A/N- Ah it's been so long since I've used that I forgot how involved it could be. Also I forgot how organized this thing was like whoa. So, hi!
Elise sat on the beach, her legs stretched out in front of her. Her notebook was in her lap as well as a pen but she didn't seem to be able to write a word. So, she looked out across the water, savoring the peace and quiet. It was so rare for her to have down time these days that now she didn't really know how to use it. No one knew she was there. Not just at the lake but no one knew she was at Takota or that she was coming this summer at all, even Maxine had no idea. Camp didn't officially start until tomorrow and Elise intended to enjoy these last few hours to herself before someone found her.
When she'd arrived, she could hear Maxine yelling at someone who was no doubt a new counselor and while she couldn't wait to see her best friend, she really didn't want to answer any questions about why she was there just yet. So, Elise had left her stuff in the car and quickly made her way down to the lake. As she sat there, she heard a noise behind her. Someone was there.
"Elise?" That wasn't what she was expecting. There was no mistaking that voice for anyone else's, "Elise!" The voice yelled this time and she heard the sound of little sneakers running towards her before small arms wrapped around her neck and oversized glasses pushed into the back of her head, "You're here! I missed you so much!"
"Hi Penny! I missed you too, kid."
"Max said you weren't coming."
"I know. I'm surprising her. Can you let go of my neck please? You're choking me."
"Oops." The little girl sat next to her and placed her backpack in between them. She pulled out two DS's and handed one to Elise.
"Thanks. So, who else is here?" The blonde said as she opened up the device and started playing.
"Ummm… Max and Chet and Allison and—"
"Al's here?" Elise interrupted. She thought for sure that her other best friend would have been too busy at culinary school to come to camp that summer.
"Yeah. She's making us tater tots tonight. She said I can help her make cookies later! Do you wanna make cookies with us?"
"I would. That sounds great!"
"When are you and Allison gonna kiss?" Penny asked out of the blue after a few moments of silent gaming.
Elise felt her heart stop at the question. That wasn't anywhere close to what she expected the seven year old to say. A year ago she was planning her wedding. Six months ago she was kicking her boyfriend out of book signings. And now she was single again. She'd decided with Eli that the relationship wasn't working and while they were still friends and went out for drinks sometimes, they would never be together romantically again. And Allison, Allison was her best friend. Anyway, they were coworkers now. It would be totally inappropriate to be in a relationship while camp was going on. But, Max and Chet… No. Inappropriate.
"Penny!" Elise scolded, elbowing the little girl in the ribs, "Me and Al will not be kissing."
"Why? I think she likes you."
"It's not that easy."
"Do you not like her?" Penny persisted.
"I don't want to talk about it right now. It's complicated."
"I read your book! It was really good! Are you gonna sign it for me?"
"Ummm…" Elise was taken aback by the sudden change in topic, "Duh!"
She reached over and started tickling the little girl who squirmed and shrieked with laughter. She stopped when she heard someone calling Penny's name. Both girls immediately recognized Maxine's loud voice. Before Elise got a chance to hide, the redhead emerged from the trees.
"Penny! I told you to—" Maxine stopped in her tracks when she saw her best friend sitting alongside the little brunette, "El?"
"Surprise?" Elise said. It sounded more like a question than an exclamation. She stood up, ran over to Maxine and pulled her into a tight hug.
"I thought you weren't coming this summer!" The redhead said looking her up and down as they pulled apart.
"I wasn't but stuff happened. Stuff and things. And now I'm here! I missed you so much!"
"Well now that you're here, I'm adding you to the staff. You aren't allowed to just bum around camp all summer. You're gonna have to work."
"I was counting on it."
"Okay. Come on Penny! Let's go back up to the cabins and we can help Elise settle in." Elise leaned down and let the little girl climb onto her back. The three of them walked the trail back to camp.
"So, Al's here?" Elise asked, ignoring the subtle poke from Penny at the mention of Allison's name.
"Yeah. She got here yesterday. I wasn't expecting her but she emailed me a few weeks ago asking if she could come and I wasn't about to complain about it. Her cooking was good before but I mean it's amazing now. Her tater tots recipe is on point."
"Well I can't wait to try them." Moments later they arrived at the cabins. Elise moved to put Penny down so she could go get her bags from the car but the little girl grabbed her hair.
"No! Let's go to the mess! We're making cookies remember?"
"Why don't we let her settle in?" Maxine asked, "Anyway I thought you and Al wanted to make cookies by yourselves."
"But that was before I knew Elise was here!" The young brunette refused to get off the blonde's back.
"Max, it's fine. I'll grab my bags later."
"Alright. I have some work to do but you guys have fun!" Both girls waved good-bye as the redhead walked off towards the office. Elise turned in the direction of the mess and grabbed Penny's legs before running at top speeds towards the building. She arrived out of breath at the door with the girl on her back laughing uncontrollably. Elise put Penny on the ground and waited for her laughter to subside.
"Come inside!" Penny grabbed Elise's hand and pulled her up the stairs.
"You go ahead. I'll be in in a minute."
"Okay." The little girl patted her arm, in an attempt to comfort her, and then went inside.
Elise took a deep breath and sat down on the stairs. She put her head in her hands and sighed. Today hadn't exactly been the best day of her life and though she couldn't show it in front of Penny, she was exhausted. She knew that later on in the night, Max would ask her all sorts of questions about Eli and she'd have to say that they'd broken up. And she knew that Allison would be mega-excited to see her but right now she just couldn't return that excitement. So, she contented herself to just sit on the steps and breathe in the fresh air, letting the essence of Camp Takota seep in and fix her mental state.
Eventually she stood up and turned around, opening the door to the kitchen. Inside she could see both Allison and Penny making cookies. Neither of them were looking at her and they seemed very intensely focused on mixing the dough. Elise took another few minutes to compose herself as she listened to Allison rattle on about culinary school, recounting her adventures, or rather misadventures, to the seven year old who was surprisingly interested.
"Mind if I join you?" Elise asked, tentatively. The two brunettes before her turned around and she watched as Allison's face went from confused to surprised to excited before her eyes.
"Elise!" Allison walked up to her and pulled the blonde in for a hug, "I didn't know you were coming."
"Yeah. I wanted to surprise you guys and—uhhhh—I didn't really know either until a few days ago." They pulled apart and Allison just had to look at Elise to see that she didn't want to explain herself at that moment. She looked over at Penny who was looking at them innocently.
"You knew she was here and you didn't tell me!" Allison said, in mock annoyance. She walked over and grabbed the little girl, flipping her upside down. Gently she dropped Penny onto the ground and turned back around to face Elise, "And now to make some cookies." Allison and Penny went back to their previous positions and Elise stood on the opposite side of the table, making the dough into little balls. Allison steered the conversation away from anything of importance that could lead to something they wouldn't want Penny to hear.
As Elise watched the two girls interact across from her she couldn't help but imagine a different scenario in which they were in her kitchen in Chicago. A different little girl was there, similar to Penny but with Allison's blue eyes. Allison was flicking the dough at the little girl and when Elise came into the room the shorter woman walked over and kissed her.
Wait. What? Kissed her? Elise mentally slapped herself for thinking about her best friend like that. She was straight as far as Allison knew and they were coworkers and to add to that Elise was a hot mess. A relationship was out of the question with Allison or anyone else for now. Elise stopped making the dough balls, she needed to remove herself from the situation for a bit.
"I'm go unwind in the cabin for a bit and I need to move my stuff in before it gets dark so I think I'm gonna skip dinner tonight. Ummm, Al, I'll see you later?"
"Yeah dude."
"Good night Penny. I'll see you tomorrow morning for drop-off okay?"
"G'night!" The little girl waved furiously as Elise walked out. It was already getting dark so she walked out to her car and grabbed her bags. This year she had actual bags instead of trashbags. She shoved the suitcase under her bed and lay on top of the covers. Exhausted, she fell right to sleep, knowing that Maxine would wake her up in a few hours anyway.
A/N- Did you like that? I'm not sure how I feel at this point. I felt like it was all over the place...?
But anyway, welcome to if you haven't been here yet. I know lots of you are planning on making the move from Tumblr to here so yay for expansion! These will still go on Tumblr though so no worries if you don't like this site.
Feel free to leave a review or don't, whatever you'd like. Byeeeeeee!