Lou picked up another piece of trash alongside the lake. She dropped the candy wrapper into a heavy garbage bag and then flexed her fingers inside her large, yellow, rubber gloves. With a content sigh, she looked around the grassy area. She and Ravi had been outside for an hour, serving trash duty by the lake. The area looked a lot better than when they had started.
"We did awesome, Ravi!" she cheered, throwing her free arm in the air to raise her fist.
Ravi tossed a bottle into the wheeled cart with the other recyclables. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and then gave her a thumbs up.
Lou grinned and then made her way to an abandoned flip flop near the water. She spoke loudly as she said, "Thanks for volunteering with me."
"No problem," he replied. He wheeled the cart to a picnic table not far. "I wanted to talk to you."
"I know," Lou mumbled. "I don't want to hear about another rare stamp for the rest of my life."
"I heard that!"
Lou jokingly fluttered her eyelashes at him as she approached the picnic table. He chuckled and shook his head. She tied the bag of garbage and settled it near the table before sitting down on the bench. She peeled off her gloves and waved toward the lake.
"The water's murky, but that shore sure looks good," she said proudly.
"True," he agreed as he sat on the other end of the bench.
Lou eyed the distance between them and then asked, "Why are you all the way over there?" She raised her arm and sniffed. "Do I smell like lake trash?"
"No," Ravi said shakily. He looked over at her, but he stayed on the far end of the bench. "And, um, I didn't volunteer to pick up garbage so I could bore you with stamp facts. Or stacts, as I like to call them."
"Don't call them that," Lou said flatly.
"Anyway…" Ravi said, rolling his eyes. He removed his own gloves and said with his eyes cast downward, "I wanted to talk about the fact that I love you."
Lou blinked as she stared blankly at him. "What?"
He looked up and turned slightly so that his elbow rested on the tabletop as he faced her. He repeated himself, except looking in her eyes this time, "I love you."
"Uh…" Lou said dumbstruck. She looked over her shoulder to see campers at the cabins in the distance.
"I thought I should tell you. Camp ends the day after tomorrow… and I might not be back next summer."
Lou quickly turned her head to face him again. She angrily furrowed her brow and pouted, "I know, you traitor. Who chooses some stupid prestigious space camp over Camp Kikiwaka?"
"Someone who is majoring in aerospace engineering next year. No offense, of course, to Camp Kikiwaka," he said when her glare hardened. He chuckled nervously, "Can we go back to the part of the conversation where I tell you that I love you?"
Lou's glare faded. She sighed, "Sorry, Ravi. Help me out here, would ya? When you say you… love me… You mean?"
"That I love you," he said with a neutral expression.
"But you mean…" Lou prompted, motioning for him to continue.
He nodded. "You know, like I love you. Obvi." He shrugged and made an expression like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Lou folded her lips for a moment. She tilted her head to the side and squinted her eyes. "No. Not 'obvi.' Do you love me like Hazel loves throwing rocks at Emma or like Hazel loves Xander?"
Ravi furrowed his brow in confusion. "Neither?"
"Oh," Lou said good-naturedly. The tension left her shoulders as she giggled and asked, "Then why'd you say it all serious?"
Ravi blinked. "I don't know if serious is the right term. But I think it's important enough to tell you that I love you before I leave."
Her relaxed state was tense again. She murmured, "But you said neither."
Ravi snorted. "Yes, because throwing rocks at someone is horribly mean. And Hazel is obsessed with Xander. I wouldn't say I'm obsessed with you... Well, I did turn down the space camp program at first…" He gave her a shy smile. "...because I didn't want to leave you."
Lou returned his smile and waited quietly for him to continue.
He raised an eyebrow and shook his head as he said, "But then I realized that was ridiculous! Like duh, I'm going to space camp!"
Lou's smile weakened as she slightly narrowed her eyes at him.
Ravi drummed his fingers on the table and continued, "And I have a week between the program ending and my college courses starting where I can visit you. Don't worry, I have a calendar with all this on it. I've already made you a copy."
"Thanks?" Lou scooted closer to the middle of the bench. She turned slightly so that her elbow rested on the tabletop too. "But I'm still lost because you just sprang this on me after we collected moldy socks and chip bags stuck under rocks. That's not very…" She almost said romantic but her face heated at the thought of the word. "It's not very clear. What you mean… how you mean it..."
"Lou, I don't know how to make it any clearer," Ravi said sincerely.
"Do you love me like you love Jorge?" she asked.
"Of course," Ravi said brightly. "He's my friend! And I love all my friends dearly. Though, he is almost like a little brother to me." He grimaced. "I mean, he clips his toenails on my bed like my actual brother does."
Lou felt a pang of disappointment, but her head felt a little clearer now that it seemed he was clarifying his declaration. "Gotcha, you love me like a friend. Or even like a sister. Like Emma or Zuri."
"Most certainly not," Ravi replied as he scrunched his nose. "Yes, I love my sisters. Yes, I love you. But, gross." His carefree expression returned as he slapped the tabletop and stood. "Now that we're on the same page, let's get rid of this litter and join the others for dinner."
"No! We're not on the same page!" Lou exhaled a frustrated breath through her nostrils as she stood. She waved her arms in anger as she shouted, "You're not making any sense, Ravi!"
"That's not my fault!" Ravi shouted back as he crossed his arms. "I love you!"
"What does that mean!"
"That I love you!"
"Oh, just kiss her already!"
Lou and Ravi froze. They turned to see Tiffany and Xander standing by the sign that listed all the lake rules. Tiffany had her hands on her hips, giving them annoyed looks. Xander looked uncomfortable as he gave them a small wave.
"We've been listening to this awkward conversation for hours!" Tiffany complained as she threw her head back dramatically.
"More like a few minutes," Xander amended as he tugged at the collar of his shirt. "We weren't eavesdropping, but when we came to get you guys for dinner…"
"We didn't want to kill the mood, but shesh, you two are doing that yourselves," Tiffany said in an exasperated tone.
Xander placed his hand on the Woodchuck camper's shoulder and said, "What I think Tiffany is trying to say is that you two seem to be having a, um, miscommunication problem."
"He's being nice," Tiffany said, shrugging off Xander's hand. She pointed at Lou. "Ravi loves you like Xander loves Gabby, his guitar. You're important to him."
"Right!" Ravi exclaimed.
Xander smiled at Ravi and said, "And Lou wants to make sure you love her like Tiffany loves her violin. And not like you love Tiffany, who is your friend and like a sister. She needs to know if your feelings are romantic, not platonic."
"Exactly!" Lou exclaimed.
"Which is why a kiss would've solved this whole stupid conversation," Tiffany said nonchalantly. She looked up at Xander and said, "Good thing we were eavesdropping or they may have never shown up for dinner."
"Yeah, they would've still been arguing at the lake," Xander snorted. His friends gave him a look to which he flashed a quick smile and said quickly, "Looks like they know it's time for dinner, Tiff. Let's head back."
Tiffany shook her head. "No way. They're my idiots. And if they're in love, I need to make sure they know they're in love."
Lou's face had been heated with embarrassment since the moment Tiffany and Xander revealed that they were at the lake. She hadn't expected an evening picking up trash to be so eventful. She messed with the ends of her hair as she looked at Ravi from the corner of her eye. He was rocking on his heels and nervously rubbing his shoulder.
"Do you, um, love me like… like you want to kiss me?" Lou asked with her eyes wide and searching for an answer in his gaze.
"That's exactly how I love you," he smiled. His gaze was full of admiration and love.
Xander sniffled. He fanned his eyes and looked down at the ground. "I can't take it! It's so sweet," he said in a strained voice.
"Aww, it is," Tiffany cooed. She hugged Xander, making him jump slightly as he was taken off guard. She kept her eyes on Lou and Ravi as she continued to hug the counselor. "I love you, guys!"
"We love you too," Ravi said automatically as he glanced at Tiffany. He returned his focus to Lou and stepped closer to her. "But not like I love you."
"Aww shucks, Ravi!" Lou said loudly and sweetly as she tilted her head to the side and grinned like she had lost her mind.
"Do you love him?" Tiffany asked, also unable to stop smiling.
"Oh, that's easy," Lou said. And without any further verbal explanation, she grabbed him by the collar and kissed him.
Inspired by the moonlit_sunflower_writes Tumblr post: friends to lovers never had a bad track. "scared i'll ruin what we have" SLAPS. "friendship cuddles while secretly dying inside" BANGER. "teasing each other and holding eye contact for a little too long" KILLS ME. and don't even get me STARTED on "screaming i love you in the middle of a heated argument."