Ben looked over at Mike once they left, who was stuffing his face.

"I don't understand." He muttered, forking his pasta.

Luke rolled his eyes. "What, that Connor can't take his hands off her, let alone his eyes?" he asked rhetorically.

Ben shrugged. "Well, I understand that to a point. I'm not one for white girls though," he said,

"Anyway," Mike rolled his eyes, and then filled his mouth to the point where he could barely close his mouth to chew.

Ben shrugged. "I hope she knows what she's getting into. That boy across the way…that redhead Brenton kid."

"Brandon." Luke corrected.

"Brandon. He and Connor have a past. And it's not too friendly." Ben informed when.

Mike shrugged from across the table, shaking his long, thin, black hair out of his eyes. "Who cares?" he asked rhetorically, letting the question hang in the air.

Ben tilted his head, letting his shoulder meet his ear. "Well, I know that Brenton or Brandon, whatever, he likes Erin, and…Connor is hanging out with her. It can't mean anything too good for Erin."

Luke snorted. "What, does she have to check in with every guy in the camp, making sure they're alright who she hangs out with?"

Ben sighed. "Never mind," he rumbled, taking a large bite of his pasta.

-Connor-

She told me that I was a player, basically. The guy that everyone knows, most people hate, who goes out with all the girls he can, just for something to do.
Boy did she have it wrong.

So wrong and completely in the opposite direction that I had to laugh in amusement, and she hit me lightly.

"Shut up," she told me, and pouted.

And it was there in the dull yellow lamplight from the street that I finally let it all hit me.

She was so gorgeous, inside and out.

Beautiful tanned skin, yet ever so light compared to other girls and now red, sparkling blue eyes that glistened in just the right way, tiny hands and stubby fingers, long, toned legs that made a guy moan like he would at the rumble of a beautiful car.

Her personality was like a spark among a sea of black; red, spontaneous, and genuine. Her quirks that were so original, like the way she stuck her tongue out of the side of her mouth when she thought or concentrated on something, how her voice switched octaves in a heartbeat, how serious she got when the moment called for it.

I was falling head over heels in love with this strange, but totally personable and somehow familiar girl.

I knew I wasn't supposed to, and I knew I didn't want to, but my mother always told me I'd know when I would meet the girl I was supposed to be with.

At that moment, Erin stuck out her bottom lip to pout at me, and I couldn't help but smile.
"You know," I said to her, admiring her oval face in the yellow light. "You are super cute."

Erin's face dropped, and for a moment, I was worried I said something wrong, gone too far, crossed the line.
Then, "Thank-you," she said to me, quiet and reserved, clutching her hands in front of her, and her left foot shifted outward like a shy little girl. "You're very handsome," she added, and I shook my head. "See," I proclaimed, shaking a mocking finger at her. "That's not fair."

Erin grinned, and her chin pointed outward. "How so?" she asked.

I pointed to myself, jabbing myself more than gently in the process between my pecs. "I said you were cute. You have to find an equivalent to that."

Erin crossed her arms and stuck her hip out, and all I wanted to do want put my hand on it. "Do not." She argued. "It's the best man that wins."

"And since I'm the man, I say you're beautiful, and you have to deal with it." I told her smugly, tucking my hands into my pockets so they wouldn't act on their own, and I stepped up to her, fronting her.

Erin rolled her eyes at me. "Whatever." She replied.

"Don't whatever me," I said haughtily

Erin sighed, and rolled her eyes, looking back up at me. "Don't say what you don't mean," she warned me.

I closed my eyes briefly, and then opened them back to her face, and squinted a couple times, blinking here and there. Where did she get this from?

I tilted my head downward and let out a breath.

Then, I brought my hands up to cup her beautiful face. "I've never said anything to you that was less than completely truthful and real." I told her, letting the words flow from straight from my heart, although I would never tell a soul that that's where they came from.

"That, Connor, is the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me." Erin told me bluntly, staring into my eyes without hesitation, and I could have kissed her right then and there, but my brain wouldn't let me lean into her.

I glanced from her chin to her lips, soft and pink, to her cheek bones that were connected to each other by a cute, small and round nose. Her eyes were perfectly balanced on either side of her nose, shining bright and blue. In her eyes, a faint jagged circle of white surrounded the pupil in her left eye, but the one in her right eye was greener.

I was about to tell her that it came from practice in the mirror, but someone saved me.

"HEY!" someone screamed at us from a distance in the woods, and my head snapped toward the sound.

The first thing I saw was a shadow coming at us pretty fast. It was a person, probably male because its shoulders were rather wide to belong to a girl.

Then, the stupid dim yellow light let Brandon through the shadows, and I groaned.
"Seriously…!" I mumbled under my breath, but I was sure Erin heard me.

Brandon was marching toward them, his face set in stone as a angry, growling face, his red hair against his seemingly boiling skin.

Erin gripped by arm right below my elbow, and my skin erupted in goose-bumps from her cold hands.

"Dude, why are you still with my girlfriend?!" Brandon screeched, and Erin beside and below me took in air suddenly.

I frowned at the red-head as he approached us. I could be diplomatic about this.

"She's not your girlfriend, Brandon." I reminded him.

Brandon seemed to shake in his spot. "Yes, we are," he spat, and glared at Erin.

"No, I'm not dating you" Erin spat back with ferocity I'd never seen her with.

I looked down at her momentarily, then back at Brandon.

"Then you shouldn't have kissed me," He growled.

"So, if I kiss you, would we start dating?" I asked him, spitting out the first thing that came to mind and Erin held in a snort.

Brandon stared from Erin, to me, back to her.

I knew why he was mad. He'd taken all the girls since I could remember coming to this camp, and he wanted this one. The one that was rooming in my cabin, the one that went to the party with him (which was the traditional pick up line for him), went, and still didn't want him. He'd never lost like that. Usually if they went to his parties, they were hooked, obsessed. I don't know how he did it, but he failed this time, and he couldn't take it.

Brandon glared at me, and to be honest, it was getting awkward. I know he was trying to scare me and all, but it wasn't working, and now we were all looking from one person to the other in a merry-go-round.

"Look," I said, breaking the silence and Erin grip tightened at the sudden noise.

"I know you're….mad at me." I said, searching for words.

"But I have to get Erin back. So, if you'll excuse us," I said, and pulled Erin's arm in front of me to lead her away.

Brandon's hand came down on my wrist like a vice. "You wait," he threatened me, but I let go of Erin's hand to punch him in the chest before he could get anything else out. "Get off," I spat at him. The hit I'd laid on him couldn't have hardly hurt, but it probably made him livid.

We left before I could find out.

------

Erin let Connor lead her away from Brandon safely, but not without punching him square in the chest for putting a hand on him.

She couldn't exactly describe how she felt. She was fuming because he still thought that they were dating, for whatever reason she didn't know. He wouldn't leave her alone about it, and he was making a fool out of himself. If he kept it up, he'd give her a false reputation by following her everywhere, teeth bared and red faced.

Erin sighed once they were out of the light from the street-light.

"Thanks, I think," she said to Connor.

Connor looked down at her. "For what? Saving you from a complete and total creep?" he asked rhetorically. "No problem."

Erin nodded, not sure of what else to say. What could she say? There was this dude, once kind of attractive and now revolted her, who kept following her around like a stalker, claiming they were dating.

She'd never been in that predicament before. Most people usually confirm the 'dating' title after one of them has agreed verbally to date the other. Not after a kiss that really meant nothing.

Erin thought about the night before the last, covered in soda, probably dark soda, so she was sticky, and her face was a mess, being wet, so that meant mascara was streaking down her face. And she'd kissed him, a measly peck on the lips. He didn't even have time to pucker up. It was more like a that-totally-sucked-and-your-ex-is-crazy-but-thanks-for-trying kiss.

"Did you really kiss him?" Connor asked unexpectedly.

Erin lifted her eyebrows to look at him without turning her head much and shrugged. "Yeah. But it wasn't anything special. It was barely a peck. So I don't understand why he's all crazy about us dating." she explained, staring down the road in front of her. After a moment, Erin smiled up at him. "I'm sorry you have to go through this…" she said to him, her smile slowly fading with remorse.

Connor shook his head, and waved his hand through the air. "I'm glad to help out. I'm like your own personal Superman or something like that,"

Erin grinned. "Sounds good," she replied, light flooding back to her face.

They walked a little bit, maybe ten yards, before Connor broke the silence.

"So…besides the soda, how was the party?" he asked. Inside, he was burning to know. All these years, Brandon hooked girls at his parties. So what was so different about this one?

Erin shrugged one shoulder, then the next. "It was alright, I guess. Lots of smoke and drinks. I had water, I think." She added hesitantly.
"So, you didn't have a good time?" he asked.

Erin made a face, and shook her head. "I didn't know anyone." She stated simply. "So, it was like dancing with, well, quite literally, a stranger."

"You danced with him?" Connor said, his tone getting anxious.

"Well, yeah. That's usually why you go to parties. To dance, and have a good time." She replied with a giggle.

Connor nodded. "Yeah," he agreed, trying to calm down.

Erin kicked a rock with the top of her shoe, and it flew away from them about fifteen yards, and landed with a thunk. It was completely dark outside, and the sky was a murky blue-black, speckled with stars.

"Pretty, aren't they?" Erin asked him, staring up at the sky.

Connor nodded without looking. "I know. It amazes me that they're so far away, what we're seeing is light from eight years ago."

Erin brought her chin down to look at him. "Really?" she asked him, amused. "Cool."

Connor smiled. "Yep. And a lot of the brighter stars you see are actually two and three and four stars that are hundreds and sometimes thousands of miles apart, but they're so far away, the distance makes them look like they're one star."

Erin looked at him again. "Okay, Mr. Smarty-pants, what's your favorite star?" she asked him.

Connor thought about it for a moment, one side of his face scrunching together in the middle. "I don't have one favorite. But I really like Orion's Nebula." He said, and pointed into the sky. "See those stars?" he asked, and pointed out three in a semi-straight line. The middle star was the biggest.
"Yeah," Erin replied, and the two came to a slow stop on the dirt road.
"Well, that's Orion's belt. The middle is said to be his sword, and sometimes you can make out the entire constellation." He informed her.

Erin looked at him, whose face was now a couple inches over hers so he could point for her more accurately.

"How do you know all this?" she asked him.

Connor shrugged. "Books, science class, internet, news. I pay attention," he shrugged effortlessly.

"Ah," Erin replied, unconvinced. There was something about the kid that was strangely different. Not bad, but…different. He seemed to contain this awkward knowledge that really isn't the 'cool' thing for guys to know. He painted too, which also wasn't the coolest crayon in the box.

The two made their way home, and were greeted by Ben, Mike and Luke, who were playing spoons in the middle of the room.

Between the three of them, there were two metal spoons, which they'd clearly stolen from the Dining Hall, and they formed a triangle around it. Each had four cards in their hand, and they were passing cards around the circle as quickly as they could.

Suddenly, Mike reached forward and snatched a spoon from the middle, and Luke and Ben raced to get the last one.
Luke was the victor, and Ben growled at him. "Take my spoon one more time, Luke," he half-yelled.

Erin laughed, and the boys looked at their roommates.

"Hey," Ben boomed in his low bass voice, followed by his baritone friends.

"Hey," Connor replied.

"What are you playing?" Erin asked, walking over to lean over Ben's shoulder.

"Spoons, want to play?" Mike asked, shaking his hair out of his face again.

Erin made a face. "I'll let you three demolish yourselves, and I'm gonna go check on Chris." She announced, and ran up the stairs with his take-out boxes.

Erin came to the top of the stairs, and saw Chris' side lamp on, and he was reading a book. He looked up once Erin came into view. "Hey," he said, half-asleep.

Erin smiled back at him. "Hey, how are you feeling?" she asked.

Chris shrugged. "Better. I called the nurse to come up here. She said I just strained muscles, and nothing's permanently fractured or messed up for a long time." He replied.

Erin winced. "I'm sorry. How did this happen?" she asked him, perching on the edge of his bed.
Chris smiled mischievously. "I was running, and I tripped," he said, obviously giving her the hint that he'd prefer not to talk about it.

Erin nodded. "No more of that, mister," she said, wagging a finger at him.
Chris smiled. "So, how was your day?" he asked.

Erin smiled and nodded. "Pretty good," she replied, set down his food, and lifted her shirt for him to get a full glimpse of her sunburn on her back.
Chris made a sound by sucking air through his teeth. "Ouch," he said, skimming over her shoulder lightly to feel the burn. He retracted his fingers quickly. "That's bad," he observed.
Erin nodded. "I was careless with the sunscreen," she admitted.

"That'll do it,"

Erin shrugged and stood up, searching her pockets for her phone.

"You stay at the pool all day or something?" he asked.

Erin shook her head. "No, we went to the Art Hall," she replied, and flipped open her phone. There were seven missed called from Andrew, and four texts regarding her whereabouts.

"I have to make a phone call," she told Chris, and sat on her bed, dialing her brothers' number.

Two rings.

"Erin, where have you been?!" Andrew demanded.
Erin rolled her eyes. "I was a bit preoccupied. How are you?"

"PREOCCUPIED DOING WHAT?!" Andrew screamed into the phone so loud that Chris looked up from his book with raised eyebrows.

"Andy, relax. I went to draw." She said.

"Oh," Andrew replied, barely audible. "So…how was your day?"

Erin nodded, cradling the phone between her ear and shoulder, and examined her nails.

"It was good, though I got sunburn today at the pool." She informed him.

"You didn't say you went to the pool," he snapped at her.

"So I need to give you a blow-by-blow?"

Silence.

"Anyway, I had burritos and cake for dinner." She offered.

"Mom made roast beast." Andrew replied, and Erin giggled.
When they were little, Andrew, no matter how hard he tried, couldn't say 'roast' and 'beef' together. They'd settled for 'roast beast' and it stuck over the years.

"Mmmmm," Erin hummed, her mouth watering at the sound of her mothers' cooking, even though she was full from her own dinner.

"Yeah, you're really missing out here…" Andrew said in a voice that sounded like he was kicking back on an island paradise. "I got the bathroom all to myself, mom's cookies, the television, it's awesome."

"Oh yeah!" Erin said loudly. "I forgot all about mom's cooking. It's all the in back of my car."

Andrew snorted. "Some place for mom's cooking. You should be ashamed." Andrew scolded her.

She was ashamed. Her mother's cooking was extra-ordinary, even by professional chefs' standards. "I'll get it out tomorrow. If I get it out tonight, the boys will steal it," she replied, instantly regretting she's said anything.

"The boys?" Andrew asked. "You're still in that cabin with those hoodlums?" he asked.

Erin sighed. "Yeah. They're fine, they haven't touched me, and they're polite, so on and so forth. You'd get along with just about everyone I've met."

"Who wouldn't I get along with?"

Erin bit her lip. She couldn't very well lie to Andrew. But she would bet her last dollar that he'd drive up to Camp in a heart-beat to give Brandon a little pow-wow talk.

"Erin, tell me." Andrew demanded. He'd know that something was up now. She'd waited too long.

"Eh, some dude named Brandon or something." She replied, trying to play it off as nothing. Chris looked up at her again, openly staring at her.
"Why wouldn't I like this guy?" Andrew asked, prying now.

"Because he's cocky. And he thinks he can get with everyone. You know that kind of guy." She replied casually.

"And he's trying to get with you. Look, Ere, I'll drive up there in a…"
"I know, Andrew. But it's nothing to worry about." She tried to reassure her brother.

"Yes it is, if he's rooming with you, Ere, I don't like this guy…"
Erin cut him off again. "He's in the cabin across the way. Ben scared him off, and Connor did the last time," she informed him.

Andrew sighed. "Well, if I hear anything more about this guy, I'm coming up there." He warned her.

Erin rolled her eyes. "Are you ever going to let me take care of things by myself?" she asked him impatiently.

"Why would you want to do anything when someone else who is bigger and stronger than you will do it for you?" Andrew asked playfully. "You need to reprioritize." He suggested.

Erin snickered. "Right. My big, bad, mean brother will come and beat up the little pervert for me?" she asked.

"He's being perverted with you!?" Andrew demanded, and Erin could see him jumping to the seat of his chair to be that much closer to getting his keys and starting his car.

"No," Erin replied, smiling at Chris, who was laughing.

"Look, I don't like anyone messing with my baby sister, alright?" Andrew defended himself.
"You're hardly older than me," Erin retorted.
"I am exactly,"

"Six minutes older than you," Erin completed with him. "I know, I know."

"Good. You would be protective over me if I was the younger one. But I'm not. And you are. So, this is how it has to be." Andrew confirmed.
"Whatever you say. Hey, where's Mom?"

"Sleeping, actually. She was prescribed those new sleeping pills last week, and they're knocking her out like crazy. She's started snoring." Andrew added the last line in a whisper. Their mother never snored a day in her life.

Erin's eyebrows lifted. "Well, it's better than looking like she was for a while," she suggested.

"True, very true."

"Well, I'm gonna let you go. Minutes don't run cheap, and Mom has that new stupid plan, "
"I know the plan, so…call tomorrow. And if you don't I'm coming down there."

"Yeah, right." Erin replied.

"I love you, Ere,"

"Love you too,"
"Bye."

Erin hung up the phone.

"He sounds oh-so cuddly and squeezable." Chris said in a gooey tone.
Erin rolled her eyes. "Tell me about it," she replied, just as sarcastically.

"So, he's coming down?" Chris asked.

Erin shook her head, and a corner of her lip lifted up. "No," she replied, and lay back on her bed. "He's threatening though." She added.

"You're twins?"

Erin nodded. "Yep. He's the older one, and he loves to rub it in my face for some reason. It's not as aggravating as it used to be."

"I can imagine that." Chris offered.

Then, someone pounded up the steps, and Connor jumped the last three. "What did I miss?" he asked, barely out of breath.
"Actually, a very interesting conversation with Andrew." Chris replied.

Connor tilted his head. "Hmmm." He replied. "And what does Andrew have to say?" he asked.
"Just that he'll come down here if I so much as sprain my little finger," he said, holding it up for Connor to see.
"Well, we wouldn't want that, so for precautions, we should put you in a full body cast, just to be prepared."

"I don't think so," Erin replied, pushing Connor away from her with a laugh.

"No?" Connor asked, and dug his fingers into Erin's side, tickling her.

-----

Outside the door, Brandon stood, looking in. He saw four boys, Connor, the big black one and two others who were seemingly unimportant. Then, Connor disappeared up the stairs, and Brandon walked toward the bushes.
After a minute, he heard laughing and squealing, which just aggravated him more. Connor would get it for stealing his girl.
Even if he had to kidnap Erin make him pay.