Kayden stood there in the patchy, horse-trodden grass and dirt, glaring silently as Morgan walked away with her taller friend. It wasn't the worst thing she'd ever said, but did she really just call him gay?! Surely, he thought, she didn't really think so. It had to be one of her remarks meant to get under his skin. She couldn't really think he was into guys.

Right?

He ran his hand down his face, irritated. What was he doing here again? Darien. That's right. But where was he?

He and Darien had met their first year of college. They typically spent summers apart, but Darien's internship opportunity fell through at the last minute, and he needed somewhere to go. He didn't have any family, so Kayden offered him a job and the rest was history.

Darien had seemed excited to get to hang out all summer, but now the idiot never seemed to be around.

Kayden took one more quick look around, walking through the small gathering this time. Not finding who he was looking for, he began to leave, but had to decline, twice, to accept Nate's challenge to throw axes, before he could do so. Nate was always trying to get him to participate in some foolish physical challenge, and Kayden was always reminding him that he wasn't into gambling.

By the time his slow stride carried him back to the cabin it was nearly dark. The glow of the television could be seen flashing from the windows. As he suspected, Jayden and Zack were furiously pressing buttons on their controllers, headsets on, playing Halo. Kayden considered turning in for the night, but grabbed a controller and headset, and then joined in their game.

Jayden gave him a baffled look as he fell back into the seat cushion next to him, but shrugged and welcomed him to the fray with a killshot to the chest of his avatar.

They played a few rounds of online multiplayer capture the flag before Zack got up to get snacks, leaving just the two of them.

"You're quiet," said Jayden.

"I'm always quiet."

"Okay, correction: you're more quiet than usual."

"And this is a problem?"

"Just seems like, I dunno, something is bothering you," Jayden shrugged and continued to play.

"No," Kayden shot back in defense quietly. He lied. Something was bothering him. But was it that his best friend was ghosting him, or that he cared that Morgan thought he was gay? People said stupid things all the time. Why did it bother him so much? He lined his character's scope and took out some unsuspecting opposing players with a sniper's rifle.

"Nice!" Zack exclaimed, setting some bowls of snacks on the oversized oak coffee table in front of them. He sat back down, watching the gameplay on the screen. "Quiet and playing more ruthless than usual. Yup. Something is bugging him."

Kayden sighed. Which was easier to talk about? There would be consequences to both subjects, but if he didn't own up to something, they'd never shut up. So, with that in mind, he went for the less deep subject. "Your cousin thinks I'm gay."

Zack nearly started choking on a pretzel.

"What?" Jayden hit the pause button, nearly laughing. "She knows you've dated girls."

Zack had cleared his throat just enough to cough out a wisecrack. "Maybe she thinks he's bi, then?"

Kayden shot an icy glare at Zack, who had anticipated this and moved himself back just enough to avoid any punches to the arm, grinning like the Cheshire cat. "Ass."

Jayden chuckled and took the opportunity to get a handful of popcorn. "Well, you did basically reject her in front of everyone when she pretty much confessed her love for you that one time."

"She was thirteen!" Kayden vividly remembered the unfortunate incident.

Jayden shrugged. "You know Morgan. She's so full of herself that you must be gay if you don't think she's pretty."

"I never said she wasn't pretty," Kayden mumbled to himself, focusing back on the screen in front of them.

"What was that?" Zack pried.

"Shut up."

-.-.-.-.-.-

Maybe he should have talked about Darien ignoring him instead. Zack wouldn't have teased him for the feelings of abandonment that brought up. He would have loved psychoanalyzing it and trying to trace it back to something, but he would have let it be after that. But no. Kayden had a dumb moment and spoke what should have been a mere thought in his head out loud, and Zack took amusement in teasing him about thinking Morgan was pretty every chance he got.

Kayden was handling it well until Wednesday, when Zack said something about it outside the walls of their cabin. He saw red and pulled the smaller man closer to him so he could warn him quietly to keep his goddamn mouth shut. The last thing Kayden needed was some rumor getting to Morgan that he thought she was pretty. He was fairly certain that's how the whole incident four years ago started. Morgan got it in her head that he thought she was pretty and the next thing he knew, she was following him around like a little lost puppy.

She was pretty, he thought, but she didn't need to know he thought so. Lots of girls were pretty. Morgan was prettier, but that was not the fucking point. She was one of his counselors and most definitely still underage.

While he was walking to check in at the front office, Kayden caught sight of that kid with the iPhone walking alone. He paused on the sidewalk for a brief moment to see if he seemed to be on his way somewhere, or just out looking for something to get into. The kid showed up for just enough of his activities to stay out of real trouble, but he'd been caught loitering a few times the previous week, which landed him on Kayden's trouble list. When Kayden was confident he saw him enter the pool gate, he continued to the end of the sidewalk and entered the office.

A head of ebony hair swung around in the office chair to greet him. "Good afternoon, how can I-oh, hey, man. What's up?"

Kayden shook his head as if to say 'nothing.' There were, of course, things to say, but Kayden wasn't here to talk about any of that right now. He closed the door behind him and walked up to the desk. "I just came to grab the canoe trip rosters so I could hand them out."

"Oh, I just saw those. Just a second." Darien turned and searched through a filing cabinet. "Found them!"

"Thanks," Kayden said as he accepted the files and clipped them onto the spare clipboard he was carrying.

"Hey," Darien started to say, then ran a hand through his hair sheepishly. "Sorry I blew you off the other day. When are you guys gaming again? I thought I could come by."

Kayden's face quirked a bit, eyebrows raised in surprise. "Uh, we could tonight. I'm sure the others would be down."

"Cool."

"Alright. See you later."

"Later."

Kayden left the office, spirits lifted, in search of the wayward teen with no business spending his summer not working. Zack had once suggested that Kayden was jealous of those campers, because their parents were wealthy enough that they didn't have to work. It wasn't entirely without merit, but it wasn't entirely accurate either. He knew from experience that kids and teens around here, especially the teens, found themselves in trouble more often than not when they had nothing to do. And that kid with the iPhone felt like every kid they'd ever kicked out rolled into one person.

The sounds of splashing and laughter hit his ears before the sunscreen and chlorine hit his nostrils. The pool was packed this afternoon. He took a spot near the concrete wall by the entrance and scanned for the perceived troublemaker. After a few minutes, he spotted him perched on a lounge chair, talking to a girl, because of course he was, Kayden thought. They were laughing about something. Then, the kid stood up and began walking toward the vending machines. He hadn't been able to see the girl before through the crowd, but it cleared for a second and Kayden saw Morgan there, lounging in the chair, orange bikini, sun hat and black rimmed sunglasses-not her usual red ones. Why did he know that?

And. And that bikini. That was.

Well.

It was inappropriate. And she didn't have any damn right to look that good in a bikini. She was here to work, not look - pretty? No - casual. Zacks taunts were getting to him. Morgan was in inappropriate attire for an employee of this camp. Period.

Kayden wasn't sure what came over him, but before the iPhone toting playboy could return, he strode over to her chair. She only looked up when his shadow blocked the sunlight from her face. She pulled her glasses down and looked up at him annoyed. "What?"

He hadn't really thought of what he was going to say, he'd blame the - distractions, but then he'd have to admit to himself that he'd noticed anything in the first place. "That bikini is not regulation," he pointed out flatly.

"Good thing I'm not on the schedule today then," she countered, even-toned.

They stared at each other for a few moments before his eye twitched and she grinned as if victorious.

"Was there something you needed? Or are you just here to make sure no one's having a good time?"

He glanced over at the vending machines, ignoring the jab. "Actually, I was here to make sure your friend over there wasn't getting into any more trouble."

"Aaron?" she looked in his direction and waved at the person in question when she saw him returning with drinks.

"He's trouble. I'd hate to see you be in trouble, too."

She looked back to Kayden and stuck out her tongue, blowing a raspberry. "I don't need a babysitter. You can go now."

Kayden shook his head at her childish antics, and made sure to shoot a warning glare Aaron's way before leaving. Kayden took his position seriously, and he wouldn't have that idiot get one of his counselors in trouble.