Bookishly Ever After (Ever After #1)(72)
He looked up with a sleepy smile. “Where did you disappear to during breakfast? That table was pretty hard to handle on my own.”
I cringed, then pulled my phone out of my pocket and waved it at him. “Sorry, I actually found a signal and was checking in with Em.”
“Afraid she’ll send a search and rescue team if she didn’t hear from you for more than a day?”
“Something like that.” I shrugged. “Besides, it couldn’t have been that bad. We definitely won the counselor lottery with our campers. They’re not a lot of trouble.”
“Right, maybe all your girls aren’t.” He stood and sat on the bench next to me and I tried not to notice how hyperaware I’d become of the little bit of air between our arms and legs, my skin buzzing where we were practically touching. “Tanner was acting up last night, so I threatened to kick him out of the cabin. When he called my bluff, I took all his things and threw them out the front door. He tried sleeping outside for about half an hour before coming inside and promising he’d behave.”
I covered my mouth to hide my smile. “What if he hadn’t done that?”
Dev shrugged. His fingers picked at a frayed spot on the knee of his jeans. “I’m sure Forrester would have understood.” I gave him a look that said I wasn’t as sure as he was. He reached over and pulled the packets out of my hands. “So, as payback, how about I take the easy orienteering part this morning and you get down and dirty with the fire building?” he asked, pulling out one of the maps and rotating it to find up.
I reached over and positioned the map for him, careful to grab the sides opposite from his hands. “That would be fair, except for the tiny fact I have no idea how to build a fire.”
“It wasn’t in any of the books you’ve read?” I locked him in a death glare and he stood up, grabbing my arm and pulling me with him. “Just kidding. Part of the reason why they asked me to be a counselor is because I’m a scout and the king of outdoorsyness.” He knelt in front of one of the supply piles and gestured for me to join him. “We have a few minutes. Come learn, little padawan.”
“I still can’t picture you as a scout.” I folded my legs under myself and sat as far from him as I could while still being within reach of the fire pit site.
He didn’t look up from his task of shredding some bark and dry pine needles, but a little dimple appeared in his cheek.
“Mom and Dad like it because it looks good on college applications. I like it because I get to occasionally blow stuff up.” His eyes met mine, like he was checking to see if I was smiling. He reached out with a handful of the shredded stuff. “This is kindling. We’re going to use a bow and drill setup to get some embers going in here.”
“I once read a book where the character used a tinderbox to—” I stopped and bit my lip to keep from spouting any more utter book geekishness. Part of me wished I’d had that tinderbox and, like Scarlet in The Bear’s Daughter, could show off by making a fire in seconds.
“I knew it. What haven’t you read about?” He handed me a few sticks and a rock. One of those things looked like a mini-version of a rough bow. “No tinderboxes. You have to work for your fire here.”
“Okay, Yoda. Teach me,” I said and he failed miserably at hiding his surprise. Touche, geek checkmate. He probably hadn’t expected me to get the padawan reference. “I’ll try my best to learn.”
“‘There is no try. Just do.’” He put the sticks, rock, and bow together in a setup and then came around to cup his hands around mine to teach me the motions. His chest pressed against my back and his chin almost rested on my shoulder. “If people in ancient times could do this, so can you.”
Having Dev this close was actually painful. My heart beat erratically and my fingers moved clumsily, almost dropping the rock/stick setup. Scarlet wouldn’t even blink at a guy when she was focused on a task, but combining my total lack of skill with the unshakeable awareness of Dev behind me made my hands useless. Even with his help, I didn’t get much more than a little bit of smoke and embers that would blow out the second I tried to make them grow into a flame.
“Try again.” Dev’s breath brushed my cheek, starting a different sort of fire across my skin. I fought the irrational urge to turn towards him and, frustrated with his closeness and the whole fire thing, dropped everything and pulled away until I was back standing by the compasses.
I crossed my arms to hide how my hands were shaking. “I guess I’m not as good as people in ancient times. I’ll stick to modern technologies like matches.”
“And bows and compasses?” He shot back. He looked disappointed in me. “You don’t seem like the type to just give up on things, Phoebe.”
I shrugged, adopting a Maeve-like nonchalance. “I guess you don’t know me that well.” The first campers started coming down the path from the mess hall and I picked up one of the compasses. This group was made up of our kids, and some of the girls from my cabin were whispering amongst themselves, looking from me to Dev with frowns. I ignored them and turned back to my co-counselor. “I guess
I’m back on orienteering.”
Dev stared at me for an uncomfortable moment before shaking his head and turning to greet the campers. “Who here wants to learn how to set stuff on fire?”