The Names They Gave Us(72)

“I’d be lost without you.” I give her arm a playful push.

“Oh, you’re still lost, for sure,” she says. “But I am too, and at least we’re together?” We both lean back to make grim faces at each other and then burst out laughing.

I think that issue is settled, blissfully far away from my actual reality. Until the next night in the rec room, when Henry drops a bomb.

“So, I was thinking . . . Would you like to go camping Friday night? We can’t stay the whole night, but it might be fun for a few hours.”

I sit back, defensive. What the heck?! It’s like the whole universe has conspired to believe I am interested in doing the most intimate possible thing within a few weeks of knowing a person. “Okay. Um. No, thank you.”

I turn to get up and leave, but he touches my arm, gentle. I shrug it off. “Whoa, whoa, hey. What did I do?”

“We just started going out!” The words burst forward.

He ducks down a little, trying to get onto my level. Trying to find me. Something connects, his eyes and mine—like he found what he was looking for. “Luce, two sleeping bags. I just meant that we don’t get a lot of time alone together. To hang out! I wasn’t—oh man. No, I really wasn’t trying to . . .”

My arms are crossed, blocking myself off from him. “I mean, you know I have religious beliefs.”

“Of course. And I do too.”

“I know, but. I mean, what would people think?!”

His eyes narrow. “Did Miss Suzette talk to you?”

My cheeks answer for me.

“Ah. I thought it was only me she cornered.”

“She talked to you too?”

“Yeah. And I told her it’s not like that. Though I appreciate her looking out.” He lifts one shoulder in a helpless shrug. “Look, there’s always been a rumor that a counselor got pregnant years and years ago.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah. I once even heard someone speculate that Bryan got someone pregnant when he was a teen. I don’t know if it’s true, but that’s why they’re like that.”

“Bryan? Ew.” I mean, no offense. I guess he’s good-looking for his age, but no one wants to think about a middle-aged dad doing . . . that. “Really?”

“Nah. Just gossip. I think I’d know if it had actually happened.”

Okay. So it’s not that anyone made assumptions about me or about Jones and our relationship. They would have spoken to any of the counselors about this—probably campers too. “I didn’t realize. Geez. Okay. I’m sorry. This is . . . mortifying.”

“Hey. This?” He gestures between us. “Belongs to us. We make the rules. So how about Rule One is that you never apologize for telling me when you feel uncomfortable?”

“How about Rule Two is that I actually tell you instead of freaking out first?” I reach my arms around him and nuzzle into his neck, safe now.

He presses a kiss to my temple. “Just be honest with me. We’ll figure everything else out.”

Footsteps enter the rec room, and it’s just my luck that I hear Keely’s voice. “Ugh. Get a room. A different one.”

We don’t even look at her. I tilt my chin up to smile at him head-on, and I think this is what it means to be starry-eyed. I feel like I’ll never get sick of looking at him.

And we do go camping, or something like it. It’s pretty much a usual Friday night, only just the two of us. Mohan was very salty about it.

“So, is this just how it’s going to be now? You two going off on your own?” he snipped, looking back and forth between us. “I don’t support it.”

Henry clapped him on the back. “It’s one time, man.”

And for this one time, we sit beneath the stars, laughing over s’mores and swapping stories about our cabin kids.

“So, here’s a question,” he says. “Where are you planning on applying to college?”

“Not that question.” I groan.

“Okay, okay.” He puts his arms up in surrender. “I just felt weird that I didn’t know. But if you don’t either, I’m happy to not know with you.”

“I don’t know,” I confirm. “And I feel sick thinking about going home to senior year. I don’t want to leave.”

“Well,” he says, reasonably. “Some things aren’t camp only. You can take me with you—and those other crazies we call friends. In fact, you better.”

I grin at the thought of driving the fifteen minutes between his town and mine. Maybe homecoming together at both our schools. Maybe Anna and Mohan could come down for the weekend and crash!

I’m so giddy with ideas that I second-guess myself, smile dropping. “Is this stupid?”

“Is what stupid?”

“This. Us.”

“For me? No. For you?” He shrugs, unbothered. “I can’t make that call. You did just break up with someone.”

“But it’s not stupid for you? What if you’re a rebound?”

“I’m aware of the possibility. I’m just willing to risk it.”

“We don’t live in the same town. How will we even see each other? I mean, if you want to still see each other!”