Wednesday Romance

I appreciate your patience with me and my technology. I had this chapter ready to go last week, but before I could post it, my hard drive crashed. I was so upset, I gave up for the night. The next night, my husband (with the help from a friend) rescued the documents on my computer. I had most of my writing ones saved to a jump drive, but I didn't have my pictures. And I know that they have sites to back things up on so you don't lose things, I'm just lazy. I may change my views now. :p
So, I thought I could just get on my husband's computer, plug in my jump drive and go. WRONG! Apparently, I had a newer version of Word on my computer than he has on his and so his computer couldn't read my documents. grrrr......
To make a LONG story short, I was able to borrow a computer and save my stories so they were compatible with the older versions of Word. My husband is ordering me a new hard drive and I CAN'T WAIT!!!
Hopefully life will settle down soon. (please, please, please) So thank you for your continued support and eagerness for Wednesday Romances. They have been lots of fun! I hope you enjoy this next chapter! :)


Chapter 3
I’d like to say that the evening dull enough to rival watching my younger brother engrossed his favorite novel.
But I can’t.
As soon as Wes joined us on the log bench, Stacie hid the taffy under the blanket. I don’t know if she thought the blanket would keep us warm – as we sat on top of it – or if it would keep us clean after a day of camping. The issue was null anyway as the blanket served neither purpose.
Wes handed me another soda and smiled. He sat next to me, but he sat on the ground and stretched his legs out, leaning his back against the log.
I heard Stacie inhale and waited for the struggle between them.
“Don’t tell me you plan to sit like that the entire night.”
I slouched and tried to disappear as Wes turned hard eyes on Stacie. “Of course I do.”
If she was standing, she probably would have stomped her foot. “You are going to be in Vernaun’s way.”
“So?”
She groaned. Loudly. Fire leapt into her eyes. “Wesley Adam Powell you’d better not ruin this for me! Or for Andy! You are going to trip Vernaun on purpose, and I will kill you for it.”
I had never heard so much venom in her voice before. For the first time since I’d known her, she frightened me. I glanced to Wes. His eyebrows formed a solid ‘V,’ and I knew he would start bellowing within seconds. Probably as soon as his face turned fully purple. No one – not even his mother – ever used his full name and got away with it.
If any of us wanted to survive this, I would have to intervene. “Calm down. Both of you. Fighting like star struck lovers won’t do anything.”
Great! Now I had their attention. Only it was the kind of attention I usually tried to avoid. Oh, well. I needed to stop this fight. I might as well make an impression.
“Look. I’m not picking sides, but you two have got to stop this. You can’t say a single sentence to each other without breaking into a fight. Now we are going to sit here and make the most of campfire tonight.” I made eye contact with Wes first and then Stacie. “If either of you decide to go at it again, I will be forced to assume you are madly in love with each other and make sure you express yourselves in a manner that more closely resembles a couple in love. And yes, kissing will be involved.”
“Ugh!” Both groaned, cringed, and turned at the same time. I tried not to giggle. If I hadn’t known better, I would have guessed they really did like each other romantically.
Before anyone could say anything else a group of girls approached giggling loudly. I didn’t have to wonder what their giggling was about because it increased seconds later when ‘The Wall’ entered the clearing surrounded by his posse. Well, perhaps entourage was a better term. After all, I didn’t think ‘The Wall’ had the same interest in himself that everyone surrounding him did, but I’d been wrong before. Either way, I could name nearly everyone surrounding him, and they all considered themselves above everyone else at camp just because of their association with ‘The Wall.’
I shook my head. “What is it about? Campers think they’re cool just because they hang out with a college kid?”
Stacie looked at me like I was crazy. I held up my hand to ward off her attack. “I realize I may have been the same way at sixteen if a college guy had said ‘hi’ to me. But do they realize who he is? What he’s like?”
Wes turned toward me with his eyebrows raised. “Do you? I mean now? If he were to do anything more than say ‘hi’ to you now, would you behave any different?”
I sighed and thought about that as the head camp leader, Meghan, settled everyone down and began our evening. I’d like to think I’d know better than to get all googly eyed and silly if ‘The Wall’ gave me the time of day. But the truth was, I didn’t know. Earlier that evening I had thought he was going to kiss me. I wanted to hit my head against a wall for that thought.
As it was, I sat there and watched as he and Aubrey, another camp leader, entertained the campers with stories and silly songs. I tried not to become enthralled, but the truth was, Vernaun Jones was a good looking guy. Anyone would enjoy watching him dance as he sang or act out stories. Well, maybe not everyone. At one point I looked at Wes who was glowering at the scene in front of him with his arms folded across his chest. He only did that when he was highly annoyed. I snorted in amusement and tried to cover it up with a cough and a drink of my soda, which only made the situation worse.
Wes looked at me in concern and then glared when he realized I was trying to conceal a grin.
“You’d better not be laughing at me.”
I buried my face underneath the neck of my shirt so that only my eyes were showing and shook my head. He actually growled, which did not help matters, and turned back to the entertainment.
When campfire was over, the campers meandered slowly to their cabins. Why is it that when it’s time for bed, campers move in the slowest way possible? That just means I have to stay up longer. Don’t they realize that I have to make sure that all my cabins have their lights off before I get to go to bed? But I digress.
I stood and stretched my limbs.
Aubrey came up to me and clapped her hands. “Vernaun and I are almost together.”
Stacie stood and shook out her blanket. “You said that last week.”
Aubrey wrinkled her nose.
Wes grabbed something and stood. “Hey, Stace. I’ll just keep these.”
Her eyes widened as she saw the taffy, and she reached for them. “Wes, don’t you dare! They are mine!”
He hid them behind his back. “And we’re not allowed to have them; too many people not picking up after themselves.”
“That’s not my problem. Give them to me.” She jumped at him and tried to wrestle them from his hands.
I rolled my eyes and stepped away and focused on Aubrey. “I still don’t know what you see in him.”
“Vernaun? You can’t be serious!”
“I know the superficial reasons, but you never spend any time with him. Do you even know what he’s like?”
She rolled her eyes and gave me a hiccup sigh. “As if you would know. You sit in that silly little booth all day long. For your information, I have been spending a lot of time with him. And did you see us tonight? I didn’t even ask him to put his arm around me and kiss me on the cheek like that.”
“It was part of the story. And Wes does it to me all the time.”
“That’s because Wes has only sisters. He’s practically a girl.”
A pounding started behind my eyes. I think I may have lost my temper and punched her but she changed the subject, and I reminded myself to breathe.
She flipped her hair over her shoulder. “Did Meghan talk to you about changing cabin schedules?”
My lips pinched together. “She’s changing it again? Mid week?”
Aubrey shrugged. “I guess.”
“Maybe I’ll go talk to her.”
“Are you coming to the hill tomorrow?”
I stopped and turned. I hadn’t been to the hill all summer. “What time?”
“Right after lunch.”
I shook my head. “I can’t. There’s another group practicing tomorrow.”
“Rearrange it. Couldn’t you squeeze them in somewhere else?”
I thought about it. Meghan was not allowed to open up the hill every session of the camp, and this was the first time she had done it this summer. I didn’t what all the rules were regarding that. I was usually stuck in the sound booth down in the meadow or cleaning the kitchens. I seldom took campers on hikes and led them on their other adventures. As a result, I didn’t always know what was going with the rest of the camp.
However, the hill was not something to be missed out on. Even I knew that. A truck soaked the side of a hill with soap and water, and the campers slid down the hill on some part of their body. Like a giant, sudsy slide. It was the best part of camp. The hill had been opened twice during my first summer and only once since.
“I’ll be there.”
“Oh good. I can’t wait!”
I couldn’t stop the smile that spread across my lips.