Lou and Ravi had been on kitchen duty earlier in the day, but that night Ravi wasn't sure if they had packed away the containers that were supposed to go back into the freezer. So, he approached Lou on her way back to her cabin from the campfire and asked her to check out the kitchen with him. He could've done so on his own, but he liked spending as much time with Lou as possible. When they arrived through the backdoor to the kitchen, they noticed pots and pans on the oven as if someone had just prepared a meal.
Ravi gasped as he lifted a still warm pot from the stove. "What scoundrel made such a mess after we worked so hard to clean it?"
Lou snorted, "Scoundrel." She lightly shoved his arm. "You and your vocab words."
Ravi lovingly rolled his eyes and smiled as he waved for her to follow him into the mess hall. They both wore an expression of awe when they walked into the candlelit room. There were candelabra on alternating tables and flower petals everywhere. An old radio was plugged up by the canoe where the plates and silverware for breakfast were normally set up. Classical music played softly. The mess hall's usual musky smell was masked by perfume and pasta sauce.
"Wow, it looks great in here," Lou said in wonder.
Ravi smiled at the look on her face, not really paying attention to the rest of the beauty in the room. "Yeah," he murmured.
She turned to look at him and Ravi felt like time had stopped when their eyes met. He had never been so happy to be in the Camp Kikiwaka mess hall. Suddenly, the atmosphere was ruined by the front doors being slammed open. They both jumped slightly in surprise as Gladys' sobs echoed into the room.
"The jerk's not coming!" Gladys shouted as she stormed into the mess hall. She was dressed in an overly frilly ball gown that swept across the floor. It was moth-eaten and the green color had faded.
Lou jogged over to Gladys and asked, "Whoa, what's going on, Gladys?"
"I got stood up," Gladys snapped. Tears and snot were streaming down her face. "What's new!" She grabbed the sleeve of Lou's hoodie and wiped her face, getting tears and makeup all over the red fabric.
"Can't imagine why," Lou mumbled sarcastically as she grimaced at the stains on her sleeve once Gladys released her.
By that point, Ravi had walked over with paper towels from the kitchen. He handed the stack to Gladys and asked, "Did you do all of this? It looks quite romantic."
She threw up her arms and replied, "No sugar, Sherlock! Yeah, I did all this! And it's not getting romantic around here without a man!" The camp director loudly blew her nose in the napkins, causing the other two to gag slightly. She threw the used napkins to the floor and stomped her foot.
"You...Well…" Lou kept starting and stopping. She looked to Ravi for help, but he looked just as lost for words as she was.
"Gee, thanks for the support!" Gladys huffed and then let out another sob. She shoved Lou into Ravi and then stormed out of the mess hall, yelling about how men were garbage and she hated kids.
"Ow," Lou grumbled. She expected Ravi to let go of her, but it felt like he was holding her tighter instead. She looked over at him and asked, "You're still afraid of Gladys?"
"Who?" he asked. He blinked and then let go of her, chuckling nervously. "I mean, yeah! Very afraid of, uh, Gladys."
Lou looked down at her sleeve, messy with Gladys' muck, and frowned. "She should really reconsider her career path."
"She should reconsider a lot of things," Ravi nodded.
Lou unzipped her snotty hoodie and shrugged it off. She folded it inside out and then draped it over her arm.
"Are you cold? Do you want my jacket," Ravi asked as he fumbled with the sleeves of his jacket.
"I'm fine," Lou said absentmindedly as she walked around the mess hall admiring the decor.
Close to the pool table, there was a round table covered in a white, fabric cloth. Red rose petals had been littered over the tabletop and there was a single candle lit in the middle of the table. On opposite sides, there were silver trays with silver lids. A bottle of sparkling water, two glasses, and a basket of dinner rolls were also on the table.
Lou lifted one of the lids and inhaled deeply the smell of pasta and cheese. Her stomach grumbled. It had been casserole surprise for dinner that night, which Lou hated. She gave most of it away to one of the campers. But this food looked scrumptious.
Ravi had been busy admiring the details of a candelabrum near the center of the mess hall, when he heard a chair being briefly moved across the floor. He looked up to see Lou sitting down at the only table with a cloth.
He was naturally bossy, so he marched over and asked, "Um, what do you think you're doing, Lou?"
"About to have dinner," she answered nonchalantly. She picked up a dinner roll and searched the table. "You see the butter?"
Ravi did see the butter. He picked up the container and held it up in the air. "Gladys set this up for her date. You can't just eat their food," he scolded her.
"Psh, you heard the woman. Guy's not showing up," Lou said before biting into the roll. "And I've had a long day. Lydia stole Tiffany's violin and it turned into a whole thing when Tiffany and Zuri tricked the Weasels and trapped them in that old mineshaft. Then Hazel got involved. I'm just over today."
"I realize you've had a long day, but that's not an excuse to eat Gladys' dinner. Or talk with your mouth full."
Lou hovered over the table and snatched the container of butter from Ravi's hands. She sat back down and spread some on a roll. Ravi gave her an annoyed look, but it wasn't full force because part of him thought Lou deserved a nice dinner with rolls and butter. However, even though he hadn't expected Gladys to storm out either, he figured that surely she would return and expect her romantic evening setup to be intact.
"Are you gonna be a stick in the mud the whole time or are you gonna sit down," Lou said as she poured herself a glass of sparkling water.
"This is wrong," Ravi frowned. He eyed the cheesy pasta and his stomach grumbled. He hated casserole surprise as much as Lou did, so he hadn't much of a dinner either.
Lou stabbed a few noodles and waved her fork around. "It's cheesy," she said in a sing-song voice before shoveling the food into her mouth. She hummed dramatically. "Now that's good eatin'," she said as she chewed.
His stomach grumbled again as he watched her eat another forkful of pasta. He shifted his gaze to the door as if Gladys might walk back in at any second to yell at them. But all he could see was darkness covering the Great Lawn. From the corner of his eye, he saw Lou's fork glinting in the candlelight. His stomach grumbled again and he wondered if candlelight made things more tempting because he was caring less and less about ruining Gladys' date and more and more about the pasta.
Ravi carefully swiped the fork from Lou's hand and said, "Give me that."
She lifted the plate and grinned up at him like she had won. He didn't like how smug she looked, but he wasn't about to put the fork down. Plus, he actually did kind of like how smug she looked because it was sort of adorable.
"But I'm only having one bite," Ravi said as he picked up a noodle from her plate.
"Uh huh."
He tasted the cheesy goodness of the pasta and it was like seeing the colors of the rainbow for the first time. He looked at Lou, astonished. "Do you really think Gladys is capable of cooking something this delicious?" he said in disbelief.
"Who cares," Lou said, taking back her fork to continue eating. She spoke with her mouth full again, "Now have dinner with me."
Ravi folded his lips. As tasty as the food was, he didn't feel right about crashing Gladys' date. Unfortunately, he knew what it was like to be stood up and he wanted to be supportive and hold out hope that her evening might turn around. On the other hand, he wondered what were the chances of getting Lou alone for a candlelight dinner again.
Lou chewed her pasta quietly as she watched the gears turning in Ravi's head. She had been coming to Camp Kikiwaka long enough to know that when Gladys was done with something she was done. It was one of the reasons why Lou was so responsible; from an early age she had to be in order to keep her favorite place on Earth from burning down. She looked around the room at all the candles.
"We're gonna have to put out all of these candles anyway," Lou said. She took a sip of her water and added, "And double check to make sure everything in the kitchen is off before we leave."
Ravi raised his eyebrow at her and asked, "Do you really think she's not coming back? That she'd risk the mess hall burning down?"
"You really need me to answer that," Lou said flatly. She bit into a roll and raised her eyebrow at him to see if he'd challenge what she was implying about Gladys being irresponsible.
Ravi sighed as he answered honestly, "No."
As much as he wanted to be a romantic and believe that Gladys' suitor would miraculously show up, he knew it wasn't likely. The camp director wasn't the friendliest person and she didn't really put much effort in her appearance to attract any attention. She also hated her job, so it probably wouldn't take her long to get over the mess hall going up in smoke.
"Well, then pull up a seat and let's eat!" Lou cheered as she motioned to the chair across from her.
"You're right! I'm starving," he said as he quickly sat down and removed the lid from the other tray. He grabbed a fork and shoveled some of the pasta into his mouth. "This is five-star restaurant quality!"
Lou smirked, "Look who's talking with food in their mouth now, Mr. Snooty Patootie."
Ravi's face flushed with embarrassment. He picked up a cloth napkin and dabbed the corners of his mouth.
"We're all alone, Ravi," she said as she stabbed more pasta. "We don't have to be all polite and fancy."
"Well excuse me, but I like being 'all polite and fancy'," he replied.
"Yeah, yeah," Lou said as she checked out his pasta. "Hey, no fair. Your's is cheesier than mine."
Ravi glanced down at his plate of pasta. The melted cheese cascaded down the mountain of noodles and formed neat puddles around the edges of the sauce. He shifted his gaze to her plate. It looked equally as appetizing, but he could see a minor difference in the cheese allotment.
"Hardly much of a difference," he said as he collected some of the cheesy noodles with his fork. He looked up at her and noticed how the candlelight made shadows dance across her pretty face. Her bright eyes seemed more enticing. "Here," he said as he held his fork toward her.
He thought she was going to take the fork from his hand, but she leaned forward across the table and ate straight from his fork. He couldn't believe he was actually awake. This had to be a dream. He must've fallen asleep during one of Xander's boring spelunking lectures again.
"Whoever ditched her was a fool!" Lou exclaimed as she sat back in her seat and chewed. "That woman can cook!"
"Do you want more? You can have the whole thing! Do you want me to search in the kitchen for more cheese? I can do that!" He said in a rush, nearly knocking over the table as he stood up.
"Nah, this is already better than casserole surprise," Lou said as she broke apart another roll and looked around the mess hall. "For someone who hardly does any work, she sure got this place looking good fast."
Ravi sat back down and forced himself to remain calm. But it was difficult when he was in a very date-like setting with someone he wanted to date. Eventually, he settled his nerves as best as he could.
They ate in a comfortable yet tense silence. Ravi refilled their glasses with sparkling water and Lou kept their rolls buttered for them. But they were both aware of the romantic atmosphere around them. Lou let the scent of fresh flowers soothe the nervous energy in her gut. Ravi let the music playing in the background block out any romantic thoughts that tried to pop up in his mind. Every now and then they'd glance at each other when the other wasn't paying attention. They both noticed how different things looked in candlelight.
"It's pretty late," Lou said as she wiped her hands on a napkin. "We better get started putting out these candles."
Ravi looked around the room and nodded, "Yes. How did she find so many?"
He looked to Lou for a response, but she just hunched her shoulders and lifted her palms.
"Well, um, this was… very nice," Ravi said with a small smile.
"Thanks for having dinner with me," Lou said sweetly.
Lou gave Ravi a look that he didn't recognize. Her gaze looked serene but intense. It made him not want to leave. But he knew that if they stayed any longer, he would confess all of his romantic feelings and make things awkward between them.
"Let's get started," they said at the same time.
And in unison they both put their hands on the table and lifted themselves up to hover over the table and blow out the candle. The flame flickered out and the thin smoke rose with their faces inches apart.
"We should probably work on opposite sides of the room," Lou whispered. She moved her hand slightly so that her fingers brushed against his, but she didn't lean away from the candle or him.
"Yeah, we wouldn't want this to happen again," Ravi whispered back. His eyes flickered to her lips. He was no longer interested in blocking out any of his romantic thoughts.
Lou inched closer to him and whispered, "Nothing's happened..."
And nothing did happen. Because at that moment Gladys stomped into the mess hall and flicked on the ceiling lights. She made a disgusted face at the two of them leaning in for their almost kiss and hollered, "Gross!"
Lou sighed angrily and squeezed her eyes shut. "Guess you were right about her coming back," she said. She leaned away from Ravi and glared at Gladys.
"Oh, don't give me that look, sister," Gladys said as she picked up a candelabrum and spit to put out the flames. "You got a lot closer than I did."
"Whatever," Lou grumbled as she grabbed a broom propped up against the wall to start sweeping up petals.
Ravi tried to frown but his heart was too happy with the fact that Lou seemed upset that their moment had been ruined. That made him hopeful. But he was still annoyed with Gladys.
He collected their trays and rolled his eyes as he muttered, "You really need to get a new job."
"I heard that!" Gladys shouted as she continued putting out the candelabra.