Lost Lake

"You're gonna burn."

Aaron didn’t respond, just sat slumped at the end of the floating dock with a piece of paper in his hands. He was dressed in his Class A uniform, as if he was on his way to dinner, so why was he here? Three weeks into summer and I hadn't seen him at the waterfront once.

"It's your favorite for dinner, better hurry before all the green beans are gone and you have nothing to mix your spaghetti with." I took a few tentative steps toward him, the anxiety tying a tight knot around my heart.

Aaron worked in the office as the clerk for Lost Lake, a boy scout camp, so he wasn't outside very much. I also gathered that he despised the water, so I, a life guard, would most certainly never find him here in his free time.

"Are you alright, Office Boy?" I tried as I stood directly behind him. His beige uniform with the colorful pocket patches sewn above the breast pocket was unbuttoned three buttons from the top. The paper he clutched was filled with words.

I looked down at my own beige top and forest green shorts, wondering what could be wrong with him. When I hadn't spotted him at dinner, I ventured from the dining hall to the admin building, wondering if he was working through dinner once again.

When I didn't find him there, I ventured off to his cabin, through campsites, and the shooting range. I almost didn't check the waterfront, but decided I myself didn't want to go to dinner.

Aaron's orange hair shone in the sunlight as his blue-green eyes were shrouded in shadows, from being hunched over. I sat down next to him slowly, letting my feet dangle off the dock as well. Our legs bumped ever so slightly, giving me goosebumps.

I tilted my head to get a better look at the letter in his hands, spotting the words "things are going to change at home." Aaron suddenly jerked away from me, my first sign of life.

"Hey," he said, annoyed, crumpling the paper in his hands, the words disappearing.

"Well, you were ignoring me," I defended, leaning away from him as well, causing our legs to touch more.

"So, it's rude to read other people's mail." Aaron shoved the letter into his pocket. "What are you doing here, Mya?" Aaron tried to mask the emotion that had been sitting in his throat.

"It's rude to ignore someone's whole existence," I countered. This was the longest interaction I’ve had with Aaron, and I was feeling like it wasn't going very well. "And I'm here, looking for you." I said a little softer.

"Why would you be looking for me?" Aaron asked, his tone heavy with darkness.

"Well, when I didn't see my favorite ginger at dinner, I got worried."

"Ah."

"Okay, honestly?" I prompted, waiting for Aaron to meet my gaze. When he did, I could see his freckles were already getting brighter from the exposure to the sun. I tried hard not to let my stare linger on his full lips.

"Honestly," Aaron prodded, never breaking eye contact.

"I wanna be your friend," I confessed, only lying partially. Full honesty was, I have been picturing our lives together for the past three weeks. When my friend Lauren talked me into working at a Boy Scout Camp, I had vowed to not be one of those girls who falls for all the boys. I figured I wouldn't have a problem with that, since boy scout boys are the worst. Or so I thought.

"My friend?" Aaron asked, suspicious. I shrugged, looking away from him, and across the water.

"Is that a problem?" I asked, venom in my voice. I was sinking back into my insecurity. Lauren was always the one making friends, boys or girls, it never mattered, she was a social falcon. Me? Not so much. We were going into our junior year of high school, and Lauren was my only friend.

"I don't know, Mya, you've barely spoken three words to me all summer," Aaron pointed out.

"Well, I'm trying now."

"Why?" He cocked his head.

I shrugged. "Why not?" I stood, causing the floating dock to rock slightly. "C'mon, we missed dinner, but I'm sure we can break into the dining hall. Hopefully there will be some cake leftover." I held a hand out to Aaron, hoping he didn't notice the slight quiver in my hand as he slipped his long fingers over my tiny hand.

I tugged on him harder than either of us expected, so he stood too quickly, rocking the dock. I teetered on my heels, while Aaron tried to slip an arm around my waist, but I weighed more than him, so we toppled over into the cool water.

I popped up immediately, sucking in the hot air, but Aaron didn't resurface right away. I looked around frantically, remembering he hadn't taken the swim test and just had the waterfront director make him a buddy tag. I had no idea if this boy knew how to swim.

I felt something brush my leg, so I immediately plunged my hand in the water, grasping his uniform shirt. I tugged as hard as I could, having to go under the water for a moment, to get him to surface. He gasped for air, swearing loudly.

"I hate water," Aaron proclaimed as I pulled him back to the dock. I tried to bite back my laughter as I pulled myself onto the wood planks, ensuring Aaron didn't need help to do the same.

"So, what? You were just gonna stay under there?" I asked with a grin. He didn't respond, just failed to pull himself up the first try. I refrained from helping him, knowing he'd hate that. Aaron finally pulled himself up, flopping onto the dock like a soggy mop head. He was still breathing heavily, as I sat pretzel legged beside him, his hair brushing against my shin.

"Y'know if you just practiced, you'd get stronger in the water and probably hate it less," I informed him. He just glared at me, still on his back.

"I doubt it," he said, finally making a move to stand. I once again, failed to help him, as he stood on both legs, not putting as much weight on his right leg. Aaron had a slight limp, so he favored his left leg. He did, however, hold a hand out to me, as I was still sitting. I eyed it carefully, glancing to see how much dock was behind him, to ensure we didn't end up back in the lake.

I grabbed his hand and let him pull me to my feet.

"Alright, to the dining hall," Aaron proclaimed, walking down the dock to shore. I looked down at my soggy clothes, then to the guard hut where I had a spare uniform. But I wouldn't have anything for Aaron, so I jogged to catch up to him as we walked to the dining hall in silence.

"You don't wanna change first?" I asked as voices traveled through the trees. We had officially missed dinner. Campers and counselors were all dispersing for open program. Some scouts would go to program areas to either work on merit badges, or just enjoy the fun things camp has to offer.

I would have to return to the waterfront to be a lifeguard, but Lauren told me she would always see Aaron at the cope course, using the zipline, or practicing climbing. I was just glad to hear he didn't spend his whole summer in that damn office.

We passed many campers and leaders on the path, earning strange looks, since we were both soaked, but Aaron and I just pressed on, never looking up from the dirt path.

"Mya?" I heard Lauren's voice. "Where were you-" she stopped when she spotted Aaron.

"Hey, Lauren," Aaron greeted her as he kept walking, I paused.

"We are going to the dining hall for some food," I told Lauren.

"What happened to you guys?" Lauren asked.

"Seems Aaron is going through something, so I'm trying to help." I started walking backwards away from Lauren.

"Alright, be sure to wear protection," she called after me. I scowled at her as I turned on my heels, catching up to Aaron. He had his hand in his pocket, clutching the soggy letter. He removed his hand when I made it by his side once more.

"Are you alright?" I asked quietly, but he just shrugged, as he led us up the dining hall's back steps. We crossed the loading dock and entered into the kitchen, where the staff was hustling around, cleaning up.

Aaron eyed the leftovers for a moment, but surprised me by going to an unattended sink and began doing the dishes. I sighed, grabbing a broom.

...

We watched as the kitchen staff emptied out, giving us their blessing to eat whatever we wanted. I pulled the spaghetti and green beans from the fridge, as Aaron pulled out the smallest pot he could scrounge up to reheat the food. I dumped the pasta, sauce, meatballs, and green beans into the pot, causing Aaront o raise his eyebrows.

"This is how you like it, right? All mixed together?"

"Well, yeah, but aren't you eating too?" Aaron asked as I stirred everything together.

"Of course, I just figured this would be faster, and I'm curious to see what your little recipe tastes like." I grinned as his face flushed. He stepped away from the stove checking for any leftover cake.

When he disappeared into the pantry, I assumed he didn't find any leftovers. He came back into the kitchen with a huge can of tapioca pudding. He slammed it onto the giant can opener, handling it like a professional.

He poured some pudding into two bowls, placing them in the fridge with the can.

"I'm assuming you like your pudding chilled?" Aaron didn't meet my eyes.

"Presumptuous of you to assume I like tapioca at all," I replied with a grin. Aaron met my gaze, panicked, but smiled slightly when he saw I was joking.

When the food was done, we carried our plates and bowls out to the dining area, choosing a table by the window. We ate in silence for several moments. I forced the noodles down my throat, trying my hardest not to gag. Not because the food tasted bad or anything, I couldn't even really tell there were green beans in my spaghetti. But because my belly was so full of anxiety, there was no room for food.

"You don't like it," Aaron concluded.

"What was in that letter?" I asked, dropping my fork onto the table. I was tired of dancing around the issue. Aaron had missed his favorite meal, the only dinners he'd consistently show up for, refusing to work through dinners on Thursdays where they'd serve spaghetti with watery sauce, and bland meat balls. The dinner where he'd take his over cooked green beans and mix it with his massive plate of pasta.

"My parents are getting a divorce." Aaron also set down his fork.

"Oh." I hadn't seen this coming.

"Yeah, my dad isn't my real dad, my real dad died when I was five. My dad now adopted us when I was eleven and he promised that he'd never leave."

"Is he leaving your family?"

"I don’t know. He's leaving my mom, though." Aaron picked at a knot on the table.

"Well..." I chewed my lip. I suppose he shared information with me, so I should do the same. "Well, sometimes divroce is what's best-"

"You don't know! You don't know anything about my family." Aaron threw a nasty look in my direction.

"No, I don't know your family, but I know what it's like to be around two adults who are never home, and when they are, they're drunk and screaming at each other. Sometimes divorce is better than staying together for the kids."

The silence hung between us as he finally looked at me with his blue-green eyes.

"Mya..."

"Yeah, so, I'm sorry your parents are divorcing and it will be hard, but your parents are human too. If separation is what they need, then it's what they need. But it doesn't mean your dad is just gonna disappear and not be in your life." I swiped at the tears in my eyes, not wanting to make this about me. "But also fucked up that your mom, like, wrote you a letter while you were at camp?" I smiled. Aaron hesitated, but smiled too.

"Yep, just this letter about how my family is falling apart with my Spaghetti-o's and Reese's Pieces." Aaron laughed, I reveled in the sweet sound.

“Do you have any siblings?” I asked.

“Yeah, a sister and brother,” Aaron answered.

“They’ll be your best support system,” I reassured. My older sister was my rock. I had no idea what I’d do without her.

“I don’t know. My older sister isn’t very… nice, and my brother is younger than me.”

“So. I’m younger than my sister. I think just being there for one another is all we needed. Y’know the support or whatever we weren't getting from our parents.” I shrugged, starting to lose confidence.

“Well, and I’ll have you.”

I met Aaron’s eye once more. “Yeah. You’ll have me.”