This is a big part of the story of Camp Camp: Counselor Max. There's more sexual stuff in this story that I didn't mention at first, particularly because a large part of Max's attraction to Nikki in the story is sexual. However, me giving him a degree in business is an important detail, as revealed later on in this chapter. Yep, he's that guy. Oh, and this is the Daniel chapter.
Max quietly closed the door to the cabin. He'd just finished his check-in for the night and was dead tired from the events of the day. Not just the fact that the kids had chosen to set bushes by the pier on fire, or the fact that he'd had to deal with ten campers on his own while his coworkers were off doing what-fucking-ever, but he'd been faced with the reality that his first crush—a girl he'd given up on ever being with—was now back at the very place they'd met and he'd had the three best summers of his life. And she was even more amazing than he remembered.
He headed over to his bed, only to realize that Nikki was curled up in it. He'd forgotten to get out a cot for her to sleep on. She was wearing essentially an older version of the clothes he'd known her to wear when they were kids, and she looked so cute, all curled up. If it had been anybody other than Nikki, he would've pulled their ass out of his bed before they knew what was happening. But… it was Nikki. He couldn't bring himself to do it. Plus, she'd probably maul him if he woke her up. No, he'd just find a spot nearby for the night.
At least he would've, if he could remember where fucking Neil put the sleeping bags last time he reorganized the storage shed.
Dammit.
He gently reached into his pillow, though, to try and free Mr. Honey Nuts. He got his fingers around the bear's leg when a hand grabbed his arm. Nikki had grabbed him in her sleep. The curly-haired man tried to pull away, but she pulled him closer to her.
Shit. Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!
"…stay…" she mumbled in her sleep.
Abort. Abort. Abort!
Max took off his shoes one-handed (a feat that surely would've impressed Nikki if she were awake) and stuffed his socks into them. He then laid next to Nikki, who wrapped her arms around him to cuddle.
Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. She's really soft. And warm. No! Focus on not getting turned on…
He turned so that he was facing away from the object of his attraction, so if anything sprouted up during the night, she wouldn't notice it in the morning. He prayed nothing would sprout up, but he knew it was unlikely with her so close by.
Max closed his eyes and let himself drift off. Nikki cuddling him from behind made him feel as safe as he did with Mr. Honey Nuts. He found himself wanting it to be the norm, but he pushed that desire deep down into his psyche, which woke him up a bit. There was no room for that kind of thinking as head counselor. He had to think about the kids.
They could walk in and we could both lose our jobs… if Campbell gave a damn.
Nikki buried her face in his back and mumbled something he didn't catch.
Goddammit, Nikki. You're adorable and sexy at the same time. Stop it.
He felt himself drifting away again, this time deeper than before.
I think I could get used to this…
"Max…" Nikki said in his dream.
"Oh, hey Nik."
"It's so great to be back at Camp Campbell with my two best friends…"
"I know. Welcome back, Nikki."
"Well, actually, you're more than my best friend. I really like you, Max."
"Max."
"Max!"
Max sat up with a start as he realized Nikki was calling his name in the real world. She was sitting beside him in his twin-sized camp bed, wide-awake and looking confused as hell as she stared at him.
"What?! What's wrong?" he asked.
"Why are you in my bed?"
"Uh, this is my bed. You just fell asleep in it."
"I did? Well, sorry. You could've just woken me up and gotten me a sleeping bag."
"You looked comfortable. Also, you'd probably maim me."
"That's fair. I bit Neil a couple times when he woke me up in middle school and high school." She climbed over Max and reached under the bed to pull out… her bra. He tried to look away as she put it on without taking off her shirt.
Do not look down right now, Nikki. I swear to fucking God, do not look down at my lap.
"Well, time to start the day!" She turned to leave, then faced Max again. "Oh, you might want to take care of the little problem in your pants. See you at breakfast!"
Max groaned as he found himself alone in the cabin. He grabbed a couple things out of his dresser and headed to the showers, hoping to avoid the campers—or worse, Neil and Tabii—and not have them ask questions about why he was heading there so early.
Once that was done, he went to the mess hall, where the campers were almost done eating.
"Where have you been?" Neil asked. "I saw you cuddling with Nikki when I got up this morning."
"I had a surprise when I woke up this morning. Your sister didn't help things by putting on her bra in front of me—"
"The fuck?!"
"—without taking off her shirt."
"Still, the fuck?!"
"I don't know. I'm late because I was taking care of… something."
"Oh. That still doesn't explain why Nikki was in your bed."
"Because we didn't set hers up and she thought it was hers." He lowered his voice. "Also, she grabbed my hand while I was trying to grab something from under my pillow. I couldn't get her to let go, so I just went with it."
"Don't go too far. You want to keep your job, don't you?"
"Of course I do. I hate this place, but I'm making decent money. Even if I care about Nikki, she's not worth risking my ass for right now."
"Good to know, because if you get fired, I'm head counselor, and I don't know shit about doing half the crap you do to keep this place alive."
"I'm ninety-nine percent sure that Campbell only hired me because I have a degree in business."
"And a minor in music."
"That's not important."
"You got a degree?" Nikki asked, sliding into a seat across from Max. "Cool!"
"In business. Again, I'm pretty sure that's the main reason Campbell hired me."
"You're technically my boss, though, so I'm willing to listen to you!"
"Great. Then how about you handle the campers today so I can finish the fucking paperwork that's piled up?"
"You got it! Me and Neil are on top of it!"
"Me?" Neil sputtered. "Why me?!"
"Because you're more experienced with these kids than I am. I don't even know their names, except for Dolph."
"Nerris, Harrison, Dolph, Nurf, Ered, Preston, Space Kid, Gwen, Jaspar, and David. Those are all the campers we have right now."
"And Daniel's coming today," Max added.
"Daniel?"
"New camper? I told you about him the day you hired Nikki."
"Oh, right. He's the reason you said we needed a new counselor."
"He's signed up for Music Camp, like David."
"Cute!" Nikki cooed. "I wonder where he is." Max checked his watch.
"Well, you two get the campers started on their activities for the day. I've got to go greet the new camper."
"Can I come?!"
All three counselors jumped at the sudden appearance of David.
"Jesus fucking Christ, David!" Max snapped. "We've been over this!"
"Sorry." David's face fell and Max couldn't find it in his heart to be mad at the little guy.
"Whatever. Sure, you can come. It's better than waiting by myself."
"Yay!" David clapped his hands. "I'll wait for you by the flagpole!" He did the Camp Campbell salute—despite the number of times Max had actively discouraged the campers from doing it due to its actual meaning—and ran outside.
"If you don't adopt that kid, I will," Nikki told Max bluntly.
"Why don't you both adopt him?" Neil joked. His two co-counselors blushed and Max excused himself to go meet up with David.
"So, who's the new camper?" David asked as he and Max walked out to the gate.
"His name is Daniel, and like I said, he's signed up for Music Camp, like you."
"That sounds great! I'll have a friend at camp!"
"What about Jaspar and Gwen? Aren't they your friends?"
"Yeah, but Gwen says my song is dumb. And Jaspar always wants to go explore Spooky Island."
"Which you know is off-limits."
"Yep." David nodded.
The bus pulled up, driven by Quartermaster. Max pulled David out of the way before the ten-year-old could get hit. As the door opened, a little boy with blonde hair jumped out.
"Good morning!" he greeted Max and David. Max's jaw dropped as he got a good look at the kid.
It was a blonde-haired, blue-eyed version of David.
"You've got to be fucking kidding me," he groaned.
"Welcome to Camp Campbell!" David greeted him.
"Thanks, friend!" Daniel replied.
"I'm your friend already?!"
"Of course, if you'll be mine!"
Max's eyes were wide as one twitched.
Two Davids. Two fucking Davids, for the rest of the summer? Hell fucking no!
"Well, David, as much as I hate to do this," Max laughed nervously, "I think I'm gonna have to take a day off!"
"Aw, Max, are you sure?" both kids asked in unison. He quickly brought them into the mess hall and dashed for the Camp-Mobile, tearing out of camp as soon as he could.
"You must be Daniel," Nikki greeted the new camper. "I'm Nikki, one of your counselors."
"Howdy, Nikki!" Daniel greeted her. She glanced over at David.
"Where'd Max go?"
"He said something about taking the day off and left in the Camp-Mobile," David told her with a shrug. Nikki looked from David to Daniel and immediately understood.
"Well, kids, let's have some fun today!"
Daniel and David were the only ones over at Music Camp, and David found himself wishing Max was there to teach Daniel guitar the way the head counselor had taught David.
You have to keep your shoulders loose, or your sound will suffer. And don't use your fucking fingers to strum all the time—use a pick or you'll end up with cuts, Max's voice echoed in the little musician's head.
Daniel pulled a violin out of the truck that served as the storage spot for instruments and started playing. He was pretty good, but David knew Max preferred guitar.
Or does he just like good musicians?
David pushed that thought out of his mind. There was no way that Max would pick Daniel over him, right?
"Max seems nice," Daniel commented. "Except for the language."
"That's just how Max is," David replied. "I don't mind it anymore, though! He says trying not to swear in front of us would take more energy than he has."
"And you're really good at guitar."
"Max taught me how to be better. My playing's improved a lot since he started teaching me. I'm not as stiff and my fingers don't hurt as much as they used to."
"Wow! Think he could teach me? Maybe I'll even become better than you!"
Alarm bells started going off in David's head.
For the rest of the day, David kept a careful eye on Daniel, who was talking nonsense to the other campers and to Tabii. He spoke of positive emotions versus negative ones, and how they all needed to 'ascend'. It made the redhead very uncomfortable. Then came Daniel's punch, which he claimed to the counselors that he was making for everybody to enjoy. David caught him pouring rat poison into it, and was immediately alarmed. He wished Max was there to stop Daniel, but the head counselor had yet to return.
"Okay, let's all enjoy the punch that Daniel made!" Tabii called to the campers. Everyone cheered.
"Wait!" David yelled. Everyone stared at him. "Before we do, I challenge Daniel to a music battle!"
"Aw, c'mon, David," Nikki chided.
"Please, Nikki? I never have anybody to play music against except Max, and he's better than me!"
Nikki raised her eyebrows, then nodded.
"Sure. Go for it."
David pulled out his guitar. In response, Daniel pulled out his violin.
What followed was what could only be described as a camp-jam battle of epic proportions. It only ended when Daniel drank some of his punch and had to be rushed to the hospital.
The following morning, David was sitting by himself by the flagpole, feeling sad that Daniel had been such a bad guy after all. And that Max had yet to return from his day off.
"Hey, don't look so fucking depressed." His head snapped up as he realized Max was standing there.
"Max!" he cheered, hugging his favorite counselor around the legs before remembering Max's thing about contact. He let go and Max ruffled his hair again.
"I didn't realize you'd miss me that much. Where's Daniel?"
"He had to leave."
"Oh, thank God. I couldn't handle both of you."
"Really?" David felt his heart sinking.
"Besides, he's a knock-off David. I prefer the real one."
David's eyes lit up and his heart jumped back up. Then he tilted his head.
"What did you do on your day off?"
"I bought a new bed. I'm moving into the camp office and giving Nikki my old one."
"Aw. Can I still visit?"
"Of course, provided you don't wake me up in the middle of the night again."
"I said I was sorry!"
"Yeah, whatever."
Max headed over to the Camp-Mobile and opened the back. Two boxes were in the trunk—one containing a mattress and the other with a frame.
"Mind giving me a hand, Davey?"
David smiled and nodded. Once the bed was set up, David glanced at the calendar and saw an event set for the following week.
"Max, what's the Camporee?"
Max stiffened and looked at the calendar.
"Aw, shit."
Yeah, next time we'll see the Camporee.
Max's feelings for Nikki are a major part of the story, and that will result in a matchmaking attempt from the campers. And the Flower Scouts.
So long and thanks for all the fish!