Trev shifted his duffel from one hand to the other, trying to find a less tired arm. The sun was disappearing beneath the treetops. Why did they have to have the parking lot so far from the freakin' camp?
Trev's best friend, Ash, groaned under the weight of their own bag. "I can already smell the mosquitos. I haven't even been bitten yet and I can feel the blood draining out of me."
Trev's other best friend, Chris, pointed. "We've made it, folks."
Peeking over the next hill was a long, squat building with a few trimmings meant to give it a whiff of rustic log cabin. This was the place, alright. This was where the three of them had first met, years ago.
It looks smaller now, he thought, and silently savaged himself for thinking in such a feeble cliche.
"Inside that Mess Hall are a couple dozen of your fellow camp counselors, preparing to spend the next three months stuck in the woods with nothing to do after the obnoxious tweens are in bed but get high and smooch."
He waggled his eyebrows suggestively.
"C'mon, we're freakin' nerds," Trev opined. "We're going to wind up playing D&D while the hot young ladies sit around frustrated."
"Fine by me," Ash said. "D&D rules, smooching drools. That's why I hang out with a coupla dum-dums like you two."
"Hopeless." Chris shook his head and pushed open the door to the Meeting Hall.
Inside, a handful of other counselors were lounging at mess hall tables, under a big painted banner that read, not very grammatically, "Welcome Camp Wilderness Staff Training Session."
The banner promised two weeks of calm, during which the counselors would learn the ropes and plan out their programs before the hordes descended on them.
Chris was saying hi to a woman who must have been, like him, a returning counselor from last year. She appeared not to remember his face, but made a valiant effort.
Ash was staring. Trev followed their gaze, and then he was staring.
Those bright eyes, set in sandy brown skin, topped with a cloud pyramid of dark wavy hair. Reina.
He tapped Chris on the shoulder.
She was chatting with the camp director. She had changed since he had last seen her in this same place...what, six years ago? Chris, Trev, and Ash had been shitty little hormone-addled 14-year-olds. She had been, he was pretty sure, fresh out of high school. Younger than he was now, he realized.
"Holy shit, dude!" Chris stage-whispered, nudging Ash. "Remember what a crush you had on her?"
For all that he and Chris had made Ash's crush a running joke, Trev wasn't so sure Ash was the only one. Reina had been the kindest, sweetest counselor they'd had during their time here as campers.
Trev wondered if he and Chris and Ash would ever have become such good friends without Reina's presence to make that cabin a golden refuge from the whirling adolescent hellscape outside.
Back then she had been, in retrospect, skinny, awkward, and zitty. Of course it would have been the height of hypocrisy for him to hold any of that against her. To Trev, she had been a glowing goddess, and he saw no reason to revise his opinion.
The acne was mostly gone, replaced by some tattoos that he definitely wanted a closer look at. She had gained weight, particularly in the most distracting places. And, oh god oh god, she was coming right towards him for a hug, and it was soft and warm and perfect.
* * *
Reina grinned and as she tossed her duffel onto the bed. "Welcome back to Camp Wilderness! It's been a minute, huh?"
Working with kids, you really remember the handful who aren't totally obnoxious little fucks unable to communicate except through cruelty.
As teens, Chris, Trev, and Ash had been quiet, curious, and respectful, apart from a natural tendency to stare at her boobs when they thought she wasn't looking. They had become inseparable that summer, and it was gratifying to see that they had remained so.
"Chris," Trev smirked, "You've been holding out on us! You didn't tell us Reina still worked here."
"She didn't!"
"I hadn't worked here in a couple years," she said. "After college, I was trying to make it as a freelance illustrator. Still trying, I guess, but I need the money so here I am."
Summer camp wasn't exactly a gold mine, but at least her pay grade had gone up slightly from mere Counselor to lofty Adventure Coordinator.
Part of her job at the opening night staff mixer had been to set the temporary bunk assigments for the two-week training session, and the trio had turned on the charm in an effort to get a cabin to themselves. On an odd nostalgic impulse she hoped she wouldn't regret, she'd assigned them to her cabin.
"What made you wanna try this place from the other side?"
Trev shrugged. "We've been going to different colleges. We thought it would be a nice way to, y'know, keep it tight."
"And Ash
was
gonna spend the summer re-united with their long-distance girlfriend," Chris began. "But...uh...yeah, that's not a thing anymore."
"Aw, I'm sorry," said Reina.
"It's OK," Ash said unconvincingly.
"Meaning, they're
available
," sang Chris, mugging and waggling finger-guns at Ash.
"Oh my god," Ash almost shrieked, "Shut up, fuckface!"
"As is Trev, of course," said Chris conscientiously.
There was a general bustle of unpacking, shoe removal, bed choice negotiation.
Reina held a brief war in her head between propriety and itchiness, before reaching back under her Camp Wilderness t-shirt to unclasp her bra and — ahhh! — sweet release. She expertly slipped the offending support wear off and out from under her shirt and stretched like a satisfied cat.
She became aware of three pairs of eyes on her. Well, that was nothing new. She gave them a gentle smirk and shuffled so she was sitting against the wall on her bed, arms dangled over raised knees.
They were a far cry from the weedy little boys she remembered. For one thing, Ash had a revised name and gender identity. They had grown into a strong jaw and nose elegantly set off by dark winged eyes and a tied-back puff of hair.
Chris was tall, blonde, a little pudgy in a way that gave him a pleasant solidity, with a red face that seemed to reflect his energy level.
Trev wore chunky dork glasses but he was broad-shouldered and athletic, with well-manicured brown hair and stubble.
In other words, cute, in a new and very grown-up way that made her lizard brain sit up and look a bit closer. Especially when Chris — perhaps taking her cue that it was time to strip down to casual nightwear — was suddenly down to just a t-shirt and skintight boxers that, she couldn't help but notice, showed not just bulge but provided a detailed topography of his cock.
She tore her thoughts away from a number of possible recreational uses for that cock. She'd made her bed, so to speak, and she'd better get used to being in close quarters with them for a while.
"So what are y'all going to be working on?"
"Baseball," said Trev with a shrug. His boxers were roomier, she noticed, with a pang of disappointment that she chided herself for.
You're not here to get laid.
"I really wanted to run the Rope Challenge Course." Chris rubbed his hands together like a mad scientist. "I've got some ideas that will blow their tiny minds."
