It was late afternoon when Jorge rushed into the mess hall. He stood out being a frazzled mess while the rest of the campers relaxed, chatting idly in small groups and snacking on graham crackers. His curls tossed left and right as he searched the room for his friend. He spotted her nestled in a corner behind the pool table with a large book in her hands. He ran up to her.

"Tiffany! I need your help!" Jorge exclaimed. He hunched over and rested his hands on his knees.

"I'm busy," Tiffany said, not looking up from her book on rare butterflies.

"You have to help me find Xander and Emma," Jorge said. He yanked the book from her hands and clutched it to his chest. "It's an emergency."

"If you don't give me back my book, you're going to have an emergency," Tiffany said through her teeth.

Jorge refused to let go of the book and stepped around the pool table. "But it's about Lou's date," he said.

Tiffany raised an eyebrow as she stood up from the bench. "With Will?" she asked. She crossed her arms and leaned back on her heel. "What did you do?"

Jorge dug the toe of his sneaker into the rug on the floor. "I got a little too excited during arts and crafts." He loosened the book in his grip. "And it'll kinda be my fault if the date's ruined cause of something I did." He handed Tiffany her book back. "Will you please help me find Xander and Emma?"

"Did you check the Spot?" Tiffany asked as she tucked the book beneath her arm. She grimaced and added, "They're usually there."

"First place I looked. And I've looked everywhere!" He stuck out his bottom lip and pressed his hands together beneath his chin. "Please help me."

Tiffany sighed and rolled her eyes. She walked towards the entry door and Jorge cheered as he followed behind her.

"I'm only helping because I care about Lou's date," Tiffany said over her shoulder. "How exactly did you ruin it anyway?"

"Well...it started when I made Ravi a friendship bracelet..."

"Of course, Ravi was there. Now that he's a counselor too, they're always hanging out. They plan more activities to lead together than Emma and Xander do and those two clowns are going out."

"Exactly! And he's the one that was standing too close beside her. So, it's really his fault!"

"What did you do, Jorge?"

On the other side of camp, Emma and Xander had returned from their mountain hike with the campers from Badger cabin. They sat on the edge of the dock and watched the campers splash in the water to cool off from the hike. Emma leaned back on her palms. The sun glinted in her sunglasses before she turned to her boyfriend.

"How do you think Lou's date's going?"

"It doesn't matter," Xander said. "She won't go out with him again."

"Why would you say that, Xander? Will's a nice guy."

"Sure, Will's awesome. That's why I agreed to take his campers on the hike and watch 'em while he's off-duty."

"Okay...but you say she won't go out with him again."

"She won't." Xander wiggled his toes in the water. "Lately Lou's hated every guy that she's gone out with. She's always like, 'This one's too manly' or 'This one's not manly enough' or 'This one's too tall' or 'This one's too buff,' he said in a high-pitched voice.

"Okay, okay, I get your point," Emma said, rubbing her ears. "But maybe Will's different?"

"He'll probably be 'too chill' or 'not chill enough'."

"So... she's a little picky. She's a catch. Besides, she's just looking for the right guy. She's always talking about how she hates being single."

"And it's a mood killer," Xander said with a chuckle.

Emma used her feet to splash water in his direction. "Be serious, Xandy."

"I am," Xander said. "She's my best friend, so I can say that. And I can say that she's not going to go out with Will again. I guarantee it." He tilted his sunglasses over his eyes. "The only guy she doesn't complain about is Ravi."

Emma traced patterns in the lake water with her foot. She tilted her head to the side as she thought over what Xander said. One of the campers tossed a beach ball in Xander's direction. He caught it with ease and then sent it sailing back toward the giggling kids.

"In fact, when the four of us are hanging out, she never mentions being single," Xander continued.

"Like when we had movie night on the lawn...and we all sat together," Emma said slowly as she removed her sunglasses.

"Yeah, like that! She didn't say anything about dating, even with that mushy romance movie playing in the background."

Emma smirked at her boyfriend. "Shut up. You loved that movie," she teased him.

"So," Xander said, trying and failing to sound unbothered. "And I didn't cry half as much as Ravi did. He spent the last twenty minutes of the dumb movie sobbing on Lou's shoulder."

Emma hummed to herself. "Which was weird," she said. "Because he's already seen that movie like a thousand times and he hardly ever cries over it anymore."

"Well he cried that night. He was holding her so tight, I thought she'd pass out from lack of oxygen."

"You're right."

"Now that I think about it," Xander said, "Ravi doesn't mention it either...dating...when Lou's around. And he's always complaining about being single." He sniffled. "Huh, coincidence."

Emma stopped swirling her foot in the water and said, "O.M.G."

"What?" Xander searched the water for anything out of the ordinary. His girlfriend snatched his sunglasses off his nose.

"Or not!" She exclaimed. She stood up on the dock, quickly. "What if the reason Lou doesn't want to date those guys...is because they're not the guy."

Xander stared up at her blankly. She wiggled her eyebrows and smiled at him, waiting patiently for him to catch up to her thinking. Suddenly, his eyes widened and his jaw dropped.

"No!" He gasped. His eyes lit up. "Really?"

Emma's smile was smug as she nodded her head. "For sure."

"That's great!" Xander stood up on the dock. "Huh, I guess what Ravi said a while back makes sense now."

"What'd he say?"

"He said, 'Wow, I like Lou. I mean, nothing. I said nothing. You heard nothing about me saying I like Lou, Xander. I've got to go. Bye.' I thought it was weird, but hey, he's a weird dude."

"And you didn't bring that up?" Emma said flatly with her hands on her hips.

"Nah, but we should help them get together!"

"But how do we get them to admit that they like each other to each other when they haven't even admitted it to us? And we're their best friends?" Emma wondered out loud.

"What if we set them up on like a date or something? Just the two of them."

"Oh, that's good!" Emma frowned. "Too bad she's already on a date right now."

At that moment, Tiffany and Jorge ran toward the couple on the dock. They looked flustered from searching all over the camp for their counselors. Tiffany had long abandoned her book. Jorge had lost one of his shoes.

"Guys!" Tiffany said out of breath. "We need your help."

"What's wrong?" Emma asked with concern in her voice. She placed her hand on Tiffany's shoulder and looked her over for any visible damage.

Jorge didn't stop running, and he jumped straight into the cool lake. His head popped out of the water and he sighed in relief.

"Much better," he sighed.

Xander leaned over the edge of the dock and asked, "What's up, Jorge?"

"We need you to save Lou's date with Will," Jorge explained as he floated in the water.

"What he said," Tiffany agreed once she caught her breath. "Jorge made a stupid friendship bracelet..."

"Hey! It's not stupid! I made that bracelet for Ravi with love," Jorge argued.

"I doubt Lou's loving the bracelet now," Tiffany mumbled. She looked up at Emma and said, "We're going to need your fancy scissors."

As Tiffany and Jorge explained at the lake what had happened, Lou was being seated at a nice restaurant fifteen minutes down the road from camp. The walk there with her date had been slow, because she had to take more measured steps than usual. But she didn't mind. For her, walking through nature was an added bonus for any date. Unfortunately, she did stumble three or four times from the difficult journey.

Will picked out a restaurant with a view of the sunflower fields. Each booth was by a window, so the diners could enjoy the scenery while they ate freshly made foods and locally sourced produce. So far, they had only taken their seats in the booth and received water from the hostess.

"I'm really having a great time, Lou."

"Thanks, Will."

Lou smiled at her date across from her. He was tall, even seated in the booth. He had warm eyes and a handsome face. He was the counselor for Badger cabin and they had known each other for years. Lou would've never considered a date with him before. Will had dated his ex-girlfriend since they were all fourteen. She had been surprised when they broke up last summer, but she hadn't had any interest in dating him then. When he had asked her on a date this week, she had been even more surprised, but had agreed because he's a good person and a good-looking person.

"The walk here was really nice. I've never taken that path from camp before," Will said. His eyes shifted to the right side of her and he frowned a little. He cleared his throat and plastered back on a friendly smile.

"Oh yeah, it's the best! Those flowers bloom so nicely and it makes everything smell so nice," Lou said and inhaled deeply. "They're the smell of summer."

Will chuckled and said, "You're so cute."

"Thanks," Lou chuckled back. "And I'm having a great time too. You look really nice."

"Thanks. I like your dress. And your hair looks nice...I mean I imagine it'd look even nicer if, you know, another guy wasn't attached to it."

Lou felt her face heat with embarrassment. She shifted in her seat, accidentally nudging Ravi with her shoulder.

"My bad," Ravi said. He flashed Will an awkward smile "Friendship bracelets can be tricky."

"Which we definitely learned today," Lou said sarcastically.

"I see," Will mumbled. He took a sip of water from his glass and smacked his lips. "Why, I mean, how did this happen again, exactly?"

Will had resisted asking the question up until this point. When he had first picked Lou up at Woodchuck cabin, he was so confused by Lou and Ravi's rambling explanations that he just nodded and asked if they were ready to go.

"It's a funny story," Lou said. She tried to look as sweet as possible to lighten the mood.

"And you've seen some of the wacky situations that Jorge has gotten us into before," Ravi laughed but it sounded forced.

"Between Griff, Tiffany, Jorge, and Zuri, we've got our hands full," Lou said. "Remember last week with that tank of chocolate pudding they dunk you in?"

"Those lovable scamps," Ravi said as he shook his head. "Good thing you were able to get me out of there."

"Yeah, I had to perform CPR on you for like five minutes!"

"I know!"

She and Ravi both laughed. Will gave her a small smile, but said nothing.

"How about some water," Lou said to break the tension.

She reached for her glass of water and took a sip. Unfortunately, Ravi couldn't reach for his glass. She picked up the reusable straw beside her silverware and plopped it down into her glass. She held it up for Ravi to take a drink.

"Thanks, I was parched," Ravi said. "That was quite the walk over here. At least a few miles."

"You're such a baby. That walk was nothing," Lou replied, but smiled fondly at him.

"Maybe for you," Ravi said. "You love walks."

Lou looked over at Will. He was staring at her glass as Ravi took another sip. She quickly put the glass down, causing water to dribble down Ravi's chin.

"Let's just pretend like he isn't here," Lou said to Will.

"Yes, think of me as an inanimate object," Ravi said. "Or like a plant." He pointed toward the bouquet on the table. "Like this odd arrangement of flowers." He lowered his voice for only Will and Lou to hear. "You'd think a place this nice would pick better flowers for the table."

Will looked as if Ravi had taken a glove and slapped him across the face.

Lou cleared her throat and nudged Ravi with her elbow. "Those are obviously for me," she said through her teeth.

Ravi blinked. "Oh! I hadn't noticed them on our walk." He smiled apologetically at Will and said, "They really are lovely flowers, Will."

Will's frowned remained as he said, "Thanks."

"Stop talking, Ravi," Lou said flatly.

"I'll be quiet now," Ravi said. He made a show of folding his lips into a thin line, zipping them, and throwing away the key.

The atmosphere remained tense. Lou scanned the restaurant for a waitress, hoping food would make the situation less awkward. Will gulped down his glass of water. Ravi hummed a tune that had been stuck in his head but he couldn't remember the lyrics to it. There was no sign of a waitress even though only a few customers were in the restaurant.

"So, how's your Kikiwaka summer so far?" Lou asked, giving up on service and hoping to save the fast deteriorating date. "Still love being a counselor for the badgers?"

Will tried to focus on Lou. He couldn't.

"Ah, yeah," Will said with distraction in his voice. "It's been great. I really like...I'm sorry."

"Sorry?" Lou asked with confusion etched across her face.

Will shook his head and sighed. "It's just really difficult to pretend like he isn't here with his hand around your shoulder."

"My wrist?" Ravi asked as he waved his wrist and flung some of Lou's hair around. He sputtered as some of the strands hit him in the face.

"Ow! Careful," Lou grumbled.

"Oh, dear me. Are you okay?" Ravi said as he combed his fingers through her hair where his bracelet was attached. "Sorry."

"It's fine," Lou said calmly.

"I'd say it's more like balancing on her forehead than anything else...You use a really nice shampoo, by the way, Lou. Your hair smells lovely. As lovely as the flowers that Will brought you," Ravi said and smiled at Will. "See what I did there? Bringing up your lovely gift? Your romance is back on track."

Lou clicked her tongue and said, "I'm so gonna get Jorge." She looked at Ravi from the corner of her eye and added, "Please stop talking, inanimate object."

"I'm just trying to help in your romantic endeavor."

"I don't need your help, Ravi. I've been on dates before."

"I'm just saying...your past few attempts haven't resulted in boyfriends."

"Your last girlfriend was your calculator. Explain how kissing a low-level computer works again?"

"Don't get cute with me, missy..."

"Missy?"

"Yep, I hear it now. Not cool. That was condescending."

Will broke up Lou and Ravi's banter by saying, "I meant your other hand."

Ravi's arm was wrapped around Lou's shoulders while his other wrist rested atop of her head, stuck in her hair by his friendship bracelet.

"His hand is on your shoulder," Will repeated.

"Well, perhaps if I stand and..." Ravi started.

Lou interrupted him and gave Will an apologetic look. "I'm as annoyed as you are, Will, but you can't expect him to stand the entire time."

"But I wouldn't mind," Ravi said to Lou. "If you wanted me to."

"That's sweet, Ravi...but no. You're my friend. You shouldn't stand the entire time. And, Will, the only way he can sit without yanking out my hair..."

Will interrupted her by saying, "Is by sitting uncomfortably close to you on the same side of the booth?"

"Oh, I'm not uncomfortable," Ravi said nonchalantly.

Lou facepalmed. She turned to glare at him and their faces were so close that if given enough time she could count his eyelashes.

"What happened to you not talking," Lou said to Ravi.

He could feel her minty breath on his face as he apologized, "Sorry." He gazed into her eyes and said, "You know how chatty I am."

"I know," Lou said softly. She cleared her throat and returned her gaze to Will. "I've had much weirder dates."

"Me too," Ravi added supportively.

"I posted bail for a guy once and he wouldn't even buy me dinner. He split half a turkey sandwich with me that he had smuggled out and drank the whole can of soda that he was supposed to share," Lou said.

"That's pretty messed up," Will said. "I don't know if that beats this, though. At least you two were alone."

"But that guy was an idiot. Lou deserved the entire soda for such a subpar experience," Ravi mumbled to no one in particular.

"You hardly ever share your soda, Ravi," Lou said.

"I would provide you many sodas if you bailed me out of jail."

"I saved you from Bunny cabin two days ago and you wouldn't give me a bite of your pizza."

"It was good pizza, Lou! And Gladys never buys pizza."

"Excuses. The only crop not worth harvesting."

"Fine, the next time she needs me to review insurance documents for the camp, I'll refuse unless she orders pizza. Just for you, Lou Ella."

"Shush, no one's supposed to know my name."

"I'm still here, guys," Will said annoyed.

"Stop talking, Ravi," Lou said sternly. "You're supposed to be a plant."

Lou reached across the table and patted Will's hand gently. "Trust me, this is much better." She smiled at him. "Try this...close your eyes. Go ahead, close 'em."

Will smiled and closed his eyes. He turned his hand beneath hers and opened his palm. He locked his fingers with hers.

Lou spoke. "Smell the sugary cake rising somewhere in the kitchen back there. Feel the warm sunshine through the window. Listen to the light tapping of the forks hitting plates of fresh food. Now open your eyes. What do you see?"

Will opened his eyes and they settled on Ravi, who had his head resting against Lou's as he absently stared up at the ceiling. Will unlocked his fingers with Lou's and pulled his hand away.

"What do you see?" Lou repeated brightly, not noticing the absence of his hand in hers. "I tell you what I see. A great guy who I hope is enjoying our date."

"Sure," Will said as he tipped his glass toward him and checked for more water.

She snuggled closer to Ravi, without realizing she had done it, and said, "This is a really cute restaurant. I've only been here a few times. They opened last summer; I think."

Will clenched his jaw and answered, "Yep. Think so."

Finally, the waitress appeared. Lou felt relief. She felt that the sooner the food arrived the sooner the weirdness of the date would fade away. Nobody could be mad and full at the same time. The waitress pulled an ordering pad out of her apron and asked what everyone wanted to order.

"A cheeseburger for me, please," Will said politely.

"I'll take the pasta salad," Lou said.

"That looks good," Ravi said as he reviewed the picture of the pasta salad on the menu opened in front of him on the table. "But the garden salad with freshly-baked bread looks yummy as well."

"I thought the same thing! But the pasta salad looks so tasty," Lou said.

"I know, right. Oh, I've got it! I'll just get the garden salad with bread and we can share," Ravi said.

"Perfect!" Lou agreed.

The waitress jotted down the order and then refilled their water glasses. She asked if they needed anything else before she went to check on the other customers.

"This doesn't make up for the pizza, either," Lou said to Ravi.

"Are you kidding me? I've