Camp Hardwood Day 6: Why Can't We Get Along?

Be sure to read Day Five first! It's posted below this one! (Or click Day Five!)

Day Zero 
Day One
Day Two
Day Three
Day Four
Day Five

Be sure to make sure you read Day Five first!

I don't have any idea how much sleep I got, if I got any sleep. All I know is I closed my eyes, and the next thing I knew

BBWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAWWWWAAAAAAAAAA....pffftttWWWAAAAAAAA

I opened my eyes as I was looking down at the darkness of my bed. I knew right then and there, that I was in no shape to get up and interact with anything other than my bed. But, I felt that I didn't have much of a choice, so I closed my eyes and rolled out of bed. 

And I mean that too, I actually rolled out of bed. I fell on the floor and lied there, hoping I could stay there for the rest of the day. 

"Cevin, are you okay?" I heard over me. I opened my eyes, grimaced at the sharp light coming through the window and saw the outline of a boy, whose shape slowly morphed into Cameron's. 

"Cevin, are you okay?" He asked again. I groaned and rolled onto my side and slowly pushed up. I felt Cameron hold onto me, helping me to my feet. If I was more aware, I would've pushed him away, but I was taking all the help I could get. 

"Cevin." I heard again. I was turned to face him and looked at him, tiredly and completely disconnected. 

"Are you okay? Did you sleep at all?" 


I just stared at him, not thinking fast enough to find out how I want to respond. I soon realized I didn't actually have to respond, and just walked through him. But he held onto my shoulder and I felt my body turn around. 

"Cevin!"

"Eight." I said without thought. Cameron's head tilted and I turned around and screamed "NIIINNNEE!" and walked to the bathroom, because it was close and I didn't know what I wanted to do yet. 

I closed the door behind me, and looked in the mirror, and wondered if I really looked like that. My hair was messy, and I needed to cut it. I had the worst bags under my eyes that I've ever seen, it looked like I put an absurd amount of eye shadow on for no reason. And, somehow, my nose was bleeding a bit. I threw some water in my face and that helped wake me up a bit. The cold water brought me back to life, and I painfully made the necessary connections I needed to. I needed to take a shower and put on some new clothes. 

When I opened the door, Cameron was sitting on his bed, and he looked up instantly. We made eye contact, and I turned away immediately. I really just wanted to take a shower. 

"Cevin. Can we talk."

“No.” I said flatly, keeping my eyes away from him.

I walked to my stuff and grabbed what I wanted to, and turned around, hoping I can get to the bathroom again without something stopping me. Thankfully, it was so, and I got in without much else. I showered, pondered and decided that Cameron didn't deserve what I gave him yesterday, but he also made his choice clear. He chose her over me, so I will choose ignoring him over talking to him. 

I got out of the shower, and put my stuff away. I felt a gentle hand on my shoulder, and turned to face it. It was Cameron again. I rolled my eyes and turned back. 

"Cevin please, look at me."

I shook my head, and wished he didn't make this so hard. 

"Cevin, come-"

"Cameron, stop. You made your decision clear, now leave me alone."

"What? You fucking kneed me in the balls, then ran off and never came back, where were you?"

"I was out, having the time of my life. Obviously. Weren't you, too?"

"Cevin, I-"

"Stop, stop, stop. I don't want to talk to you. I want to spend my day away from you. Do me that favor, please?" 

As it came out, even through my sleep-deprived perspective, I realized that I shouldn't of been so rude. It's not like I've been nice before this, but I really felt the sting with those words. I saw it on Cameron's face, and tried to backpedal. 

"Sorry, that was-"

"No, it's fine. I get it." He said, cutting me off. "You got it bro. You don't have to worry about me." 

Cameron finished with a force smile, then turned towards the bathroom. I stood there, wishing I weren't an idiot, but hoping I could just move on. 

We had breakfast, I ate to myself, didn’t say much. Didn’t look up either. Was just along for the ride. Not only was I really tired, but I was feeling like a piece of shit, so everything felt blegh. The counselors split us up for the morning. Me, Alexa, Aaron and Bethany. I kinda wish Cameron was forced in, so I could maybe fix things. But maybe some space would do us some good. 

“All right, so I thought… it would be cool if we go on a boat ride!” Alexa said excitedly. I looked at  Aaron, and he looked a bit unhappy to hear this.

Aaron swallowed something heavy, then said “I… ha, I-I’ve never been on a boat before.” 

“It isn’t anything special. Just don’t rock the boat.” I said, hoping that was helpful. 

Aaron gulped and looked down.

We got to the row boat. I was hoping Bethany wouldn't bring up yesterday, today. I was hoping I could just stay in my head for most of the ride and not have to defend myself. We made eye contact, and she just smiled. Better than I expected honestly, so I took it. 

Alexa taught us how to row, and we said we followed. The 4 of us got on the boat. Alexa and Aaron started us off, and me and Bethany sat, not really wanting to talk to each other. Looking back, it's kinda... bad that there weren't any life jackets. An oversight for sure.

“Any of you been on a boat before?” Alexa asked, trying to spark conversation.

“I’ve been on a cruise before. Not a boat like this though.” I said.

“Same with me.” Bethany said.

“This is my first experience.” Aaron said nervously.

“Well, I hope you’ll enjoy it Aaron. And both of you went on cruises? How were they?”

“It was amazing! Me and my sister went on one with our talent agent, and we met so many cool people. We even met…” And she went on, but I really didn’t want to listen. I tried to ignore her, and just think about something else, but I couldn't get away from her gloating words. Bethany always talked about her and her sister’s experiences as an actor, and think other people care about it. Like, who fucking cares? Honestly.

Eventually, I really didn’t want to hear her talk about whatever the hell she was on about anymore. “Can you please, stop… talking.” I said.

“Uhhh… excuse me?” Bethany asked.

“Stop talking about shit no one wants to hear about. We get it, you and your sister have such an amazing life as actors. It’s just gonna end with both you and your sister ruining your lives by getting caught up in drugs, just like every other child actor out there.”

Bethany just looked at me.

Alexa broke the silence “Okay, I think that was-“ 

"Okay, just because you're having boy troubles, does not mean you have to be a fucking bitch about it."

"I'm not being a bitch, I'm just tired of stupid girls like you, thinking they know everything and everyone wants to be around them. They fucking don't, and you need to learn that.

Bethany stood up, and I could see that she was not happy. I stood up to her, because I sure as hell wasn't going to back down now. 

“Okay guys, let’s not get in a fight on this row boat here…” Alexa said, still rowing at one end of the boat. I can see her behind Bethany. Aaron was behind me.

“Fuck you.” Bethany spat at me.

“I’d say the same to you, but I think your agent already did…”

That crossed the line. She jumped at me, causing me to fall back onto Aaron. The weight on the one side of the boat caused the boat to capsize, and we all fell overboard.

Once underwater, it was a bit difficult to gather my bearings. I looked around the clear water and saw Alexa swimming up towards the surface. I saw Bethany look at me then look up after we made eye contact. She swam to the surface.

I looked around and saw Aaron some distance away. He was panicking. Flailing around, bubbles were coming out of him. He looked terrified. I swam over to him and grabbed onto him. He jumped at my touch, then saw it was me. He quickly latched onto me, clinging to me like he life depended on it. I held him close, and tried to swim up towards the surface with him hanging onto me. He was heavy, but I eventually made it up and took a huge breath in. Aaron was still hanging on to me, but his head was below the water. I pulled him up, and got his head above the water. He let out a huge gasp, finally able to breath. He did so heavily, like each mattered.

“You’re okay now man. It’s okay, you’re okay!” I said holding on to him. Aaron was uneasy, struggling to breath. He looked at me and held on tight. I backstroked towards the boat that Alexa flipped right-side up.

“Come on Aaron, back on the boat. Let’s go.” I said, at him. He nodded his head, and Aaron extended his hand out, greeted by Alexa’s who helped pull him on the boat. Once Aaron got on the boat, I got on. I rolled over onto my back and breathed out, looking at the blue sky.

I saw Bethany at the end of the boat looking at me. I shook my head and closed my eyes, blocking everything but the fact that I'm okay, out of my mind. We are all on the boat, we are all breathing. We are all safe. That could have went worse.

Just then, it got worse. I felt something step on crotch with ferocity. I gasped in agony, widened my eyes, and saw Bethany smiling down at me. Her foot was squishing my balls, only protected by wet basketball shorts and boxers. My balls were being crushed against the floor as I let out, what I'm very sure was a sad noise as my eyes rolled into the back of my head. She twisted her foot, which made me want to vomit. She pushed all her pressure down on her foot into my balls, causing me to yelp, and stepping over me. When her foot got off my manhood, I curled in a ball and gently nursed my balls. I quietly moaned and cried.

I was out of commission for the rest of the ride. I’m pretty sure we just went back to the camp anyways. Aaron was for the worse after the boat tipped over, and I was basically in tears. That stomp came out of nowhere, and there was nothing I could do about it once it happened. Bethany made sure of it. Fucking bitch. 

We got back to camp, and Alexa helped Aaron out. Bethany got out by herself, then Alexa asked if I needed help. I declined and left the boat at my own speed. We went to the dining hall when Alexa said she’d go see if anyone else came back so early. If so, we can have an early lunch. So, Alexa went off and it was just the 3 of us. I was still aching, and harboring ill will towards Bethany. I know I deserved that bust, but she’s still a bitch.

And Aaron looked really… not so good. He looked very removed, and it was painfully obvious that his body wasn’t feeling well. Shivering, hunched over. He helped me before when he knew I wasn't looking so well. Despite my shitty mood, I felt I was supposed to do something. I got his attention.

“Hey Aaron. Wanna go for a walk? Maybe clear our mind a bit?”

Aaron absentmindedly nodded. I went over to him and pulled his arm gently, getting him to follow. He got up, and out we went. We walked slowly, mostly because I couldn't walk any faster. I waited until we were some distance away from everything.

“So… how are we feeling?” I asked, not sure how to go about this.

Aaron didn’t say anything for a bit. Aaron looked down as empty silence built in the air. After it was almost suffocating, Aaron opened his mouth. “I… I could of died Cevin..”

I didn’t have anything to say. I waited for Aaron to find the rest.

“I could have died today… that could’ve been it. Bam… man… Cevin, I can’t swim. I...I-I’ve always been so scared of the water. It’s so deep, you don’t know what’s hiding underneath, it could be anything...”

“That’s why you didn’t want to go into the water before?” I asked, connecting some dots.

“Y-yeah… and feeling all of that water fill my lungs, not being able to breathe...slowly suffocating…” Aaron said with increased emotion. He rubbed his eyes and grimaced something that screamed frustration. “I could have fucking died! Because YOU had to start something!” He screamed turning to me. His eyes were red and angry.

I instantly felt like I had to defend myself. “Woah, woah. Don’t blame me. I-“

“Oh fuck off. You started something for no reason, and edged her on. You deserved that stomp, and you almost fucking KILLED ME!” He said with his hand at his side. 

Aaron then looked down at his pants, and hurriedly dug into his pocket. He pulled out his phone and earbuds, and I let out an soft "Oh no..." as he shook it around. 

"Fuck, fuck, fuck!" Aaron let out as he tried to turn it on. He yelled and threw his phone on the floor. "And my phone is fucking broken too! Thanks Cevin!"

I looked at Aaron firmly. “I’m sorry this happened, your phone is one me. But you getting worked up over falling into a lake, you need to chill the fuck out."

"I can't fucking swim, Cevin, you asshole!"

"Don’t you fucking blame me for that. You’re the one scared of water, and you’re the one who can’t fucking swim. Not me! I didn’t put that on you! I pulled you out of the water, me! Alexa and Bethany swam straight for the boat, but I carried you up!”

By this time, we stopped walking and were just staring into each others eyes. His blue eyes were red and full. They looked to be on the verge of crying.

“I could… have fucking died…” He seethed, moving up on me. I pushed him away, which inevitably just caused him to move up even closer.

“Back the fuck off, Aaron. You don-“ Was all I got out, before he sent his head into my nose. I stumbled back, holding my nose, which felt broken. Turns out, it was bleeding. When I realized, I looked up and we both held angry eyes, and he had a mark on his head where my face touched his.

I threw a punch at him, connecting squarely on his mouth, knocking him back for a moment. As soon as he could, Aaron ran into me, but I stood my ground staying on my feet. I rained punches on the back of his head, which caused him to punch me in the stomach, knocking the air out of me. I grabbed his head, putting his head between my elbow, like a facelock. I held tight as he sent another punch to my abs. And another. Neither as strong as the first. Then he sent another fist, this one lower, hitting me in the crotch.

Another explosion of agony came over me as I let out a high pitched grunt. He could've hit me cleaner, but I wasn't ready to give him the chance. I jerked back, pulling his body with me, lifting his legs off the floor. In fury, I sent knees to his body, which he tried to block, of which he did a good job of. I still got a couple solid hits in. He caught my knee after several strikes, and brought me down to the floor.

On the floor, him on top of me, he was able to get his head out of my facelock. He sent punches down on me, one or two that caught my face okay, but I blocked the rest, and caught one of his fists. I held his arm and threw him onto his back, and held his arm tightly. With my free hand, I sent a strong fist to his face, connecting really flush. He moved his head up to my arm, which was holding his own arm down and bit my forearm, getting me to scream and pull back. With both his hands free, we rolled around on the floor. He ended up on top of me, but I was able to put my leg up between us. I pushed him away, but he tried to run right back in after I created some distance.

I used his own momentum against him, and kicked my foot into his wet blue shorts, kicking him in the balls. With a stumble, Aaron’s blue eyes crossed, feeling the pain start to come over him, as he fell back holding his nuts. I got up and ran over to him and kicked his thighs, then his back. Blood was dripping from my nose on him, falling on his damp white shirt. His face was scrunched in pain, and his hands were still over his crotch. I bent over him, pulled him onto his back and punched him in the cheek, and once more, both times causing his head to snap to the side.

I stared down and breathed heavily. His face was bruised and eyes were watering. Then, a sudden unexpected uppercut smacked into my chin. I staggered, falling off him, dazed and on my back. When I came to, I saw him hobble to me and stomp my stomach. I lost all my breath as I curled up and held my stomach. I saw Aaron rear his leg back and tried to kick my face. I moved my hands up before it hit and looked up at him. He was standing on his one leg, almost hopping on his foot. I pulled his leg back, splitting his legs in two. He moved his hands to the floor to catch himself. I took the opportunity in front. Aaron’s legs split right in front of me, like an upside down V. I got to my knees, and raised my fist between his parted legs, crashing into his wet blue shorts with motivation. I felt his balls under my fist, and I knew I got them almost perfectly.

Aaron cried out, brought a hand between his split legs, and fell to the floor. Writhing, gasping for breath. I crawled back a bit and caught my breath.

“My balls… oh my god, my fucking balls…” I heard Aaron croak. He began to cough and whine as he lied there. Both hands were between his legs, cradling his cracked eggs that have gotten hit for the second time so far in this fight. I fell back and looked up to the sky.

I sat there for a few moments, catching my breath.“Fucking… piece of SHIT!” Aaron screamed. I looked down and saw him push up on the floor, trying to get up. I got myself up, somewhat out of energy. My stomach was hurting, his stomp really made me want to end this. I was already feeling awful, Bethany’s stomp earlier and Aaron’s punch to my balls really made my shitty feelings feel even more sickening. I kept my eyes down, and collected myself for a few moments.

As I looked back up, I saw Aaron throw himself at me, reinvigorated. He jumped at me, collapsing me under his weight. He threw fists down, and I just tried to protect myself. I was caught totally offguard by Aaron’s onslaught.

“AHHHHHH!” Aaron cried out in the heat of war.

Meanwhile, I just tried to keep my hands over my face. Then, Aaron threw a fist lower, grabbing a handful of my basketball shorts. The already obvious pain rushed through me with more intensity, as I felt my delicate nuts get handled in a fit of rage. I began squirming even before he put any extra effort in. Then he did, and I screamed out, flailing my hands around.

I tried to find someway to get his hand off my balls, but nothing I did work. I begged and pleaded, attacked and pulled. Nothing worked, and I started to feel like my balls were breaking. My stomach was beyond churning, my focus was getting harder to keep through all the torture. Thankfully,  I eventually found something that could help. My hand found his balls, and I grabbed them like it was my only way out.

“AHH! FUCK!” Aaron screamed as he tightened his grip. I jerked and tried to hurt his balls even more in response.

“LET GO!” I screamed at Aaron, hoping this could end soon.

Neither of us were willing to give in. I decided to bring my other hand in, and hold onto each nut completely. Aaron shrieked as I crushed both of his nuts in the palm of my hands.

“AKK! AWMYBAALLLLS!”

I pushed Aaron over as I felt his grip weaken on my nuts. I felt him tense his body as he began to lose his will to go on. His anger slowly morphed to defeated agony. His hands held my wrists, his mouth made sad noises and when I looked at him, his eyes were watering.

“Please… I give, let go…” He croaked. I let go, rolling onto his side.

I lied there, finally able to breath as I cradled what felt like my broken balls. I closed my eyes and tried to use this as a moment of clarity.

I sat up after what was probably a few minutes and turned to see Aaron. He’s in a ball, crying gently. Hands buried in his crotch, soaking wet. I rubbed his back gently.

“I’m sorry.” I said, as I laid my head on his shoulder. I brought my hand down to his belly and gently rubbed. I pulled him close and hugged him from behind. I held him as we both lied down. He moved one of his hands from his crotch and brought it up to where mine was over him. He held his hand over mine.

“I’m sorry.” I said again. I moved my head from his shoulder, and lied behind him. My head on his back. 

It was some time before Aaron moved. He spoke before he moved.

“You broke my balls dude…” He said.

“Yeah, you broke mine too.”

“Yeah… I guess I did.” Aaron said, starting to sit up. I sat up with him. He cringed, still holding his balls with his eyes closed. He opened his blue eyes and looked at me.

“Damn… Did I do that?” He asked.

“I don't know what you're talking about, so probably, yeah. You have your own battle wound too.” I said, pointing to his face. His mouth had a cut, and his cheek was bruised.

“I can’t wait to see it. Does it make me look cool?” 

I laughed. “The coolest.”

We sat there for a bit. I spoke up first.

“I’m… sorry. I didn’t think of what would happen if I messed with Bethany, I just wanted to be angry. I’m in a foul mood, I’m sorry.”

“Why are you in a foul mood?”

“Well… It’s because of Cameron.”

"Yeah, Bethany mentioned boy troubles. What happened?"

"Well... Cameron asked me to go skinny dipping last night, with him, Monica and the twins. I told him I didn't want to go, and I asked him not to go either."

I looked up, and Aaron was looking at me, waiting to go on. His bruised and cut face, did make him look a cooler honestly. I continued. 

"He told me he wanted to go, but I insisted he didn't. Then, he pulled us to the living room for some reason, and asked me what's the matter."

"Well, did you tell him."

I smiled and shook my head. "No, I didn't."

"Cevin..."

"I know. I was... probably going to say something important, but then Monica and the twins came out of their room, and ruined the moment." 

"That sucks... what happened next?"

"I got annoyed, and they asked me to come with them to the lake. They knew I didn't want to, that's why they asked. I made Cameron decide right there, to go with her or come back with me. He picked her... so, I kissed him then kneed him in the nuts."

"What!? Why!?" 

"I don't know. I felt mad, everything Monica wanted to happened, happened. I felt like a fucking chess piece or something, I don't know. So I wanted to do something me, so I did that. I laughed for a couple minutes then ran into the night."

"Ah, so that's where you went..."

"Yeah... I came back so fucking late dude. It was light out again, and I thought I got lost..."

"Jesus..."

"I know... I got no sleep dude, I'm so tired."

We were silent some moments, and I was thinking about everything. Everything felt shitty before, but it all just got worse all of a sudden. 

"I really fucked it all up, didn't I?" 

"I... I don't think so, Cevin."

“Cameron probably hates me now, and I told him I didn't want to talk to him today at all. I was such a fucking asshole earlier. 

"Oh, yeah, I remember that..."

I turned to him, about to ask how, but then I remembered we shared a room. I laughed. 

"That's why Cameron dragged me into the living room, huh..."

Aaron laughed and rubbed my shoulder.

"Yeah. It's alright though Cevin, trust me. Things aren't that bad, he doesn't hate you. Trust me. Just talk to him and things will be okay. He's reasonable."

 I looked at Aaron. His blue eyes full of sincerity, a wearing a warm bleeding smile and bruise on his left cheek. I almost killed him, got in a fight over it, broke his skin, bruised his cheek and bashed his balls. And not even an hour later, he's trying to helping me feel better, and giving me solid advice.

"I'm really sorry I almost killed you, broke your phone then fought you afterwards." 

Aaron laughed and I did too, knowing it was okay. 

"When you say it like that..."

We laughed together, and things felt pretty good for a moment. It was really welcomed. 

I looked at him, not sure what to say but happy that I felt this way. He seemed to share the same feelings. 

"It's okay, honestly. Stressful day. You need to rest a bit though, you need to catch up on sleep."

"I really do." I said with a tired laugh. 

I pushed Aaron down gently, and laid on his chest. I wrapped my other arm around him, and held him like a soft body pillow. A cute, soft, sweet and smart body pillow. A body pillow that recently squeezed the life out of my balls. 

"I hope this is okay." I said, realizing I maybe should've asked first. 

"Close your eyes, Cevin."

I listened to him, and drifted away much more comfortably than I did last time I tried to sleep.

I’m not sure how long passed, but by the time we got back to the dining hall, everyone was finishing up lunch. So, it couldn't of been more than an hour or so. Felt great to me though, I really needed the nap. 

Me and Aaron sat down and ate. Josh walked by and saw us.

“Woah, what happened to you two?” He asked concerned.

“We fell down. It’s nothing.” I said.

“You fell down!? Did you fall down on Mike Tyson, Jesus Christ guys…”

Me and Aaron laughed. I guess it was ridiculous to say we fell down. Both of us look like we were just in fight. Even Aaron’s white shirt had blood stains.

Josh looked at us and smiled. “You two are fine though?”

We both nodded.

“Okay. Just… don’t go falling down again.” Josh said, knowing damn well we didn’t fall down.

As we were finishing up our lunch, Bethany and Hana came over.

“Hey guys. I heard there was a spill today.” Said the twin on the right. Which I’m imagining was Hana.

Aaron looked down at his food.

“I heard it was caused by this idiot here. He got what he had coming to him though, and then some it looks like.” Hana said pointing to me.

“Do you two want something, or just here to re-assert yourselves as the camp-bitches?” I asked.

“Still talking shit? I’d think my boot earlier would have set you straight.” Bethany said laughing.

“I don’t think you can set him straight. We both saw what happened last night.” Hana said slyly.

“HA HA.” I said sarcastically.

The two twins looked at me, disgusted. They turned to Aaron.

“Hey, Aaron. How do you not know how to swim?”

Aaron didn’t say anything.

“Come on, talk to us. We don’t bite.”

“Why don’t you two go bother someone else.” Diane said, coming over to us. The twins looked at her, then each other. With a shared consciousness, it sounds like they almost ‘hmph’ed and then proceeded to walked away. So stereotypical...

Aaron looked at Diane. “Thanks.”

Diane shook her head. “Don’t thank me. They’re bitches honestly.” She said, sitting with us. “Seriously though. What happened? Why are you bleeding, and why are you bruised and bleeding?”

I laughed. “Me and Aaron needed to work some things out. We’re good now though. Right?” I asked Aaron.

“Yeah. We’re good now.” Aaron said smiling.

“I don’t know how you boys do that. My brothers do the same thing. They get really heated, throw down, and they’re fine afterwards. It’s so weird.”

“It’s better than holding grudges and spreading gossip.” Aaron said.

Diane laughed. “Yeah, that’s true. It’s much easier too, just throw fists at each other. After everything is hurting, shake hands and have a laugh or something. Easy.”

Both me and Aaron laughed. 3 of us talked for some time, it was nice. Diane’s really cool, definitely the best of the girls. Chill and doesn’t cause me to hate myself.

As the three of us left the dining hall, we saw Josh and Diego talking away from everyone else. They looked like they were really getting into something.

“Hey, look at them.” I said, pointing to our two male counselors. Both in the pink shorts and shirt, in a seemingly heated discussion. We watched the two of them continue to not enjoy each other’s presence, as they escalated towards physicality. 

Josh was the first one to put his hand on Diego, then Diego snapped his hand to smack Josh’s off him, and the two had a staredown. It was intense, and everyone’s eyes had to of been on this. I could just feel it in the air, everything came to a standstill.  

The two stood, their faces close and intense. Diego shook his head, then turned away, but Josh pulled him back and stated something in his face. Diego confidently spat something right back, then Josh headbutted Diego.

We gasped and went wide eyed. No one expected that.

Diego stumbled back, and held a hand to his nose. He silently glared up from his hunched over state and checked his hand. I don’t think it was bleeding though. He stood straight up and threw himself at Josh.

Cameron came running in as it became obvious the two were fighting, trying to break it up. But Alexa pulled him back, saying something in his ear. Cameron still looked like he wanted to help, but it kept him back.

We stood there watching the fight go on. It was weird, because you would never expect these two to fight so seriously, but there it was. No one could look away though.

Pretty soon after it started, Josh got the upper hand. He punched Diego in the jaw, knocking him him back a bit. Diego quickly swung back, but Josh ducked it. Josh didn’t seem to want it to go on much longer though. He grabbed a handful of Diego’s crotch, which caused Diego to react violently. But, Josh didn’t let up and kept the pressure on. We watched Diego struggle, his face contort as his anger grew, but his passion seemed to disappear.

With his hand still holding onto Diego’s balls, Josh said something in his ear. Diego nodded, now holding onto Josh, making it obvious that he’s done fighting. Josh pushed Diego back, and Diego fell on his ass and held his crotch with care. Josh walked up and said something else, making sure Diego understands. Diego just curled up, and tried to hide from Josh and the world.

“Jesus, what the hell was that about?” Monica asked, speaking for all of us.

“I don’t know, but it must’ve been serious if Josh felt like he had to grab Diego by the balls like that.” Tim replied.

“It doesn’t have to be serious, just because a boys balls get involved.” A twin answered.

“For you maybe.” Tim retorted.

Meanwhile Josh was walking towards us. As he got close, he spoke up before any of us could ask him the obvious.

“Don’t worry about it, it’s dealt with.” Josh said firmly. He felt so differently there. He’s normally lively and chill. But not there.

“Cevin, Cameron. Come with me.” Josh said as he kept on walking. Me and Cameron made eye contact, unsure of a lot of things. I was the first to turn away and follow Josh. I kept on following without looking back, until Josh stopped.

Josh turned around and looked at me, then at Cameron. I didn’t bother to turn my head when Josh looked over to him. 

“I know you two are wondering what that was all about…” Josh said, rubbing what looked to be a slightly bruised cheek. “...well, Diego told me about you two… and his… beliefs, on the matter. I told him that wasn’t cool and it escalated. But, I want you two to know, that we here at Camp Hardwood do NOT share his closed-minded beliefs. We all support you two, no matter what.” Josh said with a delicate mix of firmness and friendliness that can only come naturally to one who is just that kind of guy.

I looked down and thought about what Josh said. As I did so, I took a glance over at Cameron and saw him looking right at me. He smiled and turned back to Josh.

“Thanks man…” He started off, then put his hand on my shoulder, pulling me closer. “We appreciate that. Right, Cevin?”

I did not like him doing that at all. Putting me on the spot like that and kinda forcing me to agree with him. I shuffled a bit and looked up at Josh with some expression that satisfied him.

“Yeah. Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it guys, just doing what’s right. And if anyone gives you two shit again, you come to me, all right? I’ll deal with them.”

Josh really cemented himself as a bro in my book after this. I felt obligated to play along.

“Thanks a lot man, again, we appreciate it.” Cameron said.

“Me too.” I added, making sure he knows I appreciate it. Josh smiled and hugged us both, wrapping his arms around us.

“All right, I’m gonna go to the cabin. You two keep on doing you, okay?"

Josh patted our arms and went off on his merry way. After he got some distance away, Cameron rubbed my shoulder some more, reminding me that he had his arm around me.

I looked down as I shrugged it off. I could feel Cameron wanting to say something, I could hear him searching for the words.

“Don’t.” I said, still looking down. Then I looked up at him, and saw him staring at me. A mix of hurt, uncertainty, anger and disappointment.

“That was not cool, forcing me to agree with you like that.” I spat, Cameron tilted his head and opened his mouth. I spoke before he did.

“No. Just… leave it.” I spoke, not wanting to talk about anything anymore. I walked away, wondering if I will feel more up to talking to him later. I didn't forget what Aaron said before, but I did not like Cameron making me agree with him in the moment. It felt like a game to me, and I just didn’t want to deal with everything. I felt resentment towards him, and just a general shittiness plagued me at the time.

As I walked away, I thought maybe I overreacted. Cameron might not of given it any thought when he said that to Josh, and I felt like maybe some Cameron would really boost my day. I realized it was probably too late, and tried to convince myself that I should just commit to not talking to him, and some space would sort things out. But the more I thought about him, the more I realized I wanted him, and there was literally a perfect scenario right there for us both to get what we want. 

I turned around to see if Cameron was still there. But, he was already walking away from me. Which, should surprise no one. 

I just chilled until dinner came along. Laid back in my bed, thought about everything. Half hoping Cameron would walk in and hope he’d make everything better. But he didn’t, and I just boiled in my thoughts. It was a heavy 24 hours, and I didn’t like it all that much. After dinner, I walked up to Josh.

“Hey Cevin! What can I do for you, my man?” Josh asked with an enthusiastic smile. A bruise was apparent on his cheek now. It got worse than it was earlier.  

“Hey Josh. Uhhh… how’s it going?”

Josh chuckled. “Good man, good. You?”

I shrugged a bit. “Ehhh… bit heavy couple of days. You know?”

“Yeah, I know.” He said honestly.

“Well, I was wondering… if you have any more… weed…” I said lowly.

“You wanna smoke?”

I nodded shyly.

“You know, I do remember there being a conversation about how smoking could be damaging to kids whose brains are still developing.” Josh said, playfully tapping my head.

I laughed. “Yeah but…”

“Yeah, yeah, just teasing you. You wanna invite some people, or-“

“Just the two of us. I think I’d prefer that.” I said, not letting him finish.

Josh smiled. “Okay, I’ll go get some. You remember where we smoked last?” He asked. I nodded. "Okay, go there, I'll go get the stuff." Josh said, heading to his cabin. I walked to the rendezvous, or somewhere close at least. There was no fire this time, but I was close I hoped.  Josh came back with what I was told was a pipe, a grinder, and a baggie.

“I don’t have anymore papers, so we gonna use this pipe here. It’s just as good, do not worry.” Josh said as he put some of the weed into the grinder, and closed the top. He went on to… well, grind it. And he opened the bottom half and sprinkled it into the bowl. He gave me the bowl and took out a lighter.

“Okay, Cevin. Grab this like here…” He said, making sure I held the bowl right. He had me hold my thumb over the hole on the side. “Okay good. Now, I want you to put your mouth on the mouthpiece here” He said, pointing to the other end. “And when I flick the lighter on, you should start sucking in.”

“Okay. I’m pretty good at sucking.”

Josh laughed. “Yeah, I’m sure you are man.” Josh said as he shook his head. “Okay, you ready?” He asked. I nodded my head, and he flicked the lighter. I did as commanded, and felt the smoke come into me. I didn’t take in too much though, I didn’t want to start coughing like last time.

“There we go, good one man. Learning from last time.”

I let out the smoke I had built up, and instantly felt more relaxed. Then I coughed a bit, and felt less so.

“Oh I forgot a water. I’ll head back and get one, you think you can take a hit by yourself?” Josh asked.

I nodded and croaked. “I got this.”

Josh laughed, jogging back to the cabin. I held the bowl like Josh told me to, and tried to light it. I fucked up a bit though, and burned my finger, dropping the bowl. I panicked and picked it up, but most of the weed inside was on the floor already.

“Fuckfuckfuck…” I said panicking, not sure what to do. Josh came back then and saw me.

“All good?” He asked, putting both water bottles down.

I looked at him, then the bowl. “I-I burned my finger, and dropped it. S-sorry.” I said, giving him the bowl.

Josh laughed. “It’s all good man, don’t worry about it. Happens to us all.” He said, opening the grinder and sprinkling more weed into the bowl. “Let’s do this better this time…” He said as he held the lighter and lit the bowl for me.

We smoked for a bit, and talked. It was relaxing. I forgot about everything for a bit. Josh lit the bowl for me each time too, which was really sweet of him.

“So…” Josh said. “…you and Cameron… you two a thing, or?” He asked.

I sighed and laid back.

“If you don’t want to talk about it, that’s fine.”

“No, no. It’s fine. It’s just… I’m really bad at this kind of stuff.”

Josh laughed. “No one is good at it. We just learn.”

“I feel like Cameron really is good at it though. Like, he’s always so friendly, and always does… the right thing it feels. He’s way better at this than I am.”

“Like how?”

“Like, everything. He always does the right thing. Like with Diego. I was ready to fight Diego, but Cameron stopped me. Then he started quoting bible verses and destroyed Diego.”

“Wait, Cameron quoted the bible?” Josh asked in awe.

“Yeah, I know. It was bonkers, I never would’ve guessed it. But, not only with Diego. But he always says the right thing,  he’s really friendly. With both me and Monica. And it really bothers me… I think he likes Monica more than me. And I don’t know how to deal with it. I feel like shit, and everything always feels wrong… and I just wish it were easy.” I said almost defeated.

Josh nodded and asked, before he took a hit from the bowl, “Why do you think Cameron likes Monica more?”

"Monica asked him to go skinny dipping last night, and I told him not to. He sided with her over me."

Josh blew smoke out and nodded. “That doesn’t mean he likes Monica more. Just, that he wanted to go skinny dipping."

"But... I told him not to, and made him choose between us. He chose her."

"Why are you giving him ultimatums like that? That's not cool dude, you should know better than that."

I thought about it and sighed. "Yeah... you're right." I put my hands in my face. "Why the hell did I do that?"

"Because you care about him and made a panic call. Sometimes shooting from the hip hits the mark, and other times you shoot your friend in the leg."

I laughed pretty hard, and saw his point. Josh passed me the bowl, and I took another hit as he lit it for me. 

As I took the smoke in, “Well… have you talked to him about it since then?"

I shook my head and blew the smoke out of my lungs. "I told him I didn't want to talk to him today."

"Why?"

I shook my head again, as I gave him the pipe. "I was tired and didn't want to deal with it. I came off like a complete douche too."

Josh coughed out and in a raspy voice, started speaking. "Well, you should talk to him about it tomorrow. I don't want to make any judgements or anything, but I don't think you have anything to worry about. Just because he wanted to go skinny dipping with some girls, doesn't mean he doesn't like you in the same way you do him."

I smiled at Josh's comforting words. 

"Please, communicate though. Did you tell him you don't like him hanging out with Monica. If, that's how you feel. Don't let things build up, if all that's gonna come of it is drama."

I thought for a moment, and slowly shook my head again. At this point, I wondered if I should even stop shaking my head anymore. 

Josh continued. "You should really tell him that yourself."

"Maybe, maybe."

"No maybes, yes! Don't force him to do anything, but tell him how you feel. You can't show him nothing, then hope he dances the way you want him to."

This time, I nodded. I smiled and agreed with Josh.  I said motioning for the pipe. Josh gave it to me, and held the lighter.

“No, let me try and light it myself. I got it this time.” I said with a smile.

Josh smiled and handed me the lighter. I went for it and DIDN’T burn my finger this time! I blew out and handed it to Josh, as I started coughing.

“Good shit man, good shit. Here’s a water.” He said, handing me a bottle.

I took a big gulp, drowning half the bottle in one. I put the cap back on, and laid back. I saw the stars and the star Cameron pointed out a few days ago was right above me. I sighed and closed my eyes. It was a good way to end a roller coaster of a day.