“I’m not surprised,” Dale said.
“That she likes me?” I asked. Was I the only one who hadn’t gotten the memo?
Dale looked up at me hesitantly before saying, “You flirt with her a lot, Kyle. What’s she supposed to think?”
I was annoyed by Dale’s assessment. “I flirt like that with all girls.”
“Yeah, well, Kenzie’s not all girls. She’s sheltered. She lives in a town with a population of 1,500 people. Chances are she’s never met anyone like you. I mean, honestly, Kyle, you take flirting to a whole new level. Hell, sometimes I think you’re hitting on me too.”
“I am, Dale. You know I love you,” I said, grabbing for him and trying to kiss his cheek. Dale wormed away from me, laughing.
“I’m serious. You need to lay off all the sexy-time talk with her.”
“Who says sexy-time? Jesus, Dale, remember that we’re trying to make you cool. Besides, I’m just being friendly.” Even though I was joking around and trying to portray myself as indifferent, a sudden uneasiness hit my core. Was I really leading her on?
Dale flashed me another one of his canned expressions. “Yesterday she was headed to the beach and asked if you were coming, and you said, ‘Not quite, but I’m getting close.’”
I laughed. “That was funny.”
“And all your food sex references?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I countered.
“The two of you had a sexually charged, twenty-minute discussion about ripe fruit yesterday, and I swear Bobby went off to masturbate.”
“Hey, that was a serious conversation. I was genuinely curious about kumquats.”
“Look, I know you’re just being you, and it’s hysterical. I mean, you crack me up. And obviously Kenzie loves it too, but it’s not hard to see why she might think you’re hitting on her. That’s all I’m saying.”
“So what do you suggest I do – not talk to her at all?” I answered, irrationally.
“Surely you can communicate with women without inserting sexually graphic remarks. I mean, how do you talk to your grandma?”
“We don’t talk about kumquats, that’s for sure.”
Dale laughed.
I inhaled, anxious energy coursing through me. I had a bad feeling that I had just screwed things up badly. “Shit. I messed up, didn’t I?”
“That all depends.”
“On what?”
“If you like her or not… because if you do, you’ve got the girl. Good for you. If you don’t, you’ve led her on, and you’ve got some explaining to do.”
* * *
Daleand I headed back to camp with our buckets filled with water. The more I thought about what he’d said, the worse I felt. This was all my fault. I was so comfortable with Kenzie that I’d just started talking to her like I would talk to my brothers. She seemed game for anything. It’s what I loved about her. I’d never felt as comfortable around a woman as I did with Kenzie, but was it because I saw her as a friend, or did I actually have feelings for her?
Yeah, our spooning sessions had been getting a rise out of me, but I just figured it was because I hadn’t had sex in a while, and unlike Bobby, I wasn’t disappearing into the woods every hour to rub it out. But this morning, at the beach, I’d felt things for her that I never had before. I cared what happened to Kenzie. She had become part of my life these past weeks, and I knew I’d miss her when the show was over.
Carl and Marsha were sitting by the fire in complete silence when Dale and I arrived back in camp. They never really talked. For whatever reason, Marsha didn’t bombard him with her interesting facts as often as she did us. Don’t get me wrong, he still got his fair share, but unlike the rest of us, she typically gave Carl his space. He was just not a friendly dude. I didn’t know what Kenzie saw in him or why she was trying to help, but clearly her sessions were not having a big effect on his temperament. He was still a miserable dick wad.
Kenzie and Bobby came back from the water laughing and plopped themselves on the logs. Kenzie sat beside Marsha and Bobby took one of his own.
“How was the water?” Marsha asked.
“It felt great,” Kenzie replied shaking her hair out. I watched her smile in that dreamy way of hers, and I couldn’t take my eyes off her. It was strange. Now that I knew she liked me, I was seeing her differently. Sizing her up. Possibly sensing me staring, Kenzie glanced in my direction, and I quickly looked away.
