Lucie walked back slowly to the cabin. She hugged herself to keep the cool breeze off her arms and thought about what had just happened. She hadn't meant for it to happen. In fact, she had told herself not to. But something had just drawn her in. She knew that getting involved with Squid, or any camper for that matter, could result in problems.
"Why did I do that?" she asked herself, kicking a rock and watching it skip across the ground. "I'm so stupid."
She opened the door to the cabin and walked into the living room where her aunt was sitting. She was eating a bowl of ice cream and watching television.
"Where have you been?" she asked without looking up.
"I was in the wreck room, Aunt Lou. Just like I told you."
"Don't take that tone with me." The warden said, turning her head to face Lucie.
"Sorry." Lucie quickly apologized and headed for her room.
"You sure have been hanging around those boys a lot."
Lucie stopped and turned around but didn't reply.
The warden continued. "You got a thing for one of them?"
Lucie shrugged.
"Which one is it? Squid?"
"It's not really a thing." She stepped back into the living room. "It's more of a complication."
The warden put her ice cream bowl down on the table in front of her, leaned back into the couch and looked back up at her niece. "You wanna talk about it?"
"Not really."
"Why not?"
"Because there's nothing to talk about."
"Oh really? Because personally I think a fight and a kiss are worth talking about."
Lucie's eyes widened. "Aunt Lou, how did you know about that?"
"I have my ways. You don't want to tell me what led up to that?"
Lucie shook her head. "Nothing led up to it really. It just happened. It won't happen again."
The warden nodded. "Good. I don't need my boys to be distracted from their work."
Lucie slept late the next morning and when she woke up, she decided to stay in for the day. After what had happened the night before, she thought it best to stay away from the boys today. She brushed her teeth, grabbed a pop tart and crawled back into bed with her writing portfolio. She took a deep breath and tried to clear her mind in order to concentrate on her story. Her mind traveled to Italy, where her story took place, to the world of Katherine Lawrence, the character she had created. In her mind, she watched Katherine stroll down the streets of Rome and smile happily at the man next to her, Salvatore Billapesta. Suddenly, the chiseled features of the Italian man in Lucie's imagination morphed. The face in her mind was now Squid's face. Lucie shook her head to shake away the thought and slapped her hand over her forehead.
"Stop thinking about that!" She sighed. "I can't believe I kissed him."
"You kissed him?" a voice said.
Lucie's head quickly turned toward the door and she saw Caveman standing there, dressed in his orange suit, covered in dirt, looking at her with puppy eyes. His already naturally disheveled hair had been tossed about by the wind, giving him and even more pitiful appearance.
"Stanley!" Lucie said startled and dropped her writing pad.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. I knocked on the door and no one answered so I came in. I called for you a couple of times but I guess you didn't hear me. I'm sorry."
"It's ok." Lucie assured him. She stood up and smiled. "So, what are you doing here?"
He smiled back at her. "I kinda snuck away from my hole."
"You snuck away? Wow, Stanley the wild man. Why'd you do that?"
"To see you." He said, his cheeks turning a light shade of pink.
"I'm flattered, but if you get caught, we'll both be in trouble. I just got a lecture from Aunt Lou last night."
"Because of what happened with Squid?"
Now it was Lucie's turn to blush.
"That's part of the reason I came. I don't want to sound nosy, but what exactly happened with him last night? He wouldn't tell us much."
"Really? He didn't tell?" Lucie smiled to herself.
Caveman shook his head. "No. We all knew something had happened because you two went out there alone and then when Squid came back in, he was all dazed looking."
"He was?"
"Yea. So, you kissed him, huh?" Caveman looked down at the ground and nodded.
Lucie hesitated to answer and Caveman quickly responded to the silence. "I'm sorry, that was out of line. You don't have to tell me."
"No, it's ok. Yes, I kissed him. Well, we kissed each other, but I didn't mean for it to happen. I can't explain. I'm just really confused right now."
"I understand. And you don't have to try to explain."
"Well, I do kind of owe you an explanation."
Caveman shook his head and stepped up to her, placing a finger over her lips. "Don't worry about it. I've got to get back out there anyway."
Lucie watched him walk out the door and slowly slump down the hall, looking down at his feet the whole time. She sighed heavily and ran to her dresser to grab a pair of shorts and a t-shirt.
"I've really made a mess of things." She told herself, pulling her long hair back into a ponytail. She washed her face, applied mascara and brushed her teeth. She grabbed her purse and put on some lip-gloss and headed for the door. She walked at a quick pace across the campground toward the area where D-tent was digging. It took a while after she spotted them to get to them and by time she got there, she had broken out in a sweat. The sun beat down on her as she marched up to Caveman's hole.
"Stanley, we really need to talk."
Caveman looked up at her and shrugged his shoulders. "I already told you, Lucie. You really don't owe me an explanation. I shouldn't have thought that just because you-"
"Hey, it's Hot Lips!" X-Ray shouted, cutting Caveman off in mid sentence. Lucie's eyes narrowed. She slowly turned and looked at X-Ray.
"What did you call me?"
"How's it going, Hot Lips?" ZigZag said laughing.
Lucie turned back to Caveman.
"You told them?"
He shook his head quickly. "No, I didn't. Squid told them."
"I thought you said-"
"He just now told them. Before you came out here."
Lucie's mouth dropped open and she suddenly felt very angry towards Squid. Just a few minutes ago she had thought he was so sweet for not telling all the guys about their kiss, but now she was fuming.
By time she turned around to look at Squid's reaction, he was out of his hole and walking toward her.
"You told them?" she asked him.
"Well, what does it matter? You already told Caveman so I figured if you were going to spread it around, it wouldn't matter if I did too."
"Stanley told you I talked to him?"
"He said he was giving up on you because I was too much to compete with." Squid said, nodding towards Caveman.
"You made him feel like he was competing with you?"
"No, I think you did that."
"I did not!" Lucie shouted. "We're not even together."
"Oh, a lovers' quarrel." Armpit said in a very dramatic voice. Everyone laughed. Everyone except Lucie and Squid who were staring angrily at each other.
"I know we're not together. That's why I didn't tell anyone before. Although I did assume that you had some sort of feelings for me since you kissed me back."
"Well, I don't." Lucie spat.
Squid rolled his eyes. "Fine, whatever." He slung his shovel over his shoulder and stomped back to his hole.
"Get back to diggin'." He told the others. "Show's over."
"See ya, Hot Lips." Magnet said waving at Lucie.
She swore under her breath and turned back towards the cabin.
On her way across the dry landscape, she ran over the events of the week in her head. Somehow she had managed to make two guys think she had feelings for them. Then she had kissed one and left the other heartbroken. She shook her head at herself.
"I don't belong here. I've done nothing but cause problems since I've been here."
When she walked by D-tent she thought about the journal she had come across. A wave of guilt came over her and she thought about her own journal. It was filled with the same types of feelings. She understood exactly what Caveman was feeling. Her mind traveled back home to a certain guy who was back in her hometown right now, probably not thinking about her. "Let it go." She told herself sternly.
Then she thought about Squid. The kiss had been so intense and had left tingles shooting up and down her spine. Could it be possible that she had feelings for more than one guy?