Page 131 of Never Will I Ever

“Dickhead.”

That only makes him laugh harder as he grabs his boxers. “I think that’s instant karma for edging your boyfriend before work, Aves.”

I roll my eyes. “As if I won’t receive the full wrath of your retaliation tonight.”

In reality, I’m looking forward to it, as well as picking up where we left off last summer. Minus the whole mental gymnastics of fighting our feelings for each other, obviously.

But I’ll admit, the sneaking around part will definitely be fun.

We both dress quickly, donning our green camp counselor shirts, khaki shorts, and sneakers before setting out for the parking lot. Despite him being still slightly irritated with me about leaving him hard up, we’re all laughs and stupid smiles when we finally reach Colin waiting near the activity board, clipboards in hand.

He spots us immediately, waving us over to where he was talking to a few of the new counselors-in-training starting this summer. “There you both are. I was starting to get worried.”

Kaleb and I share a sheepish look, barely managing to rein in our smirks as Colin hands Kaleb the clipboard with our list ofcampers this summer. He dismisses the CITs before returning his attention to us.

“Am I gonna have problems with the two of you this year?” the director asks while my gaze travels over the list, looking for one name in particular.

“I can’t make any promises for Avery, but I’m always on my best behavior,” Kaleb chimes in beside me.

I scoff and shoot a glare at him. “If I remember correctly, you were the one causing most of the problems last summer.”

His hand rests on his sternum, a look of mock horror on his face. “Me? I’m offended by that insinuation.”

Colin lets out a long sigh, not amused in the slightest. “Don’t make me regret pairing you together again, you hear me?” He turns to walk up the steps to the lodge, then pauses to pin us with a disapproving look. “And do me a favor: Keep your escapades out of the kitchen this summer. We still have to pass inspections by the Health Department, you know.”

Kaleb and I gape at each other, dumbfounded, as Colin ventures back into the lodge and leaves us reeling from this revelation.

“I didn’t tell him,” I say the second he’s out of earshot, raising my hands in surrender.

“Well, obviously, I didn’t either.” He frowns, worry in his eyes when our gazes collide. “You know I’m letting you do that on your own time. I don’t wanna—”

“Oh, no,” I cut in, shaking my head. “He knows we’re together. I meant I didn’t tell him about the pantry.”

Kaleb’s jaw drops a little, gaping a little as he stares at me.

“What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

Reaching toward me, he slides his palm into mine and links our fingers. “You just never fucking cease to amaze me. You know that?”

This again?

I roll my eyes and pull from his grip to head off to the parking lot. If I stick around, he’s sure to turn into a pile of sappy, mushy goo.

Of course, that doesn’t stop him from calling out, “I’m proud of you, baby!” after me.

The reality is, I’m out in the capacity that I wanna be; the people who need to know, know, and the rest… Well, it’s not really any of their damn business anyway. At least, that’s what my therapist has instilled in me over the past eight months I’ve been seeing him, so that’s what I’m going with.

Oh, yeah. It turns out, my dad could throw money at this problem after all.

By some act of God, he found a therapist who specializes in working with the queer community, and more specifically, clients overcoming repressed sexuality and internalized homophobia.

More often than not, I leave those sessions feeling more raw than I’d like, but I know it’s just because it’s working. No one said this kind of healing would be easy. But having Kaleb as a support system really does make it a little more bearable.

And my dad? Well, he does his best. I dread the days I have to go home after a session and talk to him about something specific, per my therapist’s request. The conversations are almost always strained or awkward and sometimes painful as hell. But he listens. He hears me, and it’s more than I expected from him.

That has to count for something.

The kids start arriving shortly after, and it’s when Kaleb’s hauling bags for two new campers over toward the cabins that a familiar truck pulls into the parking lot. The back doors swing open instantly before the LaMothe twins come barreling out like bats outta hell.

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