Bruno's letter left a bad taste in Boots' mouth. It wasn't often that Boots couldn't tell exactly what what Bruno was thinking, even when they weren't together. The feeling reminded him of a day in September when he had accidentally left his watch at home. He kept looking at his wrist, expecting it to be there. He had been stressed out all day.
Working at Willapasu left him very little free time to dwell on the issue, though. It was much harder work than he had excepted, and far more tiring. Boots had spent most of his previous summers running, swimming, and being generally active, but there was something about being around kids for a good 13 hours a day that knocked him out as soon as his head hit his lumpy pillow every night. Working at a camp was an... adjustment. In some ways, it was like the Hall. He was around kids or people his own age. There probably wasn't anyone at Willapasu older than 30. On the other hand, every moment felt like a teaching moment when he was surrounded by middle schoolers. No curse, no inappropriate jokes, no wild stories. Near constant enthusiasm. It wasn't actually bad though. Boots found that he loved the kids, especially the middle age group. He'd been surprised when some of the things they said had managed to make him genuinely laugh.
When he did get to talk to people his age, it was wonderful, but endlessly confusing. In some ways it was like the hall. Boots still had that slight uneasiness about speaking to people his age, but he was getting close to the other counselors and he was starting to feel like he was on the same... wavelength as them. Wavelength was phrase more Bruno than it ever would be Boots. That was a way that camp was nothing like the Hall. There was no Bruno and Boots here, only Boots with Bruno's anger hanging over his head. But, Boots was trying not to concentrate on that. Which was a near impossibility, something that Boots was perfectly aware of, but he figured it was worth a try. And, he needed to focus on his job.
He was currently watching over the lake during morning free swim. His face was burning, but he couldn't tell if it was from the sun or from his residual... blush. He and Jason had spent the earlier half of the morning joking around. After breakfast, they have about an hour to set up the waterfront every morning. This morning, Jason had been particularly... Boots didn't know how to describe it. Jason was usually a friendly guy, always swinging an arm around Boots or pressing his hand to Boots' head. Today, he'd offered to help Boots with his sunscreen.
"Lemme get your back?" Jason had said, something between a smile and a smirk on his lips. Boots had nodded, not thinking anything of it. As soon as Jason's hands were on his skin though, he couldn't keep still. It had taken barely a minute before his cheeks were burning and the rest of his body was dangerously close to turning the same red shade he knew his face was. Jason couldn't see his face, but as soon as the blush spread down to his back, the same back that Jason was currently rubbing sunscreen on, Boots knew that the gig would be up. He wasn't't exactly sure what the gig was, or why he was even blushing so much. It felt like his mind wasn't working at full capacity. Even with his diminished capacity though, he knew that he needed to do something to stop Jason from seeing the flush that was slowly creeping across his body.
"I forgot my water bottle in the dining hall!" Boots had exclaimed, suddenly standing up. He felt Jason's hands sliding down his back, which only made the blush worse.
"I'll see you in a bit," Boots heard the older boy call after him. He tried to calm his walking to a normal speed, the speed that someone who had just left their water bottle in the dining hall would walk at, not the speed that someone who was furiously hiding a blush that they didn't understand would walk at.
Unfortunately, Boots was the second of the two options and his water bottle was no where near the dining hall.
By the time that Boots got back to the water front, it was almost time for free swim. He'd gone all the way back to his bunk to get another water bottle to save the small shred of dignity that he had maintained. Actually, Boots thought that he probably hadn't maintained any dignity at all, but he had to do something to make him feel better about his self. His self confidence was already lacking.
He hadn't had time to put on any more sunscreen, hence his current situation. Jason had already been out on the dock when Boots had gotten back, so he had climbed the ladder up the to his place at the top of the guard tower. He could get down from the guard tower, but Jason was walking around on the deck, near the sunscreen that Boots so desperately needed, talking to the kids and just generally being better at their job than Boots was. He wished he hadn't made the day so awkward. That seemed to be his specialty. At school, it always felt like Bruno was the person that made friends, started conversation (or riots), and just generally filled a room. Here at camp, he was always with another few counselors, so he never needed to lead the conversation.
Jason was one of the people he was always around at camp though, and now he had managed to make the other boy avoid him. Boots could be jumping to conclusions. Maybe Jason didn't care at all and he was just focusing on guarding. Or maybe Boots had made him uncomfortable with his awkwardness. Boots was spiraling as he started out over the water of the lake. He couldn't help but glance back to Jason. His tan made his skin look warm. He looked like he belonged on the dock, standing over the lake, glowing under the summer sun.
Boots registered that Jason was turning his way a second too late. Boots could feel the blush rising back to his cheeks.
Jason sent a small smile to him. The loud cheers of children jumping into the lake, the uncomfortable heat of the sun, everything around Boots faded away as he focused on the upturn of Jason's mouth. His teeth looked so white.
Boots wished that he could talk to Bruno about this.
