Chapter 3: Fears

Bob stepped off the bus, leading the rest of the group out to the grassy area right before a trail that went into the woods. Everyone looked annoyed as they walked outside. The last people to get off were Michael and Stephanie.

"You don't know how glad I am to finally be here! You average people must have hell to pay, riding those things everyday. I feel like I need about three showers to get all the bus smell off," Stephanie whined as she stepped off.

"Trust me, it was just as bad for us a sit was you," Elliot assured her. He had been irritated with her from the time that she had started complaining while stepping onto the bus.

"Well, now that most of us are over the trauma of the bus ride, I think we should start heading towards the cabins," Bob stated. He too had had enough of Stephanie's whining. He had started to wonder why she even agreed to come in the first place. The only reason he didn't say anything though, was because he didn't know her all that well yet. She was new in town, she might have just wanted something to do, a chance to meet people. Maybe.

As everyone else grabbed their things, Stephanie looked all around the area. "You mean after that long ride, that stupid bus didn't even take us to our cabin?" she nearly shrieked. She had never had to walk across the street let alone across a camp ground.

Joanna glanced over to Stephanie and then looked over to Bob. "I don't know what this means about me, but I kind of agree with her on that one. I don't know what was on that seat, but i had to wipe it down three times, and I think I've had enough dirtiness for one day," she stated, starting to get nervous.

"I second that!" Kirk announced.

"No you don't," Elliot dryly remarked, not even bothering to look to him this time.

"All it is a small walk down to the cabins!" Bob explained, getting irritated with everyone. He then looked to Joanna and calmed down. "Now Ms. Richardson, I can walk you down there and you'll be fine. This, this is a chance to overcome your obsession with cleanliness." He looked to Stephanie and slightly glared to her. "And Stephanie, get over it," he stated and then started walking.

"Oh!" Stephanie shrieked, insulted.

Joanna walked beside Bob as Larry, Darryl, and Darren followed.

"You know that your face can freeze like that," Elliot mentioned, noticing the glare that Stephanie was casting towards Bob.

Kirk just laughed. "You got him to tell you to get over it. I've never seen him get worked up like that before," he explained as he walked past her and followed the rest of the group.

Michael sheepishly walked up beside Stephanie. "You know, maybe we should catch up with the group so that we don't get lost," he suggested.

"Grab my things," she demanded and then started walking.

Michael sighed as he went and picked up the suitcases for her.

ooo

"Boys to the left and girls to the right," Bob instructed as they approached the cabins. He then looked to Joanna who was trying to remain calm. "How are you holding up?" he asked.

"I think I'm okay," she breathed out, forcing a small smile. "Just a tad bit jumpy, that's all."

"If you still wanna talk, we can do that right after dinner," he offered.

"Thank you," Joanna replied, nodding.

Bob looked over and saw Larry, Darryl, and Darren heading towards the girl's cabin. "Um, Larry! That's, that's the wrong cabin!" he called out to them.

All three of them stopped and turned back to Bob. "We know!" Larry replied. "We're just dropping off Stephanie's things for her," he explained as his brothers each held up one of her suitcases.

Puzzled, Bob just stopped and watched for a moment as the three turned back and continued to drop the luggage at the door. "I thought that Michael was the one doing all of that for her," he mumbled.

"Is it over yet?" Stephanie whimpered.

Bob and Joanna turned around to see Michael struggling to keep Stephanie in his arms as he carried her towards her cabin. Their eyes followed the sight as they made their way closer and closer to the door.

"Is this good enough?" he implored about three yards from the cabin.

Stephanie uncovered her eyes and looked around the area. "Well, okay," she reluctantly answered.

Michael set her down and started heading towards the men's cabin. "Hey Larry? Did you or your brother's grab my bag for me?" he called out to them as they were right about to enter the cabin.

"Got it!" Larry yelled back to him.

"Thank you!" Michael responded, speeding up to get to them.

Joanna watched the scene before her and sighed. "I thought it was going to be fun having another girl in the group with me," she muttered as she headed down towards the cabin.

ooo

The group was gathered in the rec. room. It was a fairly good sized room. There was a large bay window to the right of the door that was lined with cushions. In front of the window, there was an old, very used looking couch that faced out the window and was next to a fireplace with a coffee table before it. Next to the fireplace was an old beat up living room chair with fabric that matched the couch. Then, off to the side was a dining room table lined with chairs.

Larry and his brothers were all sitting on the couch together, while Michael and Stephanie sat on the cushions in the bay window that faced out to the lake, and Joanna, Elliot, and Kirk all three scattered in chairs.

Bob sat down in the chair next to the fireplace and looked around at the group. "Is there anything in particular that you would like to talk about today?" he questioned, trying to get things started. He knew by now, that once one person said anything, that it was easy to get a conversation started and easy to keep it going.

Kirk, who sat backwards in his chair, with his chin resting on his arms that were folded on the back of the chair, lifted his head and raised his hand. "I got a date with your receptionist Carol," he casually announced.

Elliot looked over to him. "No you don't. Besides, she's married," he argued.

"You hit on a married woman?" Larry questioned, looking to him with surprise. Darryl and Darren each leaned over and gave him a look of disapproval.

"Hey! I was not invited to that wedding! I didn't know," Kirk stated in defense. He then looked over to Elliot. "Besides, at least I'm not afraid to talk to a girl," he stated.

"Am not," Elliot argued and then looked over to Stephanie who was closest to him. "Hi," he greeted.

Stephanie looked to him, telling him that he had to be kidding. She was not about to flirt with him to prove a point.

"Fine," Elliot sighed in defeat.

"See? he's afraid to talk to a girl," Kirk pointed out to everyone.

"Now, Mr. Devane, do you really think that's fair? I mean, you, must be afraid of something. Just, just look at the lies you tell. You're covering up for something," Bob explained.

"What I'm really afraid of is dogs. No, don't listen to that. That's a lie, I don't know why I just said that," Kirk replied.

Michael looked over to him. "Maybe you're afraid of people not liking you for what you really think," he suggested. "I'm afraid of rejection," he announced.

"Maybe," Kirk considered the idea and then folded his arms and rested his chin on his arms.

Stephanie looked to Michael with raised eyebrows. She wasn't looking to him snobbishly, but for the first time, Michael looked and saw a slight, tiny, glimmer of concern in those eyes of her's.

"Have you been rejected before? It's not all that bad," Elliot informed him, trying to ease his fears on it.

Michael broke his eye contact with Stephanie and looked over to Elliot. "I didn't have any friends growing up," he admitted, hoping maybe that would pass for being rejected, just to let him know that he did know what it felt like.

Joanna looked to him with some sort of empathy. "I had one friend growing up," she stated. "But she got really sick with some sort of infection and she didn't make it," she explained, her eyes slowly going down towards the floor.

"That why you're afraid of germs?" Kirk implored.

Joanna looked up to him and shrugged. "I guess. Doesn't explain my fear of dust bunnies though," she responded, trying her hardest to think back to any bad experiences with dust.

"I still say you should come over and clean my apartment," Stephanie mentioned. To be honest, that was the only thing that she could say to keep her from laughing at that moment.

"No Stephanie," Bob said.

"We're afraid of getting separated for too long," Larry informed them, with Darryl and Darren nodding in response.

Darryl then said something that no one else could understand.

"What?" Elliot questioned.

"He said that he sure is glad that the three of us found jobs where we can work with each other," Larry clarified.

Elliot then looked over to Stephanie, giving talking to her another chance. "You haven't spoken yet," he stated. He was actually pretty curious about this girl. She was the only one that he hadn't heard anything about yet.

Stephanie shrugged. "I don't know, cheap clothing," she nonchalantly answered.

"Yeah, cheap toupees scare me," Elliot flatly added.

"You ever wonder if there is anyone out there who isn't afraid of anything at all?" Kirk questioned, starting to seem bored with their current topic.

"That's impossible. Everyone has to be afraid of something. It's human nature," Bob explained.

"Maybe they're just good at covering up their fears," Michael mentioned, intrigued with the idea himself. He had always figured that if he could get past the need to be accepted, that he could do just about anything he wanted.

"Or good at overcoming them," Joanna suggested.

Larry, even though he was interested, found that the conversation had started to become pointless. "Does anyone else think that we should quit for dinner now?" Larry asked. His two brothers immediately raised their hands. "We had to skip lunch because Darren was running late while we were getting ready."

"Um sure, we could uh quit for now," Bob replied. "Then after dinner we'll have some free time before our last meeting before bed," he announced.

"Good!" Elliot replied, standing up from his seat. "That gives me enough time to become one with nature," he said.

"Yeah, that's what we need after dinner," Kirk remarked as he got out of his chair and started taking it back to the table. "To see you running around naked."

"It helps me," Elliot flatly informed him.