?"
I smiled widely back at him and reach out to grab his hand. "Sure that sounds like fun."
"Anything sounds like fun compared to listening to them two," he laughs. Amelia and Tray have a reputation for doing this at every event at the camp. They have been dating for 5 years now, since Amelia was 11 and he was 13. They met the second year we came to camp. At first it was just a silly little teenage romance. The camp leaders weren't very happy about the age gap and were worried about what other parents would think. However the two of them were inseparable so in the end they just left them to it.
Tray transferred down to Bon Temps so he could go to the same school as Amelia when he was 15. The both of them would say how miserable they were having to leave each other during school term so Tray convinced his mom to move to Bon Temps. His mom gave in eventually and managed to get her job transferred to a department in town. They have been sickly sweet ever since. Of course I love them both, they are my best friends.
I have known Amelia all my life. She lives next door to my Gran, so when my parents were alive and they would take me and my older brother Jason to stay with her at weekends I would always run into Amelia and we would spend hours playing with her impressive doll collection. Her father bought her whatever she wanted and I often wondered what they were doing living in a little hick town if they had so much money. Surely they could live wherever they wanted!
Once Amelia had met me though it was obvious she wouldn't go anywhere without me. We were inseparable. Once Tray had moved to Bon Temps as well he immediately became an important part of our small group. He was fiercely protective of the both of us. At first I thought he was just like that to me so he could impress Amelia, but I soon realised he did it because I was important to him as well.
Sure I did feel left out sometimes but they did try their hardest not to let me feel that way. They were just so hormone filled that that plan didn't always work out, they could barely keep their hands off of each other.
"Ah they aint so bad. You get used to it," I grinned up at him.
"Well rather you than me, listen I gotta' get going but I will come by your block at 7?" I nodded. He leant forwards and my heart started racing. His eyes were searching mine as he got closer, looking for approval. I met him half way and pressed my lips onto his. His hands wound their way round to my back and he pulled my closer. His lips started moving against mine slowly. Then all too soon he pulled away and exhaled loudly. He shook his head and then grinned at me before giving me a small wave and walking off.
Oh. My. God! I couldn't wait to go back and tell Amelia what had just happened! It not that that had been my first kiss or anything, but it was defiantly a special one. My first boyfriend Bill had been a very sloppy kisser. He acted like the perfect gentleman and my Gran adored him. We only went out for about a month when I couldn't take him any longer. He was so bad at kissing and was so boring! After seeing years of Amelia and Tray together I knew how great a relationship could be and how both parts of said relationship should actually enjoy the other ones company.
He was the only other boy I had kissed so Alcide's seemed amazing and perfect to me. I rushed back to our block to tell Amelia.
Her dad had insisted that we get the private block. He spared no expense when it came to his daughter. Amelia and I were the only ones staying in the huge block, it was supposed to be for the heads of camp but after the generous donation by Copley, they handed it over to us. We stayed in it every year since our second, after Amelia had complained so much about staying a block with 10 other girls.
I pushed open the front door and ran in, but stopped as soon as I saw Amelia straddling Tray on the sofa. It was his last year here since he is 18 and they are taking full advantage of the time alone that they can get. Yeah Tray is allowed in Amelia's house but Copley won't let him go up to her room. What he doesn't know is that she sneaks him in anyways but they have to be real quiet. Tray's mom is working a lot so I know they spend a lot of time there too but Amelia says she is always too nervous in case she comes home early.
"Come on guys!" I sigh and throw my hands up in the air. "At least go in her room!"
"Sorry Sook just got a bit carried away," Tray says pushing Amelia off him so he can sit normally. She pouts and plops down next to him. I sit myself down on the coffee table in front of them.
"You will never guess what happened to me!" I squeal and clap my hands. Now I have Amelia's attention.
"Oooo what?!" She leans forwards and smiles in anticipation for what I have to tell her. She knows me well enough by now that if I am this excited something juice must have happened.
"Alice Herveaux is taking me to the concert tonight, he gave me this," I held out my daisy for them to see, "AND HE KISSED ME!"
"AHHHH!" Amelia screamed and Tray winced beside her. "No way! How did this happen? Tell me everything!" Amelia demanded.
I told them everything from start to finish.
"But wait, what happened to Debbie?" Amelia asked after listening intently.
"Oh they broke up about 2 months ago, she was cheating on him again," Tray answered sounding bored. It was all an act; I know he loved a bit of gossip.
"Urghhh what a bitch! But this is good for you Sook! He is hot!"
"Excuse me, he is?" Tray asked raising one of his eyebrows.
"Yeah baby but nowhere near as hot as you," she leaned forwards and kissed him. Yeah like I said, sickly sweet. "So what are you going to wear?" she asked, turning her attention back to me.
"Oh I have no idea! Do you think this counts as a date?"
"Of course it does sweetie, come on lets go find you something to wear!" she grabbed my hand and pulled me towards her room, we both knew we were more likely to find something more suitable in there.
Poor Tray was just left to entertain himself for a couple of hours while we hunted for something to wear and then to get ready.
We heard a knock at the door and Tray get up to answer it. Amelia was just finishing curling my hair; it was going to be hanging down my back in loose curls. I had on light makeup, nothing too heavy. We had chosen a baby blue dress that was very tight around the bust area but then floated out into a cute skirt. I think the chest area was much tighter than it was supposed to be since my boobs were definitely bigger than Amelia's but it still looked good. We had asked for Tray's approval and his response of "Damn girl!" went down very well. Amelia just smiled and clapped her hands as she dragged me back to her room to get started on my hair and makeup.
Once she had finished I slipped into a pair of brown leather sandals and picked up my matching purse. I slipped it over my shoulder and gave myself one last look in her floor length mirror.
I almost didn't recognise myself. In my reflection was a glowing, happy, almost beautiful girl smiling back at me. I didn't often wear dresses this short or put as much effort into my hair, but I have always been happy or not bothered about how I look.
"Go get em' Sook," Amelia whispered as I walked past her and she slapped my butt. I just laughed and walked out into the living room.
Alcide stood up as soon as he saw me and his mouth dropped open. He was wearing dark jeans and a very tight grey tshirt. His hair was his usual messy, curly over-grown style. He was so handsome and it made me nervous enough to stop walking and just stand there staring at him. Amelia came up behind me and put her hands on either of my shoulders and whispered in my ear that I could do this and to just be myself.
"Now Alcide I want her back by 12 and you be good to her you hear?" Amelia sounded just like a mom and she pushed me towards Alcide. He laughed at her menacing tone and rolled his eyes.
Tray stood up then and took a step closer to the both of us. "She's serious."
Although Alcide was tall, I would say he is only about 6ft which is still a lot taller than a lot of other 16 year old boys. But Tray's 6ft.6, muscley frame looked a lot more intimidating and considering he was 2 years older than Alcide, Alcide should have been a bit more afraid of Tray than he was. He just smirked then nodded and pulled on my arm so I would follow him to the door.
"Okay Ames, I'll see you both later. We will probably run into each other there," I said as I was walking backwards towards the door.
"Okay Sookie be careful," she said in her serious tone, her eyes wide.
"I will, love ya!" I called out behind me and heard a faint 'Love ya' before the door slammed shut.
"Wow, well that was...erm...intense. They were acting like your parents. You know Tray gave me a speech about looking after you or he would come find me?" He scoffed and it instantly annoyed me.
"They are just looking out for me, they are my best friends."
I think he could tell he had offended me by the way I snapped at him and he stopped walking and stepped in front of me.
"I'm sorry Sookie; I didn't mean to offend you. I am just not used to getting that speech from a 16 year old and a 18 year old."
"Yeah well I don't have my real parents around anymore so someone's gotta' look out for me." I know I should have let him off the hook and that if things carried on this way this date was going to be a disaster.
He took my face in both his hands and looked me in the eye.
"I am really sorry Sookie. I didn't know, I didn't mean to offend or upset you. Can we just forget this ever happened?"
"Yeah okay, I'm sorry as well for overreacting."
A huge smile spread over his face. "Did you know how beautiful you look tonight?" I felt the familiar blush creep over my face and neck.
"Come on, let's go find a good space and wait for the concert to begin." He said while letting go of my face and taking hold of on my hands and started leading me down the path towards the concert.
