The young woman blew out another puff of smoke before throwing it on the ground and stomping it out. 

Kaitlyn leaned back on her palms, "So, how long have you known Ryan?"   

Y/N looked over at the ravenette, "A long time."   

"So how are you enjoying Hackett's Quarry Summer Camp so far?" she chuckled as she exaggeratedly motioned around them. 

A small smile came onto the writer's face, "It's actually not my first time. I used to be a camper here, way back when." 

 "Wow, so you have some serious history here?" the counselor tilted her head. 

Y/N nodded before leaning forward, "It feels weird to be back after so long."  

"Yeah..." 

The two drifted into an awkward silence. 

The young woman sighed.

She hadn't spent the entire summer with them and didn't have any of the histories that the others had with each other. Amongst all the counselors she felt like a fish out of water. 

It didn't help that Ryan had abandoned her. 

She huffed before turning her head to the lake.

At least being at the camp had some perks. The view was something that captivated her when she used to attend the camp. With a few swipes and taps from her finger, she had successfully photographed the setting sun on her phone.   

It was better than doing nothing but she much preferred the view from her room. 

She swiped away from her camera to her gallery to take a closer look at the picture she had taken. A bright grin came onto her face as her eyes drifted over the photo of the setting sun. The reflection on the water, the horizon, and the glare in the windows of the lighthouse. 

She furrowed her brows before zooming in on the light from the treehouse. 

"So apparently, Mr. H has been watching our every move!"

"Dylan, cut it out."

Y/N turned her head at the strange accusation, "What?" 

"Yeah, he has cameras set up all over the camp," Dylan lowered his tone, "His eyes are everywhere."

"Knock it off man," Ryan sat down on one of the logs, "They're just trail cameras that he has set up." 

Kaitlyn walked over, carrying some sticks. "That's not bad." 

The music lover sat down before raising his eyebrow, "You don't think that's weird?"  

The counselor crossed her arms, "No. I mean he has kids to protect so it makes sense." 

Dylan huffed before rolling his eyes, "You guys have NO imagination." 

A sharp whistle rang in the air before quickly being followed by loud noises akin to gunshots.

"We've got snacks!" 

"And fireworks!"

Y/N placed her phone into her back pocket. She watched as Kaitlyn talked to the others and greeted Nick and Abigail as they returned. 

She still couldn't help but feel out of place despite the welcoming party atmosphere. 

🦉

The sun had set long ago and the firepit had been burning for the last hour. 

She had snapped a few photos of the moon, actually catch a photo of a full one. Rarely, in the city did she ever see the moon so clearly. 

The air was a little chilly but it was nothing that she couldn't handle. She wasn't usually a beer drinker but a little liquid courage never hurt anyone. After the sun had set the hair on the back of her neck began to stand up. 

She felt like something terrible was going to happen or someone was watching her. 

It was emotions that she often described her characters having in her books. Feeling on edge without a single clue why. It was textbook horror stuff. 

Luckily, this isn't a horror novel. She opened her beer and took a sip, slightly cringing at the taste. Just normal plain, boring life.

"Okay, I feel like it's time to spice things up," Dylan clapped his hands together, "How about the ultimate game of truth and lies, Truth or Dare? Dylan style." 

The group unanimously agreed in a chorus of 'yeah' and head nods. 

The sound of Dylan's voice slowly faded from her ears when the feeling of eyes on her pricked her senses. She frowned before turning to look to her left where the dense cluster of trees stood proudly. Her eyes squinted when the glare of an object caught her eye. 

What was that?

"Y/N?" 

She hastily turned around to see Ryan staring at her with concern in his brown eyes, "Are you okay?" 

She glanced back at the woods and the shine she saw was gone, her attention turned back to her boyfriend, "I'm fine," she sighed before taking another sip of her warm beer, "I thought I saw something."

He smiled teasingly, "Think it was the Hag of Hacketts Quarry."

She lightly shoved him before laughing, "You're insufferable."

Emma rolled her eyes at Abigail's indecisiveness, "Ding. Ding. Ding. My turn," her eyes scanned the campfire before landing on a certain loner, "Ryan. Truth or Dare." 

He looked around the campfire with a grin before chuckling. "Dare. Give me what ya got." 

The influencer smiled, "Your dare. Comes with a choice." 

His eyes flickered over to Dylan, "Can she do that?" 

"I can do whatever I want," Emma's eyes drifted over to Kaitlyn, "I dare you to kiss either... Kaitlyn or...Dylan."     

Y/N frowned and took a few gulps of her beer. 

Ryan chuckled awkwardly, "Okay." 

Emma shrugged, "Sorry, I don't make the rules."

"You literally just did but okay," he looked between Kaitlyn and Dylan. 

The writer averted her eyes and took a few more sips of her beer when she felt Ryan's eyes on her.

"Um, I guess Dylan." 

Think rainbows and butterflies. Ice cream on a summer day! The smell of fresh-cut grass!

She squinted her eyes and took another sip of her beer, attempting to block out the sound of her boyfriend kissing another person. 

It's just a game. She kept telling herself. The kiss was only a dare and it didn't mean anything. 

The stressed woman went to take another drink only to discover she was out of beer. 

The sound of the campfire oozed into the background as she zoned out again.

This entire night was starting to feel like one big mistake. Her car broke down, she was an outcast amongst the counselors, and her boyfriend kissed someone else. This might even be the worst night of her life and she had been stranded at a Seven-Eleven in the middle of nowhere before, on a Friday night.

"Y/N?" 

She turned her head to look at Jacob, "Yeah?" 

He smirked, "Truth or Dare?" 

 "Hm," she furrowed her brows. Choosing Dare seemed overkill but choosing Truth felt boring. But, hey you only live once. "Dare." 

 He chuckled and clapped his hands together, "Okay, this is going to be good. You and Ryan are close right?" 

"That sounds like a Truth question, but yes," she laughed and took a sip of her beer, "I would hope so. He's my boyfriend."

"Boyfriend? That's even better," he reached out his hand, "I dare you to show me your texts with Ryan."

She rolled her eyes, "I doubt that you'll find anything interesting," she handed him her phone before drinking more beer. 

"Wow, nice tits."

"Okay, that's enough of that," Ryan reached over and grabbed her phone, "You're vetoed." 

He shrugged, "What? It was just a nude." 

Ryan narrowed his eyes, "Fuck off." 

Kaitlyn rolled her eyes, "Disqualified for being a perv, Jacob." 

"My turn," the sharpshooter looked over the group until her eyes shifted to a certain influencer, "Emma." 

"Dare."

The writer zoned out and grabbed her phone from Ryan before shoving it into her pocket. One of Ryan's work friends, seeing a photo of her flashing the camera in one of her boyfriend's band tees, wasn't the end of the world. 

Not to mention that the photo was a really nice one. 

"I choose Nick." 

Y/N blinked her eyes back into focus at the sound of the extroverted woman's voice. 

She watched as the influencer strolled up to the awkward jock and practically sucked out his soul. Kissing him with such passion the author was convinced they must have been in a relationship at some point.

After that simple action all hell broke loose, Jacob began yelling at Nick, Abigail stormed off and Jacob followed in her lead. 

It didn't take long for her to realize who truly liked who. 

"Jacob, grow up!" Emma yelled after the athlete as he stormed off into the darkness. 

The influencer wrung her fingers over her lap, "I should probably go after him," she looked over at Nick with a slight frown, "And you should probably go after Abigail." 

The athletic guy quickly stood up and darted in the direction that Abigail went.

Emma gave one last look around the campfire before getting up and disappearing into the night to search for Jacob. 

Kaitlyn smiled, "Does anyone want to play Parchisi?" when no one replied she frowned and looked over at the group, "What?"