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The warm July air gently blew through Dylan's hair as he quietly sat at the edge of the circle of cabins.
Mr. H had promised to provide him another bottle of melatonin when he began running low, but it hadn’t yet arrived, causing the nights of camp to become nearly sleepless for Dylan. There was nothing entertaining about silently lying awake within the same walls as his group of campers, so for the last four nights he'd found himself staring at the moon from the stairs that led to the radio hut.
On this particular night, the sky was completely clear, uncovering the nearly full moon surrounded by its bright blanket of stars. Dylan had felt anxious being away from the bustling city numerous times during the first weeks of camp, but the visibility of the bright dots lining the night sky brought him a certain kind of comfort he'd never known he'd been missing out on.
He anxiously fidgeted with his delicately woven bracelet, intently listening to the sounds the forest emitted at this hour as he got lost in his own thoughts. The ambience the woods provided late in the night was far more muted than that of the morning, and Dylan enjoyed the quiet calmness. It allowed him time to really think after spending all of the day working, surrounded by needy campers and frustratingly talkative coworkers. He wondered if he'd miss staying up so late once he was finally resupplied with melatonin.
Tonight, however, the forest was quieter than usual, making it easier to take notice of the crunchy footsteps approaching the edge of the cabins. Dylan's head perked up, worry filling him that another younger camper had a nightmare without him noticing. Although it was too dark to make out who it was, the silhouette was too tall to belong to any of the kids, and the voice that rang through the darkness soon gave him his answer.
“What are you still doing up, Dyl?” Uninvited, Emma finished walking up to Dylan and sat down on the stairs beside him. He startled slightly with her movements, and scooted aside to give her more room.
“I could ask you the same thing, no?” The proximity made it easier to see each other's faces, and Dylan hastily threw on the amused smile he'd grown accustomed to wearing over the past month. She did the same.
“Sure, but I'm not the one responsible for waking up the majority of the camp.”
“Touché.”
Silence fell over the two of them, and Dylan continued his fidgeting without notice. When he glanced over, Emma was instead staring up at the stars, and Dylan followed her line of sight. They were especially bright tonight.
“So, what are you doing up?” He smirked at her again, although he doubted she saw it. With a sigh, she leaned back on her hands to relax.
“Jacob was bored. Wanted some extra attention tonight. You know how he is.”
Dylan hummed in response, unsure of what “extra attention” entailed exactly, but he knew her implications of his behavior. When the others were busy, Jacob would occasionally make his way to the radio hut. Although Dylan was usually working on scheduling or announcement scripts, Jacob would brush off his complaints and poke around the small building once Dylan gave him the silent treatment. Several times it had resulted in things that didn't even belong to the counselors being broken or knocked over – one time Jacob had knocked over Mr. H's chainsaw from the desk it rested upon, to which Dylan promptly shouted about how dangerous that could be, and how quickly it could've sliced into one of them if it managed to turn on – and eventually Dylan had managed to repair the door’s lock just to prevent Jacob entering whenever he wanted. After that, Emma had been subjected to his attention seeking much more often.
“So what about you?” Emma’s voice dragged Dylan from his thoughts, and her eyes were narrowed at him as if she wanted to see right through him. He had to make a conscious effort to stop his leg from bouncing.
Emma and Dylan hadn't spoken much one-on-one. A few times they'd supervised their campers' activities together, but they hadn't had a chance to do more than friendly small talk between someone getting hurt or complaining about another kid. Once she'd burst into the radio hut unannounced, with Abi trailing behind her, in order for her to complain about her and Abi's schedules for the coming week. That could technically be considered just them alone talking, as Abi’s attempts to cut in were majorly futile, but she was still present anyways.
This was the first time through the summer where it had truly just been them. Dylan didn't understand why Emma had approached him at all, instead of just heading to her cabin for the night after whatever transpired between her and Jacob. Dylan hadn't exactly been prepared for conversation either, and he was finding the transition between himself and the persona he'd presented to his coworkers particularly difficult to manage upholding this time.
He swallowed, his eyes going back to his wrist as he tied and untied his bracelet. If Emma took notice of his nervousness, she was polite enough to not say anything.
“Oh. Yeah, uh. Just having trouble sleeping recently. Ran out of stuff to help a few days ago.” Dylan gave her a nervous smile at the end of his words, to which she raised an eyebrow.
“You sure that's it? Something seems up with you, is all.” Emma leaned in closer to him, and Dylan quickly broke the eye contact she’d made. He opened his mouth to retort with one of his usual witty jokes, but the words died on his tongue. He sighed, hunching forward to rest his elbows on his knees and ran a hand through his hair.
“I don't know.” Oddly, something about the way Emma presented herself tonight made it easier for honesty to flow from Dylan's lips instead of something fake. “Do you ever just have things feel wrong?”
“How so?” Emma’s tone had softened into something genuine, and the words didn't feel incriminating. It was an honest question.
“Like… I don't know. Like you're acting, or something. Putting on a show, and not being real with anybody?” There was irony to asking that to the camp's theater coach, and any other time Dylan would crack a joke about it. Not now, though.
Emma’s smile returned, gentler this time, and her sight went back to the sky.
“Yeah. Sorta. I mean- Yeah, I do.”
Dylan looked back over to her, curiosity blooming through him at her honesty. She huffed out a laugh at his intrigued look, and went on.
“I mean… That's what all of this is. Or what it feels like to me, at least. Throwing on a front to make everything more fun and enjoyable, for everybody. And I suppose that's leaked into how I am off camera, too. Being louder, more enthusiastic. But that's not me. Not entirely.” She looked back at Dylan, warmth lining her eyes. “And I can only assume you're similar?”
Dylan hadn't expected to be having a conversation like this with any of his coworkers, especially not Emma. Sure, she wouldn't have been his last option, but she was far from his first. She didn't seem like the type to become invested in emotional conversations. Now that they'd started, though, Dylan had realized why that had been. She understood how he felt more than anyone, and her act had fooled him as well. Maybe his own hadn’t tricked her, and he figured that was the reason she was sharing her own feelings so easily to him.
“Yeah. I guess so.” Dylan smiled, ducking his head to the ground as he cautiously picked his words. “With what you said about presenting in a more likable manner, I suppose. That's kinda what I meant. I didn't mean to start doing it, but it still happened, and it sort of just worked.”
“Well,” Emma clicked her tongue after a pause. “From what I've seen of him, I like this Dylan pretty well.”
He smiled, nudging her lightly with his elbow.
“And I like Emma when the cameras are off.”
Both of them sat in a comfortable silence for a few minutes, Dylan returning to his fidgeting and Emma admiring the stars. After a bit, she turned back to him.
“Something's still bothering you.” It wasn't a question so much as a statement.
Dylan sighed, raising his hands in defeat. It was nearly scary how she could read him, but he supposed that was another thing she kept tucked away. Truthfully, she was right. He leaned back along with her, pinpointing the spot she was looking at with his own eyes.
“How did you know you liked Jacob?”
The question appeared to startle Emma, and she jolted just slightly before clearing her throat. At this point, Dylan could tell both of them had made the decision to drop their acts and lies for the night.
“I didn't, really. He came up to me not long into camp, flirting with me and outright telling me he thinks I'm hot, which, honestly, who doesn't?” She flipped her ponytail to exaggerate the statement, earning a snort from Dylan. “And I thought he was alright too. I mean, you've seen those abs, haven't you? Yeesh. So I agreed to get with him.”
“That easy? He just asked, outright? And you agreed?” Dylan was stunned by how easy she'd made it out to be. Emma hummed in agreement, before looking at him, an eyebrow raised once again.
“Why? You got your sights on someone?”
Dylan felt his face grow red, and he quickly averted his eyes from her, stammering as he spoke.
“No. I mean- Maybe. Yes. Yeah. Definitely.”
A grin spread across Emma’s face, and she gestured for his continuation.
“I think I like Ryan.”
“I knew it!”
Emma’s reaction startled Dylan, and both his eyebrows raised in surprise, then furrowed with a mixture of frustration and defeat.
“No way! How?”
“Oh, please. Don't give me that. Half the camp has figured it out, I'm honestly shocked the man in question hasn't yet.” She rolled her eyes with a teasing smirk, shaking her head in disbelief. “Anyone paying attention can recognize the way you look at him, or how often you schedule your activities to line up with each other’s, or how whenever you've got free time you and Kaitlyn just so happen to return from the direction of the-”
“Okay, stop, stop!” Dylan waved his hands out in protest, laughing as embarrassment highlighted his face. He knew Kaitlyn was aware of his summer crush, as they both shared the same general thoughts about the camp’s sailing instructor, but he hadn't thought anyone else caught on.
“I'm pretty sure the girls in cabin 7 literally have bets on you two. Someone won a ton of cash over Jacob and I.”
“Those scoundrels.” Dylan chuckled softly, shaking his head again. Momentary silence fell over the two of them, until Emma started again.
“If you want real advice, I'd start with seeing if he's into guys.” She took on a more genuine tone, but it still contained an Emma-like levity. “Although, with the way he was looking at Nick last week in the pool, I wouldn't doubt it.”
Dylan rolled his eyes, a smile spreading back across his face. “Who wasn’t eyeing Nick last week? I mean, come on! You saw him! Who’d expect all of that from him ?”
“Really, though!” Emma laughed out. “I’d bet you've got a chance! Besides, he gets pissy with the rest of us way more than he does with you.”
“I don't know. After my fourth interruption during tonight's campfire story he looked about ready to snap my arm in half.”
Emma elbowed him hard, causing Dylan to yelp. “I'm being serious!” Her words were said through giggles that mixed with his own, and once they'd both quieted, he shrugged lightly.
“Give it a chance. Or give him some kind of hints, at least.” Emma softened as she spoke, gesturing with her hands. Dylan nodded, genuinely considering her advice this time instead of immediately brushing her off.
“Yeah. Okay. I’ll try. Probably.” Although he was still unsure, and it leaked into his voice, the agreement appeared to be enough for Emma to be satisfied. She sat up again, stretching her arms to the sky with an overexaggerated yawn, before standing and brushing the dirt that lightly dusted her pants.
“I'd better head off, and make sure none of my cabin is getting into late-night trouble. I told Abi to watch them while I was away, but they don’t listen to very her much.” Emma lightly ruffled a hand through Dylan's hair, to which he playfully batted at with his own, scoffing. “Try to get to bed soon, I don't want to deal with more than one sleep deprived asshole in the morning.”
Dylan flashed her a grin she couldn't see as she winked and walked off, leaving him alone to dwell on the conversation that had just occurred. Before, he'd never imagined he'd get along with Emma very well, but the girl consistently managed to be full of surprises. And maybe, now, he really would consider attempting to make more moves on Ryan. If anything went wrong between them, the end of summer wasn't very far away anyways. He could always find another summer job next year, although he’d discovered that he really did enjoy the camp counselor experience.
Besides, maybe Ryan actually was frustrated with him less often than he was at any of the other counselors. Dylan hadn’t thought so, but Emma always seemed to notice little things before any of the others did – he wouldn’t be shocked if she was the first to take note of his liking for Ryan. He internally hoped she wasn’t just messing with him, or was attempting to set him up for embarrassment. Although she often enjoyed playfully teasing the other counselors in front of her cabin, Dylan couldn’t envision her trying some sort of joke with his camp romance. Maybe she was right about Ryan this time.
As Dylan returned to his seat, his lips still tingling and his reddened face illuminated by the warm light of the firepit, he gave a flustered, appreciative grin to Emma. She subtly gave a small raise of her bottle to him, smugly beaming back.