Gwen woke up alone in her own bed. She sat up and looked around, considering the possibility that it was all just a dream. Tears formed in her eyes. Of course, it was too good to be true. She reached for her hair tie on her dresser, where she found a piece of paper.
"Gwen,
You seemed uncomfortable sleeping in the same small bed as me, so I moved you back to your cabin room while you were asleep. I hope you slept well!
-David"
Hearts were drawn under the note in pink pen. She nearly cried with joy at the confirmation that the events from last were, in fact, real. "And I thought he was a sap," She says to herself in reaction to her emotions.
"Who's a sap?"
Gwen whirls her head around so fast that her neck cracked. There he was, standing in her doorway. "David? David!" She jumped out of her bed and into his arms. "I missed you!"
"We saw each other last night," He laughs, pulling his long arms around her.
"Still," she giggles. She looks up at him and stays silent for a moment.
"David?"
"Yeah?"
"It was real, right?"
He pauses, then answers her question by placing his lips on her's. It isn't rough and desperate like the first one. This one is tender and slow. It only lasted a few seconds, but it was enough to send Gwen on a high.
"Of course"
They just stayed there, giggling and staring at each other.
"We should, uh, get to the kids."
"Huh? Oh, yeah."
David hesitantly pulls away from Gwen. She sighs from the loss of his warmth and wishes she could just pull him close and forget about the rest of the world.
She ties her hair up in the bathroom then joins David, who is already in the mess hall. She tries to focus on keeping the kids in line, but she just can't stop getting distracted by David.
She's finally snapped out of her trance when a ball of mashed potatoes lands on the side of her head. She looks at the direction where it came from. She sees Nikki and Max, both with spoons in their hands.
"Yes! You owe me a buck!" Max cheers.
"Whatever," Nikki sighs and hands a dollar to Max
"What are you little shits doing?" Gwen asks, approaching them, putting on her no-bull-shit voice.
"We were seeing who could be the first one to get you out of your love haze. You were practically drooling," Max casually states while holding the bill up to the light to make sure it was real.
Gwen looked down to see chunks of food that covered her leg. There were pieces of mashed potatoes and waffles. She grabs a napkin and wipes off the food to the best of her ability. "So I assume you told everyone that we made out?" she asks, annoyed.
"Nope," Max replies, pocketing the money, "I told them you fucked."
"WHAT?!" Gwen feels a rush of anger fill her. "Why. Would. You. Do. That." she said through clenched teeth.
"Are you telling me you didn't? It was nighttime, you had a hot makeout session, and David basically carried you into his room. How is that not a hookup?"
"Max, all we did was sleep. Now, please just, tell people that we didn't... You know," she grunts, pinching the bridge of her nose, "Or here's an idea, just stop spreading rumors about our love life altogether."
Max shrugs and continues to talk to Nikki and Neil.
The rest of the day was relatively normal, aside from Max making a certain motion with his pointer finger and his other hand shaped into an "O."
In the end of the day, Nikki goes and hides under Max's bed, in another attempt to scare him. She stifles a chuckle when she sees the red tennis shoes, waiting for just the right moment.
He stops at the foot of the bed. There's a sound, like Max picking something up from the bed.
Nikki covers her mouth to hold back a full-on laugh when she realizes that the only thing she saw on the bed earlier was Mr. Honney Nuts.
Then, something unexpected happens.
Max sits on the floor with his back against the bed. He holds the bear in front of him with quite a tight grip. He's shaking, maybe even crying.
"I'm sorry they laughed at you..." He mumbles, "I tell you every day since then, but..."
He falls silent and simply hugs the bear. He stands up and places the bear back on the bed before wiping his tears and walking out. Nikki sits there in complete shock. She then remembers something that makes her stomach twist.
She was one of the people that laughed at him for having Mr. Honey Nuts.