Sang
"If we're needed for this, are we going to have to swim out into the middle of the lake?" Sang asked, blinking at the sight before her. A mile or so from the main camp, the site included a lake that the river where the campers went panning for gold ran into. It wasn't very big, so the campers were supposed to race in two-person kayaks in teams of two from one side of the lake to the other.
On the one hand, Sang understood why she and Sean were there. On the other . . . was the camp really having their doctor and nurse act as lifeguards?
Sean smiled before pointing to a rowboat Sang hadn't noticed. "If there is a problem where we need to rush out into the middle of the lake, we'll use that. But since everyone is required to wear life jackets and there's nothing dangerous in the water, I don't imagine that's too likely. Though it's possible a camper will get beamed in the head by someone's paddle, and then we might be needed."
Sang winced at that thought, her eyes seeking out Gabriel and Luke, standing together in their swim trunks with bright orange life jackets on. That wasn't likely, right? "Does that often happen with kayaking?"
Sean shrugged. "Can't say I have much experience with kayak races. If these gremlins were serious about the race, I might be worried about them trying to hurt each other on purpose, but no one seems too excited."
That was certainly true. She and Sean stood a little back from the crowd of campers, but she could hear groans from here and more than one camper complaining that it was too hot to race. It was certainly the warmest day of the camp yet, and she didn't blame the campers for wanting to swim rather than kayak all the way to the other side of the lake in a race that appeared to be just for the sake of racing. Though she'd expected some of the guys to be excited about it just for the sake of competition. It was hard to believe that with this many kids not one of them was feeling competitive.
"How about this?" the counselor Wyatt called out, raising his voice to be heard above the complaining. "Whichever team wins gets to have ice cream sandwiches before anyone else."
His suggestion was booed down by several boys. Sang couldn't exactly say she blamed them. If everyone was going to get an ice cream sandwich, was it really a reward to get it first?
Then one of the boys suddenly stood on his toes as he pointed to Sang. "How about whichever team wins gets a kiss from the nurse?"
Sang's eyes popped wide open, her cheeks flaring red as several of the boys cheered and whooped at that, clearly finding that idea much more exciting than getting an ice cream sandwich a little earlier than someone else. Irritation flashed in Sean's eyes as his hand twitched toward her, almost like he planned to grab her to drag her away, but he stopped himself in time. Since she was supposed to be single, Sean being so protective over the idea of her kissing another guy would probably look weird.
It took the counselors several minutes of shouting to get the campers to calm down before Kota, his voice firm, said, "That's not an appropriate reward. Ignoring the age difference, you should never try to coerce or trick a girl into kissing you."
"That's right," Victor agreed. Sang could make out the offended, blazing fire in his eyes from here. "And over half of you are too young to be kissing anyway."
That comment got a few boos, though Gavin joined in with saying, "If we have to hold a class on what it means to respect the opposite sex, we will! You don't get to use a nurse who came here to help keep you kids healthy like she's some sort of trophy."
Jared didn't say anything, merely crossing his arms over his chest and scowling out over the campers. It occurred to Sang that maybe she should say something about her sort of confrontation with him to the guys . . . but he hadn't exactly been threatening, more just rudely voicing his opinion on Sang's presence at the camp. There was the fact that he'd made her uncomfortable, but she didn't want to make too big a thing out of it in case she was seeing something that wasn't there. And she didn't want to distract the guys when protecting the campers and finding out how and why they were getting hurt without remembering what happened was supposed to be everyone's priority.
"What if it's just on the cheek?" Wyatt suggested, his eyes going across the heads of all the campers to meet Sang's gaze. "That would be okay wouldn't it?"
Kota's and Victor's expressions darkened as Sean muttered, "If it he thinks giving a cheek kiss would be okay, why doesn't he offer to give it?"
Part of Sang agreed with him. She understood Wyatt wanting to get the campers excited about this race, and having someone, even a supposedly older woman, give the winners a cheek kiss was pretty innocent . . . but volunteering someone else to give that kiss didn't really seem like the most polite or respectful thing to do.
"Hey now," a cheerful voice called out. "What's going on here?"
Sang turned to see one of the camp owners. She couldn't tell if it was Kevin or Kyle.
"The kayak race," Kota said quickly. "The boys feel it's too hot to race today and just want to swim, so maybe we should put off the race until another day."
Kevin or Kyle lifted his eyebrows. "Oh? But it sounded like Wyatt was just working something out to motivate the campers to race, wasn't he?"
There was an awkward pause before Wyatt admitted, "One of the campers suggested that the winning team get a kiss from Nurse Sang, and a lot of them liked that idea. So I was saying that if it was just a cheek kiss, maybe it would be okay . . ." He trailed off, as though not sure what his boss would think of this.
Kevin/Kyle turned to Sang with a bright smile, though it seemed like his eyes held a challenging look. "Well, that sounds innocent enough to me, and it's all just in fun anyway. And let's not forget that you did insist on working here because you wanted to help all our campers have a good time, right?"
Sang froze other than the desire to push her finger against her lip. Had he really just put her on the spot like that? If not for the look in his eye, she would think he hadn't done it intentionally, that he was just trying to work out a solution to motivate the campers that made everyone happy, like she believed Wyatt was. And he made it sound like she'd forced her way here when it was Sean who'd advocated that she come along with him.
It was almost like he was asking if she was going to do as she told, as the camp owners wanted her to do. She wasn't entirely sure that was a precedent she wanted to set . . . but she also wanted to get on his good side. And on the campers' good side.
"Sure," she said so quietly she was sure no one but Sean heard her. Clearing her throat, she forced her voice as loud as it would go. "Okay. Just on the cheek though." Her voice cracked on the end, thanks to how loud she was talking, though it probably made her sound more nervous about this than she was. Not that she wasn't nervous, but some of the thirteen-year-olds mostly felt like little kids. She didn't think it would be too awkward to kiss their cheeks.
Though it was probably the fifteen-year-olds who would win, since they were bigger and stronger. They were close enough in age to her that that would probably just feel awkward. But she'd agreed now.
Kevin/Kyle gave a nod, a gleam of satisfaction in his eyes, though his smile stayed friendly as he gave everyone a wave. "Then I hope you all fun with your race. And good luck!" Then he left. Which Sang was grateful for. After him practically insisting that she kiss the cheek of two campers, who were supposed to be five to seven years younger than her, if he'd stuck around to watch it happen it would have felt creepy.
"Prick," Sean muttered under his breath. "I'd call him a pervert if he'd stuck around to watch."
Sang couldn't help nodding her agreement. Then there was a mad scramble as the boys ran for their kayaks, their paddles in hand. Sang flushed at their sudden movement, feeling like her whole body must be blushing at the campers' sudden excitement for this race. Had she ever been in a more awkward position? She was sure the answer must be yes . . . she just couldn't think of it at the moment.
"You don't really have to do this," Sean murmured, lightly brushing his palm against her back before dropping it near hers at her side. "We can think of something else."
Sang slowly shook her head as she watched the campers jump into their kayaks, sometimes colliding with their partners in their rush, leaving to some shouted arguments between them. "I don't think we can. Kevin or Kyle will hear about it and might get mad. Maybe he's looking for an excuse to get rid of me."
Sean's lips pulled into a frown, but he didn't say anything more about it.
Which didn't mean he stopped talking. He groaned as one team beamed another with their paddle. "You see what I mean? It told you I'd be worried about them hurting each other if they were serious about this race! Look at the mess that stupid kid and Wyatt and Kevin caused. Now the little gremlins are hurting each other and it's all their fault."
Sang was momentarily distracted by the fact that Sean apparently could tell the twin owners apart, unless he was just guessing, then she was too busy watching the race in stunned amazement with campers trying to tip other kayaks over, ramming each other, getting in each other's way. It looked like a mess out there. Sang hoped no one would get hurt enough to need her and Sean not only because she didn't want anyone to get that hurt, but because she didn't want to get near the middle of that mess.
"At least this is a good excuse to use for why me kissing someone shouldn't be used for a reward again," Sang said.
Sean nodded sagely. "Men have fought over women since the dawn of time. Clearly, no one here has the maturity to deal with the temptation of getting a kiss from a pretty girl. Though it would be more of a bright side if we could instead say they were so poorly behaved that you're not kissing any of them."
Sang didn't think that would go over well at all, and they—or at least she—definitely didn't want to alienate the campers like that. The race was nothing more than a hectic free for all until the jumbled pile of kayaks reached about the middle of the lake when a pair of powerfully rowing campers pulled ahead. Sang squinted, trying to get a better look at them, then let out a squeal as she barely stopped herself from jumping. Thank goodness the counselors weren't paying enough attention to her to notice, their eyes focused on the race instead.
Sean gave her a surprised look before she whispered, "It's Luke and Gabriel. They're in the lead."
Sean's shoulders drooped in relief before he dramatically swept an arm across his forehead as though wiping away sweat. "Phew! I should have figured those two would come through for us. They might not be the strongest duo out of our group, but they're certainly strong enough, and likely more disciplined than the rest of these rugrats."
A half hour later, the rest of the campers stood back with disgruntled looks as Gabriel and Luke stood in front of the five counselors. Sang tried to keep her smile contained as she stepped up to the winners, not wanting to look too happy about this to either the campers or the counselors. Well, to the counselors who weren't Victor or Kota.
The winners stood perfectly still, looking almost stoic other than a spark of amusement in Luke's eyes and a spark of triumph in Gabriel's. Going onto her toes, she kissed Luke's cheek, then Gabriel's. As she pulled away from Gabriel, she whispered, "Thank you." She would also text them that later, but she wanted to say it in person too, and this might be her only opportunity. Though both nodded their heads the tiniest of bits.
Then Sean pulled everyone's attention to him by clapping his hands together and saying, "All right, if anyone got injured enough that you think I should look it over, please come this way." A few campers' eyes went to Sang, as though waiting to see if she was going to join Sean before they'd decide they were injured enough to go see him.
She resisted the urge to shake her head as she went to his side. Some of these campers really were ridiculous. But at least they were harmless. And didn't make her feel uncomfortable like Jared had.
~.~
Sang
"Sang, wait up!"
Sang nearly jumped at the sound of her name, turning to see Gavin coming toward her as she was going into the mess hall the evening of the kayak race to grab dinner.
He looked her over with concerned eyes when he reached her, as though searching for something wrong. "Are you okay?"
She opened her mouth, but nothing came out. Did he think something had happened to hurt her?
Seeing her confusion, he flushed red. "I mean about what happened with the race today. That wasn't okay for Wyatt and Kevin to pressure you into something like that, and that camper shouldn't have suggested something like that in the first place."
She smiled, feeling more at ease now that she knew what he wanted. "I'm okay. I appreciated you speaking against that plan, though, and Kota and Victor."
He nodded once. "You probably have enough unwanted attention being the only woman around here. The adults shouldn't encourage that."
She couldn't help wondering if he didn't approve of her being there either, but at least he wasn't being ornery about it. "I think some of the campers are just playing around since I'm the only one here to flirt with. I don't think they're really serious."
He looked doubtful. "I'm not so sure about that. I mean you're gorgeous and then you're so sweet and gentle with everyone, the perfect temperament for a nurse." He flushed red again, his gaze dropping from hers to the grass. "I'm sorry, I promise I'm not trying to flirt with you. I'm just . . . saying what I've observed."
She felt like she should say something in return and almost said thank you, before feeling like it would be odd to tell a guy who wasn't her boyfriend thank you for calling her gorgeous. Instead she said, "I try to be as comforting as I can with those who need medical attention. I'm glad that comes across well."
"It does," he promised, his gaze rising to hers again. "And please let me know if any of the campers from my cabin are ever too much or inappropriate with you. I'll talk to them about it. Like Luke and Gabriel if they harass you after today because of that kiss . . ."
She immediately shook her head so hard her hair started flying around her before she reminded herself she probably shouldn't be so enthusiastic. "They were both perfect gentlemen about it. I'm sure they won't cause any problems."
He nodded once. "Well, I still don't think we should encourage anything like that again. And I'm happy to help if you encounter any problems with the campers."
"Thank you," she said, meaning it. It was kind of him reach out like this. "And I plan to use the excuse of the campers fighting today for not using that as a reward again."
He seemed to relax at that, a slight smile lifting his lips. "That's a good plan." He hesitated before gesturing toward the doors. "You go ahead and go first. And . . . maybe I can eat with you?"
Now it was her time to hesitate, though she waited only a moment before forcing herself to smile. "I was going to eat with Se—Dr. Green, like usual, but you're welcome to join us."
His eyebrows twitched at her mess up of almost calling Dr. Green by his first name, and she had to fight the urge of giving excuses about how closely they worked together. Wanting to distract him, she started walking inside and asked, "So have you been a counselor at any other camps? Or is this your very first time?"
He waited a moment before answering, and Sang remained attentive as he spoke, hoping that would be enough for him to forget her slip up.